Elena Vasileva

Elena Vasileva was 16 when she began working in a Leningrad weapons factory during the siege. Despite constant bombardment and severe food shortages, the factory continued producing submachine guns throughout the blockade. Elena worked 12-hour shifts while subsisting on starvation rations. She lost her father and two brothers to the siege. After the war she studied engineering and later emigrated to London, where she became a lecturer.