x On the radio, Sasha hears about Comrade Stalin’s plan of rebuilding Moscow. Soon the Soviet capital will become the most modern of all cities with buildings bigger and taller than even the buildings in America. But until then the Soviet citizens, cramped into the overcrowded communal apartments, will have to be patient. This is Sasha’s apartment building. His room is on the second floor.

x In order to warn Comrade Stalin about the arrest of his father, Sasha walks to the Kremlin. Sasha is sure that even in the middle of the night comrade Stalin would not be asleep. The great leader works long hours; the windows in his office are always lit. What Sasha doesn’t know is that Stalin doesn’t spend nights in Kremlin. He has several homes outside of Moscow. The homes’ locations are a state secret. But even when Stalin is not in the Kremlin, the light in his office is kept on.

x The building on the right is Sasha’s school - Moscow Elementary School #37. A block away, stands the recently built hotel Moscow. Sasha is not allowed inside but he knows the hotel has a thousand rooms. Each room has a bathroom and a hot water tap. Sasha is proud that the Moscow hotel is so big; instead of one façade it has two. Sasha doesn’t know that when Stalin was shown two versions of the hotel’s façade they were drawn on the same sheet of paper. Stalin put his signature of approval on both. Uncertain and fearful of the great leader, the construction team built both versions side by side.

x Sasha loves the May Day Parade on the Moscow Red Square. He loves the crashing brass of the marching bands and the crowds applauding and waving red flags and shouting, “Long live Comrade Stalin!” He loves to feel the ground rumble under his feet as the mighty Red Army tanks roll onto the Red Square, and up above, a formation of fighter planes, flying in a cloudless sky, shaping six giant letters: S-T-A-L-I-N.

x On the left is the building where Sasha’s Aunt Larisa lives with her husband and a newborn child in a small room. There are 26 other tenants in the Aunt’s Larisa’s communal apartment, a few of whom are informers for the secret police. Afraid for the safety of her family, Aunt Larisa is forced to turn Sasha away. After the arrest of Sasha’s father, Sasha becomes a son of the “enemy of the people.” Sheltering him is dangerous.

x This is the money that Aunt Larisa hands Sasha, forty-five Soviet kopecks, enough for a tram ride to school and lunch at the school’s cafeteria. Sasha doesn’t stay at school long enough to spend it. He leaves before the lunchtime.

x This is a key to Sasha’s apartment. Sasha and his dad keep the key in a secret place, under a loose cobblestone in the building’s courtyard. After Sasha loses his room to the Stukachovs, he has to leave the apartment. Sasha places the key under the cobblestone knowing that if his dad returns, he will look for it there. The key is not found until years later when the old cobblestones are removed in order to asphalt the courtyard.

x This is a Moscow tram ticket, cost – three kopecks. Many of Sasha’s friends prefer to ride for free, always looking for ways to cheat the conductor. Sasha pays for his tram rides. Following the rules is a sign of a true Soviet Pioneer. Sasha lives by the rules.

x Tramline number four. Sasha takes the tram from the Aunt Larisa’s apartment to a stop near his school, a ten minute ride. In cold winter months, Moscow trams are ice caves, the windows frozen on the inside. As a result, the Soviet citizens don’t mind being cramped in the trams like sardines. They keep each other warm.