Tag #148645 - Interview #95166 (Semyon Vilenskiy)

After rehabilitation they resumed my University status. I finished 5 years, but I didn’t defend my diploma. I didn’t feel I needed this. By that time I was already a literature professional. I wasn’t going to do teaching ever.  Being a member of the trade union of literature workers, I did not have to be a staff employee and authorities could not blame me of being a parasite. This enabled me to walk across Russia and stay in remote villages. This became a way of my life. I met people and gained great life experience. Before the GULAG I was a very cheerful young man, but I lost a lot of this joyousness. On the other hand, I gained the experience and knowledge of people that I needed as a writer and a human being. I was 20, when I was arrested, but I was the youngest in the special camp. My imprisonment did not allow me to hold higher positions in my future career, but I didn’t want a career. I didn’t need it.