Full Circle

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.