University of Virginia Library

Wallach Describes Imprisonment Years
As Struggle With Anxiety, Self-Pity

By CYNTHIA GOODRICH

The world is no longer a
safe, reliable place to live in.
Things change too quickly,
and individuals unable to
adapt to human revolutions are
left by the wayside, according
to Erica Wallach.

By making one small
mistake early in her life, Mrs.
Wallach spent five years in
several prisons and prison
camps. Speaking last night to
the University community in
Campbell Hall, she discussed
her book, "A Light at
Midnight", concerning the life
she led after falling into a
political trap in East Berlin.

Solitary Confinement

Three of Mrs. Wallach's
close friends had disappeared
behind the Iron Curtain. When
she inquired about their
whereabouts, she was arrested.
What followed was three years
of solitary confinement, most
of which was spent in
continual interrogation, under
circumstances far removed
from the normal course of
human existence.

Her greatest obstacle to
overcome was fear, combined
with self pity. But, as Mrs.
Wallach pointed out, when she
realized she had to depend on
her own mind to retain her
sanity, she was able to bear her
seemingly unreal surroundings.

The first three hours, she
remarked, were harder than the
entire period of solitary
confinement.

Her life for the first three
years consisted of her
neighbors, with whom she
conversed by tapping on the
wall, her interrogators, and her
creative ability. But she was
taken, after this time, before a
military tribunal, and
condemned to death by
shooting.

Anticipated Execution

For her anticipated
execution, she was sent to
Russia from Germany. But for
Mrs. Wallach, these days,
ironically, were her most
peaceful. She was no longer
fearful of the future: there was
no future.

But after six months of
waiting in the Soviet prison,
Stalin died. Her sentence then
was converted to fifteen years
of hard labor in a prison camp
above the Arctic Circle. Here
she spent one and one half
years clearing roads and
building railroad lines.

Privacy Hard To Find

The main impression she
kept about the camp was that
privacy was the hardest thing
to achieve. Nowhere could you
hide from everything and
everyone.

Political things changed in
the Soviet Union, and their
consequences were felt in the
prison camps: Mrs. Wallach was
brought back to Moscow and
given her freedom again. The
initial sentence was reversed,
but all that the Soviet
government could do was
apologize and offer monetary
compensation.

For five years of her life,
she refused to be reimbursed,
for that experience was
immeasurable in dollars and
cents.

Mrs. Wallach's book is
intended to be a manual for a
potential prisoner; either a

prisoner behind bars or a
prisoner of one's own mind.

Her point, which was
well taken, was that if
everything is taken away from
you, you have to create
something to make life
worthwhile. The individual
alone is in control of bearing or
not bearing the given situation.
This accomplishment is not so
impossible as it may seem.
Erica Wallach is a living
example.