"Virginia found Russia controlled and sterile" from the December 9, 1975 Door County Advocate
By KETA STEEBS
Virginia found Russia controlled and sterile
By KETA STEEBS
An all too brief look at East Berlin taken from Checkpoint Charlie on an approximately dismal day in the fall of 1970 has haunted Virginia, Gross for the past five years.
"Perhaps 'tantalized' would better describe my feelings," says the attractive former air force captain who now makes her home in Sister Bay. "I couldn't get over the contrast between the vital, bustling, rebuilt western sector of Berlin and the almost moribund city I glimpsed east of the wall."
She knew, she smiles, that there had to be more to a "communist city" than her fleeting glance afforded but it wasn't until she spotted an ad in the Smithsonian magazine advertising an all-expense tour of certain parts of the U.S.S.R. for less than $800 that she had a chance to find out.
"I couldn't resist this simply fantastic price," she enthuses. "The tour guaranteed two weeks of sightseeing in Tallin, the capitol of Estonia, Leningrad, and Moscow for less than I've spent touring my own state. Surprisingly the sometimes misleading term "all-inclusive" meant, in this case, exactly what it said. I didn't have to spend one extra ruble spent touring my own state. Surprisingly the sometimes misleading term "all-inclusive" meant, in this case, exactly what it said. I didn't have to spend one extra ruble — except for gifts, of course."
The tall, slender, ex-protocol officer found herself in the company of 179 other Smithsonian Institution members when she joined the tour in New York. They were, she explains, a group of Americans destined to rate close surveillance wherever they went.
"I guess we were considered worth watching," Virginia grins, "because of our backgrounds. I was careful to omit any mention of my military experience when
applying for my visa but the Soviets have a way of finding these things out. Many of us were government workers, one was a federal judge, another had served as U.S. ambassador to Ethiopia, still another was a former associate of John Foster Dulles and one woman, an expatriate whose family left hurriedly in 1917, had her heart set on visiting a few old friends.
Fortunately for Virginia this august assemblage also included several young women who, when it came to detecting (and eluding) suspicious characters could teach James Bond a thing or two. They had lightheartedly discussed the possibility of being searched, followed, wiretapped, or otherwise spied upon on the flight over but had, Virginia ruefully recalls, dismissed the likelihood of actually experiencing such cloak and dagger tactics as being too ridiculous for words.
"We also talked a lot about how the average American equates Russia with two things — communism and oppression — and we were anxious to learn first-hand just what kind of lives these people live. Are they really chained to the state, dependent on government-controlled newspapers and radio for news, or do they enjoy a certain amount of freedom?"
Although few members of her tour group spoke Russian Ginny says she and her friends were determined to communicate with as many U.S.S.R. citizens as possible, relying on the fact that an amazing number of educated Russians these days speak English.
"We hadn't anticipated the tight controls exercised by Intourist, however," she admits. "Intourist, roughly comparable to our own Chamber of Commerce when it comes to tourist promotion, is also the official government travel agency which closely supervises domestic and foreign travel. Intourist tells you what day you may enter the country, where you deplane, how long you may stay, where you will live, and what you may see."
After delays too numerous and aggravating to dwell upon Ginny says the Smithsonians landed briefly in London before embarking for Leningrad, which while light years away politically is only a short four-hour hop by air. Their visas entitled the group to visit three cities: Tallinn, the capitol of Estonia (acquired by Russia in 1917), Leningrad and Moscow.
During their brief (day and a half) stay in Tallinn Ginny says she and her friends were surprised to learn Estonians are devotees of such vastly dissimilar American television programs as "Little House on the Prairie" and "All in the Family." Their country's proximity to the Finnish border exposes this segment of the Russian population to Scandinavian culture, western TV, foreign newspapers and European fashions.
The people of Tallinn even looked different," Ginny comments. "They appeared more alive, more colorful, more communicative, and a lot happier than Muscovites or residents of Leningrad. It seemed the deeper you traveled into the interior the more sober faces you saw."
Hotel Moscow
Headquarters for Smithonians
Extracting a length of harsh, grainy paper from her bulging briefcase, Ginny smilingly handed it over for inspection. Guaranteed not to send Mr. Whipple into even a mild case of hysterics, this particular toilet tissue was, Ginny confirms, found only in the finest hotels. She didn't dare hazard a guess as to the quality offered guests of less luxurious hostelries.
"We could teach the Russians quite a bit as far as paper-making goes," she says, "but we could learn a lot from them in regard to public transportation. Cheap, fast, efficient streetcars, buses, subways and trolleys are found in every major city. Few Russians own cars and I only saw three bicycles during the entire trip but getting around was no problem."
The Smithsonians traveled from city to city by train (usually at night) and then availed themselves of whatever means of public transportation was handiest. They sped through Moscow on one Intourist bus so rapidly, Ginny claims, entire blocks passed by in one giant blur.
"We couldn't see what the apartment buildings looked like," she complains. "But housing seems to [be] a sore spot. There are no private homes available for even the middle or upper classes and it's not uncommon to find six persons, not necessarily from the same family, living together in two rooms."
Other than lack of adequate housing, however, Ginny says she saw no evidence of hardship or poverty. The Russians she encountered (mostly in cities) were well dressed, well fed and ambitious. Everybody works in the U.S.S.R. and if there are any "old folks homes" around Ginny didn't see them. She did see elderly men and women gainfully (if menially) employed in restaurants, hotels, stores, and sweeping the city streets.
Virginia Gross
Although she didn't run into any tall, dark, handsome strangers Ginny did have a brush or two with a couple of overlyromanticized spy types who, she claims, were "sloppy searchers." Despite their sanguine belief they weren't the type to have their privacy invaded the Smithsonians had their rooms searched regularly, their luggage rifled, their rooms "bugged" and daily excursions observed. They were, they soon learned, under close observation at all times.
One woman, realizing she had forgotten her purse upon reaching the lobby, returned hurriedly to her room to find two well dressed men standing nonchalantly inside. When asked what they were doing, one replied, "We're just fixing your light switch."
It wasn't until she had caught up with the tour that the woman belatedly remembered there was nothing wrong with the switch and workmen aren't usually dressed in business suits.
"What gets me is the careless way they left things," Ginny confesses. "I'd leave my purse on the dresser and find it in the middle of my bed or I'd have packages neatly stacked on a chair and they'd be scattered on the floor. They didn't seem to care whether we knew what they were doing or not."
Mysterious phone calls occurred regularly. As soon as the occupant answered (usually after just returning from sightseeing or upon arrival at the hotel), there would be a click on the other end of the line or, Ginny said, a torrent of unintelligible gibberish would emerge.
"This was their way of keeping track of us," she surmises. "We really didn't care because none of us had anything to hide."
Despite its stringent controls Intourist is, according to Ginny, an excellent travel agency staffed with extremely personable guides (usually attractive young women) with a "fantastic" command of English. Under their guidance the American travelers, were shown the newly renovated Winter Palace, the famed Hermitage (home of two and half million art treasures), St. Basil's Cathedral, Lenin's mausoleum, several ancient churches (now museums) and, of course, Red Square. All in all the travelers spent five days touring Moscow and another four exploring Leningrad — the Venice of the North.
Ginny's impressions are, on the whole, favorable. She believes the Russian people enjoy better living conditions and a way of life than at any other time during this century. She observes that in 1917, the year of the Russian Revolution, 78 per cent of the people were illiterate; now, according to government statistics, 99 per cent can read and write.
Food appears plentiful but, while satisfying, would never rate kudos from Oscar of the Waldorf; clothing is practical and well made but so drab "tourists stand out like sore thumbs" and although transportation is fast and economical nobody travels without a visa.
Ginny gives a five star rating to Russian ballet, opera, circuses, and theater but said even these productions are preceded by a short film depicting the ghastliest sights of World War II — usually centered on the siege Leningrad — and usually ending with a Russian victory. Defeats aren't mentioned.
"They seem determined to keep World War II alive," Ginny reflects. "They tend to eulogize heroes, sluff off defeats, and dwell on their conquering of Nazism and fascism to an extraordinary degree."
They also, she says, showed absolutely no curiosity as to the American way of life. During her stay in the U.S.S.R. Ginny was not asked one question about herself, her opinions, her background, her hometown or her impressions of the Soviet Union.
The Russians, in turn, despite the Americans fond hopes of "communicating," offered few viewpoints of their own. This conversational stalemate led to an extemporaneous outburst of emotion once the Smithsonians boarded their plane for the return trip home.
"As soon as we left the ground," Ginny grins, "we all let loose with a rousing hip, hip, hooray."
Courtesy of the Door County Library Newspaper Archive
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