The CHAIRMAN. You may.
(Brief recess)
The CHAIRMAN. All right.
Mr. RANKIN. Mrs. Oswald, would you like to add something to your
testimony?
Mrs. OSWALD. Yes. This is in connection with why I left the room. I
will tell you why I left the room.
I consulted with my attorney, whether I should bring this up. This is
not a secret. The thing is that I have written a letter, even though I
have not mailed it yet, to the attorney--to the prosecuting attorney
who will prosecute Jack Ruby. I wrote in that letter that even--that
if Jack Ruby killed my husband, and I felt that I have a right as the
widow of the man he killed to say that, that if he killed him he should
be punished for it. But that in accordance with the laws here, the
capital punishment, the death penalty is imposed for such a crime, and
that I do not want him to be subjected to that kind of a penalty. I
do not want another human life to be taken. And I don't want it to be
believed because of this letter that I had been acquainted with Ruby,
and that I wanted to protect him.
It is simply that it is pity to--I feel sorry for another human life.
Because this will not return--bring back to life Kennedy or the others
who were killed. But they have their laws, and, of course, I do not
have the right to change them. That is only my opinion, and perhaps
they will pay some attention to it.
That is all.
Mr. RANKIN. Had you ever been in the Carousel Nightclub?
Mrs. OSWALD. I have never been in nightclubs.
Mr. RANKIN. Did you know where it was located before your husband was
killed by Jack Ruby?
Mrs. OSWALD. No, I don't know it now either.
Mr. RANKIN. Can you tell us whether your husband was right handed or
left handed?
Mrs. OSWALD. No, he was right handed.
His brother writes with his left hand and so does--his brother and
mother both write with their left hand.
And since I mentioned Jack Ruby, the mother and Robert want Ruby to be
subjected to a death penalty. And in that we differ.
Mr. RANKIN. Have they told you the reason why they wanted the death
penalty imposed?
Mrs. OSWALD. In their view, a killing has to be repaid by a killing.
In my opinion, it is not so.
Mr. RANKIN. Is there anything more about the assassination of President
Kennedy that you know that you have not told the Commission?
Mrs. OSWALD. No, I don't know anything.
Mr. RANKIN. Is there anything that your husband ever told you about
proposing to assassinate President Kennedy that you haven't told the
Commission?
Mrs. OSWALD. No, I don't know that.
Mr. RANKIN. Now, Mrs. Oswald, we will turn to some period in Russia,
and ask you about that for a little while.
Can you tell us the time and place of your birth?
Mrs. OSWALD. I was born on July 17, 1941, in Severo Dvinsk, in the
Arkhangelskaya Region.
Mr. RANKIN. Who were your parents?
Mrs. OSWALD. Names?
Mr. RANKIN. Yes, please.
Mrs. OSWALD. My mother was Clogia Vasilyevna Proosakova. She was a
laboratory assistant.
Mr. RANKIN. And your father?
Mrs. OSWALD. And I had a stepfather. I had no father. I never knew him.
Mr. RANKIN. Who did you live with as a child?
Mrs. OSWALD. With my stepfather, with my mother, and sometimes with my
grandmother--grandmother on my mother's side.
Mr. RANKIN. Did you live with your grandparents before you went back to
live with your mother and your stepfather?
Mrs. OSWALD. Yes, I lived with my grandmother until I was approximately
five years old.
Mr. RANKIN. And then you moved to live with your mother and your
stepfather, did you?
Mrs. OSWALD. Yes.
Mr. RANKIN. And was that in Leningrad?
Mrs. OSWALD. After the war, we lived in Moldavia for some time. After
the war it was easier to live there, better to live there. And then we
returned to Leningrad where we lived with my stepfather's mother--also
with my half brother and half sister.
Mr. RANKIN. What was your stepfather's business?
Mrs. OSWALD. He was an electrician in a power station in Leningrad.
Mr. RANKIN. Did you have brothers and sisters?
Mrs. OSWALD. Yes.
Mr. RANKIN. How many?
Mrs. OSWALD. One brother, one sister--from my mother's second marriage.
Mr. RANKIN. How old were they?
Mrs. OSWALD. How old are they, or were they?
Mr. RANKIN. Are they--I mean in comparison with your age. Were they
three or four years older than you?
Mrs. OSWALD. My brother is 5 years younger than I am. My sister is
probably 9 years younger than I am. About four years between brother
and sister.
Mr. RANKIN. Do you know whether your stepfather was a member of the
Communist Party?
Mrs. OSWALD. No.
Mr. RANKIN. That is, you don't know, or you know he was not?
Mrs. OSWALD. No, I know that he was not a member.
Mr. RANKIN. Did you live for a period with your mother alone?
Mrs. OSWALD. No. After my mother's death, I continued to live with my
stepfather, and later went to live in Minsk, with my uncle--my mother's
brother.
Mr. RANKIN. What was your stepfather's name?
Mrs. OSWALD. Alexandr Ivanovich Medvedev.
Mr. RANKIN. When did you leave the home of your stepfather?
Mrs. OSWALD. In 1961. No--1959.
Mr. RANKIN. What was your grandfather's occupation?
Mrs. OSWALD. On my mother's side?
Mr. RANKIN. Yes.
Mrs. OSWALD. He was a ship's captain.
Mr. RANKIN. Was he a member of the Communist Party?
Mrs. OSWALD. No. He died shortly after the war.
Mr. RANKIN. Which war?
Mrs. OSWALD. Second.
Mr. RANKIN. Did you get along well with your grandparents?
Mrs. OSWALD. Yes, I was their favorite.
Mr. RANKIN. Did you get along with your stepfather?
Mrs. OSWALD. No. I was not a good child. I was too fresh with him.
Mr. RANKIN. Did your mother and your stepfather move to Zguritsa?
Mrs. OSWALD. That is in Moldavia, where we lived. That is after the
war. It was a very good life there. They still had some kulaks, a lot
of food, and we lived very well.
After the war, people lived there pretty well, but they were
dekulakized subsequently.
By the way, I don't understand all of that, because these people worked
with their own hands all their lives. I was very sorry when I heard
that everything had been taken away from them and they had been sent
somewhere to Siberia where after living in the south it would be very
cold.
Mr. RANKIN. Did your mother have any occupation?
Mrs. OSWALD. Yes, laboratory assistant--I said that.
Mr. RANKIN. Was she a member of the Communist Party?
Mrs. OSWALD. No.
Mr. RANKIN. Do you recall when your mother died?
Mrs. OSWALD. In 1957.
Mr. RANKIN. Did you receive a pension after your mother's death?
Mrs. OSWALD. Yes.
Mr. RANKIN. How much was it?
Mrs. OSWALD. All children received pensions.
We received for it 3520 rubles, the old rubles.
Mr. RANKIN. Was that called a children's pension?
Mrs. OSWALD. Yes. It was paid up to majority, up to the age of 18.
Mr. RANKIN. And was it paid to you directly or to your stepfather?
Mrs. OSWALD. It was paid to me directly.
Mr. RANKIN. Did your brother and sister get a similar pension?
Mrs. OSWALD. Yes.
Mr. RANKIN. Did your stepfather adopt you?
Mrs. OSWALD. No, I was not adopted.
Mr. RANKIN. What was your relationship with your half brother? Did you
get along with him?
Mrs. OSWALD. I loved them very much, and they loved me.
Mr. RANKIN. And your half sister, too?
Mrs. OSWALD. Yes. They are very good children. Not like me.
Mr. RANKIN. Will you tell us what schools you went to?
Mrs. OSWALD. At first I went to school in Moldavia, and later in
Leningrad, in a girl's school and then after finishing school I studied
in a pharmaceutical institute--pharmaceutical school, rather than
institute.
Mr. RANKIN. Where was the pharmaceutical school?
Mrs. OSWALD. In Leningrad.
Mr. RANKIN. Did you go through high school before you went to the
pharmaceutical school?
Mrs. OSWALD. Yes.
Mr. RANKIN. Do you recall the names of any of your teachers?
Mrs. OSWALD. Dmitry Rossovsky. I remember the director of the school,
Nadelman Matvey Akimovich. It is hard to remember now. I have already
forgotten. I have had good teachers. They treated me very well, they
helped me after my mother died. Knowing my difficult nature, they
approached me very pedagogically. But now I would have changed that
nature.
Mr. RANKIN. Were you a good student?
Mrs. OSWALD. I was capable but lazy. I never spent much time studying.
You know, everything came to me very easily. Sometimes my ability saved
me. My language, you know--I talk a lot, and get a good grade.
Mr. RANKIN. Did you work part-time while you were going to school?
Mrs. OSWALD. Yes. The money which I received on the pension was not
enough, and therefore I had to work as well as study.
Mr. RANKIN. And what did you do in working?
Mrs. OSWALD. At first I worked in a school cafeteria, school lunchroom.
This was good for me, because I also got enough to eat that way.
And then I felt the work was not for me, that it was too restricted,
and then I worked in a pharmacy. Then when I graduated I worked in a
pharmacy as a full-fledged pharmacist--as a pharmacist's assistant.
Mr. RANKIN. Before you graduated, how much were you paid for your work?
Mrs. OSWALD. I think I received 36 per month--this is new rubles--at
that time it was still 360 old rubles. But I could eat there three
times a day. And then this was a lunchroom that was part of a large
restaurant where everyone liked me and I always was treated to all
sorts of tidbits and candy. I remember they had some busboys there who
always saved something for me.
Mr. RANKIN. Did you save any money while you were working before you
graduated?
Mrs. OSWALD. I don't know how to save money. I like to make presents.
Mr. RANKIN. Where did you work after you graduated?
Mrs. OSWALD. I was assigned to work in Leningrad, but my stepfather
didn't want me to remain with him because he thought perhaps he would
marry again, and, therefore, I left.
But he hasn't married up until now.
Mr. RANKIN. I hand you Exhibit 20, and ask you if you know what that is.
Mrs. OSWALD. This is my diploma. My goodness, what did they do with my
diploma?
I can't work with it. The government seal is missing. Who will give me
a new diploma?
Mr. RANKIN. Mrs. Oswald, I want to explain to you--the Commission
hasn't done anything to your diploma. We are informed that----
Mrs. OSWALD. They should have treated it a little more carefully,
though.
Mr. RANKIN. The process was trying to determine fingerprints. It wasn't
our action.
Mrs. OSWALD. There must be many fingerprints on there. All of my
teachers and everybody that ever looked at it. I am sorry--it is a pity
for my diploma.
Mr. RANKIN. We offer in evidence Exhibit 20.
The CHAIRMAN. It may be marked.
(The document referred to was marked Commission Exhibit No. 20, and
received in evidence.)
Mr. RANKIN. Do you know why on Exhibit 20 there is no date of admission
to the school?
Mrs. OSWALD. There is no entrance date on it, but it does show the date
of issue and the date of graduation.
Mr. RANKIN. Isn't there a place for admission, though?
Mrs. OSWALD. Yes, there is a place for it.
Mr. RANKIN. Do you know when you were admitted to the school?
Mrs. OSWALD. In 1955.
Mr. KRIMER. I might mention the place here is for the year only, not
for a full date.
Mr. DULLES. 1955, did you say?
Mrs. OSWALD. Yes, 1955.
Mr. RANKIN. In this job that you obtained after you left the school,
what were your duties?
Mrs. OSWALD. When I worked in the pharmacy?
Mr. RANKIN. Yes.
Mrs. OSWALD. I worked in a hospital pharmacy. I prepared prescriptions.
After the rounds every day, the doctors prescribed prescriptions, and
the nurses of each department of the hospital enter that in a book,
and turn it over to the pharmacy for preparation, where we again
transcribed it from the nurses' book as a prescription and prepared it.
Mr. RANKIN. Were you assigned to a particular job or did you go out and
get the job? How was that arranged?
Mrs. OSWALD. Generally upon graduation there is an assignment. I was
sent to work to a drug warehouse in Leningrad. But this work was not
very interesting, because everything was in packages. It is more of a
warehousing job. And, therefore, if I had wanted to change I could have
changed to any pharmacy. This assignment is only performed in order to
guarantee that the graduate has a job. But the graduate can go to work
somewhere else.
Mr. RANKIN. How long did you stay in this first job?
Mrs. OSWALD. I was there for three days, which is a probationary
period, intended to have the employee familiarize himself with his
duties. I didn't like that work, and I went to Minsk, and worked there.
I worked there in my own specialty with pleasure. But the reference
which I received after I was going to the United States was not very
good, because they were very dissatisfied with the fact that I was
going to the United States. They could not understand how could it be
that a good worker could leave.
Mr. RANKIN. Did you select Minsk as a place to go and work yourself?
Mrs. OSWALD. Yes.
Mr. RANKIN. You were not assigned there, then?
Mrs. OSWALD. No.
Mr. RANKIN. Could you have selected other places that you wished to go
to and work?
Mrs. OSWALD. Yes, but the registration is very difficult. In Russia you
cannot settle in a large city if you are not registered.
Mr. RANKIN. What do you mean by that?
Mrs. OSWALD. If I lived in Leningrad, I had the right to work there.
But if someone would come there from a village he would not have the
right to work, because he was not registered and he would not be
permitted to. But to move from a larger city to a smaller one, then
they may register, such as Minsk.
Mr. RANKIN. By register, do you mean that if you want to go to a place
like Leningrad, you had to be recorded some way in the city?
Mrs. OSWALD. Yes, that is, registered in the police department.
Mr. RANKIN. And if you were not registered, they would not give you a
job, is that what you mean?
Mrs. OSWALD. Yes.
No, you would not get a job. There are people who want to come to
Leningrad. The housing problem has not been solved.
Mr. RANKIN. Can you tell us how you get registered if you would like to
be registered in Leningrad from some other point?
Mrs. OSWALD. First you must have relatives who might have some spare
living space for a person. Sometimes people who have money buy that.
You know money does a great deal everywhere.
Mr. RANKIN. And then after you have shown that you have a place to
live, do they register you as a matter of course, or do you have to
have something else?
Mrs. OSWALD. Not always. One has to have connections, acquaintances.
Mr. RANKIN. Were you registered in Leningrad before you left there?
Mrs. OSWALD. Yes, of course. But if I had spent one year not living in
Leningrad, and were to return, I would not be registered.
Mr. RANKIN. But since you were registered there, you could have found a
position in some pharmacy or pharmaceutical work there, could you?
Mrs. OSWALD. Oh, yes, of course.
Mr. RANKIN. Then, can you tell us how you decided to go to Minsk
instead of staying in Leningrad?
Mrs. OSWALD. I was very sorry to leave Leningrad, but there were family
circumstances.
What can one do?
It is not very pleasant to be a sty in the eye of a stepfather.
Mr. RANKIN. So it is because you liked to leave your stepfather's home
that you sought some other city in which to work?
Mrs. OSWALD. Yes. I had no other place to live in Leningrad, and I did
not have enough money to pay for an apartment.