Dissident for Life by De Wolf Koenraad;Alton David;Forest-Flier Nancy;

Author:De Wolf, Koenraad;Alton, David;Forest-Flier, Nancy;
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Eerdmans

Back to the Prison in Kalinin

Ogorodnikov’s ultimate form of protest was to ascribe to himself the status of political prisoner, and he stubbornly refused to talk during the new wave of interrogations to which he was subjected. He also maintained an inflexible silence after his temporary transfer to the prison in Kalinin at the end of March 1983.

Why the return? The reason was that the camp administration wanted him out of Perm-36 for a while, hoping that his absence would reduce the defiance of the other prisoners. In addition, a new form of psychological terror was being tested to bring him to his knees. Ogorodnikov was deliberately placed in a cell in Kalinin with a few criminals who had been sentenced to death. They were promised that their sentence would be reviewed if they were able to murder their new cellmate. Ogorodnikov carried on deep discussions with them and managed to convince them that the promised review of their trial was a lie. Instead of harming or killing him, they felt drawn to him. One of them went spontaneously to Ogorodnikov for confession. The man confessed his guilt for the crime he had committed, and though he, as a nonbeliever, could scarcely grasp the deeper meaning of Ogorodnikov’s words — “even you can be saved and can partake of eternal life” — he felt relieved nonetheless.

The other criminal who had been sentenced to death also confessed his sins and gave vent to his emotions: his anger, but most of all, his fear of having to die. Although both men underwent a spiritual rebirth in the last hours of their lives, the atmosphere in the cell was so tense that one could cut it with a knife. When would the executioner come get them? Ogorodnikov kept vigil with them for the whole time. Finally, they were taken away in the dead of night and executed by firing squad at daybreak. The contrast between his experiences in the death cell and the warm reception he was given the next day by the neat young man from the KGB was hard to imagine.

“We’re not asking you to make a statement on television,” said the young KGB man in a friendly tone. “You’ll even get an apartment in Moscow and a good-paying job. There’s only one condition: that you terminate all your activities.”

When Ogorodnikov did not respond, the man said to him cheerfully, “By the way, I have good news for you. Your wife and son Dima are on vacation on the Black Sea right now.” To Alexander’s consternation, the man pulled out a photo of his son, who was now five years old, playing on the beach in the presence of his wife, Yelena Levashova.

“Just one signature and you’re a free man. And that’s not all. We’ll take you immediately by plane to your wife and son. You can be with them tonight.”

Ogorodnikov realized that this was just another attempt to intimidate and discredit him, and that on no account would he ever be released.

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