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Intimacy and Terror: Soviet Diaries of the 1930's
More than six years in the making, Intimacy and Terror: Soviet Diaries of the 1930s is the result of a unique international collaborative investigation by Russian, French, and Swiss scholars into hundreds of private, unpublished diaries found in remote libraries, archives, and family holdings. Intimacy and Terror reveals for the first time the private lives of a broad cross section of Russians during the harshest years of Stalin's purge - not just the now-familiar stories of those who were deported or killed. The ten diaries reveal the day-to-day thoughts of ordinary citizens, some far removed from political turmoil, some closely enmeshed. Together they paint an extraordinarily broad portrait of Russian life in the thirties; their insights into the daily life of that time have astonished even the Russian historians who read the original manuscripts. The diarists range from the ambitious literary bureaucrat who moves forward by denouncing his colleagues to the young unlettered careerist learning the ways of Soviet success; from the wife of a government bureaucrat, who writes in a pure Stalinist prose, to the candid thoughts and uncertainties of a dissident; from a provincial sailor on a distant Arctic vessel to Moscow intellectuals who meet and recount their conversations with Anna Akhmatova. Some of the diarists are wholly oblivious to the terrors of Stalin's purges; others see the failures of the regime as clearly as those writing today. To set the diaries in context, the book begins with a "Chronicle of the Year 1937" - an extraordinary montage comprised of excerpts from the daily newspaper Izvestiya juxtaposed with corresponding entries from a collective farmer's diary - and also includes a chronology of major events in the Soviet Union during the latter half of the decade. The diaries bring us the true-life counterparts of characters we remember from classic Russian literature. Intimacy and Terror provides an unprecedented, intimate view of daily life in Ru
394 pages, Hardcover
First published November 1, 1995
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Displaying 1 - 5 of 5 reviews
October 20, 2018
"Intimacy and Terror" is a collection of Soviet Diaries of the 1930s, and the later ones were clearly written in the atmosphere of fear as people were sent to prison or worse. Few of the diarists had literary pretensions--the translators tried to convey the effect of many misspellings and grammatical errors, along with, inevitably, illegible writing. And very few expressed dissent. There is an account of expedition and several of the diarists remark on their support for Stalin and the Communist regime (at both the state and the workplace levels) without the irony we would expect from the intelligentsia or artists. (One remarks, on being asked to deliver an address on Bolshevik organization principles: "What more does a Communist really need? It's the ultimate happiness to be able to go out and tell people about Lenin and Stalin." A few were less sanguine and some, as we would say today, were disappeared. At least one should live in infamy: Vladimir Stavsky, who authorized the arrest of writers and denounced Osip Mandelshtam, leading to the great poet's arrest and death. But a lot of the diaries of the orthodox were concerned with the same issues that people face around the world, the lack of opportunity for advancement and scarcity. Leonid Potyomkin, very young, stands out, as he tries to escape poverty by advancing through the Soviet educational system and shares--this is truly universal--his romantic feelings, at times elated, at times mystified. The overall impression is perhaps that insight of W.H. Auden's, that people would glance at Icarus falling from the sky but shortly return to their plowing. The penultimate diary comes from Lyubov Shaporina, founder of a puppet theater and the wife of a composer, who follows Leningrad's descent into terror and economic chaos and was deeply sarcastic about such policies as the non-aggression pact with Germany; it comes rather as a relief to find at the end that, despite an utter lack of power, some did not, or could not, look away.
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January 14, 2026i read an excerpt of andrei stepanovich arzhilovsky’s diary from this book for class and it was so moving i really don’t know what to do with myself. written a few months after he was released from labour camp (oct-dec 1936), his journal is full of comments about his children and his wife, as well as complaints about his work and the little hope he maintains as he tries to find work, update his passport, teach his son the alphabet, etc. he was executed less than a year later because of the thoughts recorded in this diary. i cry all the time these days but this was uniquely touching
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
August 10, 2013
This is an interesting, and at times fascinating, collection of diaries written by various Russians during the 1930's. Each diary includes an introduction by the editors, which is helpful when it contains background information on the diary's author, and not so helpful when it explains in obscure literary terms what the diary author is trying to do.
As with any collection, some entries are better than others. The very last one is a total waste of pages, as it just records various dreams by some Russian actor. Not a lot of value there.
That's the exception, though, luckily. The very first entry mixes in "news" excerpts from the state mouthpiece newspaper Izvestiya with diary entries for the same day of a collective farm worker. The contrast is pretty clear, as the newspaper recounts the major events while the farm worker records the weather that day, and sometimes what happened on the farm. No politics at all. Lucky farm worker!
The next entry by a guy named Shirnov primarily recounts his experience in the Kolyma region to set up infrastructure for future settlement. Of course, most Gulag geeks like myself recognize Kolyma as one of the most notorious and deadliest gulags. This entry is interesting for the details it provides about sea travel, and the difficulties in journeying through such harsh terrain.
Poet Lev Gornung provides the next entry. He accounts some of his stays in the country with other writes. Not too interesting, unless you want to hear how the creative class lived. Some of them, anyway.
Andrei Stepanovich Arzhilovsky writes one of the most interesting entries in the book. He and his family have been exiled and are struggling to get enough firewood to stay warm and enough food to stay alive. He mixes in his recollections with political statements, which no doubt contributed to him being shot in 1937.
Galina Shtange is a wife and activist who works with children, and is an annoying communist true believer. She loves Stalin, he's so great and full of love, blah blah blah. Good insight into those who bought into the false promise of Soviet socialism.
Vladimir Stavsky's background is more interesting than his diary. According to the introduction, he became known as "the executioner of Soviet literature," since he authorized the arrest of many members of the Writer's Union, the vast majority of which being innocent of any actual crime. Unfortunately, his entry contains few details about these arrests.
Another of more interesting entries is by one Lenoid Potyomkin, another true believer infused with passion and eagerness for accomplishing great feats for the great Stalin and socialist state. He's a shock worker and a major navel gazer, penning deep nonsense like "The philosophically entertaining consequence of my meeting with the actress gladdened me with its convexity, clarity distinctness and lifelike verisimilitude." Whatever all that means. He sounds harmless enough, when you read the entry about how he revels in his fate to "take cruel action against those who stand in my way. There is no opposing force of personality that would not be mercilessly destroyed by me." This self-important mini-me tyrant is talking about his role as an assistant brigade leader.
Perhaps the best entry is by Stepan Podlubny, a Medical Institute student with secret kulak origins and an informant for the secret police. Alas, his account contains no details or even mention of his informant activities, but it does talk about his mother's arrest and his struggles to deal with the consequences of his past, when revealed. Good stuff here.
Finally, Lyubov Shaporina's account is valuable for its description of life in Leningrad after the murder of Kirov. Thousands were kicked out of their homes and sent to exile with little warning or reason. Many others were arrested. This is perhaps the most vivid account of Soviet oppression in the collection.
All in all, a solid volume for dedicated students of Soviet history.
As with any collection, some entries are better than others. The very last one is a total waste of pages, as it just records various dreams by some Russian actor. Not a lot of value there.
That's the exception, though, luckily. The very first entry mixes in "news" excerpts from the state mouthpiece newspaper Izvestiya with diary entries for the same day of a collective farm worker. The contrast is pretty clear, as the newspaper recounts the major events while the farm worker records the weather that day, and sometimes what happened on the farm. No politics at all. Lucky farm worker!
The next entry by a guy named Shirnov primarily recounts his experience in the Kolyma region to set up infrastructure for future settlement. Of course, most Gulag geeks like myself recognize Kolyma as one of the most notorious and deadliest gulags. This entry is interesting for the details it provides about sea travel, and the difficulties in journeying through such harsh terrain.
Poet Lev Gornung provides the next entry. He accounts some of his stays in the country with other writes. Not too interesting, unless you want to hear how the creative class lived. Some of them, anyway.
Andrei Stepanovich Arzhilovsky writes one of the most interesting entries in the book. He and his family have been exiled and are struggling to get enough firewood to stay warm and enough food to stay alive. He mixes in his recollections with political statements, which no doubt contributed to him being shot in 1937.
Galina Shtange is a wife and activist who works with children, and is an annoying communist true believer. She loves Stalin, he's so great and full of love, blah blah blah. Good insight into those who bought into the false promise of Soviet socialism.
Vladimir Stavsky's background is more interesting than his diary. According to the introduction, he became known as "the executioner of Soviet literature," since he authorized the arrest of many members of the Writer's Union, the vast majority of which being innocent of any actual crime. Unfortunately, his entry contains few details about these arrests.
Another of more interesting entries is by one Lenoid Potyomkin, another true believer infused with passion and eagerness for accomplishing great feats for the great Stalin and socialist state. He's a shock worker and a major navel gazer, penning deep nonsense like "The philosophically entertaining consequence of my meeting with the actress gladdened me with its convexity, clarity distinctness and lifelike verisimilitude." Whatever all that means. He sounds harmless enough, when you read the entry about how he revels in his fate to "take cruel action against those who stand in my way. There is no opposing force of personality that would not be mercilessly destroyed by me." This self-important mini-me tyrant is talking about his role as an assistant brigade leader.
Perhaps the best entry is by Stepan Podlubny, a Medical Institute student with secret kulak origins and an informant for the secret police. Alas, his account contains no details or even mention of his informant activities, but it does talk about his mother's arrest and his struggles to deal with the consequences of his past, when revealed. Good stuff here.
Finally, Lyubov Shaporina's account is valuable for its description of life in Leningrad after the murder of Kirov. Thousands were kicked out of their homes and sent to exile with little warning or reason. Many others were arrested. This is perhaps the most vivid account of Soviet oppression in the collection.
All in all, a solid volume for dedicated students of Soviet history.
September 19, 2012
Although I was never able to finish this, it wasn't because it was a bad book; on the contrary, it's an excellent collection that would be a worthy textbook for a Russian history course. I like how the diarists were not all famous people or anything; one, for example, was just a poor middle-aged farmer. It was just that this is hardly pleasure reading and I found I couldn't commit to the whole thing, 400+ pages of small print.
I wrote about one of the diarists, Andrei Stepanovich Arzhilovsky, in a guest entry for the death penalty blog Executed Today. Arzhilovsky, a middle-aged farmer and father of four, was shot by firing squad in 1937 because of his alleged membership of a "counterrevolutionary kulak sabotage organization."
I wrote about one of the diarists, Andrei Stepanovich Arzhilovsky, in a guest entry for the death penalty blog Executed Today. Arzhilovsky, a middle-aged farmer and father of four, was shot by firing squad in 1937 because of his alleged membership of a "counterrevolutionary kulak sabotage organization."
January 29, 2013
While this was an excellent book, it got monotonous. If the editors were able to select a few less journals than what was included, I may have finished the book in its entirety. I ended the book with about a journal and a half left to read.
Displaying 1 - 5 of 5 reviews