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I intended to survive. Just to spite them.

This remark appears in Part One, Section 30, just after Ginzburg receives her ten-year prison sentence. The judges’ decision turns out to be, contrary to all expectations, a reprieve from the death sentence Ginzburg has been dreading. She is, at least for the moment, overjoyed, and she wants to do everything in her power to outlive the judges who have put her in prison. Ginzburg believes there is no way there can be ten more years of the same repression. She is certain some of the party leadership will come together and rise up against the injustices being committed on so many of the party’s members. Now that she has avoided death, she wants to endure prison long enough to see the day when she and other innocent victims are liberated.

This quote reveals Ginzburg’s fierce determination to endure the torments of prison life as well as her sense of humor even in the darkest moments. There is an impertinent, almost mischievous tone to the statement, “Just to spite them,” and Ginzburg describes herself earlier in this passage as being “cheerful,” much to the amazement of the wardens and the wardress setting out Ginzburg’s dinner. Ginzburg is deeply serious about her conviction, but she also has the strength, creativity, and wit necessary to endure her hellish circumstances. The idea of survival is at the heart of Journey into the Whirlwind. Throughout the memoir are many examples of prisoners who succumb to the horrors of confinement and die, but there are also many brave inmates who, despite being ferociously ill, survive by sheer force of will. Tanya, for instance, survives the long train journey into eastern Russia despite appearing to be close to death. Although everyone else in Car 7 believes she’ll die, Tanya assures them she’ll make it to the end of the line—and she does. Intoning a statement such as “I intended to survive” seems to be almost enough to make it true.

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