He probably wrote for about an hour, occasionally raising his head and looking at me, his face was tired, weary, benevolent, and at the same time the face of a courageous man. I couldn't help thinking: Why is he behaving so strangely with me, because he is a beast, probably a beast, since he works as an investigator, his behavior is hypocritical and mean.

Read! And he handed me the record of the interrogation, I read it carefully. As far as I remember, it read: The accused (perhaps not the accused, but the person under investigation now, I don't remember exactly) testified that she was a sectarian believer, had religious literature at home, which was confiscated, expressed her religious views in the papers found, the total number of documents seized..., the protocol was long, the main thing was remembered, it was drawn up according to the question-answer type, there was no mention of the community and the group. The questions and answers were invented by the investigator and, like the protocol, were of a general nature. I read it and said: Are the Gospels and letters religious documents?

According to this protocol, in the general faceless mass of the defendants, you will be given a general list to sign, no one will notice anything, now there are mass arrests. I got it?

Of course, she understood and signed her testimony. "Listen," said the investigator, "I forgot to introduce myself, your case is being handled by investigator Vladimir Pavlovich Vasilenko, the defendant must remember the name of the person in charge of his case. In three days he will be transferred to Butyrskaya, for the second interrogation I will be summoned on the twelfth day, it is impossible to conduct less than two interrogations. Go, girl, with God, don't talk your tongue, he has brought many people to us. Trust people, but remember: there are many scoundrels around us. I will allow food and clothing parcels, observe yourself in prison, you are young, everything in life will work out.

I left the investigator, and the thoughts were in my head: Strange person, doesn't he catch me? On the third day, she was transferred to Butyrki, received a food parcel and clothing, on the twelfth day she was summoned at night for interrogation to Vasilenko, he greeted her affably, asked if she had settled in prison, and began to write a second interrogation protocol: Last time I told you everything, sit and be silent, and, of course, you will pray. I wrote the minutes for a long time, suddenly the door opened without knocking, I understood by the footsteps, several people came in, sitting with their backs to the door.

Vasilenko jumped up, shouted to me: "Stand up!" and quietly reported to the counter: "Investigator Vasilenko, comrade, reports, and then names a high rank for OGPU workers, interrogates the sectarian Khokhlova, the investigation ends, the necessary testimony has been obtained, material evidence exposing her activities has been attached to the case.

The commanding voice said: Do you use the necessary encouragement to speed up the investigation?

I use it, comrade, and then the rank and surname of the person who entered. Keep going! There was an answer, and the authorities went out. Vasilenko sat down and continued to write the protocol; When I finished, I let him read the protocol based on questions and answers, which stretched for several pages, I signed it, it differed little from the first one, but it was long and detailed.

That's all, Iya, Vasilenko said, the main thing is to split you from the group, to turn your arrest and deportation into an ordinary preventive operation to cleanse socialist society of harmful elements. Perhaps you will be remembered during the investigation of other arrestees, but you have already received a sentence, and you will no longer be touched. You can't imagine how many people like you go through our machine! Goodbye, my dear! I think you'll be fine, young girl. You remind me that my daughter Zinaida died in the mountains. Don't forget, remember both of us. Adieu! He shook hands firmly, touched his hair slightly, passed his hand over his head, sighed heavily, and called the guard.

Пробыла несколько дней в Бутырках, в пересыльной тюрьме, был этап, ссылка в Караганду, жила на вольном поселении, работала, часто увольняли за то, что ссыльная, потом опять брали на работу, жилось голодновато, но мама присылала посылки, и жить было можно.

Все, кто был арестован со мной по бывшей общине, получили от пяти до восьми лет лагеря, только Клавдия Викторовна и я получили ссылку, она за преклонностью возраста пять лет, а я, благодаря милости Божией, явленной через следователя Василенко Владимира Павловича, только три года.

Действительно, великую милость проявил ко мне Господь в месте, где никто и никогда не давал пощады, нашелся человек, проявивший милосердие, доброту. Человек, с которым никогда не пришлось больше встретиться. Все же однажды встреча произошла, но, к сожалению, заочно, через тридцать пять лет. Работала в большой библиотеке, фамилия давно стала не Хохлова другая, более тридцати лет была замужем, ссылка забылась, но следователя Василенко Владимира Павловича и Зинаиду, его дочь, помнила всегда, молилась за них. Пришлось мне довольно долго работать с милой женщиной, Светланой Владимировной Швырковской. Мы подружились, невольно о многом говорили, и она стала постепенно рассказывать о своей жизни, о детстве, матери, но об отце совершенно не упоминала. Знакомство перешло в дружбу, и постепенно мы хорошо узнали друг друга, и стали они бывать у нас, мы тоже приезжали к ним.

Однажды мой муж заговорил о тысяча девятьсот тридцать третьем, тридцать четвертом годах, культе личности, и Светлана Владимировна сказала, что ее отец в эти годы работал в ОГПУ, потом в НКВД и в 1936 году был расстрелян за потерю бдительности, а ее с матерью выслали в Сибирь.

Слушая Светлану, почему-то спросила: Не было у вас сестры Зинаиды, погибшей в горах в 1931 году, и не было ли отчество отца Павлович, фамилия Василенко? Светлана Владимировна разволновалась, спросила, откуда мне это известно, и я рассказала о встрече с ее отцом, допросе, протоколе, как вел следствие по моему делу и спасал от лагеря.