One Night in Winter

by Simon Sebag Montefiore

  Senka’s calculations became colder and sharper. A false choice had been placed before him. He knew whichever parent he chose, the Organs would destroy them both, and the family with them. There must be a way out of the labyrinth.

  Now he was sitting in the interrogation room and the courtesies, such as they were, were over.

  ‘Senka, give your testimony,’ said Colonel Komarov.

  ‘My brother Demian is more wrong than right,’ said Senka. ‘The words are right, but he’s muddled up the speaker.’

  ‘Just testify, boy, and stop trying to be clever. You may be only ten but on your twelfth birthday you can face the nine grams, the Vishka. Don’t even think of lying or there’ll be nothing left of you for your mother to collect. Did you fake that illness?’

  ‘I would never do that.’

  ‘I hope not. Speak now, boy.’

  Senka straightened his back. He had made his choice. Now he had to make sure he got it right.

  ‘It’s simple, colonel,’ he said, speaking confidently and lucidly. ‘You have the quotations completely the wrong way round. It was my mother who was talking about the “Genius Boss”, not my father. My father has never ever spoken of the Head of the Soviet Government. Discretion is a religion with him. Everything that the Great Stalin does is correct. Papa regards himself as no more than a servant of the Party, the Great Stalin, the working class. He never uses the word Boss – Khozian – to describe the Head of the Soviet Government.’

  ‘So who complained about the Genius Boss? Who is the Genius Boss?’

  ‘My mother complained, and the Genius Boss in our family is . . . me. She was moaning about how spoilt I am. She was being sarcastic.’

  Komarov stopped writing and looked up. ‘But your mother was promoting Jewish-Zionist nationalism. She’s Jewish, isn’t she?’

  ‘Demian’s confused about that too. I remember it exactly. We were in the dacha and my father – not my mother – my father was complaining about “the Jewish compatriots round here” who need to find a place of their own. But he was talking about our neighbours.’

  ‘What neighbours?’

  ‘The Rozenblats, who are always asking to use our tennis court. In the end my father said, no, that was enough; from now on, the Rozenblats, “our Jewish compatriots round here”, needed to get their own place for next year. Papa was tired of sharing with them.’

  Komarov ran his truncated fourth finger along his lips. ‘But your father’s not Jewish?’

  ‘No, my father was raised Russian Orthodox so he couldn’t be guilty of Zionist nationalism, could he? Actually, he was if anything being a little anti-Jewish. So I hope, Colonel Komarov, I’ve answered all your questions. If you want the truth, this is the truth and I swear it before the Party itself. My silly brother told you the right stories but he got them the wrong way round.’

  Komarov looked at Senka for a long time. Senka waited, his head throbbing. Would he be hit? Would he ever see his mother again? Then Komarov threw his head back and laughed.

  ‘You’re cleverer than I thought. And as it happens I have something for you. It’s from your mother.’

  ‘What is it?’

  ‘It’s a surprise. A nice one.’ He snapped his fingers. ‘Go now.’

  46

  FOUR A.M. THE phone rings in the Satinov apartment. Tamara is not really asleep, and wakes to find she is already standing up, phone to her ear. She has not slept since they took Mariko, and not properly since George’s arrest. Every night she skims the surface of sleep, and every morning she feels wretchedly raw. She is not alone: all the parents of the children in the Children’s Case are the same. She sees them at the Golden Gates, trying to smile, but bleeding inside, trying to get through the day with this terrible blade swinging over their heads. Who could have created such a diabolic situation, she wonders, in which they are not allowed even to discuss their anxiety, except at night in whispers, and in dreams they try not to remember?

  ‘Is Comrade Satinov there?’ The voice on the phone is expressionless.

  ‘I’m not sure. I can go and see,’ Tamara says.

  ‘Is that Comrade Satinov’s wife?’

  ‘Yes?’

  ‘Be at Lubianka at seven a.m.’

  ‘Oh my God. What are you telling me?’

  ‘You may collect your children.’

  Tamara bursts into tears and cries out so wildly that Satinov runs into the room, afraid of an even greater catastrophe. But it’s not. It’s good news, he assures her, hugging her. They can’t go back to sleep now. They must be ready to leave for Lubianka.

  It was early morning, and Senka had scarcely slept. He was sure something good was about to happen. What was the surprise Komarov had promised him? Was it his mama? Was she coming to take him home? Had he saved her?

  All night his ears had whooshed with the roar of his heartbeat pumping the blood around his body with excitement and longing.

  ‘Wake up, boy!’ Blancmange, the warder, called. ‘Get dressed!’

  ‘Is there news? Am I going home?’ Senka asked.

  Blancmange held up her trowel-like hands – it was forbidden to inform prisoners of their fates. ‘Put on your best, Little Professor! We’ve got a surprise for you. Now close your eyes! Ta-da!’ And there it was, hanging on a coathanger behind her. Senka’s suit, shirt and tie. And his best shoes.

  ‘My suit! I’ll be so happy to get out of these pyjamas.’

  ‘Be grateful,’ said Blancmange. ‘Not all our “guests” are that lucky, I can tell you.’

  When he was dressed in his beloved suit and a grown-up shirt and tie, Senka ate his breakfast, noting the addition of an extra sugar lump and slice of black bread. Then two guards escorted him towards the interrogation rooms: Is this the way out? he wondered. Is this the way to Mama?

  He imagined Dashka’s smile, her opening her arms, her sweet scent.

  But the warders opened a door into another interrogation room where Colonel Likhachev, the Lobster, awaited him.

  ‘But I thought . . .’ Senka felt as though he was about to cry.

  ‘I know what you thought,’ said the Lobster, sucking on his cigarette. ‘But if you want to go home, you have to sign this.’ He pushed a small bundle of papers, held together with a paperclip, across the desk.

  ‘What is it?’ asked Senka.

  ‘It’s your confession.’

  ‘My confession? But I already confessed about the notebook.’

  ‘We need another confession.’

  Senka forced the rising spasm of weeping back down his throat again as he wearily tried to calculate what he should do. He had heard his father tell his mother once, ‘There’s only one rule: never confess anything.’ Now he was faced with this. Dimly, he saw his mother disappear into the distance again.

  ‘It is a record of everything you’ve told us and all you have to do is sign it,’ the Lobster said.

  Senka sat down on the hard chair and looked at the papers, suddenly doubting that his mama was there at all. They were tricking him and, for a moment, he let the despair flood through him. Then, gathering his strength once again, he started to read, beginning at the heading ‘Protocol of Interrogation of Semyon Genrikhovich Dorov’. Ahead of him lay page after page of dialogue like a stage play with his part marked ‘Dorov, SG’ on every line. He couldn’t remember it all but it sounded right so he returned to the first page that was in larger type:

  I, Semyon Genrikhovich ‘Senka’ Dorov (born 1935), confess that I was a member of an anti-Soviet conspiracy. With a faction of other children at School 801 in an anti-Soviet youth organization named the Fatal Romantics’ Club, I conspired to overthrow the Soviet State and plot acts of terrorism against members of the Politburo.

  Signed: . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

  Dated: . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

  ‘You want to see your mama?’

 
‘Yes.’

  ‘Then sign it and be done with it.’

  ‘But I was never a member of the club. I was too young. I know I mustn’t sign it.’

  ‘You’ve already signed one confession.’

  ‘I did take the notebook. But I never plotted against the government. I’m only ten.’

  ‘At twelve you’ll be old enough to face the Highest Measure of Punishment.’

  Senka flinched.

  ‘Yes, we’re talking about death. We could just keep you here for a few more months and then: bang. So sign it!’

  ‘I never plotted and I mustn’t sign. I didn’t do anything!’ Senka could not hold back the tears any more and started to sob.

  Likhachev quivered, infuriated by this howling. It was, he decided, very frustrating working with children. ‘Pull yourself together, prisoner,’ he shouted. ‘Sign it!’

  ‘I won’t, I won’t! Whatever you do to me, I won’t! I know I mustn’t!’ After all he’d been through, he feared the confession could be used against his father and mother.

  ‘God’s breath. Everyone must sign it.’

  ‘Everyone?’ Senka looked up at Likhachev. Who else was here? Was Minka nearby? ‘Is my sister signing it?’

  Likhachev twitched again, stretched in his chair and then bent his own fingers back so they clicked. ‘All right, come with me.’ He shoved Senka out of the room, down the corridor, opened another door and pushed him inside a room with a glass wall covered by a blind.

  ‘Senka!’ It was Minka, still in her smart red dress, looking thinner but very much herself.

  ‘Minka!’ They ran towards each other, hugged and kissed through their tears.

  ‘What a sweet pair,’ said Likhachev to Colonel Komarov, who was in the room with Minka.

  Minka kept her arm around Senka’s narrow shoulders.

  ‘Have you signed anything?’she asked him.

  ‘No,’ he said, wiping his eyes with his suit’s sleeves. ‘I didn’t think I should.’

  ‘I haven’t either,’ said Minka.

  ‘But, Minka, you were a member of the Fatal Romantics,’ whispered Senka.

  ‘Think about Mama and Papa!’ she whispered back.

  ‘No whispering!’ snarled Likachev. ‘Just sign. Both of you.’

  ‘We won’t sign,’ said Minka.

  Komarov chewed on the stump of his finger and then said to his comrade Likhachev, ‘Shall we make this easier?’

  Likhachev nodded and Komarov walked over to the blind and flicked a switch. ‘Who’s this, eh?’

  Over the tinny speakers, they heard a woman’s voice with a distinctively light Galician accent, saying, ‘Will they be long, Genrikh? Where are they?’ It was their mother.

  ‘Stop, Dashka,’ replied their father’s voice. ‘It’s out of our hands. The officials of the Organs are dealing with it according to the rules of Soviet justice. So we wait.’

  Komarov flicked the switch again. ‘They’re next door. Do you want to see them or not?’

  ‘Sign or stay in prison!’ added Likhachev.

  Minka and Senka held hands.

  ‘We won’t sign, will we, Minka?’ said Senka, regaining a little professorial authority.

  ‘I’m sorry, comrade colonels,’ she said. ‘We’re sure we mustn’t sign.’

  ‘We’re feeling very brave,’ added Senka stoutly. ‘We won’t do it.’

  Komarov glanced at Likhachev, who left the room. Then he unclicked the blind, which flicked up on its roller to reveal a waiting room. Senka and Minka saw their parents sitting awkwardly alongside Irina Titorenka and the Satinovs. No one was saying much.

  ‘Have the others signed?’ asked Minka. ‘George and Vlad?’

  ‘Of course. Everyone must confess,’ said Komarov.

  ‘Then why aren’t they out there?’

  ‘Everyone must sign. It’s orders from the top!’

  ‘Look!’ said Senka, shrill and frightened. ‘He’s talking to Mama! He’s telling them we’re never coming out! Should we sign?’

  Colonel Likhachev was talking to their parents and their father was rising, looking at the two-way mirror and approaching it. He pointed at them and Komarov clicked the switch on the loudspeaker.

  ‘Children,’ said Genrikh Dorov. ‘Are you there, Minka? Senka? I can’t see you but the colonel says you can hear me. Sign now, and you come home!’

  Likhachev re-entered the room, swaggering a little. ‘There, you heard it!’ he said.

  Minka and Senka looked at each other.

  ‘I saw Mama,’ Senka said. ‘She’s in the next room . . .’

  Minka put her arms around him and she too was crying.

  47

  THE SATINOVS HAD arrived first, at 6 a.m. When Tamara saw the room, she staggered and he caught her arm. ‘Oh Hercules, this is the room where I’ve been meeting Mariko.’

  ‘Patience,’ he said, steadying her. This grim grey room, smelling of stale tobacco and sweat, contained four rows of wooden chairs, their seats smoothed by years of nervous waiting families. It was empty but for them. Satinov reflected on his dinner with Stalin: he had been right. Stalin had wanted to look at him before releasing Mariko. But the children were still not home. Was Mariko already looking at them from behind that big mirror on the wall in front of them? How many hundreds of thousands of people had never got this call and had never seen their children, wives, brothers again?

  ‘Are they ever coming?’ burst out Tamara. ‘Hercules, they’re never coming!’

  ‘Hush,’ said Satinov. ‘We must wait. There is nothing further we can do.’

  An hour later, Vlad’s mother, Irina Titorenka, arrived, then Andrei’s mother Inessa Kurbskaya – and then the Dorovs. When Satinov saw Dashka, his heart lurched painfully, and he looked away.

  Genrikh wore a dark suit and twirled his black fedora round a finger, a sign of his confidence, which declared: The Great Stalin needs me again! Satinov nodded at him. Then Tamriko rose and greeted Dashka, whose long heavy hair was pulled back in a bun. What tangled lives we lead, he thought as he watched the two women he most loved in the world hugging in Lubianka Prison as they waited for the children they so adored.

  A lull; an hour passed; terrible thoughts: What if Mariko got out but Senka didn’t, or Vlad did and Andrei didn’t?

  Tamriko was beside him, her face so loving, so honest. He sighed and took her delicate hand and squeezed it.

  Suddenly the door opened. Every parent started – and Vlad Titorenko came in. Crop-haired, bedraggled school uniform, glazed eyes like a zombie. His mother, a jowly, over-rouged woman in a mauve hat like an upside-down chamberpot and a matching coat, exclaimed: ‘Vlad!’ and dabbed at her tears with a dirty yellow handkerchief.

  Vlad cringed and looked around the room, clearly afraid of something. ‘Is Papa here?’ he asked.

  But Mrs Titorenka seemed even more flustered by this question. ‘No, no . . . well . . . he’s not here. He’s gone away.’

  That was how Satinov knew that they had arrested his subordinate, Titorenko. For twenty-five years now he, the Iron Commissar, had thrived in this precarious, clandestine world. His children may be coming home, he thought, but his subordinates were being arrested. Not good for him, but not terminal either.

  A Chekist came in and talked to Genrikh, who spoke to the mirror, advising Minka and Senka to sign their papers. A few minutes passed. Even Satinov, who had helped storm the Winter Palace in 1917, who had waited in a hushed bunker for the launch of the Stalingrad offensive, was nervous by now, his heart drumming.

  Dashka and Genrikh got to their feet. The doors opened and Senka’s sweet, high-pitched voice could be heard, talking about seeing his mother again.

  ‘She’s a doctor, I hear,’ said the Chekist as he held open the door.

  ‘Oh yes, she’s the best doctor in the world,’ cried Senka. ‘She sees all the top people.’

  And then there he was. Dashka flew towards her boy and Minka; Genrikh put on his fedora and lingered behind her, his expre
ssion seeming to suggest that it was perfectly routine for his children to be arrested and then released.

  ‘Darling Senka!’ cried Dashka, opening her arms and bending over to greet him.

  Senka threw himself into her embrace and kissed her face. For a moment, Satinov could only see the top of Senka’s tousled head as he was enveloped in Dashka’s arms. Then she hugged Minka too, and Genrikh touched Dashka’s arm: ‘Not here. Let’s not forget we’re Bolsheviks,’ he said gruffly.

  ‘Of course,’ said Dashka. They headed for the door, and then Dashka looked back and nodded at Tamriko. ‘Good luck!’ she mouthed. She glanced at him, and then they were gone.

  ‘Oh God, where’s Mariko? Where are they?’ Tamara started to panic again.

  The door opened. They rose to their feet. But no, it was Andrei, pale but otherwise unharmed. He and his mother left.

  Satinov and Tamriko were alone again. They held hands, so tense they couldn’t speak. A moment later, the door opened again.

  ‘Mamochka!’ called a shrill voice. Mariko, followed by George, ran into the room at high speed, holding one of her toy dogs. She ran round the room so fast that Tamriko and Satinov barely had time to get up before she threw herself into Tamriko’s arms. Tamriko whirled her round and round.

  ‘Look what I’ve got for you! Look who’s come to meet you!’ Tamriko reached into her bag and pulled out a handful of Mariko’s toy dogs. ‘Old friends and a new one too!’

  Mariko squeaked with joy, grabbing the toy dogs, and threw her arms around her mother again.

  ‘Hello, Papa,’ said George sheepishly. He was still in his football kit.

  ‘You look OK, George,’ said Satinov briskly, ‘thinner perhaps. Good to see you!’ and he put his hand on the boy’s shoulder, an unprecedented act of informality. George looked grateful and Satinov realized his son was scared of his anger.

  ‘Come on,’ said Satinov, kissing Mariko on the top of her head. ‘It’s time to go home.’