<P> Hitler ordered preparations for victory celebrations at the Tsar's Palaces . The Germans looted art from museums and palaces, as well as from private homes . All looted treasures, such as the Amber Room, gold statues of the Peterhof Palace, paintings and other valuable art were taken to Germany . Hitler also prepared a party to celebrate his victory at the hotel Astoria . A printed invitation to Hitler's reception ball at the Hotel Astoria is now on display at the City Museum of St. Petersburg . </P> <P> During the siege of 1941--1944, the only ways to supply the city and suburbs, inhabited by several millions, were by aircraft or by cars crossing the frozen Lake Ladoga . The German military systematically shelled this route, called the Road of Life, so thousands of cars with people and food supplies had sank in the lake . The situation in the city was especially horrible in the winter of 1941--1942 . The German bombing raids destroyed most of the food reserves . Daily food ration was cut in October to 400 grams of bread for a worker and 200 grams for a woman or child . On 20 November 1941, the rations were reduced to 250 and 125 grams respectively . Those grams of bread were the bulk of a daily meal for a person in the city . The water supply was destroyed . The situation further worsened in winter due to lack of heating fuel . In December 1941 alone some 53,000 people in Leningrad died of starvation, many corpses were scattered in the streets all over the city . </P> <P> "Savichevs died . Everyone died . Only Tanya is left," wrote 11 - year - old Leningrad girl Tanya Savicheva in her diary . It became one of the symbols of the blockade tragedy and was shown as one of many documents at the Nuremberg trials . </P> <P> The city suffered severe destruction--the Wehrmacht fired about 150,000 shells at Leningrad and the Luftwaffe dropped about 100,000 air bombs . Many houses, schools, hospitals and other buildings were leveled, and those in the occupied territory were plundered by German troops . </P>

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