How to read blockade diaries and hear the voice of time in them? The research laboratory at the Yeltsin Center will offer participants the opportunity to touch authentic ego-documents and read history not by dates, but by feelings. This is a rare chance to see the past through the eyes of those who experienced the blockade. Blockade diaries are not just a chronicle of survival in besieged Leningrad. They are a voice from within time, quiet, piercing, personal. They are an attempt to preserve personality, dignity, and meaning in the most inhuman conditions. In the research laboratory "Blockade Diaries," participants will be able to work with unique ego-documents that hold the memory of life in the shadow of death. The event is part of the series "Memory in the Fields: The Soviet Person in Documents and Diaries," organized by the Yeltsin Center in collaboration with the research center "Lived" of the European University in St. Petersburg. In this series, participants learn to read history through diaries, letters, family archives - to see not the generalized "Soviet past," but individual lives with their joys, fears, dreams, and despair. At the meeting, researchers Anastasia Pavlovskaya and Alexey Pavlovsky will explain how the digital corpus of the diaries "Lived" works and guide participants through the stages of reading, analyzing, and interpreting these texts. Together with experts, guests will analyze what features make blockade diaries special, how collective memory is formed from personal records, and why it is so important to preserve these documents today. The uniqueness of the laboratory lies in its practice: each participant will not only hear about approaches to working with texts but will also have the opportunity to try their hand as a researcher. This is a format of deep immersion, where working with documents turns into a personal experience of empathy, study, and reflection. The seminar will be of interest to students, historians, humanitarians, teachers, as well as anyone who cares about the history of World War II and the fates of people caught in tragic circumstances. It is suitable for those looking for more than just a dry lecture.