Maxim managed to do quite a lot during his 35 years of life. In Kaliningrad he was known as a talented actor, musician, and radio journalist.

From early childhood he appeared in plays at the Literary theater which his father – Albert Sergeevich Mikhailov – managed for 30 years. Maxim later wrote poems and songs for the theater. A whole generation of Kaliningrad residents grew up listening to his radio programs, and he was a famous figure in our city – he and his friends wrote a whole series of songs, such as the Kaliningrad football team’s song. In 1998, Maxim Maxailovich was made head of the FM station ‘Baltic Wave’, where we met while I was working as a journalist in the information service.

In September of 2001, we had a son, whom I named Maxim in honor of his father. I remember how I was feeding my baby in the maternity ward when I saw those awful pictures of the New York World Trade Center’s destruction on television. It was like a disaster film… Back then I thought of what a fightening world my little son had entered! If only I had known back then that terrorism would very soon come to our own home.

We arrived in Moscow the night before, on October 22nd. Maxim was on a business trip, while my older son and I went for a tour of the capital. The trip was right on the eve of the Fall school holidays. For all of the 23rd we wandered around Moscow: we visited two museums, Red Square, the Kremlin. We bought tickets to the musical Nord-Ost in the Metro station. There was not much time until the show began, so we rushed to drop off our son at the hotel, then went to find the theater.

During those three days, I often gave thanks to God that I left my son at the hotel. On the evening when the hostages were taken captive, relatives from Podmuscovy came and took care of him.

Those two days and three nights that we spent in the hall of ‘Nord-Ost’ were the longest of our lives. We thought about our children, our parents, and friends…

I do not remember the storming of the theater, there are fragments missing from my memory. I only found out about my husband’s death while reading a newspaper on the airplane home… My relatives had been waiting to tell me the worst news after I had arrived home.

It’s been two and a half years, but the questions, of why and what happened to us, and how my husband died, have not decreased in number. Just as with all the ‘Nord-Ost’ hostages, the cause of death was not documented.

Maxim Mikhailovich’s last year of life was one of the most successful of his life. Two of his wishes came to pass: he had a son and headed a private radio station, but so much remained undone!

By website www.norostjustice.org