Category: 
Varlam Shalamov's Moscow

Apartment of Yakov Grodzenskii

Address: 9 Rusakovskaya Street, Moscow

Photo: Emil Gataullin, Memorial Society Photo Archive

Photo: Emil Gataullin, Memorial Society Photo Archive

Shalamov became acquainted with Yakov Grozdenskii in the 1920s. Both of them participated in the anti-Stalinist opposition and were imprisoned in labor camps (Shalamov was sent to Kolyma, Grodzenskii was sent to Vorkuta). Eventually, they reconnected with each other when they met by chance on Tverskaya Street in the 1950s.

Yakov Grodzenskiy, 1922. Source: personal archives of S. Y. Grodzenskiy

Yakov Grodzenskii, 1922. Source: personal archives of S. Y. Grodzenskii.

Yakov Grodzenskii was Shalamov’s closest and most long-standing friend. He was also the first reader who understood the essence of Kolyma Tales. Grodzenskii’s death in 1971 was a difficult trial for Shalamov.

Varlam Shalamov’s "Shelest listyev" ("Whisper of the Leaves") with a handwritten dedication to Y. D. Grodzenskiy. Photo: shalamov.ru

Varlam Shalamov’s "Shelest listyev" ("Whisper of the Leaves") with a handwritten dedication to Y. D. Grodzenskii. Photo: shalamov.ru

Sergey Solovyov