Between Shades of Gray Museum

Created by :Chloe DeLong Emma Elkins Gabriella Brackon Jack Van Geenhoven

Journey on the train

"WERE WE BEING ARRESTED? Where was Papa?" (Sepetys 6). At this moment the Stalin's secret police force the NKVD have busted into Lina's family's house and are arresting them. This was the start of the Nazi military occupation in Lithuania. The start of the NKVD nazi occupation of Lithuania was the start of Bewteen Shades Of Gray.Kicking off the book late on June 14th 1941. - Jack VG

In Between Shades of Grey, we learned the horrors of what happened to the Lithuanians, as well as many other countries. After Stalins death, the communist state started to calm down, political prisoners were released, and it was officially ended by 1960. This relates to my novel because at the end of the book when Lina is going to chop wood, she found something that gave her hope. “A tiny sliver of gold appeared between shades of grey on the horizon”, (Septsys 336). This has a big symbolism in the story because it showed her that spring was coming, and winter was ending. The torturing and the suffering in the cold was over, and she knew things were getting better. - Emma Elkins

Timeline connections to Between Shades of Gray

·The Gulag was a system of forced labor camps in the Soviet Union. The word Gulag originally referred only to the division of the Soviet secret police that oversaw running the forced labor camps from the 1930s to the early 1950s during Joseph Stalin's rule. This connects to the Between Shades of Gray novel and Lina’s experience while being taken from her home. Lina, her mother, and brother are put into a forced labor camp where they have no freedom, little food or water, and have to work countless hours during the way while farming and digging beets. Lina and her mother are separated from her brother, Jonas, and one of the NKVD soldiers throws them shovels and instructs them to start working. “He says if we want to eat, we must dig. Our ration depends on our progress” (Sepetys 121). That was the reality of Gulag and the labor camps.- Gaby Brackon

In the novel Between Shades of Gray by Ruta Sepetys, the author uses the historical event that occurs during the time period 1917-1918 to help create a realistic storyline. During this time period the NKVD leaders were taking the people from their homes and the government didn't stop this behavior, because Stalin was behind this. In the novel Lena and her family get taken by the NKVD, "The door bursts open and three NVKD officers entered our house carrying rifles with bayonets" (page 11). This quote connects to the historical event when the soviet leaders were freely taking people and marching into peoples homes without consequences.- Chloe DeLong

Sources Cited