To Silva, From a Prison Camp

...I was especially impressed by your words "he has not stopped enjoying every privilege of freedom even now...

...Who is going to work then...

...I can imagine your surprised face when you read that Gilel Butman was skipping rope...

...This is already Act 3. They told me about it on the 19th of May, having used the fact that I was found reading in the industrial zone on the 12th of May...

...My attempts to explain to the head of the workgroup, Kuznetsov, that I did not have any work at that time were rejected by him: "You should ask the foremen for work...

...On the 13th of May I was told that five letters sent to me by Shlomo Ben-Adam from my kibbutz were confiscated (Numbers 0460, 0405, 0288, 0491, 0632...

...The 37th was established as an experimental zone where the "carrot" was supposed to be used more often than the "stick...

...In our lives unnecessary theoretical discussion is a common sin...

...They say these saws are even exported to Mongolia, so we are", of course, trying hard...

...I'll survive...

...These are jobs where one can hardly earn anything...

...Perhaps here, in the conditions of the 35th zone, where despite all the efforts of the administration the information does, thank God, leak out constantly, he decided to warn me against the temptation to use such an opportunity...

...You will have to forgive me for that...

...The hotheads among the prisoners immediately started stating their opinion about that, for which they were later deprived of the right to buy in the camp's shop...

...What is that...

...They have probably decided to act "legally" now...

...You see, I have always used these methods in extreme cases and I try to find, if possible, forms of existence in the spirit of the detente acceptable for both sides, as they now say...

...I can't figure out what goes on in that kitchen...

...Similar letters were written by Semion Gluzman and Valery Marchenko (a psychiatrist and a journalist, both from Kiev...

...It is very sad that they can always confiscate whatever they like without getting any punishment for it and always explain it by "ambiguities in context...

...However, this pleasure cost me the right to buy in the shop during the next month (June...

...I will not be very original if I say that the higher the fences the more terrible is the tyranny inside them...

...Then I left...

...In Moscow, for example, people are not arrested for having contacts with foreigners...

...You must remember very well what it means to sit near the sewing machine for eight hours in a fixed pose, so it is simply necessary to get some exercise...

...My views are—to live in Israel...

...If I understood rightly what we were taught in our dialectic materialism lectures, social development takes the form of a spiral...

...In principle I never aspire to wage a war against the administration and I am ready to accept your offer...

...Act 1: On the 14th of May the KGB representative, Captain Utyro, invited me to his office for an "introductory talk...

...And you don't have to tell me...

...At the same time, it has its positive aspects...

...A completely empty case that could have taken place only in the provinces where the authorities have more ground for thinking that the trial will go unnoticed...

...When I came to the 35th (this was on the 25th of March) they suggested to me again that I should work at the lathe, but I refused saying that they put me to work on it in the 37th, but transferred me to another job later...

...Until now I managed to keep away from the lathe machine...

...Therefore, the State of Israel is for them a powerful symbol of hope for the national rebirth of those nations which have managed to retain their spirit, their hope in the most difficult circumstances, and because of that Yom Ha'atzmaut is not only our festival, but theirs too...

...I have long stopped feeling myself a citizen of your state and therefore don't have much desire to give you advice although, undoubtedly, there is a lot here that I don't like...

...Well, behave yourself and then after you finish serving the sentence you will be able to go to Israel...

...We submitted the appeals in the morning, at work, and in the evening, the supervising guard on duty said: "Just in order to stop all the talks—tomorrow is a holiday...

...So, I have to write my two letters per month in such a way as not to offend anyone...

...As usual, give my regards to all our crowd...

...The reasons for the confiscation were the standard in such cases, "ambiguities in context," and "information not meant for distribution...

...Generally, publicity is a great thing...

...As you know, I am now in the 35th (camp zone) together with Gilya Butman and Anatoly Alt-man...

...For example, the rate of payment for loading slag on a truck is, according to one of the outside workers with the loud surname of Baraban ("the Drum"), 13 kopecks per ton (which you are supposed to be loading on the truck in half an hour...

...I would say it is more humiliating...

...At the 37th, I spent only six months and had the chance to meet Itzhak Shkolnik from Vinnitsa...

...Then I started working at all sorts of loadings and unloadings, cleaning the territory of the camp, et cetera...

...It was acquired in the beginning of the '50's, in connection with which I am ready to admit the truth in the claims of the Soviet propaganda about the capitalists' lack of principles...

...In the meantime, I am sewing tarpaulin bags for instruments for the benzine-operated saw "Druzhba" ("Friendship...

...Now I don't really understand what Utyro meant...

...I understand that...

...I, still remembering the conversation with Utyro, wrote a letter requesting an appointment in order to prevent a possible conflict with the administration...

...We probably have a lot of such people in Israel as we know too well all the various concentration camps...

...In the camp this spiral can be traced especially clearly...

...Completing my sixth year in prison I can say that the life in camp has given me a lot, although it did take a lot, too...

...What for...

...I was surprised by his threat of another sentence, especially as I did not in any way provoke it during the conversation...

...And what about your attitude to the Soviet Union...

...It is very sad, of course, that we have such a history, but then at least there is some hope that during my lifetime people in Israel will not forget "what a sweet word 'freedom' is...

...In Mordovia, in the 19th, where I sat in the PKT (the camp's prison), we had a certain head of the medical unit, V. Sek-sasov, who once said: "I have half a camp of people with high blood pressure...

...But it seems that I got sidetracked...

...And, thank God, because "talks" are such a terrible thing...

...And Bagrat is most probably facing a transfer to Vladimir...

...Now I can satisfy myself with the thought that I was right...

...It seems to me that they should be well known to you...

...So, I now come to Act 2. Literally on the next day after the conversation on Saturday morning the Director of the camp, Major Pimenov, declared at the reveille that Sunday will be a working day to replace Monday, when we were led out of the industrial zone because of an electricity blackout...

...This is demanded in Order Number 20...

...I also understood that we, the Jews, are in a privileged position here...

...What do you mean concretely...

...Most probably they hoped to reeducate me as well, but obviously abandoned the idea as I am now here...

...And just to make things worse, Gilya had also been deprived of the right to buy in the shop because he decided to skip rope during the work break...

...If I have to face this as the only alternative I'll be ready to go to Vladimir, especially as I only have two years left and this is not too much for Vladimir...

...As usual, it depends on the way the administration will behave itself...

...Really, who has not sat (in prison) in Russia...

...Well, then...

...The "zek" (prisoner) only has one means of struggle—the hunger strike...

...I just wanted to get acquainted with you better and to hear what you yourself had to say...

...Outside there are probably many others, but what do you do if they have got the bomb...

...Unfortunately I don't know what will happen in the future...

...Well, will you take part in hunger strikes, demonstrations, and write complaints...

...I don't have any desire to get another sentence, of course, and I do not intend to give you any reasons for that...

...the Jews all over the free world express their solidarity with us and fight for our well-being, for our release...

...Why, is the regime too severe...

...True, the camp's doctors told me that I could still work with my blood pressure (I sometimes have a blood pressure of 160/100), but if it got worse that would be another matter...

...You know, it was a complete surprise to me that our Abrasha sat (in prison) in Norilsk when he and his parents (our grandparents) were exiled in 1940...

...But we had normal beds before and then one day they were taken out and these hard ones were brought in...

...It was nice to meet them after six and five years of separation...

...My attitude to the Soviet Union does not affect my desire to live in Israel very much...

...It has its advantages and it has its shortcomings...

...Let this be our greatest worry...

...Thus, the only stimulus for working is the presence of the guard standing next to the slag heap...

...I worked at the milling machine for a week—they could not supply me with work...

...This is the "free" rate, so the one for the prisoners is half of it...

...This is only half the trouble...

...Otherwise it might happen that instead of Israel you will get another sentence...

...My God, when will all these fences be behind me...

...I found out a lot about the nationalist movements in Russia, for example...

...Perhaps it was just a formality that did not mean anything...

...Then, instead of the spring-net beds in the barracks we have beds with strips of metal...

...This work is still better for me as there is less noise here and it is the noise that I am most afraid of...

...No...

...It is just as well that our bosses had enough sense not to punish Anatoly for something as well...

...I did make it very clear, though, that I will not work at the lathe, as I had the opportunity to see what happened to other people suffering from high blood pressure who worked in the metal workshops...

...All the others are deprived of this for the time being...

...All these talks (started) already in the 37th...

...And then, it is not impossible that I will remember with pleasure that I have been in these blessed places once...

...If he would have just jumped without the rope nothing would have happened...

...By the way, an amusing detail: the milling machine is an American one, made by the "Cincinnati Milling Machine Co...

...We have an independent state that is not indifferent to our fate...

...Complaints about that were already received and for the time being we have no other beds...

...I am, of course, worried as usual by the mail problem...

...I did, by the way, tell him not to do it as it might end badly...

...Loving you, Israel...

...But don't you worry about us...

...So what could I say about my blood pressure...

...each of us has a future as we have a country of our own...

...How do you intend to behave yourself here...

...It should be added that the prisoners assembled there were either already reformed or somewhere around that...

...You must be probably feeling something like that...

...He got seven years for "spying...

...What are your political views...

...I'll tell you first about the last incident that took place when they stopped trying to "reform" me...

...I did want to finish the letter more optimistically, but somehow did not manage that...

...Then they offered me work at a milling machine, and I agreed...

...And if in the future you will have any desire to take some action in a case of conflict with the administration, talk to me first— perhaps it will be possible to solve something by peaceful means...

...For example, going to and from the dining hall in formation...

...This is what it looked like: —Well, how do you like it in the 35th...

...The decision to put him there (the solitary cell) was made after he was examined by a surgeon specially invited from outside the camp, and the surgeon said: "In our country miners reach records while suffering from hernia...

...This happened before I came to the 35th, other prisoners told me about it...

...On that day we had only managed to work for two hours, and now Pimenov wanted us to work on Sunday...

...They had not confiscated letters for a while—just threw them out...

...But then, we'll talk about philosophy some other time...

...It so happens that Bagrat Shakhverdyan, who refused to work at the lathe (as he is suffering from a hernia in the primary phase of development), was placed into the punishment ward for seven days...

...I work on a sewing machine now, too...

...Now about my work...