On May 21, at 2 pm, the presentation of the book “My beloved wife!…”: Sergei Sedov. Letters from exile” will b held in the premisses of the Krasnoyarsk Museum Complex of Culture and History (Strelka). Leo Trotskiy’s youngest son wrote these letters to his wife during the years of his exile in Krasnoyarsk.
Late in August 1935 a lonely young man appeared in the streets of Krasnoyarsk. He had no friend, no place to stay, no work. The only possibility to relieve his heart were the letters, which dozent Sergei Sedov wrote to his wife, who had stayed behind in distant Moscow. The lines were written in pencil; they reflected all the loneliness which weighed heavily upon his mind, his hope in a better future and numerous details of the daily life of the people in Krasnoyarsk in the 1930s.
These letters are now being kept in California. In 2006 they were published by staff members of the scientific information center of the “Memorial” Organization in St. Petersburg, with the co-operation of the Hoover Institution Stanford University and assisted by Julia Akselrod, Sergei Sedov’s daughter. Subeditor and publisher – J.V. Rusakova, preparation for final printing and publication of the documents – S.A. Larkova, chied editor – I.A. Flige.
The fate of the central figures described in the book was tragical. ergei Sedov found a job as an engineer for the Krashmash works. On 26 May 1936 he was sentenced of counter-revolutionary activities to a 5 years’ detention. He served his sentence in the Ukhtpechlag (camp). In April of the following year they took him back to Krasnoyarsk prison. On 29 October 1937 he was sentenced to eath; they executed him at midnight of the same day. Sedov was rehabilitated in 1988.
His wife Henriette Rubinstein got 8 years, but was kept in various Kolyma camps for 10 years. After her release she was to live in internal exile in Yagodnoe, where she lived till 1960. Her life was marked by wrong an misfortune. However, shortly before she died, she opened her heart to her daughter Julia Akselrod, telling her that only oncein her life she had been really happy – during the 7 months she had spent with Sergei in Krasnoyarsk, and that she never felt sorry about her decision to follow him there.
Those present at the presentation will have the opportunity to watch a slide film about political mass repression in Krasnoyarsk in the late 1930s.
Aleksey Babiy
Chairman of the Krasnoarsk “Memorial” Society.
Tel.: 65-13-85, E-mail: memorial@maxsoft.ru