How it was №1 05.12.1999 (1999)

The program is dedicated to the works of Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn and his book "The Gulag Archipelago".

Newsreel from 1969: the building of the Sheremetyevo airport terminal.

The faces of customs and border service employees.

A border guard during passport control.

A panorama of part of the airfield from the control tower.

Removing contraband from the hiding places of a suitcase.

Cameras confiscated at customs.

Opposition literature confiscated at customs.

The guest in the studio - Elena Chukovskaya talks about the rules of conspiracy taken by A. Solzhenitsyn, about his hiding places for storing manuscripts, about helping Solzhenitsyn distribute the novel, printing Solzhenitsyn's works on a typewriter, about Solzhenitsyn collecting materials for his works, about the lack of fear of the KGB, about a trip to Rostov-on-Don for one of the copies of the novel, about the creation of hiding places and about the methods of storing the manuscripts of the novel, talks about one of Solzhenitsyn's assistants Elizaveta Voronyanskaya, her arrest, interrogation and suicide due to giving the KGB the location of one of the copies of the novel, about the attitude of the writers Atarov, Kataev and Nilin to Solzhenitsyn after the publication of the novel in the West, about contacts with Solzhenitsyn after his expulsion, about the publications of the novel "

The Gulag Archipelago"

in Russia in 1989-1990, talks about the need for history to judge communism.

Solzhenitsyn's wife Natalya Dmitrievna talks about the writer's work on the novel "

The Gulag Archipelago", about the search for the title of the novel, about the reasons for the breaks in work on the novel, about the huge number of letters from former prisoners addressed to Solzhenitsyn after the publication of his story "

One Day in the Life of Ivan Denisovich"

in 1961, demonstrates one of the surviving manuscripts of the novel "

The Gulag Archipelago", about the decision to publish the novel, about Solzhenitsyn's arrest in 1974, demonstrates a list of people who provided information for writing the novel (synchronously), the names on the list.

Guest in the studio – Nadezhda Levitskaya talks about her stay in the camps, the deaths of all her relatives in the camps and prisons, lists the places of death of family members, about her arrest, the story of which was included in "

The Gulag Archipelago", about Solzhenitsyn's search for people who survived imprisonment in the camps, while working on the novel, about carrying out Solzhenitsyn's orders while working on his works, quotes notes with Solzhenitsyn's instructions on finding materials for work on the novel "

The Gulag Archipelago", about the precautions established by Solzhenitsyn for assistants, about the reasons for the failure of one of Solzhenitsyn's assistants - Elizaveta Voronyanskaya in 1967. Newsreel of the late 1920s - early 1930s: a panorama of a part of the Dnieper Hydroelectric Station dam under construction (above).

Earthworks during the construction of industrial facilities and enterprises.

The faces of prisoners in the windows of a prison carriage.

Prisoners disembark from the train one by one.

Prisoners disembark from the train.

A column of newly arrived prisoners moves through the camp grounds.

The guest in the studio, former prisoner Yuri Kireyev, who served time with Solzhenitsyn in the Ekibastuz camp, talks about the time he spent with Solzhenitsyn, Solzhenitsyn's arrival at the camp and his stay in the camp, Solzhenitsyn's literary experiences in the camp, his communication with Solzhenitsyn, Solzhenitsyn's plans to write a novel about the GULAG, his name being mentioned in the novel, and the KGB surveillance of him after the novel was published.

Swedish journalist Stig Fredriksson talks about the channel for delivering the manuscripts of the novel to the West in the 1970s, about the methods of secret communication with Solzhenitsyn, about meetings with him in Moscow, demonstrates a diagram of the meeting place, talks about the methods of transferring the films with the manuscripts (synchronously).

Video chronicle: a panoramic view of part of the courtyard of the house where Solzhenitsyn lived with his wife.

Interiors of rooms in the Solzhenitsyns' apartment.

Staged footage: a search of Solzhenitsyn's apartment.

Guest in the studio - civil aviation pilot, former ship commander Anatoly Kochur talks about the flight delay due to Solzhenitsyn's expulsion from the USSR, about the writer's boarding the plane and the actions of the KGB officers.

Newsreel: the plane landing at the airport in Frankfurt am Main on February 13, 1974. Solzhenitsyn is met at the airport, flowers are presented to him.

Solzhenitsyn thanks those who met him.