In 1931 two tragedies struck . 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 . Seven-year-old Viktor found himself in the house of Yekaterina Petrovna and Ilya Yevgrafovich Potylitsyns , his mother ’s parents who gave the boy all their love and care . In 1932 he joined a local primary school . His life in the early 1930s Astafyev later described in his book of short stories '' The Last Respect '' ( Posledny Poklon , 1968 )
Dekulakization
Dekulakization
Viktor Astafyev