Alexander Vardy papers, 1940-2002

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Summary

Creators:
Vardy, Alexander, 1916-
Abstract:
Writings, transcripts and sound recordings of Radio Liberty broadcasts, Radio Liberty memoranda and other internal documents, and reports, studies, newsletters, printed matter, and photographs, relating to Radio Liberty broadcasts to the Soviet Union, and to Soviet politics, culture and society.
Extent:
131 manuscript boxes, 1 oversize box, 1 envelope (55.6 Linear Feet)
Language:
Mainly in Russian
Preferred citation:

[Identification of item], Alexander Vardy papers, [Box no., Folder no. or title], Hoover Institution Library & Archives.

Background

Scope and content:

This collection of papers of Alexander Vardy (Aleksandr Markovich Lifits) primarily covers Vardy's work for Radio Liberty in Munich from 1963 to his retirement in 1980. It includes broadcast transcripts; correspondence; labor camp anecdotes, poetry, and songs; printed matter; and writings. Phonotapes of broadcasts, interviews, and songs are also included.

Born in Smolensk, Vardy had by 1936 finished three semesters at the Technical Institute for Mechanics in Moscow and studied law at the Moscow Law School. In 1936 he was arrested and kept in the prisons of Lubianka and Butyrka. The same year he was sentenced to three years in forced labor camps. Released in 1939, he returned home and graduated from engineering college in 1941.

In July 1941 Vardy was mobilized to join the Soviet Army and fought the Germans until the end of World War II. He was arrested again in 1950 as a "political recidivist" and sentenced to ten years in transpolar forced labor camps. After five years Vardy was released and rehabilitated.

In 1957 Alexander Vardy and his family left for Poland, and later the same year he emigrated to Israel. His 146 articles and book The Ice Hole were published in Israel and abroad.

In 1962 Vardy joined Radio Liberty in Munich, West Germany. From 1963 to his retirement in 1980 he wrote and produced more then 2000 radio programs about Soviet science, ideology, politics and economics.

The largest and perhaps most interesting series of papers is RADIO LIBERTY BROADCAST TRANSCRIPTS, which documents not only Vardy's broadcasts, but also a huge variety of other Radio Liberty broadcasts about events and people. Famous authors and Russian dissidents are the subject of, wrote, or otherwise participated in many of the programs for which transcripts are available.

Also of interest is the material relating to Vardy's publications, including articles and notes about Jews, German and Soviet media on anti-Semitism and Nazism; and two books, The Ice Hole and World Under Convoy, about Russian concentration camps.

The series WRITINGS BY OTHERS contains works of famous Russian poets and writers.

Biographical / historical:
Date Event
1916 September 10
Born, Smolensk, Russia (Aleksandr Markovich Lifits)
1933
Graduated from high school
1933-1936
Attended the Moscow Technical Institute for Mechanics and Moscow University Law School
1936
Arrested for "anti Soviet propaganda" and sentenced to three years of forced labor for defending Einstein's relativity theory
1939
Released from the camp
1941
Graduated from an engineering college
1941-1945
Fought in the Soviet Army
1945-1950
Engineer and Senior Engineer in the State Highway Directorate (Gosudarstvennoe Upravlenie Shosseinykh Dorog SSSR - Gushosdor)
1950
Arrested as a "political recidivist"
1950-1955
Sentenced to ten years of forced labor camps, but released after five years
1955-1957
Senior official in a factory, Stanislav
1956
Rehabilitated
1957
Left the Soviet Union for Poland, then emigrated to Israel
1962
Joined Radio Liberty, Munich, Germany
1963-1981
Broadcaster, Radio Liberty
1964
Author, Prorub'
1971
Author, Podkonvoinyi mir
1983
Settled in California
1991 May 2
Died, Hayward, California
Acquisition information:
Acquired by the Hoover Institution Library Archives in increments from 1991 to 2002.
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], Alexander Vardy 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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