English: USSR 1936-05-13 postcard sent from the small town of Verkhoyansk (Верхоянск) YASSR (ЯАССР, meaning 'Yakut Autonomous Soviet Socialist Republic' - now Sakha Republic) to Moscow.

Here are points of peculiar interest this postcard produces (investigation by Michael Romanov):

1. The postcard itself has the following original Ukrainian text (English translation added):

Всесвітній поштовий союз (Universal Postal Union) Поштова листівка (Postcard) З оплатою за відповідь (With payment for the reply)

2. The upper left corner bears a trident (tryzub) diamond with two Cyrillic letters, "У" (U) and "Д" (D), which is a coat of arms of the Ukrainian State that existed between 29 April 1918 and 14 December 1918. The letters "У" (U) and "Д" (D) mean Українська держава, i.e. "Ukrayinska Derzhava" ("Ukrainian State"). Compare this sign with the one depicted here (at the 4th row, the most right one):

3. The above features of the postcard enable us to conclude that this was originally a reply paid postcard issued by the Ukrainian State at some point in 1918.

4. I am quite confident to conclude that this postcard has a trimmed bottom edge. The bottom edge of this card was apparently cut with scissors to remove a possible additional Ukrainian text.

5. All this means that the Ukrainian State postcard that was originally blank (unused) was somehow preserved over years and suddenly chosen for a postal sending made 18 years later in a different political situation and in a different state, i.e. in the USSR. Moreover, the card was accurately processed by the Soviet postal system and delivered from a far Far East location to Moscow.

6. I found the following source: upns handbook 19 Epstein, Alexander. The Postal Rates of Soviet Ukraine, 1918-1923. Ch. 19 in: Handbook of Classic Ukrainian Philately 1866 - 1950, Ingert Kuzych (editor), Ukrainian Philatelic Resources, 2004 upns handbook.

The article by Alexander Epstein describes the early postal system of Soviet Ukraine during two periods: February to April 1918, and end of 1918 till 1923, leaving out the short Ukrainian State period. There are few interesting statements in the article about the second period (end of 1918 to 1923) as follows:

"Postal stationery cards with the Ukrainian trident surcharge remained in use and envelopes and letter cards with surcharges and overprints were now released. Their face value was taken into account in the total franking of registered mail. Ordinary postcards and letters of normal weight (to 15 grams) were delivered post-free, but pre-stamped postal stationery with tridents had to be bought at the post at face value."

"Trident-overprinted or trident-surcharged postal stationery could be used officially as blanks until 1926. The latest trident on postal card mentioned in the literature is 8 February 1926 (no locale given)."

Although this card does not have any evident overprints or surcharges of postal rates, it definitely shows a striking example of an occasional latest Soviet usage of the trident-bearing postal items issued by the Ukrainian State.

7. The origination postmark was Verkhoyansk, Yakutia (YASSR). This place is most known for being the Pole of Cold in the Northern Hemisphere.

8. The Verkhoyansk postmark has the following text:

Верхоянск 13.5.36 — BEROEJEENISKEJ

This is the name of the town in the Russian and Yakut languages. What is most curious, at that time the first Yakut alphabetic system of writing was introduced and it used the Latin letters. All postmarks of that period, 1930 to 1936, used this alphabetic system and had double indication of locality, in Russian and Yakut. Since 1937, the Cyrillic alphabetic system has started for the Yakut language, replacing the Latin letters. So, this postcard is one of the last postcards with the first (Latin) Yakut alphabetic system.

The source for relevant and reliable early Yakut postmarks.

9. The card was franked 60 kop. with two USSR postage stamps:

• October 1929. Third definitive issue of the Soviet Union. 50 kop. Collective farmer with a sickle. Mi. 375, CPA #325.
• April 1936. A pioneer series. Let's help the mail. 10 kop. Clearing of wires. Mi. 546B, CPA #533.

10. According to two Moscow postmarks, the card reached Moscow on 23.10.36, i.e. around 5 months and 10 days after its dispatch from Verkhoyansk. Almost 4700 km, if the shortest distance is measured.

11. The sender's name can barely be read. However, his address was: "К. Маркса, 13, кв. 4" (Karl Marx Street, 13, Apt. 4). This street still exists in Verkhoyansk. Indication of street number and apartment number suggests that this was a private dwelling, ruling out a suspicion of any GULAG institution involved in this story.

12. The addressee was a woman who lived in Moscow. Her name was Raisa Mikhailovna Leshchinskaya (Раиса Михайловна Лещинская) that resided at the following address: Москва, Герцена, 54, кв. 10 / Moscow, Herzen Street, 54, Apt. 10

13. The Russian handwriting on the backside of the card is hard to read. I understood that this man informed Raisa, probably his wife, that he safely arrived at Verkhoyansk and stayed in the house of his relatives. He mentioned Mama who lived in Verkhoyansk that could be his own mother or Raisa's mother. He admired a little girl Lenochka (Elena) who also lived in the house and was obviously a daughter of a relative. She might be a niece to Raisa because she called her "Auntie Raya" and asked the man about when Raisa would come to Verkhoyansk, too. Lenochka was also wondering about Raisa's children, Lidochka (Lidiya) and Mishutka (Mikhail). On the arrival, the man sold some personal items and promised to send 46 rubles to Raisa, which also suggests that she was his wife.

It remains unclear what the man was doing in Verkhoyansk, why he left his family in Moscow, and how his relatives turned out to live at the Pole of Cold.

It is a further mystery how the 18-year-old Ukrainian postcard was used for this postal sending and whether it was brought by the man himself or by his relatives who lived in Verkhoyansk.

14. I am coming to the most unbelievable discovery regarding this card. The Moscow address (Herzen Street, 54, Apt. 10) was also the last place where Eduard Solomonovich Goltsman (Эдуард Соломонович Гольцман) lived:

• poslednyadres.ru
• memo.ru
• sakharov-center.ru

Goltsman (1882 — 25 August 1936) was a prominent early Bolshevik that was accused in the First Moscow Trial and executed during the Great Purge;

• source
• Great Purge
• Гольдман, Эдуард Соломонович

We do not know in what relation Goltsman was to the man and other people in Verkhoyansk or to Raisa Leshchinskaya. All we know is that Goltsman and Raisa shared the same address at that time. So, Raisa might be his daughter or another relative.

On the other hand, it was a commonplace in the Soviet Union of those days when people, most often unrelated people, resided in so called коммунальная квартира (communal apartment).

If that was the case, Goltsman and Raisa's family were just neighbors in a such communal apartment. However, this would be a breathtaking coincidence of events and life stories behind this ordinary (at first glance) postcard.

On 13 May 1936 a man who arrived at Verkhoyansk sent a card to his family living in Moscow at Herzen Street, 54, Apt. 10. Two weeks before that, on 27 April 1936, Eduard Goltsman was arrested at the same address, and the Verkhoyansk man did not know about that. On 23 October 1936, the card was eventually received by Raisa Leshchinskaya. Eduard Goltsman was dead at that moment due to his execution on 25 August 1936.