My husband Efim (son of Aron) Gordon, native of Kiev, was arrested in 1941 - at this time he was a student - and sentenced on section 58-10. After one year in the Novosibirsk prison and another year in the KarLag he was transferred to the NorilLag, but disembarked in Kureyka. This happened in 1943; there they were just about to set up a sovkhoz for the Norilsk combinate. As he told us, they had a hard life during the summer. Food-stuffs were not received, so that they mainly lived on fish, which they had caught themselves. A little adventure saved him from being ruined. One day some authorized representative came over from Norilsk to look for actors and musicians for the KVCh, the Culture and Education Unit, which had been organized in the NorilLag. They were in need of a drummer.
Upon his own risk my husband gave himself out as such, although he had never held drum-sticks in his hands before.
The swindle was discovered in Norilsk, but strange to say that the story ended happily.
M.V. Boyarskaya