Composer Dmitry Shostakovich, who witnessed the horrific Siege of Leningrad, wrote his legendary 7th Symphony in the first year of the war. The symphony has become a symbol of resistance and the will for victory. More than 600,000 people died of hunger in the blockade of city of Leningrad now known as St. Petersburg. Shostakovichs music was written to inspire the city under siege.
