No single country suffered more in terms of loss of life and destruction than Russia during World War II.
It is estimated that over 20 million people were slaughtered, not just soldiers but whole civilian communities as the German army swept through the Ukraine, Belarus and Russia.
For Hitler, the war on the Eastern front against Russia had not been a gamble in his eyes, but a racist struggle against the Slavs which he planned to enslave. Moscow was to be erased from the map and turned into a massive boating lake while Peter's city was to be totally destroyed.
A poignant exhibition called "The Road To Victory" has opened at St Petersburg's Manezh Hall to mark the 50th anniversary of the defeat of Fascism.
It shows aspects of life not only of the armed forces on the front but for the ordinary civilians living in besieged Leningrad during those terrible years 1941-1945.
The exhibition is split into two parts. On the ground floor there are over 2,500 exhibits lent by museums from all over the city and includes many personal donations from families involved in the war.
The second floor of the exhibition hall is devoted to books, film stills, paintings and drawings on the theme of the Great Patriotic War executed since 1945.
Among the exhibits are various medical supplies donated from the Medical War Museum. There are an interesting array of drugs used to treat gangrene, bottles of pills for dysentery and various sterilized antiseptic preparations against septicaemia and other infections.
It is interesting to see and read handbooks on how to perform operations and treat wounds and the collection of surgical field instruments and bits of shrapnel and bullets extracted from such wounds are a vivid reminder of the horrors of war.
The privations and starvation suffered by the people of Leningrad during the Blockade is shown. A particularly tragic exhibit is of the shirt, cap and satchel of a 14-year-old schoolboy who perished during that time.
Among the memorabilia at the exhibition are several curious banknotes issued by the German occupying government for use in the Ukraine and uniforms issued for collaborating Ukrainian militia men.
There is an impressive selection of arms including Russian and German hand grenades, various automatic, semiautomatic and manual guns from the German, Russian, American, English and French armed forces.
And then there are the colorful posters calling on the people to do their bit for the war effort. One poster proclaims "more tanks" while another pleads "Give us your warm clothes for our boys on the front."
There are many handwritten and typed letters from farmers and factory workers offering flour supplies for the besieged people of Leningrad while there are fly sheets giving handy advice on how to insulate your flat during the cold winter months when Leningraders were without central heating.
Many drawings, photographs and documents to the Blockade are being seen by the public for the first time and allow us to imagine how people from all sectors of society lived in the city -- the horrors and inhuman conditions that faced the populations and its defenders.