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Ginzburg (Aleksandr Il'ich) papers
2004C55
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Title: Aleksandr Il'ich Ginzburg papers
Date (inclusive): 1921-2007
Collection Number: 2004C55
Contributing Institution: Hoover Institution Library and Archives
Language of Material:
Russian
Physical Description:
19 manuscript boxes, 12 oversize boxes, 7 card file boxes, 4 audiocassette boxes, 1 AV tray, 1 cubic foot box, 1 USB flash
drive
(28.4 Linear Feet)
Abstract: Correspondence, writings, printed matter, identification documents, photographs, sound recordings, video tape, and memorabilia
relating to civil liberties and dissent in the Soviet Union, and to Russian émigré affairs.
Creator:
Ginzburg, Aleksandr Il'ich, 1936-
Physical Location: Hoover Institution Library & Archives
Boxes FH13 and 44 may not be used without permission of the Archivist. The remainder of the collection is open for research;
materials must be requested in advance via our reservation system. If there are audiovisual or digital media material in the
collection, they must be reformatted before providing access.
For copyright status, please contact the Hoover Institution Library & Archives.
Materials were acquired by the Hoover Institution Library & Archives in 2004, with increments received in 2005, 2007, and
2011.
[Identification of item], Aleksandr Il'ich Ginzburg papers, [Box no., Folder no. or title], Hoover Institution Library & Archives.
Digital reproductions of selected images are available.
| 1936 November 21 | Born, Moscow, Soviet Union |
| 1956-1960 | Studied at the Moscow State University, Department of Journalism |
| 1959 | Edited and distributed first three issues of the Sintaksis underground literary almanac |
| 1960 July | Arrested and sentenced to a two-year term in a correctional labor institution in Kirovskaia oblast' |
| 1964 | Arrested and imprisoned for several months for distribution of New Class book by Milovan Djilas |
| 1966 | Compiled "Belaia kniga"(White book) about the court trial of writers AndreĬ SiniavskiĬ and IUliĬ Daniel' |
| Admitted to the Historical-Archival Institute, Moscow | |
| 1967 | Arrested, charged with anti-Soviet propaganda and agitation, and sentenced to a five-year camp term, which he partly served in Pot'ma, Mordovia, and partly in the strict regime Vladimirskaia prison |
| 1972 | Released from camp, prohibited from residence in Moscow, lived in exile in Tarusa |
| 1974 | Administrator of the Solzhenitsyn Fund for Aid to Political Prisoners |
| 1976 May 12 | Co-founder of the Moscow Helsinki Group (MHG) |
| 1977 | Aleksandr Ginzburg Defence Committee is established in the U.S. |
| Arrested, along with other members of the MHG | |
| 1978 July 13 | Tried in Kaluga and sentenced to an eight-year strict regime camp term, which he served in the Dubrovlag system in Mordovia |
| 1979 | Released and exchanged, along with three other political prisoners, for Soviet spies in the United States |
| 1979-1980 | Family joined him in the United States |
| Lectured at universities in the United States | |
| 1980 | Moved to France |
| 1982-probably 1988 | Head of the Russian Cultural Center in Montgeron |
| 1988-1997 | Columnist, Russkaia mysl' newspaper |
| 2002 | Died, Paris, France |
Scope and Content of Collection
The documents in the Aleksandr Ginzburg papers portray him as a fighter for freedom and human rights, a person of culture
and integrity. They also show how Ginzburg was persecuted by Soviet authorities and how he was finally sent into exile abroad.
His wife, Arina (Irina) Ginzburg, provided documents with extensive comments and explanations, which complement Ginzburg's
papers.
The
Biographical File documents three imprisonments of Aleksandr Ginzburg, his exile, and rehabilitation. Ginzburg was first arrested in 1960 for
his attempt to publish an uncensored magazine,
Sintaksis, which included works of writers unacceptable to official publishers. The trial materials, including a letter from the prominent
writer IUriĬ Olesha confiscated during Ginzburg's arrest, were returned to the family in the 1990s. Trial documents allow
researchers to understand the "rule of law" in the Soviet Union. Arina Ginzburg, along with their friend Vera Lashkova, attended
Ginzburg's third trial in the city of Kaluga and made notes about it; their account is included in the Biographical File.
At the time of that trial, friends and family were waiting outside the court building; they were secretly photographed by
another friend, Viktor Timachev (see the
Photographs series). Also most informative is Arina's logbook (also in
Electronic Documents), in which she meticulously listed the contents of her letters to her husband and other prisoners in the Pot'ma camp and
their responses, food purchased for camp visits, and other events in her life.
Aleksandr Ginzburg's fight for human rights and his three imprisonments received wide attention abroad. The Alexander Ginzburg
Defense Committee petitioned the Soviet and United States governments and organized demonstrations fighting for his release,
which are documented in the Biographical File. Of special interest in the Biographical File are materials relating to the
dismissal of Aleksandr and Arina from
Russkaia mysl' by chief editor Irina IlovaĬskaia-Alberti, including their comprehensive account of the dismissal and many letters from public
figures in Russia protesting it.
Correspondence includes letters addressed to Arina and Aleksandr Ginzburg from many dissidents and prominent public figures, including AndreĬ
Sakharov, Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn, Natal'ia Solzhenitsyna, Vladimir BukovskiĬ, Natal'ia Gorbanevskaia, to name just a few,
and letters they received as
Russkaia mysl' newspaper employees (these are mostly letters from writers and other intellectuals).
Speeches and Writings includes excerpts from Aleksandr Ginzburg's unfinished memoirs, his essays about AndreĬ Sakharov and the writer Bulat Okudzhava,
and his interviews by Raisa Orlova, Annie Tchernychev, SergeĬ Kovalev, and others.
Zeks, a play by Maria Rasa, in the
Writings by Others series, was based on a real incident that happened to Aleksandr Ginzburg in the forced labor camp in Mordovia. The play was
staged at the Theater for the New City, directed by Jonas JuraŠaŠ. Photographic prints depicting Aleksandr Ginzburg with the
director and actors after the performance, included in the same folder, supplement the script.
Also included in Writings by Others is a holograph Samizdat book with several poems by Igor Severianin copied by Aleksandr
Ginzburg; the hand-made book traveled with him to prisons and camps. Unpublished recollections of Filip Makhonin about his
meetings with the prominent writer Viktor Nekrasov are accompanied by photographs and Makhonin's illustrations to Nekrasov's
book
V okopakh Stalingrada.
In the
Subject File researchers will find clippings and documents that bring to light dissident activities. Particularly illustrative material
is contained in the Dronnikov-Konovalov sets of portrait sketches depicting Ginzburg and the writers Vladimir Maksimov, AndreĬ
SiniavskiĬ, and Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn. In 1973-1974 Solzhenitsyn established a Fund for Aid to Political Prisoners and Their
Families (later called the Solzhenitsyn Fund), and Aleksandr Ginzburg became its first administrator. Also in the Subject
File are materials relating to the war in Chechnia, which Aleksandr Ginzburg followed closely.
A reprint in
Grani of the previously mentioned
Sintaksis, magazine and a tiny edition (to be smuggled into the Soviet Union) of Solzhenitsyn's
Arkhipelag Gulag are worth mentioning among other interesting publications in the
Printed Matter series.
Materials relating to the establishment of the
Russkaia mysl' Moscow Bureau, especially letters in support of publication and distribution of the newspaper in Russia from Elena Bonner,
Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn, the politician Galina Starovoitova, and others, are among the most interesting documents in the
Russkaia Mysl' File.
Hundreds of photographic prints in the
Photographs series present a comprehensive picture of the life of dissidents in the 1970s and 1980s, their gatherings, and travels to
prisons, camps, and exile. On the reverse of some photographs are letters to Aleksandr Ginzburg in prison from his wife and
his mother Liudmila. Several unique photographs depict Solzhenitsyn's apartment after his family left the Soviet Union and
his car donated to the Solzhenitsyn Fund. In the late 1980s and early 1990s, after the fall of the Iron Curtain, Ginzburg's
home in Paris attracted visitors from Russia; many photographs depict Aleksandr and Arina Ginzburg with writers, singers,
actors, film and stage directors, and political figures.
The most important among the
Electronic Documents are Aleksandr and Arina Ginzburg's correspondence during his imprisonments and the previously mentioned logbook of Arina
Ginzburg, which was confiscated during his arrest. It was returned to Arina in the 1990s, with a page from the trial file
given to Arina by mistake. The page contained KGB notes with secret (coded) names for Ginzburg, Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn, Natal'ia
Solzhenitsyna, and others. These documents were scanned by the Ginzburg family, who retain the originals.
The
Audiovisual Materials include 429 compact audio cassettes and 18 videotape cassettes. One compact sound cassette contains a recording of IUliĬ
Daniel reading poetry written by another prisoner, Kurt Skujenieks, which Ginzburg managed to record in the camp and smuggle
abroad; later the recording was aired by Radio Liberty to the great surprise of KGB officials. 130 audio cassettes contain
the Ginzburg McGoff lecture series, recorded telephone conversations of Aleksandr Ginzburg with his Moscow correspondents,
interviews of cultural and political figures, news from all over the world, etc. These tapes were a source of information
for Ginzburg's "News from the Motherland" weekly column in
Russkaia mysl'. Four audio cassettes (nos. 26, 30, 35, and 46) have not been delivered to the Hoover Archives. One compact cassette (no.
31) has not been described. (Arina Ginzburg compiled a list of the cassettes, with detailed descriptions of their content).
Another 299 audiocassettes record uncensored Soviet/Russian underground poetry and songs; among the authors are Joseph Brodsky,
Aleksandr Galich, Bulat Okudzhava, IUliĬ Kim, Vladimir Vysotsky, and many others.
A U.S. one-dollar bill was signed for Ginzburg by G. William Miller, U.S. Secretary of the Treasury, on board a Concord plane
to New York. The bill can be found among other
Memorabilia.
Oversize Material, along with many awards to Ginzburg and prison rules, includes a remarkable print given to Arina Ginzburg during her vacation
on the Black Sea coast while Ginzburg was in prison by a group of young men who lived nearby. The painting depicts a mother
with two sons surrounded by listening ears and watching eyes hidden everywhere. It turned out later that these men were KGB
people spying on Arina, and the painting was to remind her that she was under constant surveillance.
A. SiniavskiĬ papers, Hoover Institution Library & Archives
RFE/RL broadcast records, Hoover Institution Library & Archives
Yuri Yarim-Agaev papers, Hoover Institution Library & Archives
Leon Volkov papers, Hoover Institution Library & Archives
Natal'ia Solzhenitsyn speech, Hoover Institution Library & Archives
Aleksandr Isaevich Solzhenitsyn speeches and writings, Hoover Institution Library & Archives
Irina Kaplun writings, Hoover Institution Library & Archives
Subjects and Indexing Terms
Audiotapes
Dissenters -- Soviet Union
Civil rights -- Soviet Union
Russians -- France