*Mrs. OSWALD. Not often.
Senator RUSSELL. Did you write very often to your family and friends in
Russia?*
*Mrs. OSWALD. I wrote several letters shortly after we came to America,
but I never received any answer. I also wrote to some of my colleagues
where I worked.
Senator RUSSELL. In Minsk?
Mrs. OSWALD. And shortly after that, my aunt wrote me. Then I
understood that perhaps the letters I wrote my aunt never reached her.
Senator RUSSELL. She did not refer to your letters when she wrote to
you?*
*Mrs. OSWALD. No; the only thing that she wrote, she was glad to
get--that she learned my address.
Senator RUSSELL. Did she say how she learned it? That was my next
question?*
*Mrs. OSWALD. The supervisory of a drugstore, an apothecary----
Senator RUSSELL. An apothecary?
*Mrs. OSWALD. Or manager of a drugstore telephoned my aunt and told her
she received a letter from me.
Senator RUSSELL. But she did not answer that letter, or if she did, you
didn't receive it?
Mrs. OSWALD. No--she answered this letter.
Senator RUSSELL. I understand, but the friend in the apothecary, did he
answer?*
Mrs. OSWALD. No.
Senator RUSSELL. Now, in some of your testimony you referred to a time
when you became somewhat piqued with Lee about something and wrote one
of your old friends there and forgot to put the stamp or didn't know
that the stamps had been increased--you recall that testimony, do you
not?
Mrs. OSWALD. Yes.
Senator RUSSELL. Did you write to any of your other friends there and
put the proper stamps on them?*
*Mrs. OSWALD. No; this was the only letter I wrote.
Senator RUSSELL. The only one you wrote?
*Mrs. OSWALD. This was the only letter I wrote after I found out the
proper postage required for mailing letters. After that, my aunt never
wrote me.
Senator RUSSELL. Have you corresponded with your uncle or aunt at any
time since this great tragedy?*
*Mrs. OSWALD. Yes; I did.
Senator RUSSELL. And did you receive any reply?
Mrs. OSWALD. No.
Senator RUSSELL. Have you written them more than once since this great
tragedy?*
*Mrs. OSWALD. I don't remember exactly whether I did or not.
Senator RUSSELL. But you've written them at least once without
receiving a reply?
*Mrs. OSWALD. I remember well that I wrote at least once, maybe it was
twice or three times, but I don't remember.
Senator RUSSELL. Has any official of the Russian Government
communicated with you since this great tragedy?*
*Mrs. OSWALD. No; no one ever communicated with me from the Soviet
Embassy or any other representative of the Soviet Government, and I
felt rather bad about it, because there I was--all alone in a strange
country and I did not receive any encouragement from anyone. They
didn't approach me even as a show of interest in my well-being.
Senator RUSSELL. You didn't even hear from them with reference to your
application for visas to return to Russia, although you had heard from
them prior to the time Lee was killed?* **
*Mrs. OSWALD. Not after Lee was killed.
Senator RUSSELL. Now, if I've understood it from reading your
testimony, Mrs. Oswald, Lee went to Mexico from New Orleans a day or
two after Mrs. Paine brought you back to Texas, is that right?
*Mrs. OSWALD. I do not know definitely, but I believe Mrs. Paine and I
left one day before he went to Mexico.
Senator RUSSELL. He had talked to you about going to Mexico, had he
not?*
*Mrs. OSWALD. Yes; he had told me he was going to Mexico.
Senator RUSSELL. And he had told you that he intended to visit the
Russian Embassy and the Cuban consulate while he was there?
Mrs. OSWALD. Yes.
Senator RUSSELL. And that was at a time when he was very anxious to get
to Cuba, I believe?
Mrs. OSWALD. Yes.
Senator RUSSELL. When was it, Mrs. Oswald, that Lee told you he
thought it was best for you to go back to Russia, as to time? I know
you testified he told you that, but was that after the Walker case or
before the Walker case? *
*Mrs. OSWALD. I believe it was before he made the attempt on General
Walker's life. It may be that I stated it differently in my deposition,
but I believe it was before. Lee insisted on my returning to the Soviet
Union before the attempt on Walker's life.
Senator RUSSELL. I gather from your evidence, Mrs. Oswald, that Lee
was a very devoted husband, unusually so for an American husband, even
though you had little spats at times. Do you think that he advised
you that because he thought something was going to happen that would
involve the family in difficulties?*
Mrs. OSWALD. No.
Senator RUSSELL. You don't think so?
*Mrs. OSWALD. No; he was not a good husband. I may have said so in my
deposition, but if I did, it was when I was in a state of shock.
Senator RUSSELL. You not only said so in your deposition, Mrs. Oswald,
but you testified in your testimony before the Commission several times
that he was a very good husband and he was very devoted to you, and
that when he was at home and not employed that he did a great deal of
the housework and in looking after the children?
*Mrs. OSWALD. Well, I also testified to the fact that he beat me on
many occasions, so some of the statements I made regarding him were
good and some were bad.
Senator RUSSELL. In other words, some of them were not true that you
made?*
*Mrs. OSWALD. No; everything was true.
Senator RUSSELL. Everything was true?
Mrs. OSWALD. Yes.
*I made statements in the record that he was good when he did housework
and washed the floors and was good to the baby, and again, he was not
good when he beat me and was insolent.