An open letter written in January 1965 by Knuts Skujenieks from the prison camp was addressed to his writer colleagues. He asked them not to keep silent about his fate, because ‘culture does not exist without its carriers, and it is important to fight for them, and not to contribute to their moral and physical annihilation.' The letter is a statement of Skujenieks' civic position, a protest against inertia and the fear in Latvian society. It was perhaps too bold for the political climate of Latvia, because it presented evidence that in prison Skujenieks became spiritually more liberated than his colleagues who enjoyed physical freedom, although it has to be admitted that the spirit of resistance of the younger generation of writers in Latvia in the 1960s was stronger than in the 1970s. Official discussions by the Writers' Union in 1965 and 1968 of the poetry he wrote in Mordovia testify to this.
During his detention in Mordovia in 1963-1969, Knuts Skujenieks wrote several hundred poems. He was allowed to send two letters a month, and sent poems in letters to his wife which were read by his colleagues. After his release, he composed a collection of poetry, but it could not be published until 1990, and was only published in its entirety in his complete works in 2002. As Skujenieks said, this poetry ‘is not "gulag" poetry, but poetry written in the gulag [...] The initial shock and protest gradually turned into a fight in prison within myself' (Bitite Vinklers. Introduction. In: Seed in Snow. Poems by Knuts Skujenieks. Rochester, NY: BOA Editions, 2016, p. 9).
