Celebrating 85th anniversary of Day of Physical Education Workers. Presidential Library tells about sports life in besieged Leningrad

On August 10th, 2024, Russia will celebrate the Day of Physical Education. This holiday has a history that dates back 85 years to the resolution of the Council of People's Commissars of the USSR in the summer of 1939 to establish the All-Union Day of Physical Education. Since then, the date of the holiday has been set annually and has been celebrated on the second Saturday of August since 1961.

To mark the 80th anniversary of the full liberation of Leningrad from the Nazi siege, the Presidential Library will present materials about sports life during the siege.

On the eve of the Great Patriotic War, in June 1941, students of the Lesgaft State Institute of Physical Culture were preparing for the traditional holiday of Soviet athletes - the All-Union Parade on Red Square. This was reported in the newspaper Leningradskaya Pravda in 1942. Their performance, titled "Today a Physical Education Student - Tomorrow a Fighter", proved to be prophetic.

On the very first day of the war, almost all of the male staff at the institute volunteered to go to the front. The Lesgaft's students joined active army units and partisan detachments, which were operating behind enemy lines. Over 160 female Lesgaft's students enlisted in the Red Army, and many became nurses and sani-volunteers.

In September 1941, the State Defence Committee of the USSR ordered every male citizen aged 16 to 50, who was capable of carrying a weapon, to undergo mandatory universal military training (Vsevobuch) starting on October 1, 1941. Men of University were mobilized as trainers, and each of them had to teach basic combat techniques, obstacle course skills, and grenade throwing to at least one thousand people - so they called themselves "thousanders". By April 1942, Lesgaft's people (military trainers) had trained approximately one hundred thousand residents of Leningrad.

On May 31st, 1942, the city of Leningrad, after surviving the harshest winter, opened its sports season. The newspaper Leningradskaya Pravda only mentioned this event briefly, stating that athletic competitions were held, as well as demonstration performances by sports masters. The first football match also took place. It was reported that teams from the Nizhny Novgorod plant and Dynamo played against each other on the field, and the game was played at a lively and energetic pace, ending with Dynamo winning 6-0.

The fact that it was a remarkable achievement will be recorded much later. In the book Football of the Winners, published in 2015, there are memories of that legendary match during the siege: "Some of the players were from the front lines, others were straight from the hospital - exhausted, many suffering from malnutrition. But they couldn't refuse to play, they understood how significant the match was for Leningrad and the entire war-torn country." The players agreed to reduce the half-time interval to a minimum, and they didn't even sit down - they were afraid they wouldn't be able to get up again. After the game, they supported each other as they walked away, so as not to collapse from weakness.

Despite the famine and bombings, competitions in other sports continued in Leningrad. On July 21st, 1942, the besieged city celebrated All-Union Day of Physical Culture. Leningradskaya Pravda reported: "In the morning, sports competitions and events began in different parts of the city. Although enemy planes flew over the city and the explosions of fascist bombs could be heard, the entire planned program was completed."

These competitions were different from usual ones because they had a military training focus. For example, the cyclist raced not on a track, but on the road, as he would have to do in combat training. The swimmer didn't undress before the race, but rather wore full military uniform, carried a rifle, and swam while dressed. The runner ran over rough terrain.

In the evening, a football match was played on the stadium. Teams from the second and third divisions of the Dynamo society participated.The game was attended by several well-known football players from Leningrad, including Alov, Oreshkin, and Sazonov. The match ended with a victory for the Dynamo Second Board team, who scored 13 goals to the opposition's 1.

Despite the difficult circumstances of the besieged city, sports life continued throughout the year. Leningradskaya Pravda reported regularly on this, including a report on September 7, 1942 about competitions for the Leningrad Athletics Championship that were held in honor of International Youth Day. Most of the participants were soldiers from the Red Army and local air defense forces, as well as members of Vsevobuch (all-volunteer military training). 262 athletes took part in the event.

On September 20, 1942, the Leningrad Cycling Championship was held. The competitions were held in racing and road cycling, with distances of 10 kilometers for men and 5 kilometers for women. This information was reported in Leningradskaya Pravda on September 22, 1942.

To celebrate the New Year of 1943, Leningrad organized a physical education event for schoolchildren on January 7. The best teams from different districts participated in an eight-stage relay race, which included skiing, crawling over obstacles, transporting a machine gun, hitting targets with a bayonet, and carrying conditionally wounded on travois. Leningradskaya Pravda reported on this event in January 1943.

One of the authors of the book Football of Winners, Ludwig Grigolovich, says: "In my opinion, the performances of Soviet athletes during the war are on a par with Dmitry Shostakovich's symphony No. 7 performed in besieged Leningrad, and with other manifestations of the unbreakable spirit of our people. This spirit is also expressed in the desire for culture and sports among the besieging forces."

The Presidential Library's portal presents archival materials, documents, educational literature, periodicals, and other resources on the history of sport in Russia in the Sport in Russia collection.