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Konstantinovskaya, Elena [Yelena] Evseyevna. Nicknames: Elenka, Elenochka, Lyalya, Lyalka, Lyalotchka.

Krupskaya, Nadezhda Konstantinovna

Lebedinsky, Lev Nikolayevich

Lenin [Ulyanov], Vladimir Ilyich. Often called Ilyich.

Litvinova, Flora Pavlovna

Nikolayevna, Tatyana Petrovna

Rostropovich, Mstislav Leopoldovich

Shebalina, Alisa Maximova

Shostakovich, Dimitri Dimitriyevich. Nicknames: Mitya, Mitenka, etc.

Shostakovich, Galina Dimitriyevich. Nicknames: Galya, Galisha, Galotchka.

Shostakovich, Mariya Dimitriyevna. Nickname: Mariyusha.

Shostakovich, Zoya Dimitriyevna

Supinskaya [later Shostakovich], Irina Antonova. Nicknames: Irinotchka, Irinka.

Ustvolskaya, Galina Ivanovna

Varzar [later Shostakovich], Nina Vasilyevna. Nicknames: Ninotchka, Ninusha, Ninka, Nita.

Vlasov, Andrei Andreyevich

A squat black telephone, I mean an octopus, the god of our Signal Corps, owns a recess in Berlin (more probably Moscow, which one German general has named the core of the enemy’s whole being). Somewhere between steel reefs, a wire wrapped in gutta-percha vibrates: I hereby… zzzzzzz… the critical situation… a crushing blow. But because these phrases remain unauthenticated (and because the penalty for eavesdropping is death), it’s not recommended to press one’s ear to the wire, which bristles anyhow with electrified barbs; better to sit obedient, for the wait can’t be long; negotiations have failed. Away flees Chamberlain, crying: Peace in our time. France obligingly disinterests herself in the Prague government. Motorized columns roll into snowy Pilsen and keep rolling. Italy foresees adventurism’s reward, from which she would rather save herself, but, enthralled by the telephone, she somnambulates straight to the balcony to declare: We cannot change our policy now. We are not prostitutes.

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