Feature: HAMPSTEAD AND HIGHGATE FESTIVAL - Witness to Stalin's terror - Requiem, Keats House - Sun' Oct' 3

Published: 23 September 2010
by DAN CARRIER

ANNA Akhmatova was standing outside the Lubyanka, the infamous KGB headquarters and prison in Moscow, and was struck by the silent queue of women who were waiting to see if there would be any chance that day of passing a message to loved ones incarcerated inside.

It was the mid-1930s, and Anna was no stranger to the State terror Stalin’s regime was inflicting on those who held views deemed to be counter-revolutionary. As a poet, she had regularly used her art to speak about over the excesses of Stalinism, and had been hassled by the secret police herself.

The experience of watching the sadness etched across the faces of relatives of those who had disappeared in the middle of the night, faces gaunt, eyes down, touched her: and so when she was approached furtively by one, and asked if she, a renowned figure of Russian literature, could some how encapsulate the terrible situation they found themselves in, she set to work. The result is her poem Requiem, which will be performed at the Hampstead and Highgate Festival by Labour MP and actor Glenda Jackson. 

Liane Aukin, also an actor, organised the event and she recalled that Glenda had read the poem on the radio in the 1960s so approached the MP. 

“I was introduced to her by the South African actor Athol Fugard: he gave me a book of her poetry,” she said. “The Requiem came about  when she was standing in a queue outside the Lubyanka prison and a woman said to her, please describe what this is like on paper – that was what inspired her. She does it in a wonderful way. It is  very moving. Requiem is what it says it is: a series of poems about mourning the loss of loved ones, the sons and husbands who have been taken away.”

But as well as the poem being lyrically beautiful, her life story is inspiring.

“Even before Stalin, a lot of intellectuals, poets, artists, left for Paris and London,” says Liane. “But Anna refused to leave. From the outset she said she would stay to bear witness – she felt that was her function as an artist. She felt it was an obligation.”

Liane chose the poem to fit in with the Russian themes throughout the festival: “She was one of the great poets of the 20th century.” And married to her literary skill was an immense charm that gave a slim element of protection as she had a high profile in Russian society. “She was a great beauty,” says Liane. “She had charisma and endless lovers and husbands, and an incredible charisma – she was quite extraordinary.”

Her mark on Russian society was immense, even though her books were banned. “People know her now,” says Liane.

“She was not published for a long time, and there was constant pressure on her to stop writing and enormous pressure to silence her.”

Yet the massive, oppressive state apparatus of Stalin’s regime could not keep her quiet. Fans would learn her work off by heart and spread it surreptitiously. “Her stuff was not widely known, but people would memorise her work,” says Liane. “It wasn’t until Nikita Kruschev took power that she was published.”

• Requiem, Keats House, Keats Grove, Hamp­stead, Sunday October 3, 1pm.