Dalia Grinkeviciute (1927–1987)

The publication of Shadows on the Tundra marks the culmination of a remarkable literary journey. As miraculous as it is that its author survived the experiences described in these pages, it is perhaps even more of a wonder that the manuscript itself was finally discovered and published. In 1941 14-year-old Dalia Grinkevičiūtė (1927-1987), her mother and brother (along with many others) are deported from Lithuania and the other Baltic states by the occupying Soviets and sent to a Siberian gulag. After traveling by steamer up the Lena River, the deportees are deposited on the island of Trofimovsk, part of a delta system where the river empties into the Arctic Ocean. It is on this barren outpost that they are to spend the winter. Since there are no structures, their first task is to build their own living quarters, and then a fish processing plant. Without sentimentality and with stunning clarity, Dalia recounts the insane brutality the deportees must endure, especially after winter arrives: twelve-hour days of forced labour, frigid temperatures from which there is no respite, ubiquitous snow and ice, inadequate clothing and provisions, appalling living conditions that nurture malnutrition and disease, the corruption and stupidity of those in charge. Most vivid in her description is the pile of corpses that grows each day. In 1949 Dalia and her mother escaped and returned to Lithuania, where they went into hiding. During this period Dalia wrote her memoir on loose sheets of paper. In May 1950, following her mother’s death, suspecting she was being watched, she sealed the manuscript in a jar and buried it in her garden, luckily as it turned out because that same month she was arrested and again sent to Siberia. Six years later she was released and returned home but was unable to locate the jar containing the manuscript. Dalia later trained in medicine and for many years worked as a doctor until the Soviets had her banned. In the 1970s she rewrote her memoir and allowed this version to circulate underground. Then, in 1991, four years after her death, the original manuscript was unearthed and published. In Shadows on the Tundra, which is required reading in Lithuanian schools, Dalia Grinkevičiūtė tells a gut-wrenching tale of endurance and resilience against massive odds and in the face of tyranny and unthinking cruelty, of being sustained by the faintest of hopes, of a “stolen youth,” and a “stolen homeland.” In a time of renewed Russian aggression, these notions carry far-reaching implications. It’s easy to see why Dalia’s story continues to resonate across borders and generations.… (mais)

This is a book that is at odds with its contents. It's written in really easy, accessible language, which makes it easy to miss quite how brutal the situation being described is. The dehumanisation of the deportees by those in charge beggars belief. Set that against an already inhospitable landscape and it's any wonder that any of them survive. And yet the work they are doing is next to worthless. The fish rots in the barrels, wasting resources and effort, which just makes it seem even more futile. The cause of her deportation is never stated, but that her family was middle class in Lithuania was probably enough, she remembers a trip to the Opera as a memory of a former life.
And yet, despite the bleakness of the landscape and the treatment endured, she doesn't seem to succumb to total despair. There is a determination to endure. Maybe that is because she does survive, this is written with some degree of hindsight. Even the blackest moments are not untinged by some anticipation that life will continue.
The manuscript itself has a remarkable story, that is not told here. She and her mother escape, and return home, where her mother dies and Dalia writes her experiences on scraps of paper that are buried in the garden. This is before she is again deported to the labour camps, before being released and working as a doctor. The manuscripts themselves were rediscovered in the garden after Dalia had died and were then published. Therefore the end of this account finds her still in the frozen north, we don't hear, in her own words, the voyage home and the difficulties subsequently endured. This is not an easy book to grasp, it's painful, at times, yet is told with remarkably clear language. At time the chronology is unclear, and it seems to cover just 1 year of her time there. I can't say it is terribly enjoyable, but it is important as a nearly contemporaneous account of Stalin's policies of oppression.… (mais)

This is an excellent life history written upon Dalia's return home to Lithuania. Her accounts lay buried in a glass jar for years until they were discovered and published in 1991. Unlike other life histories, recounted by people in their twilight years, Dalia's story was written in close temporal proximity to the events during her exile. This book brings a host of real experiences from life in Siberia and is a great way to flush out one's understanding of the 1941 Baltic deporations through the eyes of a 15-year-old Lithuanian deportee.… (mais)