Just Send Me Word: A True Story of Love and Survival in the Gulag

by Figes, Orlando

  p. 54 ‘eighty-three to be precise’: GU RK NARK, f. 1, op. 3, d. 1081, l. 161.

  p. 54 ‘The other colonies’: Details from GU RK NARK, f. 1876, op. 7, d. 356.

  p. 54 ‘500 [special exiles]’: GU RK NARK, f. 1876, op. 7, d. 356, l. 61.

  p. 54 ‘It is next to us’, LM47-39.

  p. 54 ‘Conditions in the 3rd’: GU RK NARK, f. 1876, op. 7, d. 358, ll. 22–4.

  p. 54 ‘The work meant dragging’: Details from GU RK NARK, f. 1876, op. 7, d. 358, l. 10.

  p. 55 ‘standard uniform’: Interview with Lev, 2006.

  p. 55 ‘rations’: Details from Mishchenko, ‘Poka ia pomniu’, p. 32. Similar figures are given by Lev in LM 47-39a.

  p. 55 ‘60 cubic metres’: Calculated from GU RK NARK, f. 623, op. 1, d. 80, l. 45.

  p. 55 ‘Sickness and death-rates’: GU RK NARK, f. 1876, op. 7, d. 355, ll. 11–12, 37.

  p. 55 ‘According to a prisoner’: APIKM, f. 31, op. 14 (Mishchenko).

  p. 55 ‘We don’t seem to care’: GU RK NARK, f. 1876, op. 7, d. 355, l. 61.

  p. 56 ‘looked like a peasant’: LM52-22.

  p. 56 ‘Strelkov’: Details from Serov, ‘V Pechoru pod Konvoem’, pp. 19–20; Mishchenko, ‘Poka ia pomniu’, pp. 35–7; APIKM, f. 31, op. 14 (Mishchenko).

  p. 58 ‘the drying unit was in desperate need’: GURK NARK, f. 1876, op. 7, d. 355, ll. 76–9.

  p. 58 ‘The room was kept at a minimum temperature’: Interview with Lev, 2006.

  p. 58 ‘spacious living area’: Details from LM46-18, LM46-23; APIKM, f. 31, op. 50 (Lileev); MSP, f. 3, op. 15, d. 3, l. 24.

  p. 58 ‘he would be hungry’: Interview with Lev, 2008.

  p. 59 ‘surrendered in a moment of weakness’: LM48-52.

  p. 60 ‘2 June 1946’: Poka ia pomniu, p. 124.

  p. 61 ‘No. 2 Pechora, 1.VIII.46’, Poka ia pomniu, pp. 124–6.

  p. 61 ‘could not sleep’, ‘would not eat’, ‘drove her parents’, ‘longed for’ ‘would have changed everything’: SI47-3.

  p. 61 ‘12 July 1946’: SI46-1.

  p. 64 ‘Pechora, 9.VIII.46’: LM46-1.

  Chapter 4

  p. 66 ‘Letters and printed matter’: Poka ia pomniu, p. 125.

  p. 66 ‘only two or three times a month’: Interview with Lev, 2008.

  p. 66 Censorship by women: Details from interview with Lev, 2008.

  p. 67 Sending and receiving parcels: SI48-102, SI52-22; APIKM, f. 31, op. 50 (Lileev).

  p. 67 ‘So if you or Aunt Olya’: LM46-1.

  p. 67 ‘My dear Lev’, SI46-2.

  p. 67 ‘I too have become a fatalist’: SI 46-3.

  p. 68 ‘It was a present for me’: LM46-6.

  p. 68 ‘I got your letter of the 26th’: SI46-6.

  p. 68 ‘Sveta, you know that I’m never lazy’: LM46-3.

  p. 68 ‘carried unfinished letters’: LM50-30.

  p. 69 ‘There’s no need for any kind of poste restante’: SI46-3.

  p. 69 ‘so as not to attract attention’: SI47-42.

  p. 69 ‘I need to be at home’: SI 47-22.

  p. 70 ‘Sentimental words about love’: SI 47-37.

  p. 70 ‘If the best decide to end their plight’: Translated by Nicky Brown.

  p. 70 ‘Muscovites wear whatever they have left’: SI46-20.

  p. 71 ‘It’s grey and overcast’: LM46-4.

  p. 71 ‘No gold has been seen’: SI46-7.

  p. 72 ‘The institute was a large complex’: Details from SI46-1, SI47-25, SI49-45a.

  p. 72 ‘state secret’: Poka ia pomniu, p. 118.

  p. 72 ‘on the grey side of 50’, ‘I can talk with him’: SI46-2.

  p. 72 ‘I’ve learned that it’s very difficult’: SI47-20.

  p. 73 ‘Sveta had a busy schedule’: Details from SI46-24.

  p. 73 ‘On Sundays’: SI46-12, SI46-20.

  p. 73 ‘I don’t often meet with our old friends’: SI46-1.

  p. 73 ‘Today, after lectures’: SI47-21.

  p. 74 ‘Dear Lev, hello!’: A. Zlenko to LM, 19 September 1946.

  p. 74 ‘Naum Grigorov’: N. Grigorov to LM, 5 March 1947.

  p. 74 ‘I was very surprised’: K. Andreeva to LM, 8 April 1947.

  p. 74 ‘I’m afraid of being an unwanted guest’: LM46-11.

  p. 75 ‘On to the matter of umbrellas’: SI46-15.

  p. 75 ‘I read your dressing-down’: LM46-16.

  p. 76 ‘It’s very good’: LM46-11.

  p. 76 ‘Your two letters’: LM46-4.

  p. 76 ‘When I see my name’: LM51-43.

  p. 76 ‘covering my head’: LM47-4.

  p. 76 ‘Listen, Lev, in order to decide’: SI46-3.

  p. 77 ‘Lev replied by acknowledging’: LM46-7.

  p. 77 ‘You’re right that I’m trying to breathe’: SI46-13.

  p. 78 ‘Levi, I have always believed you’: SI46-18.

  p. 79 ‘I finally need to start’: LM46-22.

  p. 79 ‘As for the parcels’: SI46-15.

  p. 80 ‘Sveta, it’s obvious that God’: LM47-22.

  p. 80 ‘there were several random killings’: GU RK NARK, f. 1876, op. 7, d. 356, l. 66.

  p. 80 ‘The autumn here is beautiful’: LM46-7.

  p. 81 ‘Sometimes when I write to you’: LM 46-8.

  p. 81 ‘Time is moving on’: SI46-6.

  p. 82 ‘I’ve finally managed to get moved’: LM46-5.

  p. 82 ‘Nikolai Lileev’: Details from MSP, f. 3, op. 15, d. 3; APIKM, f. 31, op. 50 (Lileev).

  p. 82 ‘Viktor Chikin’: Details from LM47-20, LM47-30, LM47-38.

  p. 83 ‘more than half the responsible positions’: GU RK NARK, f. 173, op. 1, d. 2, ll. 49–50.

  p. 83 ‘shortages of electricity’: GU RK NARK, f. 1876, op. 7, d. 355, ll. 31, 73, 79.

  p. 83 ‘train 212 more specialists’: GU RK NARK, f. 1876, op. 7, d. 355, ll. 36–40.

  p. 83 ‘Working in the power station’: Details from MSP, f. 3, op. 15, d. 3; APIKM, f. 31, op. 50 (Lileev); Mishchenko, ‘Poka ia pomniu’, pp. 36–7.

  p. 84 ‘Going through the guard-house’: APIKM, f. 31, op. 50 (Lileev).

  p. 84 ‘Lev was working the day shift’: Details of routine from LM46-6.

  p. 84 ‘Lev could walk to work in eight minutes’: LM to N. Mel’nikov, 21 October 1946; LM to E. A. Poltoratskaia, 18 January 1947.

  p. 84 ‘Right now in my den’: LM46-12.

  p. 84 ‘It’s like a banya here’: LM46-26.

  p. 85 ‘so dim and yellow’: LM 46-27.

  p. 85 ‘At the moment work is done’: LM46-5.

  p. 85 ‘The time we spent’: APIKM, f. 31, op. 50 (Lileev).

  p. 86 ‘an excellent raconteur’: LM46-20.

  p. 86 ‘Liubka is a wonderful, very special boy’: LM46-17.

  p. 87 ‘Gleb is good at mathematics’: LM46-2.

  p. 87 ‘I can’t share you’: LM46-11.

  p. 87 ‘Oleg is wonderful’: LM47-7.

  p. 87 ‘an original’: LM46-23.

  p. 87 ‘the two Nikolais’, ‘He is more modest’, ‘simpler and more direct’: LM46-2.

  p. 88 ‘tactlessness’: LM47-10.

  p. 88 ‘It’s no longer such a boring world’: LM46-18.

  p. 88 ‘Generally speaking’: LM46-14.

  p. 89 ‘The wood-combine was not prepared’: GU RK NARK, f. 1876, op. 7, d. 356, l. 130.

  p. 89 ‘Sveta, I am drowning’: LM46-29.

  p. 90 ‘What do I wish’: LM46-24.

  p. 90 ‘He’s putting a brave face on it’: LM46-29.

  p. 90 ‘I’m tired of spending holidays without you’: SI46-28.

  Chapter 5

  p. 92 ‘more than a quarter’: Gregory, ‘An Introduction’, p. 18.

  p. 92 ‘445 free workers in 1946’: GU RK NARK, f. 1876, op. 7, d. 356, l. 107.

  p. 93 ‘just 1.8 square metres of living space’: GU RK NARK, f. 1876, op. 7, d. 356, l. 132.

  p. 93 ‘no running water or sanitary provision’: GU RK NARK, f. 1876, op. 7, d. 360, l. 75.

  p. 93 �
��We are surrounded by disaffected people’: GU RK NARK, f. 1876, op. 7, d. 355, l. 89.

  p. 94 ‘no real segregation’: GU RK NARK, f. 1876, op. 7, d. 355, l. 72; d. 356, l. 107.

  p. 95 ‘MVD was well aware of the smuggling’: GU RK NARK, f. 1876, op. 7, d. 357, l. 21.

  p. 95 ‘My darling Sveta’: LM47-16.

  p. 95 ‘This is to tell you’: LM47-31.

  p. 95 ‘My letters seem to be more punctual’: LM47-35.

  p. 95 ‘I’ve become acquainted with an interesting gentleman’: LM47-32.

  p. 96 ‘I saw Izrailevich again recently’: LM47-37.

  p. 97 ‘L. Y. is really grateful for your efforts’: LM47-41.

  p. 97 ‘Yesterday I[zrailevich] brought two letters’: LM47-48.

  p. 97 ‘In future, as I have written’: LM47-49.

  p. 97 ‘I learn from talking with him’: LM50-19.

  p. 98 ‘The other day an opportunity’: LM47-21.

  p. 98 ‘Aunt Katya came to see us today’: SI47-67.

  p. 98 Aleksandrovsky: Details from interview with Igor Aleksandrovsky, 2010; GU RK NARK, f. 1876, op. 7, d. 358, l. 51.

  p. 99 Details of Aleksandrovsky house: GU RK NARK, f. 173, op. 1, d. 5, l. 4.

  p. 100 ‘The first time Lev met him’: Interview with Lev, 2008.

  p. 100 Yakhovich: Interview with Alla Yakhovich, 2010.

  p. 101 ‘What, this? Just papers’: Interview with Lev 2008.

  p. 102 ‘obstinate persistence’, ‘clashed with Anatoly Shekhter’, ‘known to everyone as a slanderer and racketeer’, ‘subversively delaying the release’: LM46-22.

  p. 102 ‘I didn’t want to write about this’: LM47-5.

  p. 103 ‘My darling Sveta, I need’: LM47-16.

  p. 105 ‘nearly always look much worse’: LM47-39a.

  p. 105 ‘I made your views known’: SI47-8.

  p. 106 ‘The room is no longer mine’: Poka ia pomniu, pp. 125–6.

  p. 107 ‘As for what is taking place’: SI47-30.

  p. 107 ‘Both are completely possible’: SI46-4.

  p. 107 ‘It was true that the MVD had a policy’: Ivanova, Labour Camp Socialism, p. 114.

  p. 107 ‘I don’t want you to waste your energy’: LM46-7.

  p. 107 ‘You don’t have faith’: SI46-22.

  p. 107 ‘like student work’: LM47-11.

  p. 108 ‘I won’t think about the Maximum’: LM47-16.

  p. 109 ‘I just don’t know what to say’: SI47-30b/d.

  p. 109 ‘I wrote to you in passing’: LM47-39.

  Chapter 6

  p. 111 ‘I know you will do all you can’: SI46-1.

  p. 111 ‘You ask me about a meeting’: LM46-1.

  p. 111 ‘good, conscientious, and high-tempo work’: Applebaum, Gulag, p. 237.

  p. 111 ‘invariably silent and irritable’: Herling, A World Apart, p. 95.

  p. 111 ‘possible in principle’: LM46-11.

  p. 111 ‘to find out whether it is personally possible’: SI46-10.

  p. 111 ‘Lev … even if it’s only a possibility’: SI46-10.

  p. 112 ‘I didn’t expect a two-week journey’: SI46-13.

  p. 113 ‘They say it’s possible’: LM47-11.

  p. 113 ‘As for meetings, Sveta’: LM47-16.

  p. 115 ‘When I leave the station’: LM47-20.

  p. 116 ‘The meeting was not a cheerful one’: LM47-39.

  p. 117 ‘experienced traveller’: SI47-30.

  p. 117 ‘Levi, Gleb’s mother visited O. B.’: SI47-30.

  p. 120 ‘for a few minutes’: LM47-8.

  p. 120 ‘Natalia Arkadevna came to see me on Monday’: SI47-38.

  p. 121 ‘Levenka, my darling’: SI47-43.

  p. 121 ‘It’s 28 degrees here’: SI47-47.

  p. 121 ‘I asked about the photographic equipment’: SI47-47.

  p. 122 ‘Since there are local trains’: SI47-48.

  p. 123 ‘All my plans remain in place’: SI47-49.

  p. 123 ‘Autumn has drawn near’: LM47-50.

  p. 124 ‘Svet, your letter, as you supposed’: LM47-51.

  p. 124 ‘The salute has just taken place’: SI47-50.

  p. 126 ‘Nothing ever turns out’: LM47-51.

  p. 126 ‘At the institute they gave me’: SI47-51.

  pp. 126–7 ‘I have the details of the work trip’, ‘another 300 or 400 roubles’, ‘I’m very nervous about the preparations’: SI47-51.

  p. 127 ‘so I wasn’t able to let him know’: LM47-52.

  p. 127 ‘All in all’: LM47-52.

  p. 127 ‘The details of Sveta’s journey’: Poka ia pomniu, pp. 115–18.

  p. 128 ‘prepared for an unsuccessful outcome’: SI48-31.

  p. 128 ‘natural’, ‘How could I have gone there’: Interview with Svetlana, 2008.

  p. 128 ‘The dress saved me’: Poka ia pomniu, p. 115.

  p. 130 ‘about a hundred guards’: Details from GU RK NARK, f. 1876, op. 7, d. 357, ll. 29–30, 68–72; d. 358, ll. 29–32; d. 363, ll. 78–81.

  p. 130 Thieving by the guards: Details from GU RK NARK, f. 1876, op. 7, d. 355, l. 37; d. 356, ll. 1–2, 9–11, 62–5, etc.

  p. 130 Drunkenness and ‘reports of disciplinary hearings’: GU RKNARK, f. 1876, op. 7, d. 357, ll. 26–7, 41–2, 69, 71–2; d. 358, ll. 29–30, 32–3, etc.

  p. 130 ‘Prisoners had walked out’: GU RK NARK, f. 1876, op. 7, d. 355, ll. 36-40.

  p. 131 ‘let outsiders into the prison zone’: GU RK NARK, f. 1876, op. 7, d. 356, l. 42; d. 357, l. 21.

  p. 131 ‘what little street lighting there was’: Details from GU RK NARK, f. 1876, op. 7, d. 356. l. 42.

  p. 131 ‘Lev Izrailevich and Sveta reached the main gate’: Poka ia pomniu,

  p. 116. p. 132 ‘It was not jealousy’: Poka ia pomniu, p. 117.

  p. 133 ‘We had to restrain our feelings’: Interview with Lev, 2008.

  p. 133 ‘They brought two chairs for us’: Poka ia pomniu, p. 117.

  p. 133 ‘fight with somebody’: Interview with Igor Aleksandrovsky, 2010.

  p. 133 ‘Maria was due to work the night shift’: Details from Poka ia pomniu, p. 117.

  p. 134 ‘It was only when we were left on our own’: Interview with Lev, 2008.

  p. 134 ‘I asked him: “Do you want to?”’: Communication by Nikita Mishchenko.

  p. 134 ‘Lev and Sveta spent two nights’: Poka ia pomniu, p. 117.

  p. 134 ‘some sort of sanitary wagon’: Poka ia pomniu, p. 118.

  p. 134 ‘My darling Lev’: S147-51a.

  p. 135 ‘My own sweet Sveta’: L M 47-54.

  p. 135 ‘My own sweet, glorious Sveta’: LM47-55.

  p. 136 ‘My sweet, my lovely Sveta … finally!’: LM47-56.

  p. 137 ‘For 250 roubles’: SI47-52.

  Chapter 7

  p. 139 ‘The first snow fell tonight’: LM47-60.

  p. 139 ‘Svetinka … the more I think about you’: LM47-58.

  p. 139 ‘You once asked’: LN47-69.

  p. 140 ‘It’s a truism’: LM47-71.

  p. 140 ‘good-natured’, ‘cultured’: LM48-22a.

  p. 140 ‘it is safer for me here’: LM48-10/2.

  p. 141 ‘intelligent, nice, not over-educated’: LM47-44.

  p. 141 ‘There have been some changes at the plant’: LM47-59.

  p. 141 ‘disturbing impression’: LM47-60.

  p. 141 ‘Many of the women who have arrived’: LM47-61.

  p. 142 ‘When I think of you’: LM48-10.

  p. 142 ‘Life without the rationing system’: SI48-6.

  p. 143 ‘So, my darling, foolish Lev’: SI48-25.

  p. 143 ‘The patient is 49 years old’: LM48-17.

  p. 144 ‘Sveta wrote back’: SI48-17, SI48-29.

  p. 144 ‘Liubka is gloomy and barely talks’: LM48-58.

  p. 144 ‘My Liubka is very slowly returning’: LM48-61.

  p. 145 ‘The endocrinologist’: SI49-29.

  p. 146 ‘My darling Levi, I want to be with you so much’: SI48-9.

  p. 146 ‘N.
A. rang the other day’: SI48-19.

  p. 147 ‘A depression has come over me’: SI49-2.

  p. 147 ‘Having swallowed all kinds of pills’: SI49-45b.

  p. 148 ‘At the moment … skiing is the one thing’: SI49-17.

  p. 148 ‘Go somewhere’: LM48-22.

  p. 148 ‘It is very hard for her’: LM to N. Mel’nikov, 8 April 1948.

  p. 148 ‘So why have I turned to Lydia?’: SI48-18.

  p. 149 ‘over-acquaintance with geography’: SI49-45a.

  p. 149 ‘too superficial’, ‘nice-looking, almost bland’: LM48-64.

  p. 149 ‘I can imagine that Tamara likes’: SI49-27.

  p. 150 ‘It’s always difficult to bury someone’: SI47-28.

  p. 150 ‘I didn’t want to compromise her future’: Interview with Lev, 2008.

  p. 151 ‘Leva … Alik is turning seven, not eight’: SI48-25.

  p. 152 ‘not know how children grow’: SI48-25.

  p. 152 ‘Alik its capable’: SI48-104.

  p. 152 ‘A young girl came to the power station’: LM47-57.

  p. 153 ‘They were never stopped or searched’: Interview with Igor Aleksandrovsky, 2010.

  p. 153 Toys and town children: Interviews with Igor Aleksandrovsky, Alla Yakhovich, Boris Ivanov, 2010.

  p. 153 ‘I was enlisted as a father again today’: LM47-64.

  p. 154 ‘She is older and … acts more grown-up’: LM47-66.

  p. 154 ‘I have lost faith in myself’: LM47-69.

  p. 154 ‘machines were idle for almost a quarter of the working time’: GU RK NARK, f. 1876, op. 7, d. 357, l. 82.

  p. 154 ‘There is no rhythym in our work’: GU RK NARK, f. 1876, op. 7, d. 357, l. 44.

  p. 154 ‘idiots’: LM48-31.

  p. 154 ‘stupidities’: LM to N. Mel’nikov, 18 November 1947.

  p. 155 ‘There’s such a dreadful shambles’: LM48-28.

  p. 155 ‘I’m unable to sit calmly’: LM48-69.

  p. 155 ‘Yesterday one of our operators remarked’: LM49-10a.

  p. 156 ‘So … we maybe due a quarter of a day’: LM47-46.

  p. 157 ‘escapes and even mass break-outs’: GU RK NARK, f. 1876, op. 7, d. 359, l. 84.

  p. 157 ‘large contingent of prisoners’: LM48-43.

  p. 157 ‘Well, Svetishche, some instructions’: LM48-45.

  p. 158 ‘Yesterday, M. A. asked’: SI48-31.

  p. 159 ‘If the work trips fall through’: SI48-39.

  p. 159 ‘might turn out to be difficult’: LM48-27.

  p. 159 ‘The latest decision by those fickle’: LM48-46a.