This is a letter signed by Russian writer Aleksandr Solzhenitysyn (1918-2008) while he was living in his adopted home of Cavendish, Vermont. A prominent Soviet dissident, Solzhenitsyn was an outspoken critic of communism and helped to raise global awareness of political repression in the Soviet Union, in particular the Gulag system. While serving as a captain in the Red Army during World War II, Solzhenitsyn was arrested by the SMERSH (Russian counter-intelligence agencies) and sentenced to eight years in the Gulag and then internal exile for criticizing Soviet leader Joseph Stalin in a private letter. The Gulag was a prison or detention camp, especially for political prisoners, and Stalin did not tolerate criticism by anyone. As a result of the Khrushchev Thaw, Solzhenitsyn was released and exonerated. The Khrushchev Thaw was a period from the mid-1950s to the mid-1960s when repression and censorship in the Soviet Union were relaxed due to Nikita Khrushchev's policies of de-Stalinization, and with approval from the new Soviet leader Kruschev, Solzhenitsyn was able to publish his first novel, One Day in the Life of Ivan Denisovich in 1962, which was an account of repression under Stalin. Following Khrushchev's removal from power, Soviet authorities attempted to discourage Solzhenitsyn from writing, but he continued to work on further novels, including Cancer Ward in 1966, In the First Circle in 1968, August 1914 in 1971, and The Gulag Archipelago in 1973, the publication which outraged Soviet authorities. Yet with all the censorship surrounding his life, he was awarded the Nobel Prize for Literature in 1970. In 1974 Solzhenitsyn lost his Soviet citizenship and was flown to West Germany; in 1976, he moved with his family to Cavendish, Vermont, where he continued to write. In 1990, shortly before the dissolution of the Soviet Union, his citizenship was restored, and four years later he returned to Russia, where he remained until his death in 2008. The letter is on Solzhenitsyn's letterhead from Cavendish, it's dated 11 March, 1994, it measures 11 x 8 1/2 in. wide, and it is signed in black ink at the bottom, and aside from a small stain on the lower left corner of the letter and some red underlining in the second paragraph, the letter is in very good condition. It was very rare for him to inscribe anything due to his reclusive nature. The only signed books you normally see by him are Limited Edition Signed Copies, and someone who lived in Vermont said he tried to get Solzhenitsyn to sign some books for him, and the only way to get Solzhenitsyn to do that was to catch Solzhenitsyn at the mailbox. Size: 8 1/2 x 11 in. #1652