Mr. Jenner. Your father was a religious man, was he?
Mr. De Mohrenschildt. No; he was not religious. But he objected by principle to that. He was not very religious at all. But he objected to the intervention into other people's faith. We never had too much religion in the family. And he was put in jail. And started criticizing the Soviet Government. And, finally—I remember this more distinctly—because he was finally sentenced to life exile to Siberia. And that I will never forget about my father—an interesting thing.
Mr. Jenner. He was banished to Siberia by the Russians?
Mr. De Mohrenschildt. Yes.
Mr. Jenner. These are the Bolsheviks who had conducted the revolution. This was a revolutionary period?
Mr. De Mohrenschildt. That is right. This is 1921 by now.
Mr. Jenner. You are now 10 years old?
Mr. De Mohrenschildt. I remained on the street making my own living somehow. My mother runs around the country trying to save my father. He is in jail for the second time, and finally he gets sentenced to life imprisonment in a town called Vieliki Ustug in Siberia. This is as far as I remember the name of it.
And why was he sentenced for that—because at the hearing, whatever they called the court, they asked him, "What kind of government do you suggest for Soviet Russia?" And he said, fool as he was, "Constitutional monarchy," and that was it. That was his sentence—just because of that. Because, actually, they didn't have anything against him. My father was a liberal and never hurt anybody. He became very sick in jail. And these friends—the friends whom he had helped previously——
Mr. Jenner. You mean true friends?