In my first blog I wrote about the film The Way Back and the question of authenticity in memoirs. In the one of the responses which followed, I was directed towards Forgive Me, Natasha by Sergei Kourdakov. At first glance, one of the most incredible elements of this memoir is the fact that a Soviet naval officer managed to jump ship off the coast of Canada and swim ashore to start a new life. As the cleverly titled 2004 documentary Forgive me, Sergei shows, however, other parts of the story turn out to be more questionable.1 This excellent film follows the story of Caroline Walker, a Christian journalist, who believed God had called her to make a film about the life of Sergei until her encounters with his friends, relatives and colleagues in Russia made her question key elements of the memoir.
Forgive me, Natasha narrates a difficult childhood in a barbaric orphanage, from which Sergei emerges not as a criminal – like many of his peers – but an academic success and rising Komsomol star. Whilst training for the navy, he becomes a brutal persecutor of Christians, but then himself experiences conversion. As Walker, finds, however, no one in Siberia where he grew up or Kamchatka where he studied was ready to corroborate Sergei’s story: the monster who ruled the orphanage is remembered by others former charges with great love and affection; the believers in Kamchatka say they met for worship without too much interference; and Sergei’s fellow ‘persecutors’ deny the charges entirely. The latter might of course have vested interest in labeling Sergei a liar, but the weight of the evidence is convincing and as a result of the interviews Caroline was increasingly convinced that the story did not hang together, even though this revelation is clearly painful for her. At the end of the film there is a poignant moment when she questions Joe Bass, the then-president of Underground Evangelism – the missionary movement which supported Sergei – about the authorship of the text; whilst she desperately wants to be convinced that Sergei’s story is the truth, Bass responds angrily to the direction her doubts are taking her and walks out of shot.
As Sue Vice has argued in her work on false Holocaust testimony, the huge cost to the author of their “testimony turning out to be false may actually blind us to that very possibility.”2. The same is surely true of accounts of Soviet persecution, like Rawicz’s The Long Walk and other Gulag memoirs, which impose a moral imperative to believe. This is not to say that all readers were convinced; indeed, in the early post-war period European intellectuals sympathetic to the Soviet cause were often unwilling to countenance accounts of the Gulag, but by the time Solzhenitsyn’s The Gulag Archipelago was published in the 1970s, this left-wing scepticism had significantly weakened.3 Published just a year before the first translation of Solzhenitsyn’s opus, Forgive me, Natasha was also a condemnation of the Soviet system, although its focus was rather different. Instead of focusing on arrest, interrogation, prison and camp labour, it showed how brutality spread to new arenas of Soviet life in the post-Stalinist era. The “persecutor” (the original title of the memoir) no longer had to be a prison guard or NKVD officer, but could be a young Komsomol member and naval student, carrying out raids in his spare time. In many ways this accurately reflects changes which occurred in the 1950s and early 1960s when reforms initiated under Khrushhcev brought about a significant reduction in the camp population and conferred much greater responsibility for maintaining law and order onto ordinary citizens who were urged to join volunteer patrols and brigades. As Sergei’s account suggests, there were certainly clashes between the brigadeers and the trouble-makers they targeted.4 Yet the kind of sustained savagery described in Sergei’s memoir does not marry with other accounts. There were, it is true, incidents of believers being beaten to death – for example, the case of Nikolai Khmara who died in custody in early 1964 – but this was certainly not a usual occurrence, as testified by the huge outcry from his fellow believers and the internal investigations subsequently carried out by authorities.5
It is worth noting that despite the popularity of Sergei’s memoir at the time of publication – and the decline of an intellectual left ready to defend the Soviet bloc at all costs – sceptical voices, coming from perhaps unexpected perspectives, were heard, particularly with regard to the violence described in the memoir. In a 1974 review Albert W. Wardin, himself a scholar of Baptist history with a particular interest in Eastern Europe, suggested the number of attacks on believers was inconceivably high.6. Interestingly, Wardin also suggested that members of Underground Evangelism probably wrote much of the memoir for Sergei. Perhaps one possibility is to see the text as the work of more than one author. It could be that Sergei’s own memories, provided in a series of interviews, were interpreted (perhaps rather loosely) by members of a missionary movement who already had their own vision of what life must be like in the Soviet Union. And it is certainly worth remembering that whilst Sergei’s memories might be different from those of other people, this does not necessarily mean they were intentionally false; there is nothing to say that Sergei did not experience his own childhood as more difficult than other kids growing up in the orphanage, or that he did not feel remorse over involvement in certain Komsomol initiatives.
Whoever the author, or authors, of the memoir they certainly created a powerful text, as shown both by its popularity at the time and by its ongoing appeal to a later generation (including Caroline Walker). The power of Sergei’s story is, I believe, the fact that he is not a victim throughout, but is instead a “persecutor” who repents. This is a familiar pattern in other memoirs from the Soviet Union; we might think, for example, of Lev Kopelev’s Education of a True Believer, which recounted – from the viewpoint of a by then elderly dissident – his experiences as a young idealist actively involved in the brutal process of collectivization. This desire for the author to experience a journey of self-discovery in part reflects cultural expectations of a good story, with the conversion offering a satisfying climax to the account. But it also has a political implication. As Benjamin Nathans has noted, western visitors to the USSR were inclined to ask those involved in dissidence or non-conformist art “When did your eyes open?” 7 A belief that most people were in the dark meant Soviet society could remain “totalitarian” (i.e. a worthy enemy) whilst the scattered individuals starting to see the light gave hope; their freshly opened eyes meant that at least a handful of “surrogate soldiers of Western liberalism” – to borrow Nathans’ terms – could enter into “the ideological battles of the Cold War.” In the case of Sergei and Underground Evangelism, though, the Cold War is not just an ideological battleground, but also a religious one. Increasingly, I think, the Cold War took on religious dimensions which mapped on to existing political and ideological divisions, helping to give the West an ever stronger sense of mission, in a way – perhaps – that the atheist drive no longer could in the USSR. This is, at least, one of the issues I hope to probe in my new(ish) project on evangelical Protestantism in the post-war decades – about which I plan to blog more over the course of the coming months.
- I am very grateful to Andrey Shcherbenok for drawing my attention to this film ↩
- Sue Vice, “False Testimony,” in The Future of Memory, ed. Rick Crownshaw, et al. (Berghahn, 2010) ↩
- Tony Judt, Past Imperfect: French intellectuals, 1944-1956 (Berkeley, 1992), p. 3; I am also grateful to Marc Elie for helpful comments in this regard. ↩
- On the Komsomol brigades, see Juliane Fürst, “The Arrival of Spring?: Changes and Continuities in Soviet Youth Culture and Policy between Stalin and Khrushchev,” in The Dilemmas of De-Stalinization: Negotiating Cultural and Social Change in the Khrushchev Era, ed. Polly Jones (London: Routledge, 2006) ↩
- GARF f. 8131, op 31, d. 97865 ↩
- Albert W. Wardin, Journal of Church and State, 16 (1974), 346-347 ↩
- Benjamin Nathans, “When did your eyes open?,” London Review of Books, 13 May 2010, pp.25-26. This pattern is also found in memoirs of French intellectuals who, in old age, asked how they could have been so blinded to the truth of communism. See Judt, Past Imperfect, p. 5. ↩
I just finished the book and stumbled across this article. Is there a way to get ‘Forgive me, Sergej’, the documentary? I searched the internet but didn’t find anything …
I’ve been wanting to leave a comment on this one, but hadn’t gotten back here….
This is such a timely and difficult topic for me as I try to sort through the narratives of former KGB officers for the book I’m writing. Even when several narratives seem to be consistent, you can never be really sure, because writers do read each other.
Someone (Orlando Figes?) pointed out the problem after Gulag Archipelago was published: people who might not even have been in certain camps or situations would “remember” them exactly as Solzhenitsyn had described.
On topics where official statistics aren’t reliable or don’t exist–that is, neither confirm nor deny a particular claim–forming one’s own conclusions becomes an exercise in sifting through plausibilities. And sometimes it feels unsettling.
Hi Benjamin,
I don’t know about buying it – I borrowed it from someone. There is a website for the documentary (http://www.forgivemesergei.com/Purchase_DVD.asp) and they seem to suggest it’s possible to buy through Amazon, but perhaps that information is out of date.
Hi Lucy,
I agree that sifting through the plausibilities is difficult. If the only sources we have for a topic are memoirs, our judgement of what is plausible only comes from other memoirs. And as you say, these are often shaped by the author’s own reading of other memoirs – which all makes it hard to disentangle. I found the article by Sue Vice (referenced above) useful in thinking about these questions. Work by Ben Nathans on the memoirs of dissidents might also be relevant. I heard him present recently on this at a in Germany – might be worth contacting him if you’re interested.
Thanks for the link!
LC
I read “The Persecutor” years ago and then read about Caroline Walker’s documentary a few years ago. I have to admit that I was disappointed with what I’ve read about her discovery and subsequent documentary.
Tonight I was reminded of it and tried to link to her web site and it wasn’t available. Further research about her hasn’t produced much accept a few positive reviews of her perspective on Communist life during that era.
To be honest, I’m wondering how valid her criticism/ investigation is now. There are a few details of this that seem odd. Have the Canadian authorities denied he was picked up off their shores? Has anyone denied that he risked his safety to defect? Were his claims to be involved in the KGB disproved? Why would he claim to be an Evangelical Christian once he had defected and was living in America?
How much money was this ministry actually making of Sergei? If they were selling his tapes for so cheap, how did the ministry make money? Why are the only critics I can find of the ministry Christian/ Communist associations?
Again, I understand there is some question to the accuracy of his story and it seems the documentary brought up some legitimate skepticism but I think it’s worth investigating the actions that brought him here and the determination that drove him to attempt defection. If it wasn’t so bad, why did he (and many others) defect? Also, why does this web site not exist anymore?
Bakersdozen2
Can you shed some light on this
Hi Beth,
I’ll try to answer your questions.
I wasn’t aware the documentary film site was down, but it appears to be up now: http://www.forgivemesergei.com/
I also wasn’t aware of any positive reviews of my “perspective of Communist life during that era.” Do you mean positive reviews about the documentary? The documentary actually wasn’t my perspective – it was the perspective of the director (Damian Wojiechowski)http://www.forgivemesergei.com/directors_bio.asp
who wanted to show my search for the truth about Sergei. I was never present during the editing . . .
Sergei indeed did jump ship off the Coast of Canada and did risk his safety. Although the storm was exagerrated in the book (height of waves, etc.) and the distance that he swam was exagerated (closer to 3 miles instead of 11), it was an incredible survival story. We couldn’t figure out how he survived the cold water . . . some Canadians said it was impossible for him to be in the water so long (at a minimum it seems he was in the water 6 hours but could have been longer, depending on when he jumped. The Russian captain – interivew not shown in the film – said he thinks Sergei jumped at 1 a.m. ; the book has him jumping at 10 p.m. Regardless of the time he jumped, the Canadians we interviewed couldn’t explain how someone could survive the cold water for so long. One person things he was going in and out of the water along the shore, but another says that’d be impossible due to barnacles that would tear up his feet . . . The doctor who treated Sergei saved the knife that Sergei gave him, so I do belive that Sergei cut off his boots. He likely prayed to God as the story claims. Most people would.
Sergei’s claims of involvement in the KGB couldn’t be corroborated. As far as Communist leadership, he was a leader in the Komsomol, but not the top leader as he claimed.
He might have had a genuine conversion experience at the Ukrainian Evangelical church in Toronto. But he was paid well for his work in UE and he was due to make fifty percent off his book. UE made the other fifty.
Other sailors defected because they heard how much better life was in the West . . . simple. They wanted a better life.
Let me know if you have any other questions.
Thanks,
Caroline
Dear Caroline,
What did this journey do to your faith? Are you still a believer? Are you more cynical now about evangelical creeds? At the end of the documentary, you are shown listening to your pastor talk about believing and having faith, and he seemed cultish in light of what you had experienced. Do you believe that God had given you the vision of your hand being directed by Him to write the screen play? I too was enormously impacted by The Persecutor when I was about twelve years old (I’m now 46). Once a year my church (5,000 members) would rent out our local fair grounds, and “pretend” we lived behind the iron curtain, and had to smuggle our Bibles to a secret Bible study, where fake KGB would come in and scare us. All to help us be stronger, in case we lost our freedom, and thankful for our current religious freedoms in the the U.S. I am sure much of the information our youth leaders got was from Sergei’s autobiography, much like, most of the information we learned about satanism and the occult was from Mike Warranke’s Satan Seller, which also turned out to be a huge piece of fiction. So much of the Jesus Movement (with “I Found It” and “One Way”), during the 70′s and 80′s seemed to be based on these mystical, made-up memoirs that shaped so much of the way we thought as Christians. I am a believer, but I am so much more cynical than I was. And I think that is a good thing.
Hi . . . yes, you can purchase via Amazon – there is a link on http://www.forgivemesergei.com.
I really appreciate this blog entry and the attention given to some of the details in Forgive Me Sergei. As the journalist in the film, I did discover an interesting detail that I wish we had captured in the film ( the readers of this blog seem like an audience who cares enough about the details to hear this fact.) Sergei’s autobiography mentions a “famous Soviet author” whose frail son was saved by Sergei from some Moscow thugs on a train. The author invites Sergei to his home and listens to Sergei’s tales about the orphanage, telling Sergei that he’d like to write a book based on Sergei’s childhood, that Sergei would be like a Russian Tom Sawyer. However, Sergei declines, saying he needs to protect the identity of his friends in the orphanage. In my investigation, I couldn’t find any Russian who recognized the name of this so-called famous author . . . until we visited an office that held the records of all registered Soviet writers. Turns out the writer’s name was recorded, and guess where he was from — Bareshevo, Sergei’s village. Turns out Sergei’s classmates recognized the name of the local Bareshevo writer who used to occasionally visit the orphanage to share his stories or poetry. This single finding was the final straw that convinced me that not only is Sergei’s autobiography false but that Sergei himself fabricated certain parts, and most likely on his own initiative, using his own imagination. If Joe Bass had wanted to fabricate this tale about the Soviet author, he surely would have chosen a real famous author. I can imagine Sergei soliciting his story himself, telling Bass that a famous author in Russian wanted to write his story (just my opinion). I base this partially on this: a Canadian newspaper article written within the first couple weeks of Sergei’s escape to freedom quoted the first translator of Sergei as saying, “Seems like he wants to write a book about his life in Siberia.” (I probably misquoted slightly . . . ). Also, Sergei’s grade school classmates confirmed that they did read The Adventures of Tom Sawyer. We shouldn’t underestimate Sergei . . .
Caroline Walker Pallis, Co-Producer, Forgive Me Sergei
Thanks for adding your perspective Caroline. One of the things I really liked about the documentary was the way it showed your quest to find to out the truth behind the memoir whilst, to large extent, leaving it to the viewer to reach their own conclusions.
I’m interested in the detail you give about the ‘famous’ author. As an historian of the period lots of the memoir doesn’t ring quite true, but I don’t think this means it’s all a deliberate falsification (for money or any other reason). Lots of us re-imagine, invent, or glorify episodes from our past, perhaps some more than others.
I have not watched the documentary, so I don’t know if these questions have been answered or not. I’m wondering about the possibility of people in Russia not wanting to corroborate the story of Sergei for fear of possible repercussions. Also, could not the Soviets themselves, at the time of Sergei’s escape, have changed/destroyed documents to cover up what he reported himself to have done in the USSR? And if this was all false, why would Sergei have received death threats? Or are you saying those were made up also?
Just wanted to comment again… I spoke with a man in my church whose wife was from the Ukraine. He says the area of Komchatka, where Sergei was doing his raids, was/is a highly secure area, and he wonders how any interviewer would have been able to get in there. He says any people who would have been interviewed would have been carefully chosen and instructed what to say. Russia is not free, and her people still may not freely speak of all that they may know. The severity of the persecution of believers described in the book is accurate. Believe what you will, but I don’t think you know the whole story, and I don’t think you will ever get the whole truth from anyone still living in Russia.
Cathy I’m inclined to agree with your view. I think it naive to believe that a journalist could get “the truth” from interviews in Russia except from personal friends. No country has suffered so much persecution of the general population let alone non-Russian Orthodox Christians as Russia. I would refer doubters to “The Church in the Bear’s Garden”. I think the details of “Forgive Me Natasha” are not of great importance suffice to say that even today non-Russian Orthodox Christians are having their adopted children taken away by the “authorities” – and Caroline thinks she will get the “truth” in Russia? – dream on!
Hi Caroline,I did read the book of Sergei.But tell me Caroline did anybody try to trace Natasha to hear her side of the story? Denzil.
I read the Persecutor about five years ago, and I must say that this book really spell bounded me in such a way like few stories ever have. I find it difficult to let go of and forget Sergei Kourdakov himself.
I cannot believe that most of the details in the story are exaggerated or fabricated. I believe that the orphanage conditions of baryshevo were really horrid and that Sergei and his orphanage companions were neglected by “Big Irene,” and the rest of the staff. That the children really did go through intense food shortages. That they had no access to medical care or were prohibited from it. That children were taken away from Christian parents and put into these orphanages to be re educated in communism. Have you ever tried looking up the boy that Sergei called the Deacon?? I was always curious about what might have happened to him…………………….
Even though the baptists in Kamchatka denied that there had ever been persecution towards them in Sergei’s time, wouldn’t Russian/Slavic immigrants in Canada or the U.S.A be less afraid to be vocal?? To acknowledge their struggle with practicing their faith in their native lands?? There has to be hundreds of these refugees out there willing to share their stories………………….
I just can’t give up on this story!! Besides, observing Sergei in the film caused me to realize how big and bulky he was in real life and how frightened I would be if I ever saw him in a dark alley way!! He looked like somebody that could frighten elderly people and small children!! Don’t you think??
I have just finished reading the book “The Persecutor”. My Dad read this book 21 years ago and has recently given it to me to read telling me He named me after Natasha. I was incredibly moved. I am trying to do some research now on more specifically her. I am however saddened to see these debates as to the authenticity of his story. I would add that I am a bible believing born again Christian. Who myself have seen God move in miraculous way in my own life. I was in a wheelchair do to a genetic syndrom and disorder and then along with some injuries this is why I was in the wheelchair.
In 2011 I was instantly healed by the power of God. and can now run and jump like any-other 21 year old.
Therefor and for many other reasons I do not doubt he could have made it in that water. He prayed to God and God took care of him…
I guess I have the same question as Denzil “did anybody try to trace Natasha to hear her side of the story?”
I’m looking forward to responding to some of the questions in this blog and not sure how I lost track of this great discussion thread. When I first read the blog, I was in a relatively new job and juggling being a mom of a 22-month-old, wife, and a family vacation to Greece where passports were stolen . . .
I really appreciate the interest in Sergei’s story, Russian history, and my personal faith journey. And I’m encouraged by Tasha’s testimony. Thank you! I will write more later this week and answer some specific questions.
Caroline
For Laura: thanks for your questions. It is sad to think about the way “mystical, made-up memoirs” shaped the way we thought as Christians. Unraveling some of the formational ways that Sergei’s memoir shaped my thinking required an awful lot of time and travel and, well, you probably noticed – pain. I haven’t begun to address the way other potentially made-up memoirs affected me! Regarding the vision that I had of me as a pen in God’s hand (when I was praying in 1995 for His permission to write a screenplay about Sergei), yes I believe this vision was from God but not a direct “yes” to my question. After I arrived to Moscow in 2000 to meet the to-be director, he asked me if I’d be willing to appear in the documentary; his explanation was that it’s not so easy to make a compelling documentary about a deceased hero and needed a live person like myself who was so interested in the story. At that time I started to understand the vision differently – that perhaps I was supposed to be a vehicle, not a writer of the story. Until then, I thought the documentary would establish and verify the truth of the story and serve as the forerunner to an epic film. But I started then to see the documentary as the fulfillment of the vision. Although I terribly feared being on camera and feared and hated even more watching myself on camera, I agreed fairly readily mainly because of this vision. I remember that day because this agreement raised the stakes much higher regarding what information we would find, and I felt I was taking a spiritual gamble that the story would be proved true (and I began to more strongly associate that outcome with God being faithful). I could not imagine at the time that much good could come from uncovering a false story and humiliating myself, although I knew this scenario was possible. In hindsight, I mostly marvel at how God provided that vision as a source of enthusiasm, guide and comfort. I understand the vision now as God being the author of my faith and giving me an adventure to live through verses living vicariously through my writing. Thankfully, He cares enough to do that – to somehow “write” the wrong – extracting deeply rooted lies that formed false aspects of my faith. On the heels of nearly completing the documentary, I was contacted by an LA movie producer who had run across my screenplay about Sergei – a script that I had sent out to various agencies five years prior and had forgotten about. The incident helped form my current understanding of the vision – that He truly wants to be the author of our lives. I am so glad that I never sold that screenplay and made a killing off of a lie so that I could keep believing a lie. Regarding the preacher in the documentary, he is actually a really good pastor. Yes, at the time of hearing that sermon, I did hear it in light of a “cultish” interpretation – that I should believe Sergei’s story no matter how incredible and unsubstantiated. But, my pastor during that sermon was not referencing Sergei or any memoir or even thinking of me. I hear this sermon a totally different way now – that it was “too incredible” for me to believe God was doing a good work in the process of uncovering a lie. It was even more incredible to believe He might care enough about me to go to all that trouble to help me see the truth. It was easier to believe He wanted to use me for His greatness, not tend to my deep flaws. In the middle of making the documentary, a young but wise seminary student responded once to me after I said that I just wanted to be used by God: “No, God doesn’t use people; you are God’s aim.” It disturbed me a lot but continued to resonate. Could I believe that I am God’s aim? It required humility and faith in His goodness and love. Although God using people is not necessarily an “evangelical creed,” it’s perhaps an example of an emphasis in many Evangelical churches and how I did depart from some key Evangelical creeds, joining the Catholic church in 2004. I miss and still fellowship and visit Evangelical churches and wish for a more formal unity and coming together. My husband is Greek Orthodox, which adds another element to my interest in church unity.
Regarding your remarks about cynicism, perhaps it is a good thing to protect one from receiving just anything inspirational that comes along. John 14:30 comes to mind where Jesus says that the ruler of this world “has nothing” in him. To me, it means Jesus never believed a made-up memoir.
Your experience as a twelve year old in a church that simulated raids is really something! I heard that a church or churches in California associated with Underground Evangelism would do the same thing . . .
Miriam – as I recall my own experiences and write them down, your words about elaboration come to mind! Surely it’s a temptation or an ingrained part of human nature to put things in a favorable light. Sergei’s account, however, of a famous author whom he met in Moscow, is in my opinion completely fabricated. In recordings of his preaching, Sergei says, “Well, I have been to Moscow maybe 17 times, and I can tell you there is no freedom of religion in Russia!” We found no evidence that he ever went to Moscow once and certainly disproved his fantastic tales about life in the orphanage (which were strongly connected to the account of the famous author who wanted to write about those fantastic tales.)
Cathy: people in Russia, including Kamchatka, are as free and capable of telling the truth as anyone else. If 150 violent raids occurred throughout the city streets of Petropavlovsk in the early seventies, someone would say it. They were more isolated from the mainland of Russia during Soviet times but instead of things being stricter they likely enjoyed more religious freedom than other regions. Beginning in 1999, I had no restrictions or oversight when moving around Kamchatka and interviewing people.
Denzil: yes, a Russian film editor in New York tracked down Natasha Zhdanova surprisingly a few years ago! She is Ukrainian, lives still in the Ukraine, but never lived in Russia and never met Sergei – they were pen pals. She was shocked to learn her name was in his autobiography. They never wrote about religion, she said, but shared poetry, favorite books, etc.
Tasha: I would love to hear more about your healing. That is amazing. Thank you for sharing. Yes, it’s surely possible that God protected Sergei in the water. Natasha is a wonderful name. I remember recently seeing your comment on YouTube and so glad that I have gotten another chance here on this blog to respond to your questions. How do you feel about all this?
Hi! My name is Eduardo and I am researching Sergei Kourdakov, I’m very interested in the documentary but I can not get it, I live in Argentina. I wish, if you will let me caroline, information. I’m really interested in the interviews you’ve done with Damian people who had contact with Sergei, if you could give me materials I will be eternally grateful.
Any documents, contemporary newspapers, pictures, recordings or videos would help in my research. my email is eduardoandres.salomon @ gmail.com
Caroline is a pleasure to cross words with you, thank you very much.
Greetings from Argentina!
sorry for my clumsy English haha
I have abook all store about Sergey Kurdukov–
“Forgive Natasha” and you can email me if you have
want to talk to me,
Lyudmila tsuber
Thanks for these thoughtful responses to all the questions, Caroline. I am really so very glad that you found the original blog and subsequent comments. It is interesting for me to have further insight into your research into Sergei’s life, but also to hear about how this research affected your own faith.
Dear Caroline,
It seems to me that Sergei may have wanted to protect his actual victims and accomplices, and so he used names in the book of people he knew or knew of but that could never be traced into the activities he reports. e gr. A girl in the Ukraine (the extreme opposite side of the Soviet Empire from Kamchatka) who most likely had never ever been to Kamchatka, would be difficult to accuse of belonging to Christian groups there. I think maybe Sergei envisioned the work that you did 2000-2004 being done by KGB agents in the early 70′s. Maybe first he thought by exaggerating everything that when they first read it, they would think it unworthy of following up on? Before Solzheznitsyn emigrated to the West he was laying low at a communist friends’ dacha outside of Moscow. Solzheznitsyn has a few children by two different wives, if my memory serves me right. That Sergei, a young rising star in the Communist party, would have access to this “communist resort” makes sense, and again he meets Solzheznitsyn near Moscow and gives him the name of a little known party-line author in Siberia–the KGB is off on another wild goose chase. If my memory serves me well, Solzheznitsyn did not arrive to the USA until after Sergei’s death. I have neither read his book nor have I seen your documentary, but it seems as though there is a core of truth to Sergei’s book. He was an orphan of the state and became a model youth of the state. He most likely participated in some persecution raids, and being of a much smaller number was probably able to remember better his victims and was more surprised to continue finding the same attractive young lady at various of them inspite of the beatings threats etc. Her real courage, thwarted his false bravado, and made him seek the truth. Even if he only went on one raid he surely would have collected up Christian literature. Whether it was 3 miles or 11 miles, he swam a long way in very cold water risking his life for freedom. So, my point is, maybe there is a method to the seeming madness, maybe there are still some great truths to hold onto under the exaggerations and misdirections?
To Caroline,
I just finished the book The Persecutor. God knows the truth. John 8:32;14:6;16:13.
Folks just take a look at one of the Voice of the Martyrs magazines. Ephesians 6:10-18.
Persecution is real even today. Whether the details in the book are accurate or not, I am once again, stirred in my “comfort zone” to pray and plead for those who need Jesus and for those who have embraced Romans 10: 9, 10, 13 and are persecuted. John 3:16,17.
Ruth
Sergei’s accounts reflect what was going on in USSR at that time it was written. Regardless of the claim of the “debunker” there are many considerations to take into account relating to Sergei’s accounts of the life of a “true believer” in the Soviet system. I believe Sergei’s accounts were 100% real. 3 miles or 12 miles from the coast. Give me break. A man dies from exposure quickly that time of year in the Pacific waters. I followed his case when he jumped ship. I know of what he speaks. Even if you are to debunk his story take into account the motivation of the citizens interviewed in USSR. Bad memory. Fear. Not really knowing Sergei and giving the interviewer what she wants to hear. That’s part of the Russian way. What was done to Christians in the USSR really occured the way that was described in Sergei’s accounts. I know from first hand accounts of those who were in USSR at that time. Sergei was real. He died at the hands of KGB because of his desire to spread the word about what was really happening to Christians in Russia. You can lose a lot by saying the wrong things about people even 40 years later. God bless you Serei. Rest in peace.
This small agricultural city has a long history of growing strawberries,
except for the interruption during the World War II.
Next up is for those who are planning on a more simple party
for their New Year’s Eve celebration. The oldest petroglyph is believed to be about 2,000 years old.
This has been very interesting reading for me…the article and the comments….thank you Caroline for your passion in pursuing this story and for taking the time to make comments on it. I read “the Persecutor”…but that was after I met Sergei Kourdakov….as a teen, i went to an Underground Evangelism conference at Winona Lake Indiana in the mid 1970′s….after Sergei spoke, if my memory is correct, he stood up front all alone…..I mustered the courage to walk up and shake his hand….he grabbed my hand and shook it vigorously (he was very strong)….he had a huge smile on his face and kept saying “praise the Lord, hallelujah”………whatever the truth is about the book, that meeting subtly changed the way I understood my life, this world and the Gospel…..and I hope with all my heart to shake Sergei’s hand again…
…I apologize for my poor memory….but it must have been in the early seventies…I think I was around 11 to 13 years old….so that would put it between 1970 to 1972……