Aleksandr Il'ich Ginzburg Papers
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http://oac.cdlib.org/findaid/ark:/13030/kt5489r85c No online items Register of the Aleksandr Il'ich Ginzburg papers Finding aid prepared by Lora Soroka Hoover Institution Library and Archives © 2012 434 Galvez Mall Stanford University Stanford, CA 94305-6003 [email protected] URL: http://www.hoover.org/library-and-archives Register of the Aleksandr Il'ich 2004C55 1 Ginzburg papers Title: Aleksandr Il'ich Ginzburg papers Date (inclusive): 1921-2007 Collection Number: 2004C55 Contributing Institution: Hoover Institution Library and Archives Language of Material: Russian Physical Description: 18 manuscript boxes, 12 oversize boxes, 1 card file box(19.2 Linear Feet) Abstract: Correspondence, writings, printed matter, identification documents, photographs, sound recordings, video tape, and memorabilia relating to civil liberties and dissent in the Soviet Union, and to Russian émigré affairs. Creator: Ginzburg, Aleksandr Il'ich, 1936- Hoover Institution Library & Archives Access The collection is open for research; materials must be requested at least two business days in advance of intended use. Publication Rights For copyright status, please contact the Hoover Institution Library & Archives. Acquisition Information Materials were acquired by the Hoover Institution Library & Archives in 2004, with increments received in 2005, 2007, and 2011. Preferred Citation [Identification of item], Aleksandr Il'ich Ginzburg papers, [Box no., Folder no. or title], Hoover Institution Library & Archives. Alternate Forms Available Digital reproductions of selected images are available. 1936 November Born, Moscow, Soviet Union 21 1956-1960 Studied at the Moscow State University, Department of Journalism 1959 Edited and distributed first three issues of the Sintaksis underground literary almanac 1960 July Arrested and sentenced to a two-year term in a correctional labor institution in Kirovskaia oblast' 1964 Arrested and imprisoned for several months for distribution of New Class book by Milovan Djilas 1966 Compiled "Belaia kniga"(White book) about the court trial of writers AndreĬ SiniavskiĬ and IUliĬ Daniel' Admitted to the Historical-Archival Institute, Moscow 1967 Arrested, charged with anti-Soviet propaganda and agitation, and sentenced to a five-year camp term, which he partly served in Pot'ma, Mordovia, and partly in the strict regime Vladimirskaia prison 1972 Released from camp, prohibited from residence in Moscow, lived in exile in Tarusa 1974 Administrator of the Solzhenitsyn Fund for Aid to Political Prisoners 1976 May Co-founder of the Moscow Helsinki Group (MHG) 12 1977 Aleksandr Ginzburg Defence Committee is established in the U.S. Arrested, along with other members of the MHG 1978 July 13Tried in Kaluga and sentenced to an eight-year strict regime camp term, which he served in the Dubrovlag system in Mordovia 1979 Released and exchanged, along with three other political prisoners, for Soviet spies in the United States 1979-1980 Family joined him in the United States Lectured at universities in the United States 1980 Moved to France 1982-probably Head of the Russian Cultural Center in Montgeron 1988 1988-1997 Columnist, Russkaia mysl' newspaper 2002 Died, Paris, France Scope and Content of Collection The documents in the Aleksandr Ginzburg papers portray him as a fighter for freedom and human rights, a person of culture and integrity. They also show how Ginzburg was persecuted by Soviet authorities and how he was finally sent into exile abroad. His wife, Arina (Irina) Ginzburg, provided documents with extensive comments and explanations, which Register of the Aleksandr Il'ich 2004C55 2 Ginzburg papers complement Ginzburg's papers. The Biographical File documents three imprisonments of Aleksandr Ginzburg, his exile, and rehabilitation. Ginzburg was first arrested in 1960 for his attempt to publish an uncensored magazine, Sintaksis, which included works of writers unacceptable to official publishers. The trial materials, including a letter from the prominent writer IUriĬ Olesha confiscated during Ginzburg's arrest, were returned to the family in the 1990s. Trial documents allow researchers to understand the "rule of law" in the Soviet Union. Arina Ginzburg, along with their friend Vera Lashkova, attended Ginzburg's third trial in the city of Kaluga and made notes about it; their account is included in the Biographical File. At the time of that trial, friends and family were waiting outside the court building; they were secretly photographed by another friend, Viktor Timachev (see the Photographs series). Also most informative is Arina's logbook (also in Electronic Documents), in which she meticulously listed the contents of her letters to her husband and other prisoners in the Pot'ma camp and their responses, food purchased for camp visits, and other events in her life. Aleksandr Ginzburg's fight for human rights and his three imprisonments received wide attention abroad. The Alexander Ginzburg Defense Committee petitioned the Soviet and United States governments and organized demonstrations fighting for his release, which are documented in the Biographical File. Of special interest in the Biographical File are materials relating to the dismissal of Aleksandr and Arina from Russkaia mysl' by chief editor Irina IlovaĬskaia-Alberti, including their comprehensive account of the dismissal and many letters from public figures in Russia protesting it. Correspondence includes letters addressed to Arina and Aleksandr Ginzburg from many dissidents and prominent public figures, including AndreĬ Sakharov, Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn, Natal'ia Solzhenitsyna, Vladimir BukovskiĬ, Natal'ia Gorbanevskaia, to name just a few, and letters they received as Russkaia mysl' newspaper employees (these are mostly letters from writers and other intellectuals). Speeches and Writings includes excerpts from Aleksandr Ginzburg's unfinished memoirs, his essays about AndreĬ Sakharov and the writer Bulat Okudzhava, and his interviews by Raisa Orlova, Annie Tchernychev, SergeĬ Kovalev, and others. Zeks, a play by Maria Rasa, in the Writings by Others series, was based on a real incident that happened to Aleksandr Ginzburg in the forced labor camp in Mordovia. The play was staged at the Theater for the New City, directed by Jonas JuraŠaŠ. Photographic prints depicting Aleksandr Ginzburg with the director and actors after the performance, included in the same folder, supplement the script. Also included in Writings by Others is a holograph Samizdat book with several poems by Igor Severianin copied by Aleksandr Ginzburg; the hand-made book traveled with him to prisons and camps. Unpublished recollections of Filip Makhonin about his meetings with the prominent writer Viktor Nekrasov are accompanied by photographs and Makhonin's illustrations to Nekrasov's book V okopakh Stalingrada. In the Subject File researchers will find clippings and documents that bring to light dissident activities. Particularly illustrative material is contained in the Dronnikov-Konovalov sets of portrait sketches depicting Ginzburg and the writers Vladimir Maksimov, AndreĬ SiniavskiĬ, and Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn. In 1973-1974 Solzhenitsyn established a Fund for Aid to Political Prisoners and Their Families (later called the Solzhenitsyn Fund), and Aleksandr Ginzburg became its first administrator. Also in the Subject File are materials relating to the war in Chechnia, which Aleksandr Ginzburg followed closely. A reprint in Grani of the previously mentioned Sintaksis, magazine and a tiny edition (to be smuggled into the Soviet Union) of Solzhenitsyn's Arkhipelag Gulag are worth mentioning among other interesting publications in the Printed Matter series. Materials relating to the establishment of the Russkaia mysl' Moscow Bureau, especially letters in support of publication and distribution of the newspaper in Russia from Elena Bonner, Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn, the politician Galina Starovoitova, and others, are among the most interesting documents in the Russkaia Mysl' File. Hundreds of photographic prints in the Photographs series present a comprehensive picture of the life of dissidents in the 1970s and 1980s, their gatherings, and travels to prisons, camps, and exile. On the reverse of some photographs are letters to Aleksandr Ginzburg in prison from his wife and his mother Liudmila. Several unique photographs depict Solzhenitsyn's apartment after his family left the Soviet Union and his car donated to the Solzhenitsyn Fund. In the late 1980s and early 1990s, after the fall of the Iron Curtain, Ginzburg's home in Paris attracted visitors from Russia; many photographs depict Aleksandr and Arina Ginzburg with writers, singers, actors, film and stage directors, and political figures. The most important among the Electronic Documents are Aleksandr and Arina Ginzburg's correspondence during his imprisonments and the previously mentioned logbook of Arina Ginzburg, which was confiscated during his arrest. It was returned to Arina in the 1990s, with a page from the trial file given to Arina by mistake. The page contained KGB notes with secret (coded) names for Ginzburg, Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn, Natal'ia Solzhenitsyna, and others. These documents were Register of the Aleksandr Il'ich 2004C55 3 Ginzburg papers scanned by the Ginzburg family, who retain the originals. The Audiovisual Materials include 429 compact audio cassettes and 18 videotape cassettes. One compact sound cassette contains a recording of IUliĬ Daniel reading poetry written by another prisoner, Kurt Skujenieks, which Ginzburg