Natan Sharansky recounts his experience in a KGB prison during the Soviet Union era. He was arrested in March 1977 and spent 16 months in Lefortovo, where he underwent over 100 interrogations. Within the prison's extensive library of classic literature, which contained confiscated books from Moscow's intelligentsia, Sharansky encountered Socrates' works for a second time. This encounter allowed him to engage more deeply with Socrates' philosophy than his initial reading at age 15.
Written by the local model on 2026-09-04,
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Story summary
Natan Sharansky, a former prisoner in the Soviet Union, recalls growing up in Moscow with an extensive home library of classic literature, which was allowed because it was seen as less threatening to the authorities than modern literature. This collection of over 1,000 books included works by authors such as Socrates, who was not familiar to Sharansky until he encountered him in a KGB prison, Lefortovo, where he spent 16 months from March 1977 to July 1978 undergoing over 100 interrogations. Despite being confined and interrogated, the library at Lefortovo was surprisingly extensive, reflecting the twisted legacy of Joseph Stalin's purges, during which many members of the intelligentsia were killed or had their property seized.
Written for “Natan Sharansky's Soviet Interlude” on 2026-09-05,
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Leaning score +0.15 for article 3934 (high confidence, 1 verified quote) · logged 2026-09-04
When I was growing up in the Soviet Union in the mid-20th century, the intelligentsia—in particular, the Jewish intelligentsia—had extensive home libraries.
asserted
intelligentsia → grow → libraries
Most of them were classic literature, for a simple reason: This was the least dangerous kind of book to possess.
asserted
This → possess → book
Modern literature was heavily censored and had to belong to the genre of socialist realism, in which the oppressed working class is always right and the capitalist oppressors are invariably doomed to defeat.
asserted
oppressors → censor → defeat
But the older a book, the more likely it was to survive the official censors.
asserted
it → survive → censors
To read classic literature, therefore, was a kind of escapism; it allowed us to enter a world free from the ever-looming presence of the KGB.
asserted
us → read → KGB
It is ironic, then, that the most notorious KGB prison, Lefortovo—where I spent 16 months between my arrest in March 1977 and my trial in July 1978, and where I underwent more than 100 interrogations—had the most extensive library of classic literature I encountered in the USSR.
asserted
I → spend → USSR
This was the twisted legacy of Joseph Stalin’s purges, when many members of Moscow’s intelligentsia were killed and their property seized.
asserted
property → kill → intelligentsia
Confiscated books, after going through a rigorous redaction process to remove all “enemy” names, were then distributed to the various organs of the KGB.
asserted
books → confiscate → KGB
And this is how, within the confines of Lefortovo, I had my second meeting with one of the world’s first philosophers: Socrates.
asserted
I → have → philosophers
The first time I met Socrates—the great Athenian philosopher of the fifth century BCE, who was sentenced by his own city to death by poison for denying the gods and corrupting the youth—was when I was 15 and reading books from my home library.
asserted
I → meet → library
Socrates’s language, while well-translated, was confusing to me.
asserted
language → translate → me
His logic could be understood only by reading commentaries and learning about his historical background.
uncertain
logic → understand → background
At that point, I didn’t have the time or patience to study these texts carefully.
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I → have → texts
I simply wanted, like every intelligent young Jewish boy, to know about Socrates’s fate and, at the appropriate moment, to use such popular phrases as, “We have to drink our cup to the end.”
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We → want → end
