alundeberg's review
4.0
In today's world where we fret if someone doesn't respond to a text right away, the story of Lev and Svetlana's over 8 year correspondence of letters that were smuggled in and out of a Russian gulag help put everything into perspective. Their letters provide a remarkable insight to life in the gulag and in Stalinist Russia (Moscow, more specifically). I always thought of the gulag as a place where prisoners broke stones all day, but it was a complex industry relying on its basically enslaved population for their expertise in the sciences and where many workers had industrial jobs. The letters reveal their daily struggles, lifelong philosophical and temporal concerns, and their passionate love for each other. Life in the gulag often wore prisoners down to selfishness and depravity, but Svetlana's belief in Lev helped him maintain his humanity as he was kept as political prisoner. His belief in her helped her with her constant depression, which was not recognized as Stalin often stated that Russia was the "happiest place in earth." Between them they wrote over 12,000 letters and sometimes their story begins to feel episodic, but it's definitely worth reading if you're interested in this time period and want to know what totalitarian regimes are like.
canadianbookworm's review
3.0
This book is based on a collection of letters between Svetlana Ivanova and Lev Mishchenko over many years and interviews with them and others. The couple donated their private archives to Memorial, a human rights research charity in Moscow, and Figes became aware of it shortly thereafter. The letters span the time from July 12, 1946 to November 23, 1954. There are 647 letters from Lev and 599 from Svetlana. Most of these letters were not sent through official channels and so were not written with censors in mind, although they did use some code in case the letters fell into unfriendly hands.
The two met in September 1935 in the Physics faculty at Moscow University where both were students. Svetlana's father Aleksandr Alekseevich was also a physicist and graduate of the University, then working as deputy director of the Resin Research Institute. Her mother Anastasia Erofeevna was a Russian-language teacher at the Moscow Institute of the Economy.
Lev's mother Valentina Aleekseevna was a teacher and his father Gleb Fedorovich Mishchenko studied physics at Moscow University and then studied to be an engineer at the Railway Institute. He was a professor at Kiev University. Lev's parents moved to Beryozovo, Siberia to escape the Bolshevik revolution, but it found them both there and they died there after imprisonment and torture. Lev was raised by his grandmother, his Aunt Katya, and his mother's aunt Elizaveta Konstantinovna. He was also supported by his father's close friends and later by his Aunt Olga.
In June 1941, Lev had just passed his final exams and was readying himself to go on to study cosmic rays, when the war started. He was put in charge of a supply unit, but found that the front lines were in chaos and was captured by the Germans on October 3rd. Taken to a prisoner of war camp, Lev refused to spy for the Germans when pressured although he did work as a translator. He attempted to escape once and was recaptured, but during the final days of the war, when on a death march, he managed to escape with a fellow prisoner. The two were discovered by US troops and he was asked to emigrate given his physics education, but refused, wanting to go back to Moscow and hopefully Svetlana.
It is at this point that things got much worse for him. The Soviets treated all returning POWs as prisoners and collaborators, holding them in bad conditions, questioning them repeatedly trying to force confessions, and eventually tricked Lev into signing something they only read part of to him that had him admitting his guilt. On November 19, 1945, he was sentenced to death, which was commuted to ten years in labour camps.
He arrived in Pechora in March 1946, and was assigned to the Pechora wood combine, where he was able to get assigned to a drying unit, then a sawmill, and finally the power station, mostly due to his engineering and science knowledge. Svetlana, meanwhile, was working on rubber, in a job that had her with access to state secrets. This made her relationship with Lev very risky to her.
However the two not only wrote each other continuously, but Svetlana travelled to Pechora and made secret visits into the camp to see Lev. Their loyalty to each other was strong and enduring and they confided their feelings to each other without reservation.
Even after Lev was freed, they didn't marry at first due to his status as a freed prisoner. He even found job prospects difficult. But on September 17, 1955, there was an amnesty for Soviet servicemen who had collaborated with the Germans, which meant they could finally be together and lead a more normal life.
This is a moving story and also illustrative of both live in the labour camps and the general restrictions of life in Moscow as well. Figes has done a good job of pulling information together from the letters, interviews and other sources to make this narrative coherent.
The two met in September 1935 in the Physics faculty at Moscow University where both were students. Svetlana's father Aleksandr Alekseevich was also a physicist and graduate of the University, then working as deputy director of the Resin Research Institute. Her mother Anastasia Erofeevna was a Russian-language teacher at the Moscow Institute of the Economy.
Lev's mother Valentina Aleekseevna was a teacher and his father Gleb Fedorovich Mishchenko studied physics at Moscow University and then studied to be an engineer at the Railway Institute. He was a professor at Kiev University. Lev's parents moved to Beryozovo, Siberia to escape the Bolshevik revolution, but it found them both there and they died there after imprisonment and torture. Lev was raised by his grandmother, his Aunt Katya, and his mother's aunt Elizaveta Konstantinovna. He was also supported by his father's close friends and later by his Aunt Olga.
In June 1941, Lev had just passed his final exams and was readying himself to go on to study cosmic rays, when the war started. He was put in charge of a supply unit, but found that the front lines were in chaos and was captured by the Germans on October 3rd. Taken to a prisoner of war camp, Lev refused to spy for the Germans when pressured although he did work as a translator. He attempted to escape once and was recaptured, but during the final days of the war, when on a death march, he managed to escape with a fellow prisoner. The two were discovered by US troops and he was asked to emigrate given his physics education, but refused, wanting to go back to Moscow and hopefully Svetlana.
It is at this point that things got much worse for him. The Soviets treated all returning POWs as prisoners and collaborators, holding them in bad conditions, questioning them repeatedly trying to force confessions, and eventually tricked Lev into signing something they only read part of to him that had him admitting his guilt. On November 19, 1945, he was sentenced to death, which was commuted to ten years in labour camps.
He arrived in Pechora in March 1946, and was assigned to the Pechora wood combine, where he was able to get assigned to a drying unit, then a sawmill, and finally the power station, mostly due to his engineering and science knowledge. Svetlana, meanwhile, was working on rubber, in a job that had her with access to state secrets. This made her relationship with Lev very risky to her.
However the two not only wrote each other continuously, but Svetlana travelled to Pechora and made secret visits into the camp to see Lev. Their loyalty to each other was strong and enduring and they confided their feelings to each other without reservation.
Even after Lev was freed, they didn't marry at first due to his status as a freed prisoner. He even found job prospects difficult. But on September 17, 1955, there was an amnesty for Soviet servicemen who had collaborated with the Germans, which meant they could finally be together and lead a more normal life.
This is a moving story and also illustrative of both live in the labour camps and the general restrictions of life in Moscow as well. Figes has done a good job of pulling information together from the letters, interviews and other sources to make this narrative coherent.
clairen's review
3.0
I love you, I'll wait for you, come back.
Queste parole famose continuavano a tornarmi in mente mentre leggevo Just Send Me Word. Qui però non si tratta di un romanzo e di parole accuratamente scelte da un autore, ma di una storia vera, eccezionale, per il risolvimento, per la durata, per la pazienza.
I due protagonisti, Lev e Sveta, sono giovani moscoviti con molte speranze quando la guerra scoppia nel 1941 e Lev viene mandato al fronte. Viene catturato dall'esercito tedesco e spende quasi tutto il suo tempo da soldato come prigioniero. Alla fine di quella che in Russia viene chiamata Grande Guerra Patriottica, invece di venire ringraziato viene accusato di aver fatto la spia per i tedeschi e, dopo un lungo processo di venti minuti, viene spedito nel gulag di Pečora, poco al di sotto del circolo polare artico, con una sentenza di dieci anni come prigioniero politico (la categoria peggiore, vessata dai criminali comuni, con scarse speranze di riduzioni di sentenza, e con marchio - letterale, sul passaporto - che ti segue anche dopo il rilascio).
Sveta, a Mosca, aspetta. Si laurea, trova lavoro, fa carriera, ma ripete continuamente che la sua vita è in sospeso, in attesa di poterla cominciare con Lev. Neanche una volta il sentimento per Lev si affievolisce, neanche una volta pensa di abbandonarlo, di andare avanti, di cominciare senza di lui. E gli scrive:
I want to tell you just three words - two of them are pronouns and the third is a verb (to be read in all the tenses simultaneously: past, present and future).
Sveta è una donna determinata: nonostante la depressione (di cui soffre da prima del distacco), la solitudine, l'irritazione nei confronti di chi ai suoi occhi ha tutto ma non è felice, la frustrazione, la paura di non riuscire a realizzare il sogno di diventare madre, resiste, e scrive (In totale la loro corrispondenza ammonta a circa 1500 lettere, alcune spedite tramite la normale posta, altre fatte arrivare tramite amici, lavoratori liberi nel gulag, e la cosa straordinaria è che non vengono sottoposte a censura), ma non solo: nel 1947, senza aver visto Lev per anni, decide di andarlo a trovare. Non ne ha alcun diritto, ed entra di nascosto, senza pensare alle possibili conseguenze. Negli anni le circostanze migliorano e riesce ad ottenere dei veri permessi di visita, e per cinque anni le vacanze estive di Sveta consistono in viaggi di lavoro che le permettano di proseguire fino al Gulag per vedere Lev per pochi giorni.
Nel 1954, finalmente libero, Lev torna e, senza trambusto, sposa Sveta.
Orlando Figes è uno dei miei scrittori preferiti, che ha già raccontato il Gulag e in generale la vita sotto Stalin, sempre in attesa di qualcosa di buono (il ritorno di una persona cara) o di cattivo (che l'NKVD bussasse alla porta), in The Whisperers. Questa volta il libro è naturalmente più "felice", non solo per il lieto fine, ma perché i protagonisti sono due persone fuori dal comune, che si tengono per mano nonostante la distanza, che si fanno forza a vicenda e, nonostante l'attesa, vivono insieme, se non fisicamente in uno spazio mentale comune. E per via della predominanza delle lettere e quindi delle parole di Lev e Sveta, l'autore si fa più indietro stavolta rispetto ai suoi altri lavori (che pure sono sempre ricchi di testimonianze). Amo Figes perché insieme alla storia racconta sempre le storie di persone comuni e della loro vita di fronte ai grandi avvenimenti che le spingono in tutte le direzioni; perché la dimensione personale è sempre fondamentale nel suo racconto. In questo caso forse l'impatto emotivo (nonostante la commozione) non è allo stesso livello di The Whisperers, in cui la cappa staliniana premeva su tutto, ma rimane comunque una bellissima storia, che meritava di essere raccontata.
Queste parole famose continuavano a tornarmi in mente mentre leggevo Just Send Me Word. Qui però non si tratta di un romanzo e di parole accuratamente scelte da un autore, ma di una storia vera, eccezionale, per il risolvimento, per la durata, per la pazienza.
I due protagonisti, Lev e Sveta, sono giovani moscoviti con molte speranze quando la guerra scoppia nel 1941 e Lev viene mandato al fronte. Viene catturato dall'esercito tedesco e spende quasi tutto il suo tempo da soldato come prigioniero. Alla fine di quella che in Russia viene chiamata Grande Guerra Patriottica, invece di venire ringraziato viene accusato di aver fatto la spia per i tedeschi e, dopo un lungo processo di venti minuti, viene spedito nel gulag di Pečora, poco al di sotto del circolo polare artico, con una sentenza di dieci anni come prigioniero politico (la categoria peggiore, vessata dai criminali comuni, con scarse speranze di riduzioni di sentenza, e con marchio - letterale, sul passaporto - che ti segue anche dopo il rilascio).
Sveta, a Mosca, aspetta. Si laurea, trova lavoro, fa carriera, ma ripete continuamente che la sua vita è in sospeso, in attesa di poterla cominciare con Lev. Neanche una volta il sentimento per Lev si affievolisce, neanche una volta pensa di abbandonarlo, di andare avanti, di cominciare senza di lui. E gli scrive:
I want to tell you just three words - two of them are pronouns and the third is a verb (to be read in all the tenses simultaneously: past, present and future).
Sveta è una donna determinata: nonostante la depressione (di cui soffre da prima del distacco), la solitudine, l'irritazione nei confronti di chi ai suoi occhi ha tutto ma non è felice, la frustrazione, la paura di non riuscire a realizzare il sogno di diventare madre, resiste, e scrive (In totale la loro corrispondenza ammonta a circa 1500 lettere, alcune spedite tramite la normale posta, altre fatte arrivare tramite amici, lavoratori liberi nel gulag, e la cosa straordinaria è che non vengono sottoposte a censura), ma non solo: nel 1947, senza aver visto Lev per anni, decide di andarlo a trovare. Non ne ha alcun diritto, ed entra di nascosto, senza pensare alle possibili conseguenze. Negli anni le circostanze migliorano e riesce ad ottenere dei veri permessi di visita, e per cinque anni le vacanze estive di Sveta consistono in viaggi di lavoro che le permettano di proseguire fino al Gulag per vedere Lev per pochi giorni.
Nel 1954, finalmente libero, Lev torna e, senza trambusto, sposa Sveta.
Orlando Figes è uno dei miei scrittori preferiti, che ha già raccontato il Gulag e in generale la vita sotto Stalin, sempre in attesa di qualcosa di buono (il ritorno di una persona cara) o di cattivo (che l'NKVD bussasse alla porta), in The Whisperers. Questa volta il libro è naturalmente più "felice", non solo per il lieto fine, ma perché i protagonisti sono due persone fuori dal comune, che si tengono per mano nonostante la distanza, che si fanno forza a vicenda e, nonostante l'attesa, vivono insieme, se non fisicamente in uno spazio mentale comune. E per via della predominanza delle lettere e quindi delle parole di Lev e Sveta, l'autore si fa più indietro stavolta rispetto ai suoi altri lavori (che pure sono sempre ricchi di testimonianze). Amo Figes perché insieme alla storia racconta sempre le storie di persone comuni e della loro vita di fronte ai grandi avvenimenti che le spingono in tutte le direzioni; perché la dimensione personale è sempre fondamentale nel suo racconto. In questo caso forse l'impatto emotivo (nonostante la commozione) non è allo stesso livello di The Whisperers, in cui la cappa staliniana premeva su tutto, ma rimane comunque una bellissima storia, che meritava di essere raccontata.
singinglight's review
4.0
Non-fiction! Years of letters between Lev, a political prisoner in the Gulag, and Sveta, his girlfriend. It’s an amazing story and a glimpse into a world most of us can’t even imagine. Figues does a great job of weaving the letters together and providing them with context while letting Lev & Sveta’s words stand on their own.
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