The President's Commission reconvened at 2 p.m.
The CHAIRMAN. The Commission will be in order. Mr. Rankin, you may
continue.
Mr. RANKIN. Mr. Chairman, I understand that Mrs. Oswald has examined a
considerable volume of correspondence during the recess. In order to be
helpful, she has identified it, and she is able to tell, through her
counsel, by a number for each exhibit, who the letter was to or from as
the case may be.
And, after I offer the exhibits, or as part of the offer, I will ask
Mr. Thorne if he will tell the description of the recipient and the
writer of the letter in the various cases. These exhibits are Exhibits
30 through 65, inclusive.
Mr. THORNE. Exhibit No. 30 is a telegram from a former fiance's mother.
Exhibit No. 31 is a letter from her friend who studied with her, by the
name of Ella Soboleva.
Exhibit No. 32 is a letter from the Ziger family, who are friends.
Exhibit No. 33 is another letter from Alexander Ziger. A friend of the
family's.
Exhibit No. 34 is a letter concerning departure to the United States
by Marina and her husband. She doesn't know who sent the letter or who
received it. It is merely some material that she has.
Exhibit No. 35 is an envelope from a friend which contained a letter
which is not shown.
Exhibit No. 36 is a letter from a former fiance's mother, the same one
that sent the telegram, and Exhibit No. 30.
Exhibit No. 37 is a letter from Marina to Lee while she was in the
hospital, during the birth of June Lee.
Exhibit No. 38 is a letter from Olga Dmovskaya, a friend.
Mr. RANKIN. When you say fiance, do you mean she was engaged to someone
else?
Mr. THORNE. This is what I understand--prior to her relationship to Lee.
Exhibit No. 39 is another letter from Ella Soboleva.
Exhibit No. 40 is a letter from Lee Harvey to Marina while she was in
the hospital with June Lee, during the birth of the baby.
Exhibit No. 41 is a letter from her Aunt Valya.
Exhibit No. 42 is a letter from their friend Pavel.
Exhibit No. 43 is the start of a letter by Marina which was never
finished.
Exhibit No. 44 is the start of a letter by Marina which was never
finished.
Exhibit No. 45 is a letter from Olga Dmovskaya, the same person who
sent a letter in Exhibit No. 38.
Exhibit No. 46 is a letter--is another letter from Aunt Valya.
Exhibit No. 47 is a letter from a friend by the name of Tolya.
Exhibit No. 48 is an address of one of Marina's friends.
Exhibit No. 49 is Marina's draft of a letter to the consulate.
May I see Exhibit 49? I am trying to clear up a point.
Mr. DULLES. What is the date of that?
Mrs. OSWALD. That is not a letter. That is an autobiography.
Mr. THORNE. Yes, that is correct. It is the draft of an autobiography
for the Russian Consulate.
Exhibit No. 50 is a letter from a friend Erick Titovetz.
Exhibit No. 51 is another letter from Aunt Valya.
Exhibit No. 52 is a letter received by Marina while she was in the
hospital with June Lee.
Exhibit No. 53 is Lee Harvey Oswald's writing.
Exhibit No. 54 is a letter from a friend, Laliya.
Exhibit No. 55 is a letter from Lee Harvey Oswald to Marina while she
was in Kharkov.
Exhibit No. 56 is the same.
Exhibit No. 57 is a letter from Aunt Valya.
Exhibit No. 58 is a letter from Lee Harvey Oswald to Marina while she
was in the hospital with June Lee.
Exhibit No. 59 is the same.
Exhibit No. 60 is the same.
Exhibit No. 61 is the same.
Exhibit No. 62 is a letter from Anna Meller, who lives in Dallas, to
Marina.
Exhibit No. 63 is a letter from Lee Harvey Oswald to Marina while she
was in the hospital, giving birth to June Lee.
Exhibit No. 64 is a letter from Lee Harvey Oswald--is a letter to Lee
from Erick Titovetz.
Exhibit No. 65 is the second page of Exhibit No. 62. That completes the
exhibits.
Mr. RANKIN. We offer in evidence Exhibits 30 through 65, inclusive.
The CHAIRMAN. They may be admitted and take the appropriate numbers.
(The documents referred to were marked Commission Exhibit Nos. 30
through 65, inclusive, and received in evidence.)
Mr. RANKIN. Mrs. Oswald, you remember I asked you about the diary that
your husband kept. You said that he completed it in Russia before he
came to this country, do you remember that?
Mrs. OSWALD. Yes.
Mr. RANKIN. Do you know whether or not the entries that he made in that
diary were made each day as the events occurred?
Mrs. OSWALD. No, not each day.
Mr. RANKIN. Were they noted shortly after the time they occurred?
Mrs. OSWALD. Not all events. What happened in Moscow I don't think that
Lee wrote that in Moscow.
Mr. RANKIN. What about the entries concerning what happened in Minsk?
Mrs. OSWALD. He wrote this while he was working.
Mr. RANKIN. And you think those entries were made close to the time
that the events occurred?
Mrs. OSWALD. Yes.
Mr. RANKIN. As I understand you, you think that the entries concerning
the time he was in Moscow before he went to Minsk were entered some
time while he was in Minsk, is that right?
Mrs. OSWALD. I think so, but I don't know.
Mr. RANKIN. Do you know why your husband was sent to Minsk to work and
live after he came to the Soviet Union, instead of some other city?
Mrs. OSWALD. He was sent there because this is a young and developing
city where there are many industrial enterprises which needed
personnel. It is an old, a very old city. But after the war, it
had been almost completely built anew, because everything has been
destroyed. It was easier in the sense of living space in Minsk--it was
easier to secure living space. Many immigrants are sent to Minsk. There
are many immigrants there now.
Mr. RANKIN. Were there many Americans there?
Mrs. OSWALD. Americans? No. But from South America, from Argentina, we
knew many. Many Argentinians live there--comparatively many.
Mr. RANKIN. Did your husband say much about the time he was in Moscow
before he went to Minsk and what he did there?
Mrs. OSWALD. He didn't tell me particularly much about it, but he said
that he walked in Moscow a great deal, that he had visited museums,
that he liked Moscow better than Minsk, and that he would have liked to
live in Moscow.
Mr. RANKIN. Did he say anything about having been on the radio or
television at Moscow?
Mrs. OSWALD. He said that he was on the radio.
Mr. RANKIN. Did he tell you anything about any ceremonies for him when
he asked for Soviet citizenship?
Mrs. OSWALD. No.
Mr. RANKIN. When he was not granted Soviet citizenship, did he say
anything about the Soviet Government or his reaction towards their
failure to give him citizenship?
Mrs. OSWALD. When I read the diary, I concluded from the diary that Lee
wanted to become a citizen of the Soviet Union and that he had been
refused, but after we were married we talked on that subject and he
said it was good that he had refused to accept citizenship. Therefore,
I had always thought that Lee had been offered citizenship--but that he
didn't want it.
Mr. RANKIN. What diary are you referring to that you read?
Mrs. OSWALD. The diary about which we talked here previously--in the
preceding session.
Mr. RANKIN. The one that was completed in Russia that you referred to?
Mrs. OSWALD. Yes.
Mr. RANKIN. And when did you first read that?
Mrs. OSWALD. I had never read it, because I didn't understand English.
But when I was questioned by the FBI, they read me excerpts from that
diary.
Mr. RANKIN. And that was after the assassination?
Mrs. OSWALD. Yes.
Mr. RANKIN. When you and Lee Oswald decided to get married, was there a
period of time you had to wait before it could be official?
Mrs. OSWALD. Yes.
Mr. RANKIN. Did you file an application and then have a period to wait?
Mrs. OSWALD. Yes.
Mr. RANKIN. How long was that period of waiting?
Mrs. OSWALD. Ten days.
Mr. RANKIN. After it was known in Minsk that you were to marry this
American, did any officials come to you and talk to you about the
marriage?
Mrs. OSWALD. No.
Mr. RANKIN. Mrs. Oswald, we have Exhibits 66 through 91 that we are
going to ask your counsel to show to you, and after you have looked at
them and are satisfied that you can identify them, then we will ask you
to comment on them.
Mrs. OSWALD. This is from Lee when I was in the hospital.
Mr. RANKIN. What exhibit is that?
Mr. THORNE. These are all part of Exhibit 66. They are various
miscellaneous pieces of writing involved in this particular exhibit.
Mrs. OSWALD. It was not in June that I was in the hospital. He didn't
know that I was in the hospital.
Mr. RANKIN. By "he" do you mean your husband Lee Oswald?
Mrs. OSWALD. Yes.
Mr. RANKIN. And when did he not know that you were in the hospital?
Mrs. OSWALD. Because I was going to work when I began to feel ill, and
I was taken to the hospital.
Mr. RANKIN. And what time was that?
Mrs. OSWALD. In the morning, about 10 a.m.
Mr. RANKIN. I mean about what day or month or year?
Mrs. OSWALD. September 1961.
Mr. RANKIN. Is that before you went to Kharkov?
Mrs. OSWALD. Yes.
Mr. RANKIN. And we have already discussed, or I have asked you about
that time you were in the hospital.
Mrs. OSWALD. Yes. I was there twice.
Mr. RANKIN. By twice, you mean this time you have described before you
went to Kharkov and the other time when you had the baby?
Mrs. OSWALD. This is a letter from Inesse Yakhliel.
Mr. RANKIN. That is Exhibit 67?
Mr. THORNE. No, sir, these are all part of Exhibit 66.
Mr. DULLES. I wonder if these should not be marked in some way, because
you won't be able to find out what they are in the future--A, B, C, D,
or something of this kind.
Mr. RANKIN. Mr. Redlich, will you mark those as 66-A, B, C, and D, or
however they run?
Mr. Thorne, when you say the first one marked "A", will you make it
clear what that is?
Mr. THORNE. The exhibit marked "A"--let me hasten to point out that
all of these pieces of paper have a mark "159R". We are denoting
individually these papers by starting with A, B, C, and so on.
"A" represents the first piece of paper that was identified earlier in
this testimony by Mrs. Oswald, referring again specifically to Exhibit
66, which is composed of many such pieces of paper.
Exhibit B was the second piece of paper that was identified by Mrs.
Oswald.