“There are people whose souls have just withered, people who are willing to go along with anything evil - anything so as not to be suspected of disagreeing with whoever is in power.”Vasily Grossman book Life and FateSource: Life and Fate
“Our Soviet writer must be guided in his world only by the need of the people, useful for the society.”Vasily Grossman 1960s
“Your book contains direct analogies between us and the Hitlerite fascists. You book incorrectly describes our people, communists. Could we have won the war with the kind of people you describe? In your book you say positive things about religion, God, Catholicism. Your book defends Trotsky. You book is full of doubts about the legitimacy of our Soviet system.”Vasily Grossman 1960s
“We would only multiply the number of victims. Our duty is to strengthen the state and defend the people, why, then, should we publish your book.”Vasily Grossman 1960s