Silence Was Salvation: Child Survivors of Stalin’s Terror and World War II in the Soviet Union

Roughly ten million children were victims of political repression in the Soviet Union during the Stalinist era. As the sons and daughters of Soviet citizens considered by the regime to be dangerous to the political order, these children lost parents, siblings, homes, educational and work opportunities, and, in many cases, their physical health. From 2005 to 2007, Cathy A. Frierson conducted in-depth interviews with grown victims who survived the Terror of the 1930s–1950s, and the suffering and stigmatization that was forced upon them during World War II.

In these powerful and moving life histories, the now aged offspring of peasants, workers, scientists, physicians, and political leaders recall the childhood traumas brought about by the arrest of their parents. They speak openly about coping with starvation, disease, forced labor, and anti-Semitism, and about living in exile in remote Soviet villages as children of “enemies of the people.” Finally, they discuss how their opinion of the Soviet government was influenced by their experiences and how it has evolved over time. The result is a unique oral history, illustrated with photographs and maps of each child’s multiple displacements, that will profoundly deepen the reader’s understanding of life in the U.S.S.R. under the rule of Joseph Stalin.