her stepfather, whom she displeased by her fresh conduct; she said that she was not easily disciplined 654 and was a source of concern to him.655 Because of the friction between them, Marina regarded her childhood as an unhappy one.

After her graduation, Marina was assigned to a job preparing and packing orders in a pharmaceutical warehouse in Leningrad; as a new employee she had the right to leave this job within 3 days after the assignment,656 and she did so after the first day. She took no job for the next 2 months, at the end of which she went to live in Minsk with an aunt and uncle, the Prusakova, who had no children. She had known them since she was a child and there was a mutual affection between her and them.657 Her uncle, a member of the Communist Party,658 was assigned to the Ministry of Internal Affairs and headed the local bureau concerned with lumber. The Prusakova had one of the best apartments in a building reserved for MVD employees.659

Marina was 18 when she arrived in Minsk. She had had boyfriends in Leningrad but was not interested in marriage. In October 1960 she started work in the drug section of the Third Clinical Hospital where she earned about 450 rubles per month ;660 at about the same time she became a member of the local Komsomol, the Communist youth organization.661 Her friends were mostly students, whose social life consisted of meeting in cafes to sip coffee, read newspapers, gossip, and carry on discussions. The group of friends "ran together," and Marina did not attach herself to a particular boyfriend. She enjoyed this life, which she had been leading for about 7 months when she met Oswald at the dance at the Palace of Culture in March 1961.662

When Marina met Oswald, she thought he was from one of the Russian-speaking Baltic countries because he spoke with an accent; later that same evening she ]earned that he was an American.663 She met him again at another dance a week later. 664 They danced together most of the evening, at the end of which he walked home with her. They arranged to meet again the following week. 665 Before the scheduled time, Oswald called to say that he was in the hospital and that Marina should visit him there. 666 Medical records furnished to the Commission by the Russian Government show that Oswald was admitted to the Clinical Hospital--Ear, Nose, and Throat Division, on Thursday, March 30, 1961.667 Marina visited him often,668 taking advantage of her uniform to visit him outside regular visiting hours, which were only on Sunday. 669 On Easter Sunday, the first Sunday after his admission to the hospital, she brought him an Easter egg.670 On a subsequent visit, he asked her to be his fiancee, and she agreed to consider it.671 He left the hospital on April 11.672

During these visits, Marina apparently discussed with Oswald his reasons for coming to Russia and his current status. According to her later account, he told her that he had surrendered his American documents to the Embassy in Moscow and had told American officials that he did not intend to return to the United States. He did not say definitely that he was no longer an American citizen, but said in answer