Woman: worker, defender, mother (based on the memoirs of participants in the Leningrad siege of 1941–1944)

Abstract

The article analyzes the memoirs of people who survived the siege of Leningrad in 1941–1944. The study is conducted through the prism of Maslow's pyramid, and the identification and structuring of issues raised in the memoirs allow us to consider the transformation of human needs in extreme conditions of wartime. Memoirs help to identify the conditions in which families survived and the responsibility that lay on women, not only working, but also on duty in air defense units, dealing with issues of nutrition, organization of everyday life and daily life in general, sanitary conditions of family members, in creating an environment of mutual support and care. In the course of the analysis of memories, general and specific plots and assessments were revealed concerning intra-family relations, organization of everyday life, provision of food, sanitary living conditions. An analysis of the plots and facts allows us to conclude that the need for relationships and belonging to a family were the basic foundation, without which it was impossible to achieve and solve all the others – food, water, shelter, warmth, security, consisting of stability, health, lack of fear.

For citation: Sinova I.V. Woman: worker, defender, mother (based on the memoirs of participants in the Leningrad siege of 1941–1944). From History and Culture of Peoples of the Middle Volga Region. 2025, vol.15, no.1, pp.89–99. https://doi.org/10.22378/2410-0765.2025-15-1.89-99 (In Russian)