"'You know, my grandfather was a village postman, who spent years in the camps for making a joke about Stalin.'
'A joke?'
'Yes. He was in charge of the village telephone, and one day he told somebody in passing: "By the way, Stalin's on the phone to you!" So he ended up in the camps for five years. My parents must have suffered for that.""
Reference: Thubron, Colin. 1999. In Siberia. New York: HarperCollins. Page 277