In Prison
In May 1945, Elias was arrested and taken to jail as a political prisoner due to his gambling debts and for being on the wrong side of the political process; he was sent to "las Islas Marías" (the equivalent of Devil’s Island), where his cellmate was Ramón Mercader, Leon Trotsky’s assassin. He was held there for 13 years.
During this time his marriage ended. After Elias got out of jail, he married his third wife Lena Torres, with whom he had a daughter Olga and son Elias Junior, also an accomplished violinist. While in prison, before he was pardoned by the president of Mexico, Elias wrote La ciudad de los muertos based upon his experiences in prison. This was very favorably received when he performed it at The Palacio de las Bellas Artes in Mexico City.
Read more about this topic: Elias Breeskin
Famous quotes containing the word prison:
“This great purple butterfly,
In the prison of my hands,
Has a learning in his eye
Not a poor fool understands.
Once he lived a schoolmaster
With a stark, denying look....”
—William Butler Yeats (1865–1939)
“... how I understand that love of living, of being in this wonderful, astounding world even if one can look at it only through the prison bars of illness and suffering! Plus je vois, the more I am thrilled by the spectacle.”
—Edith Wharton (1862–1937)