Marchenko Anatoly Tikhonovich - one of the many political prisoners of the Soviet period, who died while serving time. This man has done a lot to rid the country of political persecution. For which he paid first with freedom, and then with life, Anatoly Tikhonovich Marchenko. Biography, awards and interesting facts about the writer - all this will be discussed in detail in the article.
First conclusion and escape
Anatoly was born in Siberia in 1938. His father was a railroad worker. The future writer graduated from the 8th grade, after which he worked in oil fields, mines and exploration expeditions. At the beginning of 1958, after a mass brawl in a workers' dormitory, he was arrested. Anatoly Marchenko himself did not take part in the fight, but he was sentenced to two years in prison. A year later, Anatoly Tikhonovich escaped from prison. And soon after his escape, the colony received news of his release, as well as the removal of his criminal record. The decision was made by the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet of the USSR. In the period from 1959 to 1960, Anatoly Marchenko wandered around the country without documents, being content with casual earnings.
An attempt to leave the USSR, a new arrest
Marchenko tried to escape from the Soviet Union in the fall of 1960, but he was detained at the border. The court sentenced him to 6 years in prison for treason. It happened on March 3, 1961. Marchenko served time in the political camps of Mordovia, as well as in the Vladimir prison. In conclusion, he fell ill, lost his hearing.
Acquaintance with J. Daniel and others
Anatoly Tikhonovich was released in November 1966. He was released already seasoned in the struggle for his own rights, a convinced opponent of the current regime and the ideology that serves him. Anatoly Marchenko settled in the Vladimir region (Aleksandrov), worked as a loader. While in the camp, he met Julius Daniel. This writer brought him together with representatives of dissenting intelligentsia of the city of Moscow.
New friends, including Larisa Bogoraz, his future wife, helped Anatoly Tikhonovich to realize what he had planned - to create a book dedicated to Soviet political prisons and camps of the 1960s. "My testimony" was completed in the fall of 1967. They became very popular in samizdat, and after a while were published abroad. This work has been translated into a number of European languages.
"My testimony" and their price
A detailed memoir of political camps destroyed the illusions that were prevalent both in the USSR and in the West. Indeed, many at that time believed that gross outrage, overt violence and political repression against dissidents were left in the past after Stalin's death. Marchenko was ready for arrest for this book. However, the KGB leadership did not dare to produce it; they planned to expel the author abroad. They even prepared a decree on the deprivation of Marchenko's Soviet citizenship. But this plan for some reason has not been implemented.
Journalistic activity, new terms
Anatoly Tikhonovich in 1968 first tried himself as a publicist. The main theme of several of his texts in the genre of "open letters" was the inhuman treatment of political prisoners. In the same year, July 22, he wrote an open letter addressed to several foreign and Soviet newspapers. It spoke of the threat of the suppression of the Prague Spring by military methods. A few days later, Marchenko was arrested in Moscow. The charge against him was a violation of the passport regime. The fact is that former political prisoners in those years were not allowed to live in the capital. On August 21, 1968, Marchenko was sentenced to a year in prison. He was serving this term in the Perm Region (Nyrobsky Criminal Camp).
On the eve of his release, a new case was launched against Anatoly Tikhonovich. He was accused of spreading “slanderous fabrications” defaming the Soviet system among prisoners. In August 1969, Marchenko was sentenced to two years in prison camps.
After his release, in 1971, Anatoly Tikhonovich settled in the Kaluga region (Tarusa) together with L. Bogoraz, who by that time had become his wife. Marchenko was under administrative supervision.
The first hunger strike Marchenko
In 1973, the authorities again wanted to send Anatoly abroad. He was forced to write an application for emigration, threatening a period in case of refusal. This threat was executed in February 1975. Marchenko Anatoly was sentenced to four years of exile for violation of the rules of administrative supervision. Immediately upon making this decision, Anatoly Tikhonovich went on a hunger strike and kept her for two months. Then he served a link in the Irkutsk region (the village of Chuna).
Journalism topics, MHG
Marchenko, even being in exile, continued journalistic and literary activities. He described the story of a new case brought against him, as well as the brutal escort procedure in his book, From Tarusa to Chuna, which was published in New York in 1976.
Another cross-cutting theme of journalism created by Marchenko is the dangers posed by the Munich policy of appeasing the USSR to Western democracies. This is described in detail in the article by Anatoly Tikhonovich "Tertium datur - the third is given, " created in 1976 together with L. Bogoraz. The authors criticize the direction in which international relations developed in the first half of the 70s. They oppose not so much the idea of detente as such, but against the adoption by the West of a Soviet understanding of this idea.
In May 1976, Marchenko was included in the MHG (Moscow Helsinki Group), but did not take an active part in its work, partly because he was exiled, partly because of his disagreement to rely on the Final Act adopted at the Helsinki meeting.
The beginning of a new book
Anatoly Marchenko was released in 1978 (the time of imprisonment and pre-trial detention under Soviet laws counts as one day for three). Marchenko settled in the Vladimir region (Karabanovo), worked as a fireman in a boiler room. In the historical collection of samizdat "Memory" (third edition of 1978), a selection of materials dedicated to the decade of the release of "My Testimony" appeared. In addition, the 2nd chapter from Marchenko’s new book, Live Like All, was placed in it. This work describes the story of the creation of "My testimony."
“Live like everyone else” and political and journalistic articles
In early 1981, Anatoly Marchenko continued to work on the book "Live Like Everybody." He managed to prepare for publication its part, covering the period from 1966 to 1969. At the same time, Anatoly Tikhonovich created a number of articles of a political and journalistic orientation. One of them is devoted to the threat of military intervention of the USSR in the affairs of Poland after the revolution of Solidarity.
The last arrest of Marchenko
For the sixth time, Anatoly Marchenko was arrested on March 17, 1981. This arrest was his last. This time, the authorities did not want to fabricate a "non-political" charge. Anatoly Tikhonovich was accused of agitation and propaganda against the USSR. Immediately after the arrest, Marchenko stated that he considered the KGB and the CPSU to be criminal organizations and would not participate in the investigation. In early September 1981, the Vladimir Regional Court sentenced him to 10 years in the camps, as well as to subsequent exile for a period of 5 years.
Andrei Sakharov in his article entitled “Save Anatoly Marchenko” called this verdict “outright reprisal” for books about the Gulag (Marchenko spoke about it among the first) and “undisguised revenge” for honesty, stamina and independence of character and mind.
last years of life
The writer Marchenko Anatoly Tikhonovich was serving his sentence in political camps in Perm. The administration constantly harassed him. Marchenko was deprived of correspondence and dates, for the slightest offense he was put in a punishment cell. In the last years of his life, it was very difficult for such a writer as Anatoly Marchenko. The author’s books, of course, were banned. In December 1984, security officers brutally beat Anatoly Tikhonovich. In October 1985, for "systematic violations of the regime" Marchenko was transferred to more stringent conditions of the Chistopol prison. Here, almost complete isolation awaited him. In such circumstances, hunger strikes remained the only possibility of resistance. The last of them, the longest (lasting 117 days), Marchenko began on August 4, 1986. Anatoly Tikhonovich's demand was to stop the mockery of political prisoners in the Soviet Union, their release. Marchenko ended his hunger strike on November 28, 1986. A few days later, he suddenly became ill. Anatoly Marchenko was sent on December 8 to a local hospital. His biography ends on the same day, in the evening. It was then that the writer died. According to the official version, death occurred as a result of cardiopulmonary failure.
