Leningrad was under siege for nearly two and a half years by the Wehrmacht: from September 1941 until January 1944. Only during the two extremely cold winters was there a way in and out: across frozen Lake Lagoda. Food was brought into the city across the ice and more than one million people were able escape. Lake Ladoga was the "Road of Life" and at the same time a dangerous journey.

Ration cards were already distributed during the first winter of the siege. Hunger was a constant companion for the population of what is now St. Petersburg, and diseases, like typhus and scurvy, were rampant. Temperatures frequently dropped far below zero degrees, freezing the lake and turning it into an escape and supply route.

Engineers and local fishermen developed a construction plan for a road across the ice. A reconnaissance group on skis explored and marked possible routes. Places with thin ice were bridged using tree trunks and crushed blocks of ice. That was how the legendary ice road - officially named Military Road No. 101 - was built. It was known by the residents of Leningrad as the "Road of Life".

Horse-drawn sleighs were the first vehicles on the ice road. Starving horses had to pull goods and people along the treacherous snow-covered path. Not all managed to finish the distance. But, many horses with urgently needed food returned to the city.

When the last stocks of flour ran out, bakers tried to make bread substitutes with dust. Eventually, trucks with food also began to drive across the ice road. The first ones to return loaded with goods were welcomed with cheers as well as tears. But, in the first two weeks alone, 157 trucks broke through the ice and sank.

The drivers - among them many young women - delivered their vital supplies to the starving city. Even totally exhausted, they continued their work. They had to fight against hunger, cold and the danger of falling asleep at the wheel. The truckers attached cooking pots on the front of the cab so that the noise would keep them awake.

During the winter of 1941, the daily bread ration in Leningrad was only 125 grams per person. Contemporary witnesses claim that the piece of bread displayed in St. Petersburg's Road of Life museum is significantly larger than the bread ration at the time. The bread was made of a mixture unthinkable today and contained bark, bran, pomace, pine needles and a bit of flour.

During the second winter of the siege, thousands were evacuated across the ice road. People had to wait at Leningrad's Finland train station for the next opportunity to leave the city. But there wasn't enough space on the trains to bring all the people to the lake. Many of them – mainly children – died before they could start their journey across the frozen lake.

The siege of Leningrad lasted a total of 872 days. More than one million people died. 90 percent of the victims died of hunger. Nearly 1.5 million people were able to escape across Lake Ladoga and more than 1.5 million tons of food were delivered to the residents of Leningrad over the ice road .

The modern highway which today leads to the western shore of Lake Ladoga has nothing to do with the life-saving Road of Life. The road which led to the lake during the siege was hilly and twisting and was often shelled by Nazi artillery. Today, the road seems idyllic and peaceful.