Description
Vladimir Talmy’s memoir is a precious document reflecting the dramas of the 20th century. The lives of the author and his family are intertwined with the historical epoch in which they lived. Vladimir Talmy lived a long (1924–2012) and complicated life. He was born and died in the USA, yet the greater part of his life was spent in the USSR where he observed the worst events of Stalin’s reign. His parents, American Communists, went to Soviet Russia in 1931 to create a new life. They believed they were choosing the best possible destiny for their son. Vladimir’s life in the USSR embraced school and college, service on the front lines of the Second World War, a wound, hospital, then work as an interpreter in the office of the Economic Directorate of the Soviet Military Administration in occupied Germany, and his eventual eight-year imprisonment, from 1947 to 1955, in Stalinist labor camps.
Vladimir’s father, Leon, was arrested for his work with the Jewish Anti-Fascist Committee and executed in 1952. His mother, Sofia, was exiled to Siberia. Vladimir describes those events in great details and what strikes the reader is his total lack of bitterness. This memoir pays homage to the courage, strong will and kindness of this enlightened man. Vladimir would come back to America in 1980—half a century after he had left it. The last 32 years of his life were happy, rich with the work he loved, enjoying the company of his grandchildren and his extended family.
Vladimir’s story is not just a confession of a witness to, and a participant in, historic events, it is a warning for generations to come.
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A fascinating memoir on various levels. First and foremost, it is a profile in courage of a man who lived through the most significant events of the early and mid-20th Century, events that shaped the world order for over 70 years. His life, his destiny, the hardships he endured in Soviet Russia were determined by circumstances beyond his control. He was a victim of fate and came out the victor. Secondly, but of equal interest, this memoir is an invaluable resource for any scholar of the early American Communist Party movement and Soviet Russia under Stalin.
—Amazon.com customer
The book is called “The Full Circle” because Vladimir Talmy was born in the USA and died there just short of his 88th-years’ birthday. Somebody may ask what is remarkable about it—many people die where they were born. What makes Vladimir’s story remarkable is his life between those two dates in two countries, USA and USSR. That life included Soviet school, service in the Soviet Army during the WWII and after it, 7+ years in the GULAG, the execution of his father Leon Talmy who was a member of the Jewish Anti-Fascist Committee by Stalinist regime, Vladimir’s release from prison after Stalin’s death, his ability to rebuild his life in Russia, to have a wonderful family, and to return to the US for the second half of his life where he had a long and glorious professional career in the service to the senior levels of the US government. How do we evaluate this life?
Vladimir lived through the exceptionally cruelty first half of the 20th Century. The calamities of GULAG and Holocaust can neither be forgotten nor forgiven, so let us repeat, “no single human being is complete in every respect.” But the editor of Vladimir Talmy’s book (his widow, Dr. Inna Talmy) writes in her annotation that in spite of all terror of the Soviet life Vladimir exhibited no bitterness. This is the reason why this book is such a fascinating reading. A person of substance and integrity should know how to leave the bitterness behind and to restore his/her life. Having met many people who passed through those terrible experiences, I know only one man who was prevented by bitterness from exercising his full ability in his further life. Vladimir is certainly a brilliant example of an opposite attitude.
—Amazon.com customer