It seems quite unusual to see toys at an exhibition dedicated to the Second World War. Indeed, what do they have in common with the prolonged whistling of a falling projectile, the rumble of a bomber whizzing over a sleeping city, explosions, desperate screams, hunger, death?

These toys are witnesses of a great tragedy. At that time, almost 80 years ago, no one thought about the role assigned to them in history. These children’s toys were hand-sewn by the pupils of the orphanage No. 1 — they were boys and girls evacuated to Kostroma from Leningrad that was surrounded by German invaders.

In total, during the war years, over 10,000 little Leningraders found shelter on the territory of the modern-day Kostroma region. According to eyewitnesses, even men cried seeing children exhausted by hunger and diseases. Alexey Vasilenko in his book “War from All Sides” writes,

A significant part of Kostroma residents saw the evacuation as a national disaster. To help the disadvantaged children, Kostroma women collected children’s clothes, shoes, and toys for orphanages. Kostroma enterprises also provided all possible assistance: in particular, they gave their dormitories to the evacuated children.

In addition to the town itself, the districts of the Kostroma region, including the Susaninsky, Kostromskoy, Sudislavsky, Sharyinsky, Chukhlomsky and others, also took care of the evacuated children. Kostroma collective farms patronized the orphanages: they brought fuel, harvested firewood, allocated additional food, and provided assistance in managing their garden. Thanks to such support, orphanages grew vegetables and potatoes all year round, and some even kept cattle: cows, pigs and sheep. Furthermore, the Regional Department of Public Education contributed a lot to improve the financial affairs of orphanages.

During the war, in addition to state orphanages, institutions for children were organized by volunteers. For example, during the war years, 118 children aged 1–2 months to 16 years lived in the small house of Alexandra Ivanovna Bazanovskaya from the town of Galich. Among them were 25–30 children from Leningrad.