 First Pyotr, Pavel and the latter's father (Astafyev grand-grandfather) Yakov Maximovich were arrested as part of the Dekulakization campaign and sent to a Siberian labour camp.In July 1931 Lydia Ilyinichna, Viktor's mother drowned in the Yenisey as the boat which she was rowing, carrying food to the Krasnoyarsk prison where her arrested husband was kept, got upturned.That year Pyotr Astafyev received 5 years of prison as an "Enemy of the people" and was sent to the infamous Belomorkanal building-site.