In early 2022, I was contacted by Rachel,[1] an Australian 30-something who had in his possession a very interesting piece of egodocument: his grandfather’s handwritten Yiddish diary/memoir about his arrest by the infamous NKVD – the KGB’s predecessor – during Stalin’s Great Terror in 1937, and about his subsequent tribulations in a Soviet jail cell. Although the subject material was fascinating on its own right, the translation project soon took a turn towards the incredible.
As part of my standard operating procedure, I always run searches on the main subjects of any given translation project in Yiddish (and Hebrew and Russian, if applicable – it usually is). Given the wealth of Jewish periodicals, Yizkor books, and archival resources, such searches at times do yield additional information about individuals who figure in the Yiddish texts.
In the case of Rachel’s grandfather, Yankev, I was able to identify not one, but two secret police files on him, numbering nearly 350 pages in total. Both files were held in Odessa, Ukraine, at the time heavily bombarded by Russian forces. Rachel, of course, was elated at the prospect of obtaining Yankev’s files and saving them for posterity. Going out on a limb, I contacted the State Archives of Odessa Oblast – and, lo and behold, within a month the archivists scanned the weighty tomes and emailed the images to Rachel. And all this for no more than a cool $12!
Secret police file of an NKVD officer executed in 1939. Source.
The files cover the years 1937-1956, from Yankev’s arrest in 1937, through his 10-year exile to a so-called “correctional labor camp” near the Arctic Circle, his repeated arrest and sentencing in 1948, and the attempts waged by his wife for his rehabilitation until 1956. The files are a goldmine of exceptional texts, such as Yankev’s heart-wrenching letter of appeal for clemency to Stalin, his testimony describing much of his life story, sources on his prior life in the Soviet Union gathered by secret police investigators, and a plethora of testimonies and fabricated narratives, which resulted in trumped-up charges of counterrevolutionary agitation, treason, and espionage being leveled against Yankev. To top it off, the file even contains Yankev’s mugshot, taken by the NKVD.
I am currently in the process of providing summaries of the archival documents to Rachel, translating the more significant passages or documents verbatim. Combined with Yankev’s Yiddish prison diary, the secret police files are a unique source of information, providing an intricate insight into Yankev’s life – a true treasure trove few people have on their relatives. In parallel, Rachel’s story shows that – thanks to the digital age and some serendipity – drilling into one’s family history might lead to some unexpected and enlightening results.
[1] Names have been changed for privacy reasons.
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