Pavel Mikhaǐlovich Litvinov papers, 1933-2011

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Summary

Creators:
Litvinov, Pavel Mikhaĭlovich, 1940-
Abstract:
Correspondence, memoirs and other writings, notes, printed matter, and photographs relating to political prisoners, civil rights and dissent in the Soviet Union, and to Russian émigré affairs.
Extent:
6 manuscript boxes, 1 oversize box (4.1 Linear Feet)
Language:
Russian and English
Preferred citation:

[Identification of item], Pavel Mikhaǐlovich Litvinov papers, [Box no., Folder no. or title], Hoover Institution Library & Archives.

Background

Scope and content:

The Pavel Litvinov papers include biographical material, correspondence, memoirs and other writings, notes, printed matter, and photographs relating to political prisoners, civil rights and dissent in the Soviet Union, and Russian émigré affairs.

Biographical / historical:

Born in 1940, Pavel Litvinov is a physicist, writer, and Soviet-era dissident. He is the grandson of Maksim (Maxim) Litvinov, the former Russian minister of foreign affairs (1930-1939) and ambassador to the United States (1941-1943).

Litvinov was raised among the Soviet elite, but after Stalin's death in 1953, he became disillusioned with the Soviet system after witnessing the return of family friends from the labor camps. In his twenties, he became acquainted with a group of intellectuals who were following the show-trials of the writers Andrei Siniavskii and Iulii Daniel'. Litvinov was one of eight participants in the 1968 Red Square demonstration against the Soviet invasion of Czechoslovakia; the participants raised banners in Czech and Russian supporting Czechoslovak independence. The KGB promptly arrested the protesters and put them on trial two months later. Litvinov was sentenced to five years' exile in Siberia.

In 1974, Litvinov and his family immigrated to the United States, where he taught physics and mathematics at a boarding school in Tarrytown, New York, until his retirement in 2006.

Acquisition information:
Materials were acquired by the Hoover Institution Library Archives in 2016.
Physical location:
Hoover Institution Library & Archives
Rules or conventions:
Describing Archives: A Content Standard

Access and use

Restrictions:

The collection is open for research; materials must be requested in advance via our reservation system. If there are audiovisual or digital media material in the collection, they must be reformatted before providing access.

Terms of access:

For copyright status, please contact the Hoover Institution Library & Archives.

Preferred citation:

[Identification of item], Pavel Mikhaǐlovich Litvinov papers, [Box no., Folder no. or title], Hoover Institution Library & Archives.

Location of this collection:
Hoover Institution Library & Archives, Stanford University
Stanford, CA 94305-6003, US
Contact:
(650) 723-3563
hooverarchives@stanford.edu
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