On November 18, 1938, Vladimir wrote a letter to Stalin asking his assistance. The letter was apparently still written from the orphanage.
He had not yet been transferred to the prison, and he probably did not know of his sentence to the Gulag because he complains largely about conditions in the school:
Respected Comrade Stalin!
I am obliged to turn to you for assistance. It is necessary because of my unbearable situation. I read in the paper about your answer to Comrade Ivanov and I hoped that you would answer me as well. What is unbearable about my current situation? My Father, G. S. Moroz, was arrested by the NKVD after which followed the arrest of my Mother for unknown reasons. I endured blow after blow, misfortune after misfortune. They sent me to the village of Annenkovo. You can imagine my situation in the orphanage. I have dark thoughts; I have become a misanthrope: I have isolated myself from others, in every face I see a hidden enemy, I have lost faith in people.
The letter then reveals why Vladimir was singled out for punishment: As an intelligent and privileged son of a party official, he writes that his school is wretched and that he knows more than his teachers. With such an attitude, his NKVD handlers in the orphanage would have singled him out:
Why am I alone? Only because the general intellectual level of the teachers is lower than my own. This is not self praise. The school is so wretched, the teachers so mediocre, that there is no wish to attend classes. I want to receive the maximum knowledge but here you receive less than the minimum. How can one be satisfied with that? You may think that I am too coddled, sentimental. No, this is not the case. I only demand happiness, current happiness, happiness that is enduring.
Vladimir's letter ends:
Comrade Stalin: I am sinking faster and faster into some kind of bottomless pit, from which there is no escape. Save me. Help me. Don't let me perish! This is all I have to say. I hope that you will answer me soon and help me. I am awaiting with impatience your reply.
Of course, there was no response from Stalin.
Photographic portrait of the "Great and Generous Leader," Joseph Stalin.
World History
