Chapter Nine Time of Terror

Abstract

With the transition to a centrally planned economy in the 1930s, goods shortages became endemic in the Soviet Union. Short of money, Punin and his family were forced to speculate on bread, after queuing for hours to buy it, and to sell empty bottles. Short of money, Punin and his family were forced to speculate on bread, after queuing for hours to buy it, and to sell empty bottles. In 1933, Akhmatova had to sell her library. In 1935, after Kirov's murder, Leningraders particularly members of the old privileged classes suffered. Many avant-garde artists, such as Vera Ermolaeva and Vladimir Sterligov along with three of their students, were arrested. In 1935, Punin's brother-in-law, the botanist Lev Arens was sentenced to five years in a labour camp on account of his 'parentage. On the cold and windy night of 22nd October 1935, Lev Gumilev and Nikolay Punin were both arrested. Keywords:Anna Akhmatova; Nikolay Punin; Soviet