Escape from Paradise

The Soviet citizens prior to the end of the Soviet regime are usually classified into two broad groups;dissidents and compliers.

In his autobiographical book Shatravka presents another, less known, group of Soviet citizens – those who simply stated their demand to live in freedom, openly vociferously and challenged the denial of free emigration openly.

Shatravka voted for freedom with his feet when together with his brother and two friends they executed their secret plan to cross the Soviet border into Finland to continue to Sweden from where they could not be sent back to the USSR.

The first part of their plan worked perfectly…but they made a blunder and were caught in Finland and returned back to the Soviet Union. His four years travails numerous psychic institutions and prisons, Shatravka describes in minute details resurrecting the names of the treating nurses and doctors, and incidents with prisoners and guards.

This descriptions is a worthy monument to all those who dared to challenge the regime for freedom of emigration.

Twenty five years after his release from the psychic institution, Shatravka returns to revisit all these spots with a movie crew…This book is a unique chronicles of that dark age.

463 pages, 83 photos