Whispers

Whispers tells the behind-the-scenes story of one of the most important political moments of modern times. It delves into the unexplored territory of private lives during those terrifying years.

Whispers reveals the hidden stories of ordinary Soviet families living under Stalin's tyranny. Many books describe the external aspects of this period—the arrests and trials, the enslavements and murders in the Gulag—but this is the first to deeply explore its influence on the lives of those who suffered Stalin's oppression. How did Soviet people conduct their private lives during Stalin's rule? What did people really think and feel? What kind of daily life was possible in the cramped communal apartments, where rooms were shared by an entire family—sometimes even more—and conversations could be overheard in the next room? What did private life mean when the state controlled almost every aspect of it through legislation, surveillance, and ideology?

The moral sphere of the family is Orlando Figes's primary focus. The author explores how these groups reacted to the various pressures of the Soviet regime. And not a few were affected by the terror: estimates show that around 25 million people were repressed by the Soviet regime between 1928, when Stalin assumed party leadership, and 1953, the year of the dictator's death and the end of his reign of terror.

Whispers is based on hundreds of documents (letters, diaries, personal papers, memoirs, photographs, and objects) hidden until recently by survivors of Stalin's terror in drawers and under mattresses in homes across Russia. In each family, extensive interviews were conducted with older relatives, able to explain the context of the documents and place them within the untold story. These materials were gathered in a special archive, which represents one of the largest collections of documents on private life during the Stalin era.

A vast, panoramic portrait of a society where everyone spoke in whispers—whether to protect their families and friends, or to inform them— Whispers is a moving account of lives lived in impossible times.