Eufrosinia Kersnovskaya
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Eufrosinia Kersnovskaya (Евфросиния Керсновская) (1907— 1994) was a Russian woman who spent 12 years in Gulag camps and wrote her memoirs in 12 notebooks, 2,200,000 characters, accompanied with 680 pictures.
She wrote 3 copies of the work. In 1968 her friends typed samizdat copies, repeating the pictures on the back sides of the sheets. Excerpts from the work were first published in Ogonyok and Znamya magazines in 1990, as well as in The Observer (June 1990). After that, German and French publications followed. Finally, in 2001 the complete text, in 6 volumes, was published in Russia.
Contents |
[edit] Biography
Eufrosinia Kersnovskaya was born in Odessa to a dvoryan family. During the Russian Civil War the family moved to their estate to Bessarabia to become farmers. Bessarabia was soon united with Romania. In 1940 it was annexed by the Soviet Union, and the Kersnovskaya family (Eufrosinia and her mother) were repressed as former landowners. She was exiled to Siberia as an exile settler (ссыльнопоселенец) to work at logging. She attempted to escape, but she was caught and sentenced to death. The sentence was replaced by 10 years of labor camps, which she spent in the Norillag (Норильлаг, Norilsk labor camp) at mining works.
After discharge she lived in Yessentuki and wrote her memoirs during 1964–1968.
Her memoirs illustrated by hundreds of drawings presents unique insight into the life of the Soviet Union and especially the life of Gulag. They are also remarkable for the quality of the drawings.
[edit] Some drawings
See commons:Category:Eufrosinia_Kersnovskaya for more.
All drawings on this page are available courtesy to Kersnovkaya foundation. See image description pages for the details
[edit] Children in Gulag
Kersnovskaya Lucky Car.jpg
Birth in a prison car for Bessarabian deportees |
Kersnovskaya Killing Baby 7 45.jpg
Killing Her Baby (a prisoner trying to kill her baby by choking him with her own milk; later Kersnovskaya managed to stop the killing) |
Kersnovskaya Hungry Child.jpg
The hungry child cried but did not ask for food, he understood... |
Kersnovskaya LetMeFeedHim TheLast Time9 2.jpg
Let me feed my child for the last time |
Kersnovskaya Children3 45.jpg
Children of Yasha Nalivkin |
Kersnovskaya Underaged 5 24.jpg
Underaged criminals |
Kersnovskaya Underaged Pack 5 26.jpg
Fight with under-aged criminals |
[edit] Women in Gulag
Kersnovskaya Night Search5 16.jpg
Night Search |
Kersnovskaya Barin Is Me.jpg
The squire is me |
Kersnovskaya Yo Do Not Want to Work 9 29.jpg
You don't want to work |
Kersnovskaya Through This Ugly Woman Away 9 46.jpg
Away you go, the ugly woman |
[edit] Hospital
Kersnovskaya Prizon Hospital 5 68.jpg
Prison hospital. |
Kersnovskaya Amputation 9 51.jpg
Amputation |
Kersnovskaya Doctor Miller 7 15.jpg
Doctor Miller |
Kersnovskaya Dr Saltykov 7 28.jpg
Doctor Saltykov |
[edit] Other
Kersnovskaya MyFatherIsFree HeIsInPrison.jpg
My father is a freeman, he is in prison |
Kersnovskaya Price of Blood 7 27.jpg
Still life Price of Blood (in the prison, blood donors were given extra food rations" |
Kersnovskaya Doors Open.jpg
Doors of the eatery opens |
Kersnovskaya Question.jpg
Question |
Kersnovskay This Day We WereWellFed3 23.jpg
On this day we were well-fed |
Kersnovskaya Meeting3 42.jpg
Meeting |
Kersnovskaya Somebody Praying For You 3 36.jpg
Somebody should be praying for you |
Kersnovskaya Triumph of a Boor3 54.jpg
Stakhanovite or Triumph of a Boor |
Kersnovskaya Tayga 4 5.jpg
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Kersnovskaya Village4 16.jpg
Village |
Kersnovskaya Retirement Village 4 33.jpg
Retirement village |
Kersnovskaya Village Cemetry 4 55.jpg
Village that became a cemetery |
Kersnovskaya Beautiful Village4 71.jpg
Beautiful Village |
Kersnovskaya Interrogation 5 21.jpg
Interrogation |
Kersnovskaya court 5 37.jpg
A Court of Law |
Kersnovskaya Cell 5 30.jpg
Meeting in a prison cell |
Kersnovskaya Banya 5 48.jpg
Banya |
Kersnovkaya Baptism 6 6.jpg
Baptism |
Kersnovskaya Lustration6 23.jpg
Lustrator |
Kersnovskaya Professor Fedorovsky 7 4.jpg
Professor Fedorovsky |
Kersnovskaya Olympic Champion 7 43.jpg
You are healthy. Go to work. |
Kersnovskaya Wellcome 8 11.jpg
Welcome (to the morgue) |
Kersnovskaya Tombs 9 8.jpg
Tombs |
Kersnovskaya After Resqueing 9 25.jpg
Mines after rescue |
Kersnovskaya Fight 9 72.jpg
Fight |
Kersnovskaya Toilet 9 76.jpg
Toilet |
Kersnovskaya On Railroad 9 74.jpg
Rail road maintenance |
Kersnovskaya Dont Trust Me Iam a snitch 9 81.jpg
Don't trust me, I am a snitch |
Kersnovskaya Taking Timber10 9.jpg
Taking Timber out of a Mineshaft |
[edit] Bibliography
- Керсновская Е.А. "Наскальная живопись". - М.: КВАДРАТ, 1991;
- Kersnovskaja Е. "Ach Herr wenn unre Sunden uns verklagen". - Kiel: NEUER MALIK VERLAG, 1991.
- Кersnovskaja Е. "Coupable de rien". - Paris: PLON, 1994.
- Керсновская Е.А. "Сколько стоит человек". - 6 volumes, Moscow, ООО "МОЖАЙСК-ТЕРРА", 2000-2001.
[edit] External links
- (Russian) How Much Is a Person Worth?
- "Children Are Our Wealth", "The Tale of the Lithuanian Niobe," "Azerbaijani Criminals and European Denseness." Excerpts from How Much Is a Person Worth?
