After 80 years, siege of Leningrad survivors finally receive pension

Eva Krafczyk Nov 22, 2021

© Eva Krafczyk/dpa

Between 1941 and 1944 the German army besieged the city of Leningrad in its attempt to conquer the Soviet Union. The unfortunates forced to remain in the city suffered unimaginable hunger and cold, while the city's Jewish population, including the nearly 90-year-old Yulia Kinovskaya, dreaded an eventual German victory even more than most.

Frankfurt (dpa) – Georgi Korobov doesn't have many memories of the World War II siege of Leningrad, the German military blockade of the Soviet Union's second city, now once again known as St Petersburg.

"I only remember constant hunger and fear," the lean 83-year-old says. Korobov didn't only survive the siege of Leningrad, however. During the almost 900-day blockade, the arms factory his father worked for, including all its employees and their families, was evacuated to Stalingrad, a major industrial hub the Germans sought to bring under their control in another month-long battle.

Korobov was just 3 years old when the siege of Leningrad began, but it wasn't just war and hunger menacing his and his future wife Yulia Kinovskaya's families: as Jews, the prospect of the Germans taking the city was far more serious.

Despite this, 27 years ago, the couple decided to relocate to Germany, to join their daughter and grandchild in the city of Wiesbaden.

Making a new start was tough as they didn't speak German and their educational qualifications weren't recognized. Living on a meagre pension topped up by social benefits, they felt relieved to learn recently that Kinovskaya may soon be eligible for additional compensation for the horrors she suffered under the German siege, which claimed the lives of around 1.5 million people, most of them civilians.

Korobov and Kinovskaya were unable to take much with them when relocating to Germany in 1994. Kinovskaya takes out some tea cups with a blue flower pattern, one of the few keepsakes from the couple's past.

"Our great-granddaughter should have them one day," Kinovskaya says as she carefully picks up the pre-revolutionary porcelain.

The 89-year-old recently learned that she is now eligible to apply for a compensation pension for siege of Leningrad survivors, thanks to the Claims Conference, an alliance of Jewish organizations that continues to negotiate reparation payments with the German government 75 years after the end of the war.

While a lump sum payment was agreed upon years ago, the payment of a regular pension is aimed at providing longer-term support to the now elderly survivors. Indeed, many survivors are yet to receive any support, typically as many in Eastern Europe and the former Soviet Union were unable to file applications during the Cold War.

Pensions for those who performed forced labour or for those made to live in Jewish ghettos were only negotiated two decades ago. Much of the compensation process still involves identifying and fighting for recognition for different groups of survivors.

"Every year at the negotiating table we work to identify, recognize and achieve some measure of justice for every survivor and will continue to do so for as long as even one survivor remains with us," says Greg Schneider, Executive Vice President of the Claims Conference.

Ruediger Mahlo, the Claims Conference's representative in Germany, believes that the new pension is an important step towards justice.

"For almost three years, the inhabitants of Leningrad suffered indescribably during the German blockade," he says. "For the Jews who were trapped there, there was also the constant fear that the city would be captured by the German Wehrmacht, which would have meant certain death for them."

The additional monthly pension payment of 375 euros (429 dollars) would make a huge difference to survivors like Kinovskaya, who often live in impoverished conditions.

"For many, the question at the end of the month is whether to spend the money on food or on medication," says social worker Valentina Sustavova, who also looks after Holocaust survivors in Wiesbaden's Jewish community.

According to the Claims Conference, Jewish survivors who were in Leningrad for at least three months during the siege are eligible for the additional monthly payment.

"My mother was only 30 years old at the time, but her hair turned grey overnight during the air raids," she recalls.

The community building they lived in then didn't have a basement. "During the German air raids, we all met in the stairwell and hoped we would be spared."

Luckily, Kinovskaya's mother decided to hide in Russia instead of joining her grandparents in Ukraine. Kinovskaya's grandmother was shot by the Germans, while her grandfather was buried alive during a mass shooting.

Kinovskaya, who lived under the German blockade for more than a year before being able to escape with her mother and sister on a train journey that lasted weeks, says she hopes that with her new pension she'll finally be able afford a good seat at the philharmonic.