Oswald's Tale (19 page)

Taking him to Galya’s dormitory, while it would certainly be seen as bringing back a prize, would also present a problem. At that time, you had to produce your identity card, and this was true even for Institute students who didn’t live in the dormitory. It was certainly not routine. Girls who studied at Foreign Languages Institute were treated like young ladies in a convent. Their ideological upbringing was very important. After all, they were being introduced to Western literature and movies, and were allowed to listen to foreign broadcasts.

In this case, however, Galya got Oswald into her dormitory by telling him: “Be quiet. Be silent.” She told her doorman that he was a relative. Galya was taking a chance. If she had been caught, she would have been deprived of her monthly stipend for a period. She took him in safely, however, and after that it was almost routine.

Inna recalls one occasion: There was Oswald with six girls, the center of attention in that dormitory room. He was sitting at a table with a couple of girls close to him and they were all playing a game. He would open the dark brown English book they offered him,
Miller’s English Dictionary,
and pick a word at random, then somebody would offer a translation. Whoever was the girl sitting next to him would check it, and there was a lot of laughter while they played their dictionary game. He had a little Southern accent, and one girl, to everyone’s amusement, even corrected his pronunciation.

Over the next month, he would visit often, and sometimes they would want him to go home, but he would stay. Several girls were scared that someone would catch him, so they kept their door locked. And they didn’t make noise. Their laughter was not loud, more smiles than laughter. Her recollection was that he seemed glad to be accepted. She also felt that part of his interest in being there all the time was to get away from Erich. Her guess is that maybe Oswald wanted to make his own set of friends.

In any event, he was not wholly at ease, even though he was the center of attention. Of course, it was a special kind of interest. Girls would say, “Oh, we haven’t seen
him
for three days,” and Inna knew whom they meant. They were not only afraid to mention his name but reluctant to be alone with Lee—what if someone reported that one of them was alone with a foreigner? That was their first consideration. It was not that he was the sort of fellow one had to be afraid of—if anything, he was timid with women. The only girl who was at all adventurous was Nellya Korbinka, whom Inna did not know very well.

Soon enough, as Inna saw it, the Institute girls grew tired of Lee. They had become used to him, and would pay hardly any attention to him as a man. At this point, he had nothing new to say. He would talk about his family and tell jokes, but they were stupid stories. There was not much discussion. He did tell Inna how much he respected his mother, but Inna suspects that because she respected her own parents so much, he was ready to speak warmly of his mother.

Then, after a while, Oswald dropped out of sight. It was not noticed that much. Some girls used to gossip that his only reason for coming to the Institute was because no one else wanted to date him.

EXTRA PAGE
(not included in formal diary)

Nellya Korbinka.
¹
Large, 5 ft., 11 inches, 150 lbs., built proportionately, large upright breasts, hips wide and lovely but very pleasingly proportioned, from a village near the Polish border, of strictly Russian peasant stock. Gentle, kind, womanly, and understanding, passionate in heart, stubborn in both. She combined all the best womanly features with the kind, sizable Russian heart. I met her through one of her roommates, Tomka. Nell and Tomka together with three other girls lived in a room at the Foreign Languages Institute Dormitory in Minsk near the Victory Circle. I began to notice Nell seriously only after I parted ways with Inna Tachina.
²

11

Razbitoye Karito

Whenever Lee wanted to talk about their future plans, Ella would try to avoid that topic. To discuss such a subject might mean she was getting ready to marry him. Her reluctance to show interest may have upset him, but he was not aggressive. Yet, even so, he became a little more pushy.

He said, “Do you want to know why I came here?” But she never asked him many questions. She was afraid he would think of her as someone who was trying to get information from him. It was part of how she grew up: Women didn’t ask questions. It was considered bad style. So, he started to give information. And he also got a little pushy.

They might commence with a light conversation, nice and full of humor. They would see a movie and discuss every joke afterward. It was fun. They would talk nonsense. Once, they got into a discussion of how frogs talk. She insisted a frog says “qua.” In Russian, a frog always says “qua.” And his answer: “No, a frog says ‘frok.’” It was funny.

But later, he began to discuss serious matters. For example, he didn’t want to live in Minsk. It was, he said, a provincial city. He had lived in New Orleans; that was big. He asked her to share a dream. He said, “Maybe I will move to another socialist country. For example, Czechoslovakia.” He said, “Shall we go to live in Prague?”

He was a very proud man. He didn’t want to be rejected by Ella. She believes that’s why he never asked directly. He would say, “How do you do things here? In America we have an engagement ring, a silver ring that’s exchanged for a golden ring. But how do you do it here?” Perhaps he was waiting for her to ask, “Why are you interested in how marriages are made in Russia?” but he never said directly, “I would like you to be my wife.”

One time, he showed his Russian residence papers, and he said, “Soon I have to make a decision. You’re the one who’s going to influence it. Do you want to live in Prague? Because if you do, then I won’t take Soviet citizenship. But if you want to live here, tell me if you want that, and I’ll take it—this all depends on you.” And in December he showed her that his papers terminated on January 4, next year, just a few weeks away. He had to make a decision what to do with his life before 1961 was four days old.

But that was a big question for her: Why had he come here, and why did he now want to move? He told her, “You don’t understand. In our country, we travel, we change places—you don’t understand.” But she didn’t trust him. Besides, Lee was not really to her taste. She liked men with bigger shoulders.

F
ROM
KGB O
BSERVATION
P
ERFORMED FROM
08:00
TO
24:00
ON
D
ECEMBER
23, 1960

At 11:30 Likhoi left his house, came to bus stop Ploshchad Pobedy, got on bus N5, reached stop Komsomolskaya, got off and entered GUM. At haberdashery department, he bought safety razors, then tried on hat at hat department, but didn’t buy it and entered bakery department. There he had glass of coffee with cake, and went out toward Glavpochtamt. On his way he visited a number of industrial goods stores, then came to Glavpochtamt, came to Soyuzpechat kiosk, looked at papers but didn’t buy, came out and got on trolley N3, reached Tsentralnaya Ploshchad. At square, Likhoi got on trolley N1, reached Ploshchad Pobedy, got off and entered café-automat, had lunch, came out and stopped off at home at 12:45 . . .

At 20:45 object left home and came east to house N22, apt. 2 at Lavsko-Naberezhnaya St. After 10 minutes he left place together with contact “Dora” and they together, talking about something, were walking along embankment of Svisloch River, and at 21:15 came to apartment of object.

At 23:10 Likhoi and “Dora” came out of his apartment and slowly walked along embankment of Svisloch River, talking with each other. On the way Likhoi was periodically taking “Dora’s” hand and embracing her. At 23:40 they came to house N22 at Lavsko-Naberezhnaya Street, where they said goodbye and parted. “Dora” walked into said house and Likhoi came home at 23:55, and at that point surveillance was stopped until morning.

When he kissed her, he was not unpleasant—he was nice. But because Ella was not in love with him, she was not excited. All the same, he never scared her as a man. In that aspect, he was perfect. He was so tender. She was never scared. Yet, all those months she went with him, from May to January, she did not trust him. Some people told her that he was an American spy. And she thought, “Maybe he wants to marry me so he can stay in this country. When he says he loves me, he doesn’t love me at all.”

She never thought to herself, “Maybe I’ll go to Prague and it’ll work. Or, if it doesn’t work, I’ll get a divorce.” For Ella, marriage was something you did for life. You loved a person and you trusted him. Because if you didn’t, how could you go to a new world?

Finally, he became very pushy. He said, “You have to make up your mind if you’re going to marry me,” and when she asked for time to think it over—he said, “No, I have to decide by January 4.” That made her feel more mistrustful. She told him, “I like you, too, but I need time to think.” She was not a person to offend people who were nice to her.

They had another quarrel, however, concerning New Year’s Eve. He had invited her to a party for that night, and so she turned down an invitation that came to her for another gathering. Then, at the very last moment, he told her that his evening was not going to take place. Now they were without anywhere to go that night for New Year’s Eve.

There was an expression,
razbitoye karito.
It meant they were ready to eat, but only had a broken plate. Ella got very angry that they didn’t have a proper situation; she said, “You let me down.” She had never spoken to him like that before, except, perhaps, concerning Inna Tachina. That time he had been cool, but now he, too, became agitated. Finally he said, “You are playing a game with our situation. Oh, you are an actress!” It was equal to saying that her emotions were not sincere. They walked away from one another.

Since Ella wasn’t going to any party now, she began to help her mother. Some of their family was coming over for a small New Year’s Eve party, so they cleaned house and cooked, and then, as was common in Russia, they napped for a little while around 8:00
P.M.
in order to be able to stay up all night. At 11:00
P.M.,
guests would begin to come, but on this night, at a little after nine, she heard their doorbell ring. She was sleepy when she opened her door. Lee was standing there wearing that Russian hat she had never liked, but he was proud of it, and was standing up straight with his hands behind his back. He said, “You know, Ella, Christmas is one of our dearest holidays in America, and your New Year’s is like our Christmas. That’s why I came to you. This is one day when I feel very lonely and I come to you.” He added, “We have a tradition in America; we usually bring gifts,” and he gave her a big box of chocolates decorated with a little candy statuette. She took his gift and said, “Wait a second. I want to put this away.” She went in to her mother and said, “My boyfriend from America brought me this gift. Can we invite him?” Her mother said, “Yes, of course.”

So she came back and said, “Listen, would you care to spend an evening with my family?” and he was happy about that.

When he came back around eleven, he was wearing his gray suit with a tie and was very neatly dressed. Her mother’s brothers soon followed, with their wives. They had served in the Russian Navy and they came with guitars. It was a musical family. Not all had fine voices, but when they were in chorus, it sounded good enough. Everybody sang songs, and they did a step-dance up and down their outside stairs, a Western type of step, which was very popular in the Russian Navy, a Western sort of dance, and her mother’s brothers did it, dancing upstairs, then downstairs, difficult steps, but they were good at it, and so it made for a creative atmosphere. And her mother danced to gypsy songs. Lee and Ella only watched. She was embarrassed to do anything in her own home because these others were so good.

Before Lee left, hours later, he told her of his impressions. He liked such an atmosphere, liked how everyone sat around eating and drinking and dancing, and then at midnight they had all taken champagne. They didn’t kiss, because that was not a Russian tradition. But after midnight, through the early hours of morning, they would not only sit and eat but go outside, make snowballs, throw them at each other, run around a little, then go back in and eat again. Everyone got tipsy—in fact, she had never seen Lee Oswald as tipsy as he was this night. Friends came, and she introduced him to her friends and relatives, and they sat around the family table and proposed toasts to last year—“Goodbye, last year, you are leaving.” Everybody talked to him, and he was treated as if he were a Russian person who had joined their family party. Her relatives were a little curious about him, but didn’t reveal any special attitude, and her mother was also casual; of course, her attitude was, If Ella dates a man, it doesn’t mean she’s going to marry him.

January 1

New Year’s Eve I spend at home of Ella Germann. I think I’m in love with her. She has refused my more dishonorable advances; we drink and eat in the presence of her family in a very hospitable atmosphere. Later I go home drunk and happy. Passing the river homeward, I decide to propose to Ella.

Next day, her mother, who had never interfered with her personal life, said to her, “Ella, it’s up to you—you make your own choice. But I want to tell you something: In 1939 you could be taken to prison just because you were born in Poland.” Those were her mother’s words. It gave her pause.

January 2

After a pleasant hand-in-hand walk to the local cinema, we come home. Standing on the doorstep, I propose. She hesitates, then refuses. My love is real but she has none for me. Her reason, besides lack of love—I’m an American and someday might be arrested simply because of that example of Polish intervention in the 1920s that led to the arrest of all people of Polish origin in the Soviet Union. “You understand the world situation, there is too much against you and you don’t even know it.” I am stunned. She snickers at my awkwardness in turning to go. (I’m too stunned to think!) I realize she was never serious with me but only exploited my being an American in order to get the envy of other girls, who consider me different from the Russian boys. I am miserable.

On the night when they had their final conversation about whether he should or should not apply for Soviet citizenship, she finally said, “Alik, you’re probably wasting your time with me. At this point, I can’t agree to marry you. So, don’t get Soviet citizenship. Maybe we should break up altogether because it might be harder afterward.” He answered very nicely: “I understand that I should stop drinking. But the wine is tasty and I want to continue this pleasure for a while.”

That, however, as she recalls it, was the last time they met. Ella agreed to see him once more, but he didn’t show up. Afterward, he just ignored her in the shop.

Igor would say that his service looked at this matter from a human point of view. “He didn’t go out and slash anything because he was refused,” said Igor, “and he didn’t seem to bear grudges. Of course, for a certain period of time he was upset, but it didn’t manifest itself in his behavior. He didn’t quit work, for instance, or get sick; he didn’t start carousing—none of that.” If he had undertaken any risky errands at this point—say, asking one person to convey something to someone else—that would have put Counterintelligence on guard. But none of that.

On the eleventh of January, after they had broken up and everyone knew it, Ella flew to Leningrad for ten days of vacation. There was all sorts of talk about her at Horizon: They had stopped seeing each other, people said, and she had gone to Leningrad to get an abortion. Ella thought, “As if I couldn’t have had one in Minsk!” Fairy tales!

Still, everybody believed that because she was going out with an American, they had had sex. No American, they would say to her, would date you for so long without it. These men have whorehouses in America, and they always need sex. So when she and Lee stopped seeing each other, Ella had a bad reputation. Yet it was so strange, because he had always been afraid to offend her by being too physical. He was sensitive—yes, he was sensitive.