Dewitt S. Copp

The book is about the story of a young American man in his late twenties who his sense of adventure and curiosity cost him his life. Newcomb Mott was a book salesman , by the end of his life he visited more than twenty countries. He traveled from an arctic town Ivalo, Finland to Kirkenes, Norway which is another small arctic town in northern Norway. Onboard the plane he met two Finns, they told him Kirkenes is just a few miles away from the USSR border.He could not let go of it, he asked many people how he could cross the border to have a short visit to the Soviet Union. If the Soviets deny his entry at least they could stamp his passport. Mistakenly he entered the Soviet Union from the unofficial path, he got arrested, trialed and a few weeks later was killed under mysterious circumstances.
Sadly, Mott did not do his homework, he was unaware that the place he entered has a culture and history of its own. Culture is a set of attitudes, beliefs, and practices which distinguishes one group of people from others. The Soviet-Norway is the true definition of how two different cultures face each other. Norway is one of the few Soviet neighbors which was never under Russian influence. Also, one of the two NATO countries (beside Turkey) which shared a border with the Soviet Union. One side with a high standard of living, constitutional monarchy as its form of government and highly individualistic society like the United States and the West. While the other side was under totalitarianism, poor standard of living, shortage of consumer goods, and pluralistic society. Even the judge could not make his decision for the verdict of Mott without KGB approval.
Xenophobia was a norm among the Soviet elites,during Stalin it was at the highest peak. throughout history Russia was sacked by several empires such as Mongols, and Germans. It was not surprising that Mott was suspected of being a CIA spy who walked the Soviet territory illegally and without proper documentation from its NATO neighbor. The Soviets had several secret bases and missiles pointed toward Norway and the West near the border.
Bribe was another source of income for the Soviet and Eastern block governments. They targeted tourists and asked their government for ransom or prison swabs. The Soviet government offered the State Department to swab Mott for one of their high ranking spies in Washington DC but Mott was a low profile prisoner.
This book argues how the United States was passive when the Soviet citizens made the same mistake in US territory. Two fishermen accidentally came to the US shores in Alaska. Their excuse was the weather was foggy and visibility was low. The US government tried to assist them. They notified the Soviet Embassy about their location and sent them home safely. While the Soviet government handled the Mott’s case with iron fists. They kept his location secret for a few weeks and gave him an unfair trial, sentenced him to one and half years in a labor camp.
There are three possibilities on how Mott’s life ended in prison:
1. He committed suicide in the train because he felt his family, friends and government abandoned him.
2. After the Soviets showed their humane trial with the presence of news reporters from several countries they could do whatever they wanted with Mott. He died from torture while KGB was interogating him.
3.He could have been murdered by another inmate in the train, possibly wanting to take his belongings.… (plus d'informations)