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Title: Alexander Vardy papers
Date (inclusive): 1940-2002
Collection Number: 91014
Contributing Institution: Hoover Institution Library and Archives
Language of Material: Mainly in Russian
Physical Description:
131 manuscript boxes, 1 oversize box, 1 envelope
(55.6 Linear Feet)
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.
Creator:
Vardy, Alexander, 1916-
Physical Location: Hoover Institution Library & Archives.
The collection is open for research; materials must be requested at least two business days in advance of intended use.
For copyright status, please contact the Hoover Institution Library & Archives.
Acquired by the Hoover Institution Library & Archives in increments from 1991 to 2002.
[Identification of item], Alexander Vardy papers, [Box no., Folder no. or title], Hoover Institution Library & Archives.
| 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 |
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.
Subjects and Indexing Terms
Russians -- United States
Radio broadcasting -- Soviet Union
Soviet Union -- Civilization
Soviet Union -- Politics and government
Soviet Union -- Social conditions
Russians -- Germany
Radio Liberty