Christened With Crosses

FOREWORD

Foreword

In order to spare my readers vexatious questions regarding the title and subtitle of my tale, I will first explain the second inscription, that is, the subtitle.

First, all events were written down haphazardly, on my knees, in tiny notebooks, in random places, wherever life found me and whenever there chanced to be a rare moment not occupied with the primary work of drawing.

Second, these are notes about a time when the system had the whole country on its knees.

Third, these are the fragmentary remembrances of a kid who got to live to the tune of triumphant marches in a rampant Soviet state orphanage ministry with all its grim claptrap, as did many other young guinea pigs, for a significant number of years.

Notwithstanding, these are simply notes, with no pretensions toward philosophical, sociological, or any other elevated conclusions. These are notes taken on my knees.

“Christened with crosses” is an old expression of former inmates of Russian prisons built on the cruciform plan of the original, infamous Kresty (Crosses) prison in St. Petersburg. It was a term employed by incarcerated denizens of the criminal underworld, whose neighbors during the Stalin years included political prisoners. The expression is capacious and ambiguous.