x Sasha is told that enemies of the people are everywhere. Radio and the newspapers are full of reports of the saboteurs, wreckers and spies unmasked by the secret police. Sasha has to be vigilant and report any suspicious characters but he is not sure who is suspicious and who isn’t. Nobody looks like the wrecker on this poster that Sasha sees on every wall. The red letters striking the wrecker’s bold head are GPU, short for the secret police.

x On a group photo of Sasha’s class, Nina Petrovna blacken the faces of pupils who turned out to be children of the enemies of the people. Borka Finkelstein’s face is black and Vovka Sobakin’s too. Nina Petrovna wants to blacken Sasha’s face but she runs out of time. The secret police arrives to unmask her as a wrecker.

x Sasha’s dad works for the chief of secret police, Nikolai Yezhov. In Russian, yezh is a hedgehog, an animal with sharp needles. A Russian expression, to grip someone in hedgehog’s gloves means to deal harshly with someone. In this cartoon that Sasha clipped out of a magazine, Nikolai Yezhov crushes enemies of the people in his hedgehog’s glove.

x This is the Senior Lieutenant who arrested Sasha’s dad. The Senior Lieutenant, jealous of Sasha’s dad position and his bigger office in Lubyanka, builds a case against him. The informer Stukachov’s report seals Sasha’s dad’s fate; he is arrested. Stukachov moves into Sasha’s dad’s room and the Senior Lieutenant into Sasha’s dad office.

x This is the secret police badge awarded to the Senior Lieutenant for the successful unmasking of his superior, Sasha’s dad.

x This is the cap of the Senior Lieutenant. Sometimes the secret policemen are called blue caps because the tops of their regulation hats are blue. However some citizens joke in private that the secret police hats are blue because after they beat you up you are blue all over.

x To unmask the enemies of the people the secret police use an army of informers. They listen in on conversations and report suspicious behavior. Most informers are paid, while others receive favors from the secret police. The informing becomes such a profitable activity that soon nearly one in five Soviet citizens becomes an informer.

x The enemies of the people are arrested and whisked off in the middle of the night. After dark, the sound of a car stopping near the house and the doorbell ringing means one thing only, arrest. As much as Soviet citizens are terrified, they also joke about the arrests. Here’s a joke: At night the doorbell rings and a man goes to answer. He returns and tells his wife, “Don’t worry, dear. It’s only our building on fire.” Which means that nothing, even a house on fire, is not as bad as being arrested. Of course, if overheard by an informer, the teller of this joke would not get laughs. He would get arrested.

x Sasha, like all Soviet citizens, is in agreement with the Soviet government in general and with comrade Stalin especially. But if everyone is in agreement, how do the secret police know what the citizens are really thinking? The secret police tries everything to find out. Reading people’s personal mail is a good way. Having an informer in every apartment, office, or a classroom is good too.

x Sasha understands that he has to be vigilant against the enemies from outside of the USSR. But recently they said on the radio that the enemies are also within. The enemies are everywhere, in the Communist party, in the Red Army, on the collective farms, in factories and schools. And if the enemies are within, says the radio, could the enemy be also within your own self? Is it possible to be an enemy without even knowing it? Confused, Sasha decides to ask his dad. Sasha’s dad is a hero and a Communist, he would know. But Sasha is too late. His dad is arrested.

x Sasha wonders what happens to the families of the enemies of the people. He learns that special prison camps are set up for the wives. The wives are allowed to take along infants. However all other children are sent to orphanages for the children of the enemies of the people. Often the members of the family never see each other again.

x Even within the Soviet government enemies of the people are unmasked. The enemies are tried in public trials. The trials are staged on big theater stages with photographers and film crews recording the event. Sasha listens to the speeches the enemies make on the radio, and is appalled by their hatred of Communism and comrade Stalin. Sasha doesn’t know that these trials are staged, rehearsed and scripted. Comrade Stalin knows in advance who is guilty.