Anne Frank's diary was first published after the war and told the whole world about its author. Tanya Savicheva's diary was never published, as it contained only seven bloodcurdling notes about the death of her big family in besieged Leningrad. The small notebook was presented during the Nuremberg Trials as a document condemning Nazism.
Today Tanya Savicheva's diary is on display in the History Museum of Leningrad (St. Petersburg). A copy is also exhibited in the memorial of the Piskarevsky Cemetery where 570,000 Leningrad residents who died during the 900-day Nazi siege (1941-1943) are buried, and also at the Poklonnaya Memorial Hill in Moscow.
The starving child's hand was losing its strength and moved unsteadily and abruptly. The girl's heart bruised by unbearable suffering was no longer capable of any sentiments. Tanya was simply writing down real facts of her life - the tragic "visits of death" to her home. The following lines would send shivers down anyone's spine:
"December 28, 1941. Zhenya died at 00:30 a.m. 1941."
"Grandma died at 3:00 on January 25, 1942."
"Leka died at 5 a.m. on March 17, 1942."
"Uncle Vasya died at 2 p.m. on April 13, 1942."
"Uncle Lyosha, 4 p.m., May 10, 1942."
"Mama died at 7:30 a.m. on March 13, 1942."
"All are dead." "Tanya is the last one left."
She was the daugher of a baker and a seamstress. She was the youngest child and therefore the most patted. She had big gray eyes under a fair fringe, wore a striped sailor top, and her clear angel's voice promised her a career as a singer. The Savichevs had musical talent. The mother, Maria Ignatyevna, even organized a small family ensemble where Tanya's two brothers, Leka (Leonid) and Misha, played the guitar, mandolin and banjo, and Tanya was the soloist, with the others as background vocalists. The father, Nikolai Rodionovich, died early. Maria Ignatyevna had to work hard to raise the five children. As a seamstress at a Leningrad fashion house, she was sought after and made quite good money. Intricate embroidery decorated the Savichevs' cozy house with its cheerful ornate curtains, napkins, and tablecloths. Since her early years, Tanya enjoyed needlework, mostly making flowers.
In 1941, the Savichevs planned to spend the summer in the countryside under Gdov, near Lake Chudskoye. However, the Nazi invasion on the morning of June 22 ruined their plans. The tight-knit Savichev family, except Misha who had already left, decided to stay together in Leningrad and support the army. The mother sewed uniforms for the soldiers. Leka who was not drafted because of poor eyesight went to work as a planer at the Admiralty Plant. Tanya's sister Zhenya worked at a munitions factory, and Nina was mobilized to construct city defenses. Vasily and Alexei, Tanya's uncles, servied in air defense units.
Tanya did not stay idle either. Together with other children, she helped adults to put out fire set by the Nazi bombs and to dig trenches. But the encirclement of the siege was rapidly narrowing - according to Hitler's plan, Leningrad was to be "starved and razed to the ground." One day, Nina did not return from work. There was a heavy bombing on that day, and the family was anxiously awaiting her. But when the last hope was lost, the mother gave Tanya her sister's little notebook as a memento. This was the notebook where the girl began her frightening diary.
Zhenya died at work. She worked two shifts, and then donated blood, which was too much. Soon, the grandmother's heart failed, and she was taken to the Piskarevsky Cemetery. The history record of the Admiralty Plant contains the following lines: "Leonid Savichev worked very hard, despite undernourishment. One day he did not turn up at work, and his colleagues learned that he had died." Tanya had to open her notebook more and more often. Her uncles passed away one after another, followed by her mother. Then she drew the line: "The Savichevs are all dead. Only Tanya is the last one left."
Tanya never lived to learn that not all the Savichevs had died and that their family lived on. Her sister Nina was saved and brought behind the front line. In 1945, she returned to her home to discover Tanya's diary in the midst of bare walls, fragments and paster. Her brother Misha had recovered from serious injury at the front.
Tanya was found unconscious by a special team of nurses that was checking Leningrad houses. The girl was barely breathing. She and 140 starved Leningrad children were evacuated to Shatki outside Gorky (Nizhny Novgorod). Locals were ready to sacrifice anything they had for the children, including food and human warmth. Many children recovered, but Tanya was not one of them. Doctors struggled to save the girl's life for two years but the fatal processes in her body were irreversible. Tanya had trembling legs and arms, and suffered from piercing headaches. On July 1, 1944, Tanya Savicheva died. She was buried at the local cemetery under a marble gravestone, with a stela and a bas-relief of a girl and her diary. Tanya's notes are also carved out on a gray stone of the Flower of Life monument outside St. Petersburg at the 3rd km of the blockade road called the Road of Life.
Tanya Savicheva was born on January 25, the day of Tatiana the Martyr. The Savichevs who survived, their children and grandchildren, gather at table regularly and sing a ballad about Tanya Savicheva (music: Ye. Doga, lyrics: V. Gina). The song was first sung by Edita Pieha: "Tanya, Tanya, your name tolls like an alarm bell in all dialects..."
The human race shall live as long as the human heart remembers.
