Description
Book Synopsis Arkady Polishchuk came of age in Stalin''s Russia, in the turbulent times before, during and after World War II. His love for the Soviet dictator persisted for years until Polishchuk, a 19-year-old Jew, was not admitted to the university. In 1952, he learned about the preparations for mass deportation of Jews to Siberia.
He celebrated Stalin''s death in 1953--but state oppression dominated his life as before. As a young reporter for the Kostroma regional newspaper, he met with destitute plowmen, teenage milkmaids and former prisoners turned woodcutters, and wrote about them. When his satirical flair outraged a Communist Party secretary, the KGB initiated a political case against him and he fled to avoid persecution.
His memoir describes his painstaking journey toward mental and spiritual liberation.
Table of Contents
- Preface
- Part One: Mother Russia
- A Cow in My Room and Other Well-Established Facts of My Life
- There Is No God, but the Devil Frightens Me Every Day
- The School of Life and Russian Blood in Jewish Cookies
- Papa Goes to Fight Germans; I Go to Weed Tobacco
- Waiting for German Bombs on the Roof of My House
- Flight from Moscow
- My Favorite Horse Groom
- My Blitzkrieg Against Germans
- Exciting Activities Outside of School Boredom
- My Love Life During the War and After the Victory
- How to Become a Philosopher
- Part Two: Stepmother Russia
- Alma Mater in the Days of the Dying God
- The Most Influential Writer in My Life
- Travel to True Russia
- Granny's Log House
- My Journey into the Forest's Depths
- My Unhealthy Interest in Former Prisoners
- When You Chop Wood, Chips Fly
- Adventures in the Wilderness
- Part Three: The Road to Rebellion
- Not Newsworthy Events
- A Village in the Midst of Swamps
- My Questionable Activities
- The World Youth Festival; or, How Hollywood Tried to Destroy Russia
- The Rise of the Adventurer
- My Life with a Gravedigger
- The Fall of the Adventurer
- The Most Dangerous Assignment
- Index
