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In the late 1930s our family faced a number of disasters. My father became the first victim. He was deputy chief of the political department of the South-Eastern Railroad and executive editor of the ‘Vperyod’ [‘Go forward’] communist newspaper. On 13th May 1937 he was sentenced to ten years in prison for ‘anti-Soviet propaganda and illegal possession of weapons’. According to the information of the chief information center of the Ministry of Home Affairs of the RF, my father ‘died in prison on 10th January 1938; location unknown’.
The next victim was my stepfather, sentenced to ten years in prison on 16th July 1937 for ‘sabotage and participation in the anti-Soviet Trotskist organization’. In September my mother was notified on the ‘compaction of her living conditions due to her husband’s arrest’. My mother submitted a claim to the court referring to her having three children. On 3rd November official representatives made their appearance in our apartment with a search and arrest warrant. A Special Council of the NKVD [12] USSR sentenced my mother to ‘eight years in penitentiary camps as a member of the family of an enemy of the people’ [13]. My mother was taken away that same night.
The next victim was my stepfather, sentenced to ten years in prison on 16th July 1937 for ‘sabotage and participation in the anti-Soviet Trotskist organization’. In September my mother was notified on the ‘compaction of her living conditions due to her husband’s arrest’. My mother submitted a claim to the court referring to her having three children. On 3rd November official representatives made their appearance in our apartment with a search and arrest warrant. A Special Council of the NKVD [12] USSR sentenced my mother to ‘eight years in penitentiary camps as a member of the family of an enemy of the people’ [13]. My mother was taken away that same night.
Period
Year
1937
Location
Russia
Interview
Vladimir Tarskiy