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Lee Harvey Oswald Autograph Letter Signed to His Brother on the Censorship of His Correspondence. ...
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Description
"I can confirm... I did not receive any letter with 'certain' questions. It's quite possible they destroyed it."
Lee Harvey Oswald Autograph Letter Signed to His Brother on the
Censorship of His Correspondence. Two pages on two leaves,
rectos only, 5.5 x 8 inches, [Minsk, U.S.S.R.]; December 14, 1961.
Written to his brother, Robert, criticizing Russian censorship for
destroying his letters. Penned in ink. Oswald writes, in full:"Dear Robert, Today I received your letter of Nov. 29. First of all, I can confirm what you thought about some of your letters, I did not receive any letters with 'certain' questions. Its quite possible they destroyed it.
Did you get my letter about how they took down the statue of Stalin? And as you say, we hope the visas come through. [Lee and Marina's exit visas to the United States]
I got a package of books and magazines today from Mother. Its very interesting to read some of the stories in 'Time' about life and politics in the U.S.S.R., most of the stories are wrong, they are too uniformed.
I hope you get our little package by Christmas, Marina worked on those table napkins for Vada [Robert's wife] for two weeks.
At the post office they did not allow me to send some 'KHLVA' (candy), they said it was 'produce.'
It's mighty cold here, about 10° below zero as far as I can tell.
The housetops are covered in snow, but the pine trees stand out green, the river near our apartment house is frozen now. We have a very good view from our fourth-floor windows.
Well, that's about all for now. Marina sends her love, keep writing. Lee."
Lee Harvey Oswald realized his mail was being read earlier when his Red Cross check stopped after he wrote the American Embassy that he wanted to return to America. In this letter he also criticized American stories about Soviet culture in Time magazine as being "too uniform." While critical of the Soviets, he also felt he was "informed" by having lived among them. During his time in the U.S.S.R., he found his work there to be drab and there was nowhere to spend his money, and no places of recreation except trade union dances. Therefore, he seemed ready to criticize and yet defend the Soviets. This split loyalty to the country he was about leave, persisted throughout the rest of his life.
This letter is directly referred to during the testimony of Robert Edward Lee Oswald as well as the Warren Report transcripts, Warren Report: The Testimony of Robert Edward Lee Oswald. When Robert was questioned about this letter concerning the Russian censorship of his correspondence, Robert responded, "I believe, sir, if my memory serves me correct, in some earlier letters he refers there to some Russian censors he felt like were censoring his mail and my mail also and I wanted to find out in my own way whether this was so or not. I might say that was the only time I attempted to raise any type of political questions in my response to any of his letters or any other letters that I sent him, because I did want the letters to go through rather than be destroyed or not received by him."
He referred above to a missing letter about the removal of Stalin's statue. The KGB censors undoubtedly took the letter because it was critical of the Communist regime and their activities. Although the letter has been lost, Lee wrote a paper at that time which described the event. Some of the comments in this short paper were probably in the letter to Robert, and caused its confiscation.
Lee Harvey Oswald titled his paper, "The New Era," and reads in part: "In Minsk there was a 35 ft. monument to Stalin...after the 22nd Congress meeting when Khrushchev again denounced Stalin, on Nov. 5 two days before the Nov. 7 revolutionary celebrations, a force of 100 men descended upon the Stalin Square (now Lenin Square) and with bulldozer and pile driver, commenced to tear up (not salvage) the structure. They must have been very enthusiastic because the next day they had removed the 10-ton bronze figure of a man revered by the older generation and laughed at by the sarcastic younger generation."
Condition: Slight darkening along the edges, faint creases, and tiny chips at the upper edge. Strips of paper tape from mounting removal on the versos. From the Melvin "Pete" Mark, Jr. Collection
Auction Info
2022 December 1 Historical Platinum Session Signature® Auction #6267 (go to Auction Home page)
Auction Dates
December, 2022
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