In August, 1939 Hitler and Russia (as known as the USSR at this time) had
signed a treaty of non-aggression which was meant to last for ten years. For
both countries the treaty was merely to buy time to get their armies into
shape before one attacked the other. The German invasion started the impending
with Russia however as the Germans didn't predict, the Russian end it but not
before the devistation and destruction had already been accomplished.

Leningrad had a civilian population of about 2,280,000 in January, 1942.
During the blockade about 1,000,000 people were evacuated by water across
Ladoga, by plane and by the Ladoga ice road and by the close of the evacuation
the population was estimated at 1,100,000 people. To take another approach
Leningrad had about 2,500,000 residents at the beginning of the blockade,
including 100,000 refugees, and at the end of 1943 as the 900 days was drawing to a close there was a population of 600,000 people. The death toll was
minimized for political and security reasons as the Soviet Government for
years deliberately understated the military and civilian death toll of World
War Two. The real totals were of great magnitude which Stalin thought would
cause political repercussions inside the country. To the outside world a
realistic estimate of Soviet losses were well above 25 million lives this
would have revealed the true weakness of Russia at the end of the war. No city
in modern times has suffered greater loss of life over a comparable period of
time.