In the mid-1960s, wooden houses were demolished in the district of Parglovo in Leningrad, freeing space for new residential construction. In the courtyard of the displaced house, the workers found a surprising object - a grave, over which a obelisk with a attached photo was raised. From the photo looked a dog with large intelligent eyes - a mixture of the "dvorterier" with a racer. The signature read: "To Dear Friend Treasurer (1939 - 1945) of the rescued ones.” It was clear that the monument was somehow connected with the events of the blockade, and did not take it down, and through the passport table began to look for former residents of the house.

A week later, a gray man came to the yard and carefully took a photograph of the dog from the obelisk. He said to his builders:

This is our treasury! He saved us and our children from hunger. I will hang his photo in a new apartment.

The man told an amazing story.

In the autumn of 1941, the outskirts of the northern areas of the city relatively little suffered from shelling and bombing, the main strikes of the Germans were on the central part of Leningrad. But hunger came here, including a wooden house for four families, each of which had children.

The common favourite of the court was Treasury - a playful and sensible dog. But one October morning there was nothing to pour into the dog’s bowl, except water. The dog stood, I think. and disappeared. The residents breathed with relief - there is no need to look into the hungry dog's eyes. But the treasury did not disappear. By lunch he returned home, carrying a rabbit caught in his teeth. It was enough for lunch for all four families. Trebucha, legs and head were given to the main predator.

Since then, the Treasury has started bringing rabbits almost daily. The suburban fields of the desolate Soviet farms were filled with unharvested crops - in September the front approached the city. Cabbage, carrots, potatoes, beets remained in the pit. The rabbits are divided. They have grown up a lot.

In the families of the courtyard regularly cooked broths of rabbit. Women learned to sew warm winter sweaters from skins, exchanged them for non-smoking tobacco, and exchanged tobacco for food.

Treasury hunting expeditions suggested another rescue route: children with saucers walked on snow-filled fields and excavated potatoes, cabbage, beets. Let them be frozen, but foods.

No one died in this house during the blockade. On the New Year's Eve on December 31, children even installed a tree tree, and on the branches together with toys were hanging real chocolate candy, which were exchanged from the army rearmen for a rabbit caught by the Treasurer.

They survived the blockade. Already after the Victory, in June 1945, the Treasury, as usual, went to hunt in the morning. After an hour, he came to the yard, leaving a bloody trace. He exploded in a mine. The smart dog, apparently, felt something, had time to jump back, so he did not die immediately. He died in his hometown.

The inhabitants of the house cried over him, like over a loved one who left his life. He was buried in the courtyard and a monument was erected. When they moved to a new home, they forgot about it.

The man asked the builders:

If you can, don’t build the treasure tomb. Put the el at this place. Let the kids have a tree in the winter. As then, on December 31, 1941. In memory of the treasury.

The inhabitants of the high-rise new building are already accustomed to the fact that a large beautiful tree grows near one of the entrances. And not many know that it is planted in memory of the blocked dog. She saved 16 Leningraders from starvation.

Alexander Smirnov

by St. Petersburg