Inclined to Escape
Jenny Morton and Yuri Vetohkin (Drawings) n.p. Presumed self-published, 1986. Presumed First U.S. Edition, First printing. Hardcover. vii, [1], 493, [3] pages. Illustrations. Maps. Reference page. Table of Contents (at back). DJ has wear and soiling. Inscribed and dated by author on fep. Author attempted to escape from the Soviet Union three times, successful on the third attempt. Also an account of the torture that political prisoners endured in the Soviet psychiatric prisons. Vetohkin made his first attempt to leave when he tried to swim the Black Sea from a small town on the Soviet border to neighboring Turkey. Though he swam all night, he could not overcome the swift current and failed. In 1967, he again tried, this time from a small village near Yalta, about 180 miles from the border. Again, he swam all night, but in the morning, he was discovered and arrested. A yearlong investigation by the KGB followed this arrest. He was sent to Moscow for a "psychiatric" (that is, political) examination, then shipped to the camp in the Ukraine for "re-education." There, he spent "nine years in a small cell. ... They tried to change political opinions with drugs." In 1979, when he was 52, he bought a ticket for a cruise called "From Winter to Summer." The ticket cost 480 rubles - eight months' salary - so he picked wild mushrooms in the forest and sold them at a farmer's market in Leningrad to help pay for the ticket. The boat traveled from Vladivostok to the equator. "There were no stops, no entry at foreign ports. When the ship was by the equator, I jumped from a porthole into the ocean. I found my way by the stars. I swam to Indonesia. I swam 30 miles. I swam night and day." Vetohkin said he met "wild animals," but was not bothered. An Orthodox Christian, he said he prayed. He was picked up by four men, who took him to a village from which he made his way to Jakarta. There, a meeting was arranged with Soviet officials who tried to persuade him to return home and guaranteed him there would be no problems if he returned. After that, he met with U.S. Embassy officials, received political asylum, and eventually came to California. Condition: Good / Good.
Keywords: KGB, Kherson Prison, Lefortovo, Psychiatric Hospital, Dnepropetrovsk, Concentration Camp, Karelia, Molucca Sea, Dissidents, Stavrogin, Secret Police
[Book #78087]
Price: $125.00