RT’s multimedia project #VictoryPages presents ‘War: Kids’ drawings in VR animation,’ a series of children’s drawings from the collection of the State Museum of the History of St. Petersburg interpreted by famous artists in VR.

For many decades, the Museum of the History of St. Petersburg has kept about 700 unique children’s drawings that were created during the Siege of Leningrad (September 8, 1941 – January 27, 1944). These drawings, collected by workers in kindergartens, orphanages and schools, reflect a child’s view of wartime events, exposing their feelings and ideas. Almost every drawing has an accompanying text – a short story by a child about what they drew. Educators often recorded such stories and pasted them into albums, carefully preserving them as a document of the era. 

“Hello, daddy!
I send you this letter so that you return sooner. I cry all the time because you are away. I am crying now that I am writing to you. We don’t have Valechka anymore, she died. Mommy is making fermented cabbage, growing her vegetable garden. We will be fine now. The cabbage grew. I help my mom. Mommy misses you. Darling daddy, please return sooner with victory, but send a reply even sooner.”– excerpt from a letter by Lucy, six years old, from October 2, 1942.