U.S. Responses to Oswald’s Repatriation Requests
Second Secretary Richard Snyder responded to Oswald on February 28, stating that Oswald would have to appear at the Embassy in person to discuss his return to the United States. After Washington was informed, the Embassy wrote again on March 24 reiterating this requirement. The Department of State eventually decided that Oswald’s passport could be returned only if he appeared at the Embassy and if the Embassy was satisfied, after exploring the matter with him, that he had not renounced his citizenship. Meanwhile, Oswald’s mother, who had inquired about her son’s whereabouts at the State Department in January, was notified of his letter.
Oswald’s Encounter With Katherine Mallory in Minsk
During the second week of March 1961, Katherine Mallory of the University of Michigan symphonic band, on tour in Minsk, was surrounded by curious Russian citizens. A young man who identified himself as a Texan and former marine stepped from the crowd and offered to interpret for her, doing so for the next 15 to 20 minutes. He later told her he despised the United States and hoped to remain in Minsk for the rest of his life. Although Miss Mallory could not swear her interpreter was Oswald, she was personally convinced that it was he.
Oswald’s First Meeting With Marina Prusakova
Probably on March 17, 1961, Oswald attended a trade union dance at the Palace of Culture for Professional Workers in Minsk with his friend Erik Titovyets. The dance followed a lecture by a Russian woman recently returned from the United States. Marina Nikolayevna Prusakova arrived too late to hear the lecture but attended the dance, where Oswald noticed her and asked Yuriy Merezhinskiy, the lecturer’s son and a mutual friend, to introduce him. After dancing together, Oswald obtained her telephone number before she left (though Marina testified she did not give it to him). According to Oswald’s diary, they liked each other immediately, and Oswald was smitten.
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