Publishers Weekly - Publisher's Weekly
Nudel's 16-year struggle to leave the Soviet Union is a moving personal story. A human rights activist, she publicized conditions in psychiatric hospitals and the plight of political prisoners, coordinated strategy with Andrei Sakharov and organized a protest against Anatoly Sharansky's arrest. A leader of the Jewish emigration movement, she was exiled to Siberia for four years after she hung a banner from her apartment balcony proclaiming ``KGB give me my visa to Israel.'' She endured strip-searches, imprisonment in a cell full of rats, temperatures 60 below zero. Transferred to a one-room hut, she raised chickens and grew her own vegetables. Deliverance came in 1986 when Armand Hammer flew her in his private plane to Israel, where she rejoined her family, who had escaped in 1972. Her courage and indomitable spirit shine through in this memoir. Photos. Author tour. (Nov.)
A Hand in the Darkness: The Autobiography of a Refusenik
by Ida NudelView All Available Formats & Editions
Editorial Reviews
Library Journal
Nudel's personal tale of deprivation, blatant anti-Semitism, and hardship began in 1971 when this Soviet Jewish dissident applied for a visa to emigrate to Israel. Soviet authorities harassed her, finally jailing her for her participation in human rights demonstrations in Moscow. By 1978 Nudel was sent into internal exile in a squalor-ridden village in Siberia. Luckily, her case received worldwide attention, and as a result, Armand Hammer, the American industrialist with close connections to the Soviet hierarchy, was able to extract Nudel from the clutches of the Soviet secret police and fly her to Israel in 1986. Especially detailed is her description of how the Soviet bureaucracy used popular anti-Semitism to build support for the government and found a ready-made scapegoat in the dissident community. Recommended for a wide audience.-- Sanford R. Silverburg, Catawba Coll., Salisbury, N.C.
School Library Journal
YA-- Nudel's earliest memories are of World War II: her father fighting in the Soviet army, the notification of his death, and being uprooted from her Moscow home with her mother and sister. Her later life was that of a typical educated Soviet with little interest in politics until she acquired a radio and began to listen to the Voice of Israel broadcasts. Realizing a drive to live in Israel, Nudel and her family applied for exit visas, but she was refused. The KGB harassed her, once imprisoning her for a few weeks. Her detention increased her awareness of the Jewish political prisoners held in Soviet jails, and she began her efforts to aid them and their families. This autobiography details Nudel's work and creates a sympathy in readers for the refuseniks in the Soviet society. Enlightening and thought-provoking.-- Diane Goheen, Topeka West High School, KS
Product Details
- ISBN-13:
- 9780446393256
- Publisher:
- Grand Central Publishing
- Publication date:
- 10/01/1991
- Edition description:
- REPRINT
- Pages:
- 336
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