June 19, 2007

From Newbury with Love

» Order Marina's book

In 1971, retired English bookseller Harold Edwards joined an Amnesty International letter campaign for children of Soviet political prisoners. He wrote to Marina Aidova, whose dissident father had been imprisoned in the gulag. For the next 15 years, Marina and her mother exchanged letters, cards and gifts with Harold. Their correspondence, which had a profound influence on each of them, has been published in association with Amnesty International USA in the new book, "From Newbury With Love: Letters of Friendship Across the Iron Curtain."

Marina Aidova, now a translator, will be available for an online discussion on Tuesday, June 19, at 2 p.m. Eastern Standard Time.

Featured Guest: Marina Aidova

From our featured guest: "I look forward to fielding your questions and comments on Tuesday, June 19."

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Question Submitted by Abu Yaasameen Al-Sayfullah Al-:

Do you feel that the US government is in violation of the United Nations Universal Declaration of human rights Act of 1948, cause the american government have laws on the books that prohibit its own citizens basic human rights under this charter the the UN written so many years ago. Now that congress made President Bush a Dictator to the people. more of the peoples right are going down the drain.

Marina Aidova answers:

I am sorry, but I find it difficult to answer this question, since I am not very well aware of this problem in the US.
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Question Submitted by pere:

Hi Marina, Many letters coming to my mail, from AIUSA, but i want to come there and learn much more. Only one problem- MONEY! Please help me.

Marina Aidova answers:

Sorry, I also do not have enough money to come to the US even for the launch of my book
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Question Submitted by ahmed:

my question that , why amnesty don't realy help the people in the dictator countries like egypt? iam an volunteer one in alot of organizations , and my country is the worst in torture? in the same time i think iam not active enough? seconde how i be sure that this amnesty will be right with me and beside me if anything happend to me? i m asking them to be more active in egypt plzz

Marina Aidova answers:

I beleife that you should not give up and continue your activity on human rights protection. Only in such a way you can make the difference
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Question Submitted by Vicky:

Have you visited Moldova lately? Are things improving there, economically and politically?

Marina Aidova answers:

I live in Moldova and that is where I am writing from right now. The situation is gradually improving, but unfortunately at avery slow pace
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Question Submitted by Luisa:

Hi. Congratulations on the book, first of all. How would you say these letters helped you? Did they helped in creating an alternate reality, or in appreciating the good aspects of reality, if there were any? How would you describe the process of re-gaining hope?

Marina Aidova answers:

Thank you very much for your kind words. These letters especially helped my mother, as at that time she found herself in abolute isolation. People were afraid to talk to her. But this letters meant that there is somebody in this world who cared and supported her.
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Question Submitted by Bien:

Hello Marina- Were there any difficulties sending and receiving the correspondance? How much did the government control your courrier and what restrictions did you have in writing your letters? And for Harold Edwards? Thank you!

Marina Aidova answers:

Many letters nver reached us. Many of those that we received used to be already opened. We knew that they were censored, that is why we tried to avoid sensitive topics and discussed primarily literature, art and daily life.
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Question Submitted by surendar:

How do you see future ?

Marina Aidova answers:

With optimism
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Question Submitted by Eric Probola:

I am an American who is horrified with my government’s use of torture and restricting of habeas corpus. Their use of rendition was done with the knowledge and help of other major European countries. How can you, after all these years, explain these countries continuing violations of human rights and the ease with which they do it? Why haven’t we come to a point where the inherent dignity of humans is accepted and human rights respected?

Marina Aidova answers:

My only explanation is that the world is not perfect and the only thing we can do is to do whatever is possible to improve it
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Question Submitted by myra:

how is it for you now? are your parents ok? are you paranoid over every day events now.

Marina Aidova answers:

I am fine. My parents live in the same building with me and we have very nice dinners over the weekends. I am not paranoid over every day events, as I beleive that I have experience of living in much worse times
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Question Submitted by Rebecca:

Hi Marina. Can you please tell us more about what the daily life was like in Kishinev when you were receiving letters from England? For how long did this last?

Marina Aidova answers:

This correspondance lasted for 16 years, from 1971 to 1987. What I can say for sure is that life was really very different. Say nothing that there was no Internet then ;-), but even on TV they showed primarily Communist Party Congresses and official concerts. People used to get together in the kitchenc of their tiny apartments and discuss the issues that concerned them only with their closest firneds

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Question Submitted by Sally:

Hi Marina, I'm really looking forward to reading your book. I was wondering what made you decide to publish your letters after all this time has passed.

Marina Aidova answers:

The year 2000 was a special year for me, I was thinking of my life in the past millenium and what was the most important for me then. So, I took the box with the letters that I have not read for about 15 years. Having read them again, I thought that it would be nice to tell about this incredible story at least to my children, and that is how I started systematizing the letters.
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Question Submitted by Kenneth:

Do you still live in Kishinev? Does your family? How has it changed in the years since the fall of the Iron Curtain?

Marina Aidova answers:

yes, we still live in Kishinev. Of course, life has changed dramatically. i have the feeling that I have lived two different lives. We can speak openly now, but at the same time people start reading much less, and the society becomes much more consumeristic then before
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Question Submitted by Rachel:

How has the massive political change over the course of your lifetime changed you in terms of your character?

Marina Aidova answers:

Difficult question. perhaps, I can say that if you really beleive in something, you should follow this, even if you are the only one, if the whole world beleives that you are wrong, if they put you to prison for you convictions. Time will change eventually, hopefully during you lifetime and you will be able to prove that you were rigth.
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Question Submitted by Bina:

Hi. I am fascinated of a 15 year correspondence. Do you keep the letters, postcards and packages in a special place? How do you want to conserve them for the future?

Marina Aidova answers:

Yes, I do. When I rearead them I can remember exactly the day when particular letter arrived, whether it rained on that day or was it sunny, how my mum was dressed when the letter arrived, and what she was cooking at that moment. It is really strange. You start recollecting such things that you could never imagine to remember
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Question Submitted by Tracy:

What was your favorite thing you received from Harold and Olive? Looking back, was there a particular letter or item that is the most significant to you? Why?

Marina Aidova answers:

Alice in the Wonderland book with FANTASTIC illustrations. At the age of 8 I could not read it but was examining the pictures for hours


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Question Submitted by Heather:

Hi. I would like to know where Kishinev actully is. Can you place it geographically? I would also be glad to learn about how the place looks now. How many people live there? etc.

Marina Aidova answers:

Kishinev (now it is written Chisinau) is the capital of the Republic of Moldova. This country is located in Eastern Europe between Ukraine and Romania. Population of the city is about 1 million people
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Question Submitted by sam:

Hi Marina, What is your favorite place you've travelled?

Marina Aidova answers:

London. I've been receiving letters from England for so many years.
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Question Submitted by John:

If you have children, do you talk to them about what it was like growing up? How do you explain that your childhood was very different from theirs, or do you think your childhood was not very different?

Marina Aidova answers:

yes, my son is 17 and my daughter is 15 and I always talk with them about those times. But it is very difficult for them to understand how we lived then. I even wrote in the book that when my son was a little boy, and asked where he would like to go if he had only on chance to travel in a time machine, he said "I would like to go to the USSR, just for 1 day. As all of you lived there, but I cannot imagine how it feels."
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Question Submitted by Jennifer:

Marina, how is your father now? Does he stay in touch with others who suffered through the same imprisonment as he?

Marina Aidova answers:

He is fine, he is 74, still very active. Yes, he keeps in touch with his friends from GULAG, though many of them have already died, and many live in the West
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Question Submitted by Heather:

I am wondering whether or not the book will be published in Moldawia or in other European Countries. Can you tell me something about that? Wouldn't it also be interesting for Moldawians to read?

Marina Aidova answers:

I do not know whether it will be published or not. But many Moldovans - primarily my friends - who have already read the book found it very interesting for them
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Question Submitted by Bradley:

Are you still in touch with the Harold and Olive's family? Do you visit them much?

Marina Aidova answers:

Yes, I do. Their children are in their 70s already, we often write each other and meet occasionally.
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Question Submitted by bob:

why do you think anybody is interested in reading your personal letters? what do they reflect besides the time of the iron curtain. there have been so many books about that time.

Marina Aidova answers:

First of all, Harold was an extremely interesting person, his letters are full of humor and he writes about many interesting things in his letters. And also the evolution of the relations between the people who have never seen each other, never talked on the phone with each other, evolution of these relations into family-like ones is very interestin. For me it is another proof of the fact, that if one feels lonely, he just need to stretch out his hand to the one who is in worse situation, and in such a way you will help not only this person, but yourself as well
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Question Submitted by Rebecca:

Marina, I thought it was interesting how you visited your father while he was in the GULAG, and how you thought he was at an "important job" because of the guard dogs. Did you visit your father very much? What was it like to go with your mother to see him? How often did you visit, and was there any point where you realized he was not "at work" but a prisoner?

Marina Aidova answers:

I went there once or twoce a year. It was a very long journey by train. It took us several days to get there. Andthen we would come to the gates of the prison and see a column of people guarded by police dogs returning form the works. And my dad was somewhere among them.

And I wrote in the book how by mere chance I found out that my dad was not on a "highly important business asignment". It will just take me too long to tell it again. Sorry, Rebecca.
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Question Submitted by Jonathan:

Marina, Harold Edwards was of an older generation and lived in a very different culture -- free and liberal England. Were you able to get to know him through his letters? What was he like?

Marina Aidova answers:

Rxactly. And that is amazing, that in spite of his age he was a very young in his heart, full of humour, interested in many various things. It was a real event when a letter would arrive, we woul read and reread it for many times, until we learned it almost by heart
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Question Submitted by bob:

I don't understand your answer without having read the book. You should consider that your book is not yet published. Why should Harold have been lonely. Wasnt't he married when he sent you the letters?

Marina Aidova answers:

No, I did not mean that he was lonely initially. But after 12 years of correpondence his wife died, and he remained alone in his house, being almost deaf, not able to talk to anyone on the phone. Though his children and gradnchildren visitied him quite often this correpondence also was a very important part of his life at that moment. He would write, every day at 7 p.m. I think of you and raise a glass of red wine to your health. It is 9 p.m. your time and I hope you do the same. And every day at 9 p.m. my parents were together with Harold in their thoughts.
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Question Submitted by Jonathan:

Marina, This isn't a question, but I just want to let you know that my wife and I were touched by this online discussion, and we've ordered your book.

Marina Aidova answers:

Thank you very much, Jonathan, and please send my warmest regards to your wife
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