ABSTRACT
This conclusion presents some closing thoughts on the concepts covered in the preceding chapters of this book. The eight narrators whose stories compose this book were located and interviewed by Anastasia Posadskaya-Vanderbeck. Each chapter went through a painstaking review in which Posadskaya would read aloud the original Russian, Engel would read the English translation, and together we would decide whether the translation captured the meaning. Even women who proved both willing and able to share their stories often became very agitated as they confronted their painful pasts, and many wept during their interviews. While some dealt with their pain or fear by remaining completely silent, others practiced the art of silence selectively. Silence, however, is an important component of all these interviews. Some narrators refused to speak of painful events or mentioned them only elliptically and then changed the subject.
