A few words to marke the anniversary of death ( March 8th) of an incredible woman and artist, Eufrosinia Kersnovskaya, known for her rare drawings of realities of life in Russian prison camps.* ** Eufrosinia Kersnovskaya was a Russian writer and artist, of a noble origin. Born in 1907 in Odessa, she moved with her family to Bessarabia, which was then a part of Romania, to escape from prosecution of Bolsheviks, where Eufrosinia worked as a farmer on the ancestry estate. After the Soviet armies entered Bessarabia in 1940, Eufrosinia and her mother as the former landowners were driven out of their house. So, Eufrosinia had to take all sorts of odd jobs to maintain herself and her old mother. Soon under the pressure of Bolshevist propaganda all Efrosinia’s friends, acquaintances, and fellow villagers turn their backs on her. But it was only the beginning of the misfortunes that fell on fragile shoulders of Efrosinia. One night six armed men came to arrest her. In June, 1941 Eufrosinia Kersnovskaya was exiled to a special prison settlement in the Tomsk Region. After an attempt to escape in 1942 she was sentenced to a supreme penalty. She refused to ask for mercy with writing words: “I cannot demand justice and I do not want to ask for favor”. Nevertheless, her sentence was replaced with the term of 10 years. In 1944 she got another 10-year term for “counterrevolutionary propaganda”. She served her penance in Norilsk prison camp. Her work was a kind […]
Follow Us!
