Sofia Petrovna 46-54
5
Lydia Chukovskaya
plain
2020-10-18T23:15:37-04:00
pg. 47 — Shpalernaya Street
The location of the prison where Sofia Petrovna's son, Kolya, was held. The prison is near the Liteynyi Bridge in the a building called the Bolshoy Dom ("Big House"). The building is shared with various political organizations, including the secret police, state security, and the KGB. The author’s husband, physicist Matvei Petrovich Bronstein (1906-1938), was arrested in August 1937 and executed in February 1938 in this facility.
pg. 47 — Liteynyi bridge
A drawbridge over the deepest part of the Neva, in St. Petersburg (formerly called Leningrad, from 1924-1991).
pg. 47 — the Neva
A large river which runs through St. Petersburg
pg. 51 — Chaikovsky Street
Another street in St. Petersburg
pg. 51 — Herzen Street
This street was called "Herzen Street" from 1920-93; it is now called Bolshaya Morskaya Street.
pg. 51 — Arsenalnaya Street
Another street in St. Petersburg which houses a prison. This facility, Kresty Prison, was used to house individuals who were deemed mentally ill for their dissenting, anti-Soviet political ideas so they could then be kept imprisoned and tortured with so-called psychiatric treatments. Today, the prison is still in use.
