--- title: "2 Barbed wire Quotes By Vasily Grossman" description: "2 Barbed wire quotes by Vasily Grossman. Plus more from Vasily Grossman and more Barbed wire sayings from other authors." image: "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/319/vasily-grossman-4608_barbed-wire_the-travelers-emerged-into-a-spacious-sq_373482.jpg" --- > [“The travelers emerged into a spacious square. In the middle of this square were several dozen people on a wooden bandstand like in a public park. They were the members of a band, each of them as different from one…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/vasily-grossman/the-travelers-emerged-into-a-spacious-square-in-the-middle-of-this/) [Vasily Grossman](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/vasily-grossman/) [Image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/319/vasily-grossman-4608_barbed-wire_the-travelers-emerged-into-a-spacious-sq_373482.jpg) > [“I used to think freedom was freedom of speech, freedom of the press, freedom of conscience. But freedom is the whole life of everyone. Here is what it amounts to: you have to have the right to sow what you…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/vasily-grossman/i-used-to-think-freedom-was-freedom-of-speech-freedom-of-the-press/) [Vasily Grossman](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/vasily-grossman/) [Image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/2e9/vasily-grossman-4608_barbed-wire_i-used-to-think-freedom-was-freedom-of-s_2289648.jpg) ## More by Vasily Grossman > [“When a person dies, they cross over from the realm of freedom to the realm of slavery. Life is freedom, and dying is a…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/vasily-grossman/when-a-person-dies-they-cross-over-from-the-realm-of-freedom-to-the/) [Vasily Grossman](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/vasily-grossman/) > [“Life was terrible. It was as though they could understand, as though they could read in one another’s eyes, that the power which had…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/vasily-grossman/life-was-terrible-it-was-as-though-they-could-understand-as-though/) [Vasily Grossman](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/vasily-grossman/) > [“She's got legs like a stork, no arse worth speaking of, and great cow-like eyes. call that a woman?' 'You just like big tits',…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/vasily-grossman/she-s-got-legs-like-a-stork-no-arse-worth-speaking-of-and-great-cow/) [Vasily Grossman](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/vasily-grossman/) > [“The true champions of a nation's freedom are those who reject the limitations of stereotypes and affirm the rich diversity of human nature to…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/vasily-grossman/the-true-champions-of-a-nation-s-freedom-are-those-who-reject-the/) [Vasily Grossman](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/vasily-grossman/) > [I don't want you to be young and beautiful. I only want one thing. I want you to be kind-hearted - and not just…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/vasily-grossman/i-don-t-want-you-to-be-young-and-beautiful-i-only-want-one-thing-i/) [Vasily Grossman](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/vasily-grossman/) > [“My faith has been tempered in Hell. My faith has emerged from the flames of the crematoria, from the concrete of the gas chamber.…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/vasily-grossman/my-faith-has-been-tempered-in-hell-my-faith-has-emerged-from-the/) [Vasily Grossman](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/vasily-grossman/) > [“Another fact that allowed Fascism to gain power over men was their blindness. A man cannot believe that he is about to be destroyed.…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/vasily-grossman/another-fact-that-allowed-fascism-to-gain-power-over-men-was-their/) [Vasily Grossman](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/vasily-grossman/) > [Chekhov said: let's put God - and all these grand progressive ideas - to one side. Let's begin with man; let's be kind and…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/vasily-grossman/chekhov-said-let-s-put-god-and-all-these-grand-progressive-ideas-to/) [Vasily Grossman](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/vasily-grossman/) > [“Before the war Sofya Levinton had once said to Yevgenia Nikolaevna Shaposhnikova, 'If one man is fated to be killed by another, it would…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/vasily-grossman/before-the-war-sofya-levinton-had-once-said-to-yevgenia-nikolaevna/) [Vasily Grossman](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/vasily-grossman/) > [“Freedom is the direct opposite of necessity; freedom is necessity overcome.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/vasily-grossman/freedom-is-the-direct-opposite-of-necessity-freedom-is-necessity/) [Vasily Grossman](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/vasily-grossman/) > [There's nothing more difficult than saying goodbye to a house where you've suffered.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/vasily-grossman/there-s-nothing-more-difficult-than-saying-goodbye-to-a-house-where/) [Vasily Grossman](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/vasily-grossman/) > [“The travelers emerged into a spacious square. In the middle of this square were several dozen people on a wooden bandstand like in a…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/vasily-grossman/the-travelers-emerged-into-a-spacious-square-in-the-middle-of-this/) [Vasily Grossman](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/vasily-grossman/) > [“Among a million Russian huts you will never find even two that are exactly the same. Everything that lives is unique. It is unimaginable…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/vasily-grossman/among-a-million-russian-huts-you-will-never-find-even-two-that-are/) [Vasily Grossman](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/vasily-grossman/) > [“Don't you remember how you once answered a question of mine? Me - I shall never forget your words. Those words of yours opened…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/vasily-grossman/don-t-you-remember-how-you-once-answered-a-question-of-mine-me-i/) [Vasily Grossman](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/vasily-grossman/) > [“Perhaps you’ve read Tolstoy’s Hadji Mourat? Perhaps you’ve read The Cossacks? Perhaps you’ve read the story “A Prisoner in the Caucasus”? They were written…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/vasily-grossman/perhaps-you-ve-read-tolstoy-s-hadji-mourat-perhaps-you-ve-read-the/) [Vasily Grossman](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/vasily-grossman/) ```json { "@context": "https://schema.org", "@graph": [ { "@type": "ItemList", "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/barbed-wire/vasily-grossman/#itemlist", "name": "2 Barbed wire Quotes By Vasily Grossman", "numberOfItems": 2, "itemListElement": [ { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 1, "item": { "@type": "Quotation", "text": "“The travelers emerged into a spacious square. In the middle of this square were several dozen people on a wooden bandstand like in a public park. They were the members of a band, each of them as different from one another as their instruments. Some of them looked round at the approaching column. Then a grey-haired man in a colorful cloak called out and they reached for their instruments. There was a burst of something like cheeky, timid bird-song and the air – air that had been torn apart by the barbed wire and the howl of sirens, that stank of oily fumes and garbage – was filled with music. It was like a warm summer cloud-burst ignited by the sun, flashing as it crashed down to earth. People in camps, people in prisons, people who have escaped from prison, people going to their death, know the extraordinary power of music. No one else can experience music in quite the same way. What music resurrects in the soul of a man about to die is neither hope nor thought, but simply the blind, heart-breaking miracle of life itself. A sob passed down the column. Everything seemed transformed, everything had come together; everything scattered and fragmented -home, peace, the journey, the rumble of wheels, thirst, terror, the city rising out of the mist, the wan red dawn – fused together, not into a memory or a picture but into the blind, fierce ache of life itself. Here, in the glow of the gas ovens, people knew that life was more than happiness – it was also grief. And freedom was both painful and difficult; it was life itself. Music had the power to express the last turmoil of a soul in whose blind depths every experience, every moment of joy and grief, had fused with this misty morning, this glow hanging over their heads. Or perhaps it wasn't like that at all. Perhaps music was just the key to a man's feelings, not what filled him at this terrible moment, but the key that unlocked his innermost core. In the same way, a child's song can appear to make an old man cry. 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And in our country there is no freedom – not for those who write books nor for those who sow grain nor for those who make shoes.” (Grossman, p. 99) He noted that “In people’s day-to-day struggle to live, in the extreme efforts workers put forth to earn an extra ruble through moonlighting, in the collective farmers’ battle for bread and potatoes as the one and only fruit of their labor, he [Ivan Grigoryevich] could sense more than the desire to live better, to fill one’s children’s stomachs and to clothe them. In the battle for the right to make shoes, to knit sweaters, in the struggle to plant what one wished, was manifested the natural, indestructible striving toward freedom inherent in human nature. He had seen this very same struggle in the people in camp. Freedom, it seemed, was immortal on both sides of the barbed wire.” (Grossman, p. 110)”", "creator": { "@type": "Person", "name": "Vasily Grossman" }, "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/vasily-grossman/i-used-to-think-freedom-was-freedom-of-speech-freedom-of-the-press/", "image": { "@type": "ImageObject", "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/2e9/vasily-grossman-4608_barbed-wire_i-used-to-think-freedom-was-freedom-of-s_2289648.jpg", "contentUrl": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/2e9/vasily-grossman-4608_barbed-wire_i-used-to-think-freedom-was-freedom-of-s_2289648.jpg", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/2e9/vasily-grossman-4608_barbed-wire_i-used-to-think-freedom-was-freedom-of-s_2289648.jpg", "width": 1080, "height": 1080, "caption": "“I used to think freedom was freedom of speech, freedom of the press, freedom of conscience. 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