Though the Constitution guaranteed Soviet women equal rights: I have drawn here on Natalya Ivanova’s brief essay, ‘P.S.’, Znamya, no. 6, 2005 and Rozalia Cherepanova, ‘“What Do I Need Irons For?” Happiness for Female Intelligentsia’ (‘“Зачем мне утюги?” Интеллигентное женское счастье’), Neprikosnovennuy Zapas 3, 2009.
Billie’s birthday present from Marina and family: Mariinski Theatre went back to its original name in 1992. Its artistic director is Valery Gergiev who, according to The New Yorker ‘carries on his shoulders a disproportionately large part of the music world’ and whose ambition is only to make his share more disproportionate still by turning Mariinski into the greatest opera and ballet theatre in the world.
Carmen, everyone knows, is based on Mérimée’s 1845 novella: Mérimée, in fact, translated The Gypsies into French, alongside other works in Pushkin’s oeuvre.
The femme fatale was, of course, the antithesis of the Soviet woman as comrade: Kollontai’s writings have been translated in English: Selected Writings of Alexandra Kollontai, translated and annotated by Alix Holt, Allison and Busby, 1977.
Despite multiple refutations, the rumours of Lenin’s long-standing affair: See, for instance, Michael Pearson’s Inessa: Lenin’s Mistress, Duckworth, 2001. For my brief discussion of Lilya Brik, I have drawn on an essay by Irina Chaykovskaya, ‘Partial Eyewitness’ (‘Пристрастный свидетель’), Neva, no. 8, 2004.
The parallels between the persecution of Jews and gypsies: N. Demeter, N. Bessonov, V. Kutenkov, ‘The History of Gypsies – New Perspective’ (История цыган – новый взгляд), Russian Academy of Science, 2000.
Chapter 9: Leningrad
In the 1970s Daniil Granin and Ales Adamovich: The Book of Blockade (Блокадная книга) was translated in English by Hilda Perham, Moscow, 1983. Its Russian text is available on the web.
After everything they had heard, exhausted and made ill: Daniil Granin, ‘The History of the Creation of the Book of Blockade’ (‘История создания Блокадной книги’), Druzhba Narodov, no. 11, 2002.
‘Leningradka’ is the word for a female resident of Leningrad: The play was created and staged by St Petersburg’s puppet theatre Karlsson Haus (Карлсон Хаус): www.karlssonhaus.ru.
The rest of the Soviet nation was not to learn about Leningrad’s plight: I have drawn here on Daniil Granin, ‘The History of the Creation of the Book of Blockade’ (mentioned above).
Even though Misha, Marina and I were born almost three decades after the end of the war: The key sources cited below are Svetlana Aleksievich’s War’s Unwomanly Face (fully cited above); Lev Gudkov’s ‘The “Memory” of the War and Russian Mass Identity’, (‘“Память” о войне и массовая идентичность россиян’), Neprikosnovenny Zapas, nos. 2-3, 2005; Aleksey Levinson’s ‘War, Wars, about War’ (‘Война, войны, войне…’), Neprikosnovenny Zapas, nos. 2-3, 2005.
Russian journalist Aleksandr Minkin: From an interview of Aleksandr Minkin and historian Victor Suvorov with a Radio Freedom journalist on 21 May 2009. (“Наша история – это взорванный по пьянке атомный реактор”. Виктор Суворов и Александр Минкин размышляют, кого назначат фальсификаторами). The full transcript is available on the Radio Freedom website.
Chapter 10: A train platform somewhere
‘Under dictatorship everyone is scared’: From Jvanetsky’s monologue ‘Back to the Future’, (‘Назад в будущее’).
Chudakova, who at one point was a member of President Yeltsin’s Advisory Committee: Marietta Chudakova, ‘Was There August or Is It Still to Come?’ (‘Был Август или только еще будет?’), Znamya, no. 8, 2006.
A few years after the events of 1991: Dmitriev’s words are from ‘Russia 1991-2001. Victories and Defeats’ (‘Россия 1991–2001. Победы и поражения’), Znamya, no 8, 2001.
Back to Mikhail Jvanetsky: This comes from Jvanetsky’s monologue ‘To Emmanuel Moiseevich Jvanetsky from Son’, (‘Эммануилу Моисеевичу Жванецкому от сына’).
A milky-white statue of Lenin is in front of us: Aleksandr Feduta, ‘Collective Propagandist and Agitator: Selected Excerpts from the Textbooks of the State Ideology of the Republic Belarus’, (‘Коллективный политинформатор и агитатор. Избранные места из учебников по государственной идеологии Республики Беларусь’), Neprikosnovenniy Zapas, no. 3, 2006.
Chapter 11: 1941
Historian Jehanne Gheith tells a story about Mikhail Afanasievich: Jehanne M. Gheith, ‘“I Never Talked”: Enforced Silence, Non-narrative Memory, and the Gulag’, Mortality, vol. 12, no. 2, May 2007.
As a historian I have come to see that a great deal of our memories: Ruth Wajnryb, The Silence: How Tragedy Shapes Talk, Allen & Unwin, 2001.
In my field when historians talk about social memory: Irina Sherbakova, ‘Over Memory’s Map’ (‘Над картой памяти’), Neprikosnovenny Zapas, nos. 2-3, 2005. Edward S. Casey, Remembering: A Phenomenological Study, Indiana University Press, 2000.
When the war came, a sizeable minority of ethnic Ukrainians: Vladislav Grinevich, ‘Cracked Memory: The Second World War in the Historical Consciousness of Ukrainian Society’ (‘Расколотая память: Вторая мировая война в историческом сознании украинского общества’), Neprikosnovenny Zapas, nos. 2-3, 2005.
In Nazi propaganda campaigns, the invading German Army: Rudolf Boretsky’s memoir is entitled Swings (Качели), Moscow, 2005.
From Dubovyazovka Tamara, Faina and the kids: Evgenia Frolova, ‘Lychkovo, 1941’ (‘Лычково, 1941 год’), Neva, no. 8, 2007.
Samarkand is an ancient and famed city: For Anna Akhmatova in Uzbekistan, I have used an essay by Svetlana Somova, ‘Anna Akhmatova in Tashkent’ in two parts: ‘“I was given the name – Anna”’ and ‘A shadow on a clay wall’ (‘Анна Ахматова в Ташкенте’: ‘“Мне дали имя – Анна”’ и ‘Тень на глиняной стене’), available at www.akhmatova.org/articles/somova.htm.
My grandmother and great aunt arrived in Samarkand: Dina Rubina, On the Sunny Side of the Street (На солнечной стороне улицы), Moscow, 2006.