Mr. Rankin. We offer in evidence Exhibits 30 through 65, inclusive.
The Chairman. They may be admitted and take the appropriate numbers.
(The documents referred to were marked Commission Exhibit Nos. 30 through 65, inclusive, and received in evidence.)
Mr. Rankin. Mrs. Oswald, you remember I asked you about the diary that your husband kept. You said that he completed it in Russia before he came to this country, do you remember that?
Mrs. Oswald. Yes.
Mr. Rankin. Do you know whether or not the entries that he made in that diary were made each day as the events occurred?
Mrs. Oswald. No, not each day.
Mr. Rankin. Were they noted shortly after the time they occurred?
Mrs. Oswald. Not all events. What happened in Moscow I don't think that Lee wrote that in Moscow.
Mr. Rankin. What about the entries concerning what happened in Minsk?
Mrs. Oswald. He wrote this while he was working.
Mr. Rankin. And you think those entries were made close to the time that the events occurred?
Mrs. Oswald. Yes.
Mr. Rankin. As I understand you, you think that the entries concerning the time he was in Moscow before he went to Minsk were entered some time while he was in Minsk, is that right?
Mrs. Oswald. I think so, but I don't know.
Mr. Rankin. Do you know why your husband was sent to Minsk to work and live after he came to the Soviet Union, instead of some other city?
Mrs. Oswald. He was sent there because this is a young and developing city where there are many industrial enterprises which needed personnel. It is an old, a very old city. But after the war, it had been almost completely built anew, because everything has been destroyed. It was easier in the sense of living space in Minsk—it was easier to secure living space. Many immigrants are sent to Minsk. There are many immigrants there now.
Mr. Rankin. Were there many Americans there?
Mrs. Oswald. Americans? No. But from South America, from Argentina, we knew many. Many Argentinians live there—comparatively many.
Mr. Rankin. Did your husband say much about the time he was in Moscow before he went to Minsk and what he did there?
Mrs. Oswald. He didn't tell me particularly much about it, but he said that he walked in Moscow a great deal, that he had visited museums, that he liked Moscow better than Minsk, and that he would have liked to live in Moscow.
Mr. Rankin. Did he say anything about having been on the radio or television at Moscow?
Mrs. Oswald. He said that he was on the radio.
Mr. Rankin. Did he tell you anything about any ceremonies for him when he asked for Soviet citizenship?
Mrs. Oswald. No.
Mr. Rankin. When he was not granted Soviet citizenship, did he say anything about the Soviet Government or his reaction towards their failure to give him citizenship?
Mrs. Oswald. When I read the diary, I concluded from the diary that Lee wanted to become a citizen of the Soviet Union and that he had been refused, but after we were married we talked on that subject and he said it was good that he had refused to accept citizenship. Therefore, I had always thought that Lee had been offered citizenship—but that he didn't want it.
Mr. Rankin. What diary are you referring to that you read?
Mrs. Oswald. The diary about which we talked here previously—in the preceding session.
Mr. Rankin. The one that was completed in Russia that you referred to?
Mrs. Oswald. Yes.
Mr. Rankin. And when did you first read that?
Mrs. Oswald. I had never read it, because I didn't understand English. But when I was questioned by the FBI, they read me excerpts from that diary.
Mr. Rankin. And that was after the assassination?
Mrs. Oswald. Yes.
Mr. Rankin. When you and Lee Oswald decided to get married, was there a period of time you had to wait before it could be official?
Mrs. Oswald. Yes.
Mr. Rankin. Did you file an application and then have a period to wait?
Mrs. Oswald. Yes.
Mr. Rankin. How long was that period of waiting?
Mrs. Oswald. Ten days.
Mr. Rankin. After it was known in Minsk that you were to marry this American, did any officials come to you and talk to you about the marriage?
Mrs. Oswald. No.
Mr. Rankin. Mrs. Oswald, we have Exhibits 66 through 91 that we are going to ask your counsel to show to you, and after you have looked at them and are satisfied that you can identify them, then we will ask you to comment on them.
Mrs. Oswald. This is from Lee when I was in the hospital.
Mr. Rankin. What exhibit is that?
Mr. Thorne. These are all part of Exhibit 66. They are various miscellaneous pieces of writing involved in this particular exhibit.
Mrs. Oswald. It was not in June that I was in the hospital. He didn't know that I was in the hospital.
Mr. Rankin. By "he" do you mean your husband Lee Oswald?
Mrs. Oswald. Yes.
Mr. Rankin. And when did he not know that you were in the hospital?
Mrs. Oswald. Because I was going to work when I began to feel ill, and I was taken to the hospital.
Mr. Rankin. And what time was that?
Mrs. Oswald. In the morning, about 10 a.m.
Mr. Rankin. I mean about what day or month or year?
Mrs. Oswald. September 1961.
Mr. Rankin. Is that before you went to Kharkov?
Mrs. Oswald. Yes.
Mr. Rankin. And we have already discussed, or I have asked you about that time you were in the hospital.
Mrs. Oswald. Yes. I was there twice.
Mr. Rankin. By twice, you mean this time you have described before you went to Kharkov and the other time when you had the baby?
Mrs. Oswald. This is a letter from Inesse Yakhliel.
Mr. Rankin. That is Exhibit 67?
Mr. Thorne. No, sir, these are all part of Exhibit 66.
Mr. Dulles. I wonder if these should not be marked in some way, because you won't be able to find out what they are in the future—A, B, C, D, or something of this kind.
Mr. Rankin. Mr. Redlich, will you mark those as 66-A, B, C, and D, or however they run?
Mr. Thorne, when you say the first one marked "A", will you make it clear what that is?
Mr. Thorne. The exhibit marked "A"—let me hasten to point out that all of these pieces of paper have a mark "159R". We are denoting individually these papers by starting with A, B, C, and so on.
"A" represents the first piece of paper that was identified earlier in this testimony by Mrs. Oswald, referring again specifically to Exhibit 66, which is composed of many such pieces of paper.
Exhibit B was the second piece of paper that was identified by Mrs. Oswald.
I believe this is the third.
Mrs. Oswald. This is a letter from Inessa Yakhliel.
Mr. Thorne. This will be identified as C.
Mrs.