For several years, World War II had been raging in Europe. In 1945, German soldiers surrounded Russia and tried to choke off the train of supplies entering the country. Leningrad, Russia remained under constant bombing by German aircraft. Leningrad was a key location for Russia’s war efforts due to its manufacturing facilities and needed to stay functional. Lev Beniov was on the roof of his apartment building watching the anti-aircraft balloons above the city. It was on this night that a dead German paratrooper landed in front of Lev’s building.
As the news reached all the boys and girls on the roof, they rushed down to examine and loot the dead soldier. Within minutes, Russian soldiers appeared. Lev’s friends deserted him and he was arrested and thrown into the Crosses. After spending the night, Colonel Grechko gave Lev a chance to redeem himself for his wrongs and save his life. Through Lev’s trial in the City of Thieves by David Benioff it presents how desperate a soldier is to stay alive, and how much he is willing to do so that he can survive the war.
Upon finding himself in the Crosses with Kolya Vlasov, a deserter of the army, Lev thought his life would soon end until a soldier summoned the prisoners to talk with an NKVD colonel who offered them a challenge in exchange for their lives. Colonel Grechko bartered with the boys by saying, “You bring me the eggs by sunrise Thursday, you get them [ration cards] back. You don’t, well, you’ve got all of January to eat snow, and there won’t be any cards waiting for you… (36). This task may seem straightforward until closer inspection when one discovers the city has been under heavy rations for the past four months and there have not been any eggs since before winter arrived. As the Colonel handed Kolya and Lev money and a curfew note he mentioned, “That [four 100-ruble notes] would have bought me a thousand eggs in June” (37). However, even on the black market there prevailed no eggs for any amount.
It was the decision of accepting the challenge that showed both Kolya and Ley were willing to undertake the impossible to save their lives and have a chance at finding the items the colonel requested. After an unsuccessful search of Piter (nickname for Leningrad), the two boys set off to cross the line of defense set up outside the city and enter enemy territory. Kolya and Lev were following a tip received that there were still eggs in Mga, 15 kilometers away. Kolya sounded confident with, “I’m betting they kept (the poultry collective] open.
They like their eggs, too” (96). After Kolya lost his way to Mga, they stumbled upon a lit farm house in the middle of nowhere. Cautiously approaching, they found four girls inside that were to feed and please the high ranked German generals such as the Einsatzgruppen, Nazi death squads, that wanted to have fun. These German soldiers were trained to kill and were scheduled to arrive a few hours after Kolya and Lev arrived after persuading the girls to let them in.
Koyla came up with a suggestion to hide in the back of the house in anticipation of the approaching Germans, and to attack them once they were drunk. Their opportunity to attack never came due to a group of snipers above the house that took out the Germans and thus saved the lives of Kolya and Lev. If it wouldn’t have been for these partisans, the search for eggs would have been over since both Kolya and Lev were not trained to fight and were blindly making choices that would affect their lives.
Knowing this information, leads to a lot of respect for Lev and Kolya because they knew how dangerous these Nazi soldiers were. However, they were willing to risk their lives to finish their mission. Following the close encounter with the Einsatzgruppen, Kolya and Lev accompanied the partisan group back to their base camp for the night. Morning brought heightened tension as it transpired that the Einsatzgruppen soldiers had followed their tracks. The group was quick to wake up, “We were on our feet before he (the partisan on guard duty] could get his second sentence out…
Thirty seconds later we streamed out the crooked door… ” (177) Of the group of partisans, only Vika, a female sniper, survived with Kolya and Lev. As they escaped one group of soldiers, they were caught in the middle of a group of soldiers with Russian prisoners with whom they blended. After several days of walking, Lev, a outstanding chess player, was given the chance to play against Abendroth, a high ranking German general, in exchange for eggs. As the match was nearing its conclusion, Lev turned tense and tried to pull out his knife to kill Abendroth.
The guards noticed that Lev reached for something. They pulled out their guns and began to fight. During the fight, Lev managed to kill Abendroth, and Vika and Kolya took out the guards. Consequently, they were able to grab the eggs and run back to Piter. Although there was a large room for error Lev, Kolya, and Vika took these risks considering they wanted to stay alive and return to their families. Other people can view this situation as a soldier who is a coward, but they tag along with someone else.
In this case, Lev can be seen to be following Kolya along even though he doesn’t want to in half the cases. One such case is when Kolya and Lev come upon the house in German territory that is lit up. Lev did not want to get near it because it would cause problems, but it was Kolya that convinced him to come. Although the event can be seen as heroic, the underlying reason for Lev’s actions could be due to cowardice and the prodding of Kolya rather than wanting to get food to survive.
Shortly after they crossed the line into German territory, Kolya started referring to Lev as a soldier. This may have been out of boredom for Kolya, but also could be mocking Lev for his cowardice in situations such as when he refused to enter a house due to a fear even though there could have been eggs inside. This example is displayed throughout the book, and supports the opposing viewpoint regarding Lev’s cowardice. Most people in this situation take advantage of anyone they can to stay alive, and that is what Lev employs while in German Territory.
In the City of Thieves, the actions of Lev Beniov show that it doesn’t take a drafted soldier to act like any other man would during times of war. After finding that his life had changed dramatically, he made the most of it and put forth effort to find the eggs for the colonel. It took some convincing by Kolya to move their efforts outside of Piter, which gave them a different perspective on the war, and how dangerous it really is. For these two boys, their focus was on finding the eggs for Colonel Grechko so that they could stay alive and get their ration cards back.
The story of playing chess with the Einsatzgruppen general, shows how the fear of not surviving the war overcame their fear of facing a deadly general that could easily kill a Russian prisoner. Lev’s journey shows that it doesn’t take a soldier to act smart and survive the war. Lev proves in this story that he was willing to take on the colonels challenge and put his whole effort into the task. As the story evolves, Lev’s motives change slightly. However, the underlying fear of dying is always evident in his actions.
