Hope and Love Prevail During a Terrible Historic Era in the Short Film 'Father's Letters'

"After centuries of imperial rule, the 1917 Russian Revolution put an end to the Romanov dynasty and hailed the start of a new era under the leadership of Vladimir Lenin, head of the Bolshevik Party. This government body eventually became known as the Communist Party, and Russia was dubbed the Union of Soviet Social Republicans, or the U.S.S.R. In 1927, everything changed again. Lenin died that year, and a new leader maneuvered into power: Joseph Stalin."

"Fundamentally a dictator, Stalin ruled through terror and used violence and oppressive tactics to instill a government-controlled society. His approach essentially defines totalitarianism, in which the state asserts absolute dominance over every aspect of people's lives and livelihoods. In 1937, 10 years into the Stalinist period, the short film " Father's Letters " opens. Written and directed by Alexey Evstigneev, the animation traces a narrative of correspondence between a real-life father, Professor Vangengheim, and his daughter Eleonora, who he calls Elya."

"Vangengheim was a weather forecaster for Stalin, and he headed up the U.S.S.R.'s meteorology department-a role that had great implications for the success of socialist agriculture practices. When a ruinous famine hit between 1932 and 1933, Vangengheim was scapegoated with a claim that he had falsified weather forecasts to sabotage the crops. In January 1934, he was arrested and transported to the remote Solovetsky Islands, near the Arctic Circle."

Early 20th-century Russia transitioned from centuries of imperial rule through the 1917 Revolution to the Communist U.S.S.R. under Lenin. Lenin's death in 1927 allowed Joseph Stalin to consolidate power and impose totalitarian rule through terror, violence, and oppressive tactics that dominated daily life. The 1937 animated short " Father's Letters " recounts correspondence between Professor Vangengheim, head of Soviet meteorology, and his daughter Eleonora. Vangengheim was blamed for the catastrophic 1932–33 famine, accused of falsifying forecasts to sabotage crops, arrested in January 1934, and sent to the Solovetsky Islands. Eleonora preserved his cigarette-paper letters describing Arctic plant research, later published.

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