In the years 1950-1952 Valentina Georgievna worked as a free employee for the "sharashka" (special prison and research institute; translator's note) of the OTB-1 (Special Technology Office No. 1; translator's note) in Krasnoyarsk. To be more precise: she lived in SORA and worked for the molybdenum ore mine in Khakassia, but during the winter she used to execute office and laboratory work in the OTB-1 in Krasnoyarsk. In his capacity as scientific advisor, she was "assigned" a political prisoner, who she later got married to.
His name was Yuriy Fedorovich POGONYA-STEFANOVICH
(1914-1973), descendant from a Russian noble family, although he was born on Czenstochau, Poland. Until his arrest he worked
, for the Petrographic Institute in MOSCOW (Petrin). He was arrested in IRKUTSK in 1947; he had been sent there as head
of a scientific expedition. The reason for his arrest was a mendacious denunciaton, but not for some "political" affair.
Someone had invented a story regarding multiple abuse of official authority. When these defamations, in fact, were not confirmed, they brought an action against him on section 58 and sentenced him to 10 years.
He worked for the geological unit of the OTB-1. During the summer season he was transferred to the SORSK mine (in Khakassia). However, he remained under escort all the time. He was released in 1954 and received his rehabilitation in 1957.
In his team, in the same room, was the geologist and tectonics expert Mikhail Mikhailovich Tetyaev (born around 1882), doctor of geology, who had held a professorship at the LENINGRAD Mining Institute before his arrest. Before 1917 he finished the university in Liège, from where he brought home his French wife. They seized him in 1947 or 1948 and sentenced him to 25 years. He was relased early in 1954. The third within the team was Valentina Georgievna. Another five geologists worked in the same geological unit, but in the adjoining room.
The academician Mikhail Petrovich RUSAKOV (born around 1885), from the Kazakh Academy of Sciences, was arrested in KAZAKHSTAN (probably in ALMA-ATA). He was seriously ill and died approximately in 1954 - while still being in the camp or shortly after his release.
Alexander Yakovlevich BULYNNIKOV, professor atthe university in Tomsk and an expert of petrography, was released in 1954.
Earlier than the others, late in 1953 or early in 1954, they released the doctor of sciences Vladimir Mikhailovich Kreyter. Already before his release some of his colleagues became aware of his inclination for taking advantage of other people's research work without permission. In the OTB-1 the called him "burbot".
Roman Verbitskiy (born around 1922) from Moscow, had been a student of the Geological Institute in MOSCOW before his arrest. In the second half of the 1940s they put him to prison for his offence against section 58-12. He worked for the OTB-1 as an engineer or laboratory assistant. He was also released in 1954 and returned to Moscow.
The fifth in the next room was PAKHOMOV (born around 1920). For the OTB-1 also worked the geologists: Boris Ivanovich BADUNKOV (born around 1915), released in 1954, and NEDLER, who had a job in UZHUR in 1955 (he was probably exiled to that place). The whole geological unit consisted of these two rooms, a laboratory and the cabinet of the chief. The head of this section, Dmitriy Ivanovich MUSATOV, had been sentenced to 12,5 years. After having served 10 years of his sentence, he was released, but arrested again a couple of
months later. An then he had to serve his complete time. He was finally released in 1954.
Alexey Sergeyevich LEVISON (born around 1914), a tall man, worked for the OTB-1 as a designer. He was from MOSCOW. He was put into prison in 1948. He was responsible for the design on the front page of the reports of activities, the artistic design of agitation materials, posters, etc. He painted lots of portraits, too, including one of Valentina Georgievna; and although she did not ask him to do so, he placed it in his room. "I made it - I'm its owner!" He was released in 1954 and returned to Moscow.
The Muscovite Igor Leopoldovich GANZ (born in 1910) worked for the OTB-1 as an engineer. With him there was Sergey Karlovich ZEYTLIN (born around 1913) from Odessa. He was a cinematograph. When someone asked him: "Are you really from Odessa?" he would answer as it should be for a true Odessite: "Why? What happened? Did you lose anything there?"
In the photographic laboratory there was SHIFRIN (born around 1918). He had also been sentenced on section 58. There are still a couple of photographies he took of POGONYA-STEFANOVICH (1951 and 1952).
Some so-called "ukasniki" (prisoners sentenced in accordance with an ukase; translator's note) were also working for the OTB-1. One of them, Yevgeniy Pavlovich Smirnyagin from Moscow, worked for the technical department.
The head of the OTB-1 (of the camp) was Puchkov, the security officer KOCHERGA.
The OTB-1 (the work and living compound) was situated in the Solidarity Street (today Prushinskaya Street), in the place of the former labour colony. Today we will find on this territory an Institiute named "Sibirian Non-ferrous Metal Project". From the Solidarity Street
there was a passage leading into the work zone. At the entrance they always carried out intensive searches, but when someone left the zone there were no controls at all - one could drag out as much as one liked. However, in the spring, numerous empty bottles appeared from under the melting snow. When cleaning the area the camp authorities gave the order to put the empty bottles under the car, that was standing in the yard. But after a short time they gave to understand that there was no room left under the car. During these years, when it was very difficult to purchase butter and sausages "at liberty", the prisoners of the OTB-1 were provided with foodstuffs very well. For breakfast they always had butter and sugar. Some people were not even able to eat up their two cutlets, which they had received as second course for lunch (including vegetables), so that they left one of them. In this respect the OTB-1 was completely different from the other camps. There were no loudspeakers within the zone, only in the cabinets of the heads of the sections. But those, too, were sometimes not allowed to listen.
In 1955, in UZHUR, Valentina Georgievna met the Muscovite Yevgeniy Nikolaevich GRIGOREV (born around 1914), a hydrograph and naval officer, who had been exiled there. He had fought on the front, had been taken prisoner of war and was then sentenced to 10 years. He served his sentence to the very end (certainly not in the OTB-1) and happened to get to UZHUR. After his release from exile he returned to his wife in Moscow. In the second half of the 1950s Konstantin Vladimirovich BOGOLEPOV (born around 1910) guided a geologic expedition in BOLSHAYA MURTA.
Y.F. POGONYA-STEFANOVICH had been with him in the same cell (either in the LYUBLYANKA prison or in one of the transit prisons). Having served his sentence in the camp he came to BOLSHAYA MURTA (district town of the northern Krasnoyarsk region).
Y.F. POGONYA-STEFANOVICH did not succeed to return to Moscow, partly because his first wife had seeked a divorce during his camp detention and was still living in their former apartment in Moscow.
26.03.1994, recorded by V.S. Birger, "Memorial" Society, Krasnoyarsk
Photo archive
(both pictures were taken by Shifrin)
See also: Valentina Georgievna Perelomova remembers those times