“They Needed Tram Like Bread” - the Presidential Library focused on the siege tram

Today, April 2, 2019, the Knowledge of Russia video lecture on “The Siege Tram: Struggling for the Life of Leningrad” took place in the Presidential Library. It was dedicated to a memorable event: 77 years ago, on April 15, 1942, first passenger tram was launched - only form of public transport at that time. Thus, the date, along with particularly significant dates associated with the lifting of the siege and the complete liberation of Leningrad - January 18, 1943, January 27, 1944, is forever kept in the history of the city.

Video lecture participants were students of St. Petersburg schools, as well as students of Petrovsky College - guests and employees of the Yugra State Library (Khanty-Mansiysk) participated in the event via video-conferencing mode.

The event at the Presidential Library turned out to be both informative and emotional. There were messages about the history of the development of the tram before the war, about the work of this type of transport during the siege, when it became a real symbol of life for the war-torn residents of the city, about preserving the memory of the exploits of the tram-trolleybus management. Valentin Kuzminsky, participant of those events, shared his memories with the audience. He worked as a tram conductor in besieged Leningrad, and pupils from school № 543 of the Moscow District of St. Petersburg performed a musical and poetic production “They Needed Tram Like Bread”.

Users of the Presidential Library's portal can learn the history of the besieged tram using the materials of the Petersburg Tram collection. For example, the section "Tram during the Great Patriotic War" covers a digitized issue of the Leningradskaya Pravda newspaper dated April 15, 1942 with a note about the memorable event: "Wagon № 2035 is run by Adrian Fedorovich Titkov. He leads it confidently and carefully. Desides, this is the first exit on the route. Trial. Dozens of people will go by this train in the morning. <...> The car is picking up speed, it goes along route № 9, a route that every Leningrad citizen knows: from Lesnoy to the Narva Gate. Having seen the familiar route again, the people of Leningrad joyfully greet it as an old friend who has returned from absences. <...> Today, en-route traffic is № 3, 7, 9, 10, 12. 116 trains are running”.

A separate section of the collection is devoted to the Museum of Electrical Transport. Thanks to the photographs, the user of the Presidential Library’s portal can not only see the legendary LM-33 tram, which became a salvation for the people of Leningrad, but also visit it, view the salon, the driver’s cabin, etc.

The Petersburg Tram collection contains a large number of interesting materials on this type of urban transport: plans, drawings, archival materials, newspaper articles highlighting the history of the development of the tram traffic in St. Petersburg, the technical design of cars, parks and railways, and much more.

Video lecture “The Siege Tram: Struggling for the Life of Leningrad” was another joint event between the Presidential Library and St. Petersburg State Unitary Enterprise Gorelektrotrans. Institutions are developing cooperation under an agreement that was signed in July 2017. Meanwhile, a number of interesting projects were implemented, including a press tour to the Museum of Electrical Transport, video lectures “Knowledge of Russia” on “Tram - Transport of the Future”, etc. In addition, the Presidential Library is a partner of the children's drawings contest “Trams and Trolleybuses in the City on the Neva", which is held annually by St. Petersburg State Unitary Enterprise Gorelektrotrans. Works - the winners of the contest will become exhibits of the special multimedia exhibition of the Presidential Library, as well as enrich its electronic collections, which currently number more than 770 thousand units of storage.