Elena (PDF)

In WW II Hitler's intention was to utterly destroy the Russian city of Leningrad and its population. "After the defeat of Soviet Russia there can be no interest in the continued existence of this large urban centre. Following the city's encirclement, requests for surrender negotiations shall be denied, since the problem of relocating and feeding the population cannot and should not be solved by us. In this war for our very existence, we can have no interest in maintaining even a part of this very large urban population." ~ Directive sent to Army Group North on 29 September, 1941 For the desperate father of a small family in Leningrad, escape to Germany could not be any worse than the certainty of starvation if they did nothing. Even if caught and imprisoned he believes they will at least have food and not freeze to death. The only comfort for his daughter, fourteen-year-old Elena, is that she can take her "piano" with her, a cloth facsimile of a keyboard sewn for her by her grandmother so she could practice after her own piano was destroyed in the bombing. Elena dreams of playing in Carnegie Hall. Elena's determination to realize her dream must give her the strength to endure capture and internment in a Nazi concentration camp—if she can stay alive.