me nor Myaskovsky." In August 1938, Sergei met Mira Mendelson, a 23-year-old literary student who was a poet and translator. They were each vacationing in Kislovodsk with their respective families. What had begun as a professional partnership quickly developed into an extramarital affair. Although Sergei had initially been dismissive about Mira to Lina, within months he revealed to her the extent of his new relationship. Lina replied that she did not object to it as long as he did not go to live with her, she recalled in interviews decades later. Their marriage continued to deteriorate; on 15 March 1942, Sergei announced that he was going to live with Mira, effectively ending his marriage with Lina. A few months later when the German invasion of Russia threatened Moscow, Prokofiev tried to persuade Lina and their sons to accompany him as evacuees out of the capital, but Lina refused. Illegality of marriage and arrest After the end of World War II, Sergei attempted to serve Lina with divorce papers through their son Oleg, who did not carry the task through for the sake of his mother's well-being. Sergei then filed for divorce in court on 22 November 1947. Five days later, the court announced that it had rejected his petition on the grounds that the marriage had been invalid in the first place because it had taken place outside of the country and was not properly registered with Soviet authorities. After a second court upheld the verdict, Sergei and his companion Mira were married on 13 January 1948. On 20 February 1948, Lina was arrested. Her eldest son Svyatoslav later stated that she had received a call in the evening requesting that she pick up a package addressed to her. Upon stepping out of her home, she was forced into a car that had been waiting outside. Her apartment was searched by the police, who confiscated various family heirlooms and artifacts. Frederick Reinhardt, an employee of the American Embassy in Moscow who was acquainted with Lina, suggested that her persistent efforts to obtain an exit visa had caused her to be noticed unfavorably by Soviet authorities. She was sentenced to incarceration in the Gulag for 20 years, serving part of her sentence at a camp in the Komi ASSR, before being moved to the Mordovian ASSR to serve the remainder. The specific charges were later listed in a petition for release