Dancing Under the Red Star (43 page)

Riga
—The capital of Latvia

Spiekeroog
—A small, remote island in the North Sea

SS
Statendam
—International ocean liner of the Holland-American Line

Telefunken
—German audio communications and telephone enterprise

troika
—Beginning in 1937, in lieu of traditional courts, a set of three judges who sentenced prisoners during periods of mass arrests

Volga-Deutsche
—Now called Volga Germans; a Russian contingent of tight-knit Germans living near the Volga River and the Black Sea who maintained the German culture, language, religion, and traditions

Volga River
—Approximately twenty-three hundred miles long, it is Europe’s (and Russia’s) longest river.

Volkspolizei
—Soviet-controlled East German border police; translated “People’s Police”; also known as VOPOs

Vorobyo’vka
—Gorky’s jail for political prisoners

Vorkuta
—Coal-mining town and labor camp in northeastern Siberia, just north of the Arctic Circle

vrag naroda
—Russian term meaning “enemy of the state”

War Prisoner Exchange Agreement
—Reached in 1957 between West German chancellor Konrad Adenauer and Nikita Khrushchev, provisionally allowing for the repatriation of former German and Russian POWs

West Berlin Refugee Organization
—A former agency of the United Nations

Yalta Conference
—Also known as the Crimea Conference, held in February 1945; detailed agreements reached between Franklin D. Roosevelt, Winston Churchill, and Joseph Stalin with respect to, among other issues, world reorganization, the liberation of Europe, and the dismemberment of Germany

Yezhovshchina—
“The Yezhov Affair,” describing the time from 1937 to mid-1938 when widespread repression and purges were at their worst in Russia; named for Nikolai Yezhov, Stalin’s assistant

Young Pioneers
—A national Soviet youth organization designed to prepare the country’s youth for future political roles

Zehlendorf
—East German city and suburb of Berlin that was the site of a German refugee camp after World War II

Zoo Station
—Or Zoo Bahnhof, the train station on the border of West Berlin

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

KARL TOBIEN was born in 1956 just outside a Soviet slave-labor camp in Siberia. He arrived in America in 1961 with his mother and grandmother. Today Karl is a management consultant, speaker, and author. He resides in Cincinnati, Ohio, with his wife, Tina, and their four children.

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DANCING UNDER THE RED STAR
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Scripture quotations are taken from the Holy Bible, New International Version®. NIV®. Copyright © 1973, 1978, 1984 by International Bible Society. Used by permission of Zondervan Publishing House. All rights reserved.

Pages 42, 129: “Before the Deluge.” Words and music by Jackson Browne © 1974, 1975 Swallow Turn Music (renewed). All rights administered by Wixen Music Publishing, Inc. Used by permission of the publisher and Alfred Publishing Co., Inc. All rights reserved. Pages 329-30: “Don’t You Want to Be There.” Words and music by Jackson Browne © 2002 Swallow Turn Music. All rights administered by Wixen Music Publishing, Inc. Used by permission of the publisher and Alfred Publishing Co., Inc. All rights reserved.

Details in some anecdotes and stories have been changed to protect the identities of the persons involved.

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Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data Tobien, Karl 1956-

Dancing under the red star: the extraordinary story of Margaret Werner, the only American woman to survive Stalin’s gulag / Karl Tobien.— 1st ed.
p. cm.

1. Werner, Margaret. 2. Americans—Soviet Union—Biography. 3. Women prisoners—Soviet Union—Biography. 4. Political prisoners—Soviet Union—Biography. 5. Political persecution— Soviet Union. I. Title.

DK34.A45W478 2006

947 ′.004130092—dc22

2005036179

eISBN: 978-0-307-55063-7

v3.0

Table of Contents

The Gulag

Prologue