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TELLS OK DESPERATE
ARCTIC VOYAGE
TO FREEDOM
RAPS SOVIET
FLED TO FORESTALL
EXECUTION AS
PLOTTERS
t Writing especially for the Seat
tle I’oAt-Intelligencer, George
Nolde, one of two Russian scient
ist* who have applied for - permls- j
sion to remain lit the United
Sfjates as polit leal refugees from
the Soviet government, here re
late* for the first, time the thrill
ing story of his escape from Sov
iet jurisdiction.
BY GEORGE NOLDK
Professor of Theory of Electro
technlk at the Moscow Institute
of Research in Physics and
Chemistry
Tf my associate, Prof. Ivan Bor
onzoff, and I were to return to
Soviet Russia, we should be shot
within twenty-four hours. There
isn't a doubt of it. We should
be dealt with harshly. We should
he surprised if we were not.
We plotted to leave Russia be
cause life had became unbearable;
because already the dreaded sec
ret police had begun to suspect.
We were trying to organize a re
sistance .among the masses. It
would only have been a quest'on
of time.
Death is the eventual penalty
for all political conviction. Death
particularly for the intellectual,
the despised and hated intellect
ual.
Even without our adt!-Soyiet
activity, we should have lived
only »o long as we were .useful
to the Communist Party. You
do your best work over there un
der the threat of death. They
would have got around to us.
I was eighteen years old at the
time of the rovelution and I hat
ed the Communist Party. I can
not say I was entirely in sym
pathy with the old czarist regime,
but no regime ha's ever been
worse for the great mass of Russ
ians than the Soviet regime.
I fought in , the White Army,
was wounded ahd escaped through
the Red lines, Until I left Russ
ia I lived ' under an assumed
name. I cannot tell you too much
about this for many reasons.
Because we were promnent in
Russian scientific circles and
even though \ye did not take or
ders from the Communist dictat
ors, we notwithstanding lived
comfortably, Professor Boronzoff
and myself. In this respect our
existence was unusual. But the
squalor and misery and torture
of the masses about us. the fam
ine and discomfort, made us heart
sick. That sort of thin^ is un
bearable to free-minded men.
So we organized for resistance
of the masses. Secretly, of course.
- yon -"how. ■■ Bu t I* can
tell you fl that in the autum of
1933 informat'on rer ched us tha^,
we were in a very precarious po»
ition. We were on the point of
being found out and unless we
^scaped, certain death faced us.
So F designed to Join one of the
sclent flc expeditions which are
often organized by many scientists
there, and left Moscow under the
pretense of going on a vacation, in
tending to engage myself in an ex
pedition of this kind when I
would be in some place distant
from Moscow.
It must be said that the sym
pathies of any scientists who
might be leaders of such a scien
tific party could be forseen eas
ily.
Such an engagement of me
would be still more easy because
of my being engaged in several
scientific expeditions before.
I went from Moscow to Vlad
ivostok by the Trans-Siberian
Railway. I knew my only desper
ate .Jjope to escape. Once back in
Moscow again and we should nev
er g§t away,. As my train crept,
crawled across the bleak Siberian
wilderness, I feared that we
should be met at every station by
an official with a telegram in
hand, ordering my arrest.
In Vladivostok I Involved in mv
fate two intimate friends of mia»,
1
Prof. A. Chackin and Prof. Iv.n
r.oronzoff, whose enmity again-t
the Coiir. n. list Par,v was the
same as mint.
It wag with the greatest relief
that we sailed from Vladivostok
to Anadir, the outpost of Siberian
civilization. After* we reached
Anadir we were in safety because
northward from Anadir there are
only some 3,000 square miles of
desolate icy wastes inhabited by
several tribes of natives.
So On leaving Anadir about Au
gust IB, we were at our leisure
and even performed the coastal
geologic explorations of the north
ern region, because our leader and
friend, Professor Chackin, being
a geologist, was greatly attached
to his scientific occupations and
would not miss the opportun'ty of
such researches for anything in
the world.
There is no telegraph line in
Anadir. We knew we were safe
until the next steamer came, any
way. So we prepared for our
voyage. We obtained a sxty-foot
boat, and the services of a native
mechanic to run it.
We headed across Bering Sea,
leaving Anadir August 15. We
were on the.water for four weeks.
It is a long way, much longer
than It looks on the map. The
weather was always rough; we
fought gales. But still we kept
on.
But it is a very dangerous oc
cupation to navigate Bering Sea at
this time, in its western parts,
with a small wooden boat, be
cause floating ice appears there in
the first days of September. When
on September 17, we began to
cross Bering Straits, we , were
capsized by a northern storm and
the ice broke a hole in the bow
of our vessel causing it to leak.
Being in a s'nking boat and
having before us sixty miles of
stormy sea, we made up our
minds to cross the straits to reach
the Alaska side. But In the vic
inity of the Diomede Islands our
engine failed because of being
flooded, and we were thrown by
tBe wind on the rocks of L'ttie
Diomede Island where the Am
erican Eskimos saved us.
But during the landing, our
friend, Professor Chackin lost h s
life.
Then six days later, an Ameri
can vessel. Good Hope, came here
It was late in the season, and
this vessel, like ourselves, was un
fortunate in having to navigate
these’ waters at such a late time.
After landing us at Nome, this
late bird of a ship was wrecked
Pn its return, with all aboard lost.
Such m'sery and danger we en
dured because it was the only
'v;,y for us to reach the free coun
try. But it was considered by us
as worth the price of our hard
ships.
That is our answer to Jhose who
ask if we are not really Red spies,
sent to ferret out- the secrets of
the Wh-'te Russian colony here.
That is silly. If we were Red
spies~and it is ridiculous to be an
swering such a charge serlously
we should not have braved the
terr ble journey In a small boat
from Anadir, Siberia, across the
Bering Sea to Alaska. We should
have come like gentlemen, with
out risking our necks and found
some other way of insinuating
ourselves into the local society.
Ah, no! It is absurd! You see
there are too many "happenstan
ces.” How could we^have inticlp
ated, if we were spies, that our
ship would be wrecked and one of
our party, good Prof. Alexander
Chackin, would be drowned; that
we would be saved by the Eski
mos on an American island; that
six days later an American mail
boat would come along apd take
us off; that the ma‘1 boat, in turn
would take us to Nome? It is too
ridiculous.
The United States commissioner
of immigration questioned us.
Wh le he was considering < our
case, we stayed in Nome three
months, working for an Ameri
can mine owner in our capacity as
metallurgists. We accumulated
enough money there from our
wages and by the sale of certain
valuables which we carried on
our person, to pay our way to the
Unted States. And it is this mon
A ' jg'
ey upon which we are now living
Some men here in Seattle, be
ing acquainted with some ot onr
work as 'scientists (being them
selves such, too) greeted us and,
sharing our political opinions,
gave us every advice and assist
ance possible.
So now we are here.
We want to live in this great
democratic country. We are not
without means and we are not
afra'd that we shall be unable to
provide a living for ourselves,
That does not worry us.
If the United States does not
want us, we shall have to move
on to some other country that
iIopb, possibly Mexico, Canada, or
some South American country.
There is definite talk in Russia
there was I know, when 1 left,, of
a war against Japan, and I th'nk
that the Soviets will be unable to
hold Siberia if Japan wants it.
There are many Russians. I bee
lieve, who look for a war with
Japan as the only means of de
feat'ng the Communist Party and
putting the government of Russia
back in the hands of the people.
But that would be a poor means
of making a change, in my opin
ion, and that is why I think, be
ing In great sympathy with the
people and system of the United
States, that the recogitlon of the
Soviets will be only to the advan
tage of the Japanese in getting
influence in S'beria. The refusal
of recognition would have made
many friendly feelings in the
hearts of the great majority of
the Russians toward the Ameri
can people.
But 1 hope that recognition is
but a temporary error, which, af
ter its real meaning is understood
will be easily removed.
Some time we shall Inform the
American people about the every
day life of the Russ'an people
which is’ not so bright as many
foreign travelers see. The con
stant errors of these travelers are
caused by the shrewd system of
guilding them while they are in
Russia. m
In reality, the misery and dis
tress of the Russian people ex
ceed all imagination.
Never in the history of the
world was there-sueh a situation,
where the exterminat'on of the
vital strength of a whole nation
-is being brought about as now "Til'
Russia.
BRKVITIKS
Empty stomaches are danger
ous things.
When she’s !n fashion she’s in
little else.
Who possess most has least ap
preciation.
A stadium is a necleus for coll
ege buildings.
People would rather be amused
than instructed.
Don't mortgage the future for
a good time now.
~ The more happiness you give
the more you have left.
When I’m afraid It’s prudence,
when he'B afraid It’s cawardlce.
The honey moon is over when
she serves him hot tongue and
cold shoulder..
Women live longer than men—
they’re bound to have the last
word. . ■
Who thinks too little talka too
much.
It’s easier to give joke* than
to take them.
.'miles and tears jp«-a* all lang
uages.
Cyclones carry oft everything
bir the mortgage.
'rI ere are more words In a lie
t^cn in the truth.
Men make tough girls: tough
girls make tough men.
Who abuses himself gains a let
but It’s In the cemetary.
Don’t demand public Improve
ments and lower taxes in the
same breath.
Of course your wife has poor
judgement think who she married.
About the only place now to
find "home cooking is at the res
taurant.
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