The story of a dog who saved 16 people during the blockade!
In the mid-1960s, wooden houses were demolished in Leningrad’s Pargolovo district to make way for new residential construction. In the courtyard of the resettled house, workers discovered an amazing object – a grave, above which towered an obelisk with an attached photo. A dog with big, intelligent eyes was looking out of the photo, a cross between a bull terrier and a beagle. The caption read: “To my dear friend Trezor (1939-1945) from the owners he saved.” It was clear that the monument was somehow connected with the events of the blockade, and they did not demolish it, but began looking for former residents of the house through the passport office. A week later, a gray-haired man came to the yard and carefully took a photo of the dog from the obelisk. He told the builders who surrounded him:
- This is our Trezorka! He saved us and our children from starvation. I’ll hang his picture in the new apartment.
The man told an amazing story.
In the autumn of 1941, the outskirts of the northern districts of the city suffered relatively little from shelling and bombing, the main German attacks fell on the central part of Leningrad. But famine also came here, including to a wooden house for four families, each with children. The common favorite of the yard was Trezorka, a playful and intelligent dog. But one October morning, there was nothing to pour into the dog’s bowl except water. The dog stood for a moment, apparently thinking. And he disappeared. The residents breathed a sigh of relief – no need to look into the hungry dog’s eyes. But Trezorka was not missing. By lunchtime, he returned home, carrying a captured hare in his mouth. It was enough for lunch for all four families. The offal, paws, and head were given to the main earner…
Since then, Trezorka began to bring hares almost daily. The suburban fields of the deserted state farms were filled with uncollected crops – in September, the front approached the city. Cabbage, carrots, potatoes, and beets remained in the beds. Hares have plenty of room. There are a lot of them. Hare broths were regularly cooked in the families of the yard. Women learned how to sew warm winter mittens from skins, exchanged them for tobacco from non-smokers, and exchanged tobacco for food. Trezor’s hunting trips suggested another lifesaving route: children with sleds went to snow-covered fields and dug up potatoes, cabbage, and beets. Let them be frozen, but the products.
No one died in this house during the siege. On New Year’s Eve on December 31, a Christmas tree was even set up for the children, and real chocolates hung on the branches along with toys, which were exchanged from the army logistics for a rabbit caught by a Trezor.
That’s how they survived the blockade. After the Victory, in June 1945, Trezor, as usual, went hunting in the morning. An hour later, he came into the courtyard, leaving a trail of blood behind him. He was hit by a landmine. The smart dog apparently sensed something, managed to jump away, so he did not die immediately. He died already in his native courtyard. The residents of the house wept over him as if he were a loved one who had passed away. They buried him in the courtyard and erected a monument. And when we moved to a new apartment, we forgot about it in the confusion.
The man asked the builders:
- If you can, don’t build up Trezor’s grave. Plant a fir tree in this place. Let the new arrivals have a Christmas tree in winter. Like then, on December 31, 1941. In memory of Trezorka.
Residents of a new high-rise building have already got used to the fact that a large beautiful spruce tree grows near one of the entrances. And not many people know that it was planted in memory of the blockade dog. Who saved sixteen Leningraders from starvation.