Grosblat Adam Samoylovich

The memoirs are marked by an undoubted literary talent. Wonderful descriptions of the northern landscapes of Kolyma.
The beginning of the memories is an attempt to comprehend the reasons for the mass arrests at the Moscow electrical plant named after. V.V. Kuibyshev, where the author worked as a deputy head of the Quality Control Department and was one of the most energetic and creative engineers. Comparison of the trial of 1929 on the first accusation of the author of sabotage at the enterprise in the city of Velikiye Luki, which ended in his complete acquittal, since the court, according to Grosblat, was then interested in a fair trial, with the investigation in 1937, when there was one goal - by all means "to find and neutralize the enemy."
The author is a Polish Jew, born in 1897 in Warsaw, who took part in the revolution, served in the Polish army, crossed the border illegally in 1922 and voluntarily became a citizen of Soviet Russia, which, of course, was the reason for his arrest. The second reason is his interested, creative attitude to his work, the struggle with indifference to the common cause, which led to hostility on the part of those whom the author condemned.
Dismissal of the author from work. His arrest on August 20, 1937 in the early morning at a dacha near Moscow. The author's offer to the operative to take part in breakfast, which he did not refuse, being quite peacefully disposed. Visit to the author's Moscow apartment for a search. The obvious interest of one of the operatives in the apartment of the arrested person as his possible future housing.
Butyrskaya prison. A trip for interrogation to the Lubyanka, demanding a confession that the prisoner crossed the Soviet-Polish border for the purpose of counter-revolutionary activities. Threats. The author's refusal to admit his guilt. Another camera in Butyrka. For more than 160 people (instead of the prescribed 30), there are several dozen Poles. The appearance in the cell of a newcomer, secretary of the editorial board of the newspaper "Tribuna Pol'ska". His suicide was due to fear of further torture and pangs of conscience, as he gave up several people during interrogation. Reading the verdict after a two-month stay in prison. The verdict for OSO is 10 years in labor camp, which, according to a cellmate, was the norm when convicted of former citizens of Poland.
Three-month stage to the east. A crowded car, where at first you can only stand. Prisoners are mostly political, but there are also criminals. Elder's choice. Organization of lectures and reports. An unexpected momentary meeting during the stage with his wife, also arrested. (The daughter, who was supposed to be sent to an orphanage, was hidden by her grandmother.) After arriving in Vladivostok, it turned out that the last ship had left. A transit camp in Vladivostok, where the author meets an old comrade, a Pole, also a revolutionary. By spring, a large batch of Chinese is brought to the camp. Loading people into the hold of the barge. A few days later - a transit camp in Nagaev Bay. Barrack for 200 people.
The road to the mine in Upper At-Uryakh. Exhausting work in the face for 12 hours, from the severity of which the horses died, lack of food. Execution of prisoners who did not fulfill the norm. The appearance of phlegmon, hospital. The help of a familiar doctor, thanks to which he survived. The transition to the category of "goal", sending to the "lighter" work at the logging site. A figurative description of the swindle of convicts at the logging site to fulfill the 100% norm. Kill again. This time, the work is to transport the rock from the face in boxes. The author makes a rationalization proposal to improve the work. The organizational abilities of the author, professional knowledge and independence of character were noticed by the authorities. Refusal of the author to work in the face. Instead of punishment, an unexpected job assignment as a designer. Work with the head of the OLP on the mechanization of slaughter. Transfer to the construction of the dam. The design of mechanisms that makes the author known outside the area, in connection with which he is transferred from mine to mine.
Description of the celebration of the First of May in the camp in Upper At-Uryakh, and the reprisals against the evil foreman who tried to curry favor with the camp authorities. The help of a doctor I know with sending with a stage in Hattyny, so that the author does not get into the face again. The author repeatedly mentions the help of convicts to each other.
Hattynakh is the center of the Northern Administration. Work as a designer on the construction of a suspension railway, unconvoying. Another mine, "At-Uryakh". Downhole work. Furunculosis disease. Unexpected transfer to the management of the Dortdel to work with technical documentation. Back to road work. Surname Grosblat in the list sent to the mine. Unauthorized departure at night back to Dortdel, in the hope of a promised job as a mechanic. There was no punishment. Temporary job as a cook.
War. In the first days after the start of the war and Stalin's speech, hostility between convicts and civilians disappeared, everyone became "one people." KVCh announces that everyone will accept applications for sending to the front. But it turned out that the Motherland does not need convicts, and the camp regime has become tougher.
Work at the lumberyard. Fainting from hunger and cold in the winter of 1941. Medical unit. Recovery thanks to the care of a familiar lekpom. Mine "Berry". At the insistence of the head of Dorotdel, he was appointed to work as a designer. Transfer by an engineer to the Elgen railway. Wagon design. Passion for work. Direction to Orotukan, to the mining equipment plant, from where it is sent to Elgen, then again to the Yagodny mine in the CRM (Central Repair Shops), where there is a need for knowledgeable engineers. Work in a blacksmith shop. The introduction of a new technology by the author, which other factories of Dalstroy began to use. In Elgen, the author meets Tanya, who worked with him in Moscow at the plant, with her sister and learns that everyone with foreign surnames was taken away at the plant.
TsRM (Central Repair Shops), where the author is engaged in the design and organization of work on the manufacture of bodies for transporting coal from the face to the power plant. Transfer to Orotukan to the factory where the wagons were made (again the organization of work and design). In 1945, having returned to his OLP (Elgen), the author was again sent to the CRM in Yagodnoye, (later the Yagodinsky repair plant) in the valley of the Debin River, a tributary of the Kolyma. The author's reasoning about the attitude of convicts to the work of hired prisoners, the organization of production, about meanness and illiteracy.
August 20, 1947 the end of the term of imprisonment. The unwillingness of the authorities to let Grosblat go. Obstacles in the preparation of documents for departure. Work there already as a free engineer. Working at the Northern Directorate, the author visits almost all the mines. Doctors business. An echo of anti-Semitism that reached Kolyma from the mainland. The story of the special construction at the Tangar mine behind a five-meter fence, which was blown up after Stalin's death.
Petition through the wife, who had been released by that time, for dismissal of her own free will. Order from Magadan to satisfy the request. Again persuasions from the authorities to stay with them as an engineer. Author's resistance to pressure. Consent to an eight-month vacation.
Moscow. Meeting with wife, daughter, friends. Difficulties with getting a job, registration. Rumors of re-arrests. The decision in this regard to return to work in Dalstroy. Work in "Yagodny". Death of Stalin. The author leaves the Northern Directorate. Moving to Moscow. Struggle for existence. Application to prosecutor Rudenko demanding a review of the case. On May 7, 1955, the case was dismissed "for lack of corpus delicti". A warrant for a room in a communal apartment in Moscow. Family reunification. The author faces a choice - retirement or work. He decides to retire, although he would like to work.

The annotation was compiled by Zhidkova T.G.