Moscow Urban Legend

[Riley, Maureen DLI-W USA TRADOC]

Here is something that might be of interest to you, and anyone else who
has been intrigued by this urban legend from our (for many of us) "alma
mater".

http://www.mmforce.net/msu/heart/

Maureen Riley
Defense Language Institute-Washington 

-----Original Message-----
From: SEELANGS: Slavic & East European Languages and Literatures list
[mailto:SEELANGS at BAMA.UA.EDU] On Behalf Of Josh Wilson
Sent: Tuesday, January 15, 2008 1:08 AM
To: SEELANGS at BAMA.UA.EDU
Subject: [SEELANGS] Moscow Urban Legend

Dear Seelangers, 

 

Some folks from the History Channel have contacted me trying to find out
more information about the following urban legend from Moscow. Namely,
they'd like to know if there is any evidence as to its truth or
falsehood.

 

Any additional info would be appreciated. 

 

Quote:

 

Moscow State University is a massive building that was constructed under
Stalin using, in part, GULAG labor. There are a handful of stories about
the
building, but my favorite (told to me by a student who lives in the
building, and supposedly originated among the GULAG laborers themselves)
runs as follows: A successful engineer was arrested for having committed
"crimes against the state." Eventually, he wound up on the labor detail
constructing the new university building. However, he designed and built
a
hang glider using scraps of plywood and, when the building had got to
nearly
its full height, he jumped off the top and sailed to the other side of
the
river using his contraption. He was never seen or heard from again. I
can't
imagine it's true, but it's a good story. :)

 

 

Josh Wilson

Asst. Director

The School of Russian and Asian Studies

Editor-in-Chief

Vestnik, The Journal of Russian and Asian Studies

www.sras.org

jwilson at sras.org

 


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