Yury Dombrovsky did not leave any journals or memoirs. His life story can be gleaned from letters, criminal case files and other official records, as well as reminiscences of his friends and autobiographical prose and poetry. This publication of a previously unknown complaint is highly significant: first of all, it contains the writer’s description of his personal odyssey during the Stalin era and offers a concise yet informative summary of events spanning a long period of time (1920s–1940s) and their background; importantly, it covers his time in the labour camp, of which very little is known. With few exceptions, e.g., the extract entitled ‘From the Notes of Zybin’ from his novel The Keeper of Antiquities [ Khranitel drevnostey], Dombrovsky avoided remembering this period or writing about it. The complaint to the Prosecutor General of the USSR survived in the case file of the fourth criminal proceedings started against Dombrovsky in 1949. The complaint mentions famous personalities, writers and literary critics. The comments to the publication draw on a vast body of documents including Dombrovsky’s criminal case files.