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Recent Posts
Monthly Archives: September 2013
Dad’s Letters at the National Archives
How could I not travel to the National Archives after being informed that “there were too many documents regarding my family’s years spent living in the Soviet Union for them to copy and send to me?” If only my father … Continue reading
The Ultimatum
The years passed. My aunts, Nancy and Helen, finished high school and went to work near their apartment in Leningrad. Nancy worked in a library, and Helen was a tester in a telephone factory. Dad’s family continued their lives personally … Continue reading
Posted in Living in the USSR
Tagged Americans in Soviet Union, Genealogy, Great Depression, Great Purges, Russia, Soviet Union
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Trapped
After the assassination of Sergei Kirov, life throughout the Soviet Union changed. Stalin used that act as an excuse to rid the Communist Party of anyone perceived to be a threat to his rule. The punishment was imprisonment or death. … Continue reading
Posted in Living in the USSR
Tagged American Embassy, Americans in Soviet Union, Genealogy, Great Depression, Great Purge, Henry Ford, Kirov, Stalin
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The Road to the National Archives
Little did I realize when I stumbled upon the book, “The Forsaken: An American Tragedy in Stalin’s Russia” by Tim Tzouliadis, that the discovery of that book would result in a trip to the National Archives in College Park, Maryland … Continue reading
Posted in Archives Research, Genealogy Research Tips
Tagged Genealogy, Kuibyshev, National Archives, World War II
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Staying Under the Radar
My grandfather had a conversation with my father just before Dad left to return to the United States in 1941. My grandfather told Dad “never belong to any political organizations. If I was a Communist when Kirov was shot, I … Continue reading
Posted in Living in the USSR
Tagged Genealogy, Great Depression, Great Purge, Joseph Stalin, Kirov, NKVD, Secret Police, Soviet Union
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Aftermath of an Assassination- and Dad
In reviewing the video made by my brother in 1995 in which Dad discussed his memories growing up in the Soviet Union, I honed in on my father’s memories of the story about cranking the gramophone for the “Communist Big … Continue reading
Posted in Living in the USSR
Tagged Americans in Soviet Union, Genealogy, Joseph Stalin, Kirov Assassination, Leningrad, NKVD, Russia, Secret Police, Soviet Union
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Dad, the Gramophone, and the Assassin
One day, in early November 1934, my grandfather was approached by a neighbor, who my dad referred to as a “Communist Big shot,” asking for permission to borrow his treasured gramophone. Apparently, Mr. Big Shot was having some friends over … Continue reading
Rocking in Rockaway, New Jersey
Dad spent the first eleven years of his life in Rockaway, NJ, which was a sleepy little town about forty miles west of New York City. It covered an area slightly over two square miles and was inhabited by under … Continue reading
Where are Your Papers?
I often wonder at what point my grandfather realized he made a huge mistake in uprooting his family and moving to the Soviet Union. My father had revealed a conversation he had with him around 1939, in which my grandfather … Continue reading
Posted in Living in the USSR
Tagged Americans in Soviet Union, Genealogy, Immigration, Propiska, Soviet Union
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Purchasing a Treasure
Dad’s family was one of the lucky families in Leningrad since they possessed “hard currency” (foreign currency), which allowed them to shop at some of the state-run stores, known as Torgsin, where they could buy food and luxuries in exchange … Continue reading
Posted in Living in the USSR
Tagged Americans in Soviet Union, Genealogy, Great Depression, hard currency, Sergei Kirov, Soviet Union, Torgsin
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