Restoring Vacations after the War 135citizens gratefully reported on exemplary vacation experiences in these fi rst
hard years of wartime recovery. The factory newspaper at Moscow’s Ham-
mer and Sickle plant published a series of letters from workers on vacation
in summer 1946. From Kislovodsk came a report of good and nourishing
meals, daily mineral baths, therapeutic air, and magnifi cent scenic views.
A fi rst-time rester in Crimea extolled a town unlike any he had seen before,
with alleys of palms and pines, wonderful air, and a fruit orchard that fed
him apricots and plums. “The time spent by the seashore will long remain in
my memory” was a refrain that permeated the letters sent home or written in
local comment books.^18
For most recipients of a putevka to a rest home or sanatorium in the late
1940s, however, the experience was memorable for its lack of comfort, ser-
vice, medical attention, and recreation. A composite vacation experience
went something like this. Vacationers arrived at the station nearest the rest
home or sanatorium after a long and tiring train ride, but there was no one
to meet them or guide them the fi nal kilometers to their destination, so they
hauled themselves there on foot carrying their small suitcases. Then they
waited for several hours to be checked in and assigned their beds; there were
no baths or showers to remove the journey’s grime. Dozens of resters shared
a sleeping room, which was dark, dirty, cramped, and drafty. Everything re-
mained in the suitcase under the bed; there were no shelves, cupboards, bed-
side tables, or chairs to sit on. The windows lacked curtains, the fl oor lay
uncarpeted, and the roof probably leaked.
Although vacationers had undergone strict medical inspections at home
in order to demonstrate their eligibility for this vacation, there was little at-
tention paid to medicine after they arrived. A doctor did not appear until the
second week of the stay, and she probably prescribed either an inappropriate
course of treatment or one that could not be administered because the baths
did not work and there was no therapeutic equipment. Vacationers could not
even engage in morning exercises because the grounds had all been planted
in vegetable gardens to feed the staff.
Vacationers might have been weighed when they arrived, and their goal
would be to gain a few kilograms, but the dining experience was as grim as
the sleeping room. Crowded conditions meant that resters ate in three shifts,
with long lines and long waits; there were not enough dishes or eating uten-
sils for all. The variety of foods was minimal, and food often spoiled because
of the lack of refrigeration. One director in 1947 criticized the monotonous
supply: “sturgeon, sturgeon, sturgeon, no herring, and sturgeon again.”^19 (At
least someone was catching it from the Volga.) The same diet was served
every day, and the quantities were substandard. Because of the crowding,
resters ate too fast and spoiled their digestion.
- Martenovka , 25 May 1946, 18 July 1946.
- GARF, f. 9493, op. 3, d. 21, ll. 4ob., 5.