They both took 3 days off from their jobs, which they spent in Minsk.[A13-679]
Oswald wrote in his diary for May 1, 1 day after the wedding: “In spite of fact I married Marina to hurt Ella I found myself in love with Marina.”[A13-680] The next entry, marked simply “May,” reads in part:
The trasistion of changing full love from Ella to Marina was very painfull esp. as I saw Ella almost every day at the factory but as the days & weeks went by I adjusted more and more [to] my wife mentaly * * * She is maddly in love with me from the very start. Boat rides on Lake Minsk walks through the parks evening at home or at Aunt Valia’s place mark May.”[A13-681]
And in June: “A continuence of May, except that; we draw closer and closer, and I think very little now of Ella.”[A13-682]
Sometime within the first month or two after they were married Oswald told his wife that he was anxious to return to the United States. The diary says that he told her “in the last days” of June and that she was “slightly startled” but encouraged him to do as he wished.[A13-683] Marina’s recollection is that she learned of his plan between May and July. Embassy records show that Oswald notified the Embassy in a letter received on May 25 that he was married and his wife would seek to accompany him to the United States.[A13-684] At about this time, the Oswalds began to make inquiries in Soviet offices about exit visas.[A13-685]
While these preparations were being made, the Oswalds apparently enjoyed their new life.[A13-686] They ate most of their meals in cafes or at restaurants where they worked.[A13-687] For amusement, they went boating, attended the opera, concerts, the circus, and films; occasionally, they gathered with a group of friends for a cooperative meal at someone’s apartment.[A13-688] His Russian improved, but he retained an accent and never learned to speak grammatically or to write well.[A13-689] He read the English language edition of the Daily Worker and books, also in English, on Marxism and Leninism; he also read some Russian newspapers.[A13-690]
Before he married Marina (and presumably before February, when he had begun his efforts to return to the United States) Oswald had applied for admission to the Patrice Lumumba Friendship University in Moscow. He received a letter dated May 3 apologizing for the delay in responding to his application and turning it down on the ground that the university had been established exclusively for students from the underdeveloped countries of Asia, Africa, and Latin America.[A13-691] Oswald expressed his disappointment at having been turned down to Marina.[A13-692]
Oswald reopened his correspondence with his family on May 5, with a friendly letter to his brother Robert. He said nothing about his contacts with the American Embassy, but mentioned that he had married, and that he had a job as a “metal-smith” and was living well. He asked his brother for their mother’s address, and encouraged him to come to Minsk for a visit.[A13-693] Robert answered the letter quickly. On May 31, Oswald wrote again and expressed his pleasure at having heard from Robert after so long. Apparently in response to an offer to send him whatever he needed, Oswald wrote that he needed nothing and thanked Robert for the thought; he suggested, however, that Marina might like a small wedding present. At the end of the letter he said that he did not know whether he would ever return to the United States; he said that before he could return he would have to obtain the permission of the Soviet Union for him and Marina to leave and insure that no charges would be lodged against him in the United States. In this letter, he mentioned that he was in touch with the Embassy in Moscow.[A13-694] At about this time, Oswald wrote also to his mother.[A13-695]
On May 25, the Embassy received a letter mailed in Minsk about 10 days before, in which Oswald asked for assurances that he would not be prosecuted if he returned to the United States, and informed the Embassy that he had married a Russian woman who would want to accompany him.[A13-696] The Embassy communicated this development to Washington[A13-697] and did not answer Oswald immediately. In addition, he had had no word since March concerning the return of his passport. Impatient for action,[A13-698] he appeared without warning at the Embassy on July 8; it was a Saturday and the offices were closed.[A13-699] He used the house telephone to reach Snyder, who came to the office, talked with him briefly, and suggested that he return on the following Monday.[A13-700] Oswald called Marina and asked her to join him in Moscow. She arrived on Sunday, July 9,[A13-701] and they took a room at the Hotel Berlin,[A13-702] where he had stayed when he first arrived in Russia.
Oswald returned to the Embassy on Monday. Marina waited outside during his interview with Snyder,[A13-703] who asked to see Oswald’s Soviet papers and questioned him closely about his life in Russia and possible expatriating acts. Oswald stated that he was not a citizen of the Soviet Union and had never formally applied for citizenship, that he had never taken an oath of allegiance to the Soviet Union, and that he was not a member of the factory trade union organization. He said that he had never given Soviet officials any confidential information that he had learned in the Marines, had never been asked to give such information, and “doubted” that he would have done so had he been asked.[A13-704] Some of Oswald’s statements during this interview were undoubtedly false. He had almost certainly applied for citizenship in the Soviet Union[A13-705] and, at least for a time, been disappointed when it was denied.[A13-706] He possessed a membership card in the union organization.[A13-707] In addition, his assertion to Snyder that he had never been questioned by Soviet authorities concerning his life in the United States is simply unbelievable.