Till My Tale Is Told

Simeon Vilensky, a former political prisoner, a writer, and a poet, is founder of Vozvrashchenie, an organization in Moscow dedicated to preserving and publishing testimonies of Stalin's victims and aiding camp survivors.

"Till My Tale Is Told is a translation and condensation of a Russian work published in the Soviet Union in 1989. Intended to be the first in series of collections, this volume was devoted to women's memoirs because they offered a humanly approachable introduction to a horrific and alien world. Many of the contributors knew each other, at least slightly, and the work gives some feeling of being a collaborative effort. Only a few selections describe the entire experience of arrest, interrogation, and serving the sentence. Some tell of just a single episode or two, while others consist of poetry. Particularly interesting are the prisoners' attempts to understand the catastrophe that had overtaken them. Read consecutively, the collection is a moving and disturbing experience. In most cases, however, instructors will want to assign just one or two selections in classes. Researchers will want to consult the Russian version or the original manuscripts, which are available in Moscow and Amsterdam. Each selection has a useful biographical introduction, and the translations are all excellent. All in all, a very useful addition to the English-language sources on the history of Soviet repression. All levels."—J. Zimmerman, University of Pittsburgh , 2000apr CHOICE.

• Preface to the Russian Edition by Simeon VilenskyPreface to the English Edition by Simeon Vilensky1. Olga Adamova-Sliozberg, My Journey2. Yelena Vladimirova, From "Kolyma: A Narrative Poem"3. Bertha Babina-Nevskaya, My First Prison, February 19224. Nadezhda Grankina, Notes by Your Contemporary5. Veronica Znamenskaya, To This Day6. Vera Shulz, Taganka7. Galina Zatmilova, A Part of History8. Nadezhda Surovtseva, Memoirs of Kolyma9. Yelena Sidorkina, Years Under Guard10. Zoya Marchenko, How it Was11. Anna Barkova, Selected Poems12. Tamara Petkevich, Just One Fate13. Tatyana Leshchenko-Sukhomlina, Selections from "My Guitar"14. Hava Volovich, My Past15. Nadezhda Kanel, A Meeting at the Lubyanka16. Zayara Vesyolaya, 7-35Afterword by John CrowfootImportant DatesGlossaryIndex