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The astonishing thing is not that so many of us went to concentration camps or died… — Nadezhda Mandelstam

Autobiography and memoir

The astonishing thing is not that so many of us went to concentration camps or died there, but that some us survived. Caution did not help. Only chance could save you.

Nadezhda Mandelstam
Hope Abandoned · 1972
★ 3.5
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Topic
The gulagSoviet Union
Genre
Autobiography and memoir
Time
1972
Person
Nadezhda Mandelstam
Provenance
Citation
Mandelstam, Nadezhda. Hope Abandoned. Collins & Harvill Press/Atheneum Books, ch. 6.

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I decided it is better to scream. This pitiful sound, which sometimes, goodness knows how, reaches into the remotest prison cell, is a concentrated expression of the last vestige of human dignity. It is a man's way of leaving a trace, of telling people how he lived and died. By his screams he asserts his right to live, sends a message to the outside world demanding help and calling for resistance. If nothing else is left, one must scream. Silence is the real crime against humanity.

Nadezhda Mandelstam
Hope Against Hope · 1970
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