Historic Albums Exchanged Between Besieged Leningrad and Scotland Featured in Airdrie Exhibition

AGENCY. A library in the Scottish town of Airdrie has opened an exhibition dedicated to one of the most touching chapters in the history of relations between the peoples of Russia and Scotland. The exhibition features copies of the “Scottish Album,” sent by the women of Airdrie and Coatbridge to the residents of besieged Leningrad in the autumn of 1941, and the “Leningrad Album,” sent in return from the encircled northern capital to Scotland.

The first album contains handwritten messages of support, poems by Robert Burns, drawings, and the signatures of several thousand female workers from plants and factories, members of communist organisations, and parishioners of local churches. Prepared over the course of two weeks, the album was handed over to the Soviet embassy in London and then shipped to Leningrad. In the besieged city, these words of support were read aloud at public meetings. The residents of Leningrad needed to know that even in distant Scotland, their heroic struggle and the trials they endured were not forgotten.

In early 1942, a response album was created containing watercolours and lithographs depicting Leningrad, words of gratitude and determination to confront the common enemy, and thousands of signatures from women of the city on the Neva. In 1943, the album arrived in Airdrie and became the centrepiece of the “Russia Week” exhibition.

Copies of the albums are available for viewing by appointment. The exhibition also features archival materials about the creation of the “Scottish Album” and events held in the region during those years to raise funds to support the Soviet Union fighting fascism, as well as the book “Immortal Regiment” featuring memoirs by St. Petersburg schoolchildren about their great-grandmothers and great-grandfathers who heroically defended their homeland.

On the eve of Victory Day, Consul General of Russia in Edinburgh Denis Moskalenko and his wife visited the exhibition and thanked the staff of the Airdrie Library for their contribution to preserving the memory of the heroism of the residents of besieged Leningrad and the joint struggle of the two peoples against Nazism during World War II.