x Sasha’s Mom was the youngest member of the Communist Party of America. She was known for writing editorials for the Party newspaper called The Communist. Because of her uncompromising and fiery writing style the Party assigned her to write political leaflets, including “Why Are You Out Of a Job?” “Stand By Soviet Russia,” and “Dynamite and Bombs.” The Communist Party distributed the leaflets to the unemployed Workers of the Ford Motor Company.

x Sasha’s mom was born in Detroit, Michigan, where the Ford Motor Company employed most of her family. She worked for Ford as well, first as a typist, then as a publicity writer. She did not last long. Seeing the devastation the Great Depression spread across Detroit, she joined the Communist Party of America. The following day Sasha’s mom was fired from her job.

x Sasha’s mom, fired from her job at Ford, helped to organize a march of the unemployed workers from Detroit to the River Rouge Industrial Complex in Dearborn. The workers demanded relief for the laid off men and women. The peaceful demonstration turned violent when the Dearborn police first threw tear gas at the crowd then fired shots. Sixty men were wounded and four were shot dead.

x The Communist Party organized meetings to protest the killings of the unemployed workers during the violence in Dearborn. As a reporter, Sasha’s mom covered such meetings for her newspaper The Communist, but often she participated in the protests, climbing up the platforms to deliver fiery speeches.

x Frustrated with the injustice of capitalist society, Sasha’s mom joined several thousand American emigrants leaving the New York harbor on a passenger liner bound for Leningrad, USSR, and its “workers’ paradise.” She was never to see America again.

x Sasha’s mom was welcomed to “worker’s paradise” with the demand to surrender her American passport. Next, she was obliged to fill out a questionnaire. “A mere formality,” said the smiling emigration official. Her passport was never returned and a questionnaire turned out to be an application for the Soviet citizenship. Sasha’s mom lost her rights as an American citizen and became subject to Soviet laws.

x From the questionnaire Sasha’s mom filled out upon her arrival, the Soviet officials learned that she held a job for the Ford Motor Company in Detroit. Sasha’s mom was dispatched to a city called Gorky where Ford built an enormous auto factory. Many Americans were employed at the factory, assembling Ford cars and trucks for Soviet roads. Sasha’s mom’s writing skills were not needed by the Soviets; she was assigned to work in the machine shop sorting out English labels for the Russian mechanics.

x The former Americans in Russia were under close scrutiny by the secret police. Even though Sasha’s mom was a devoted Communist, she was not trusted. To befriend an American in Soviet Russia guaranteed an arrest for spying. All the Russians avoided Sasha’s mom except for one brave man, a State Security officer, and Sasha’s future dad. This is a brooch he gave Sasha’s mom on their wedding day.

x Of the thousands of Americans that arrived to the Soviet “workers’ paradise” none survived the secret police. Their cries for help fell on deaf ears in the US Embassy in Moscow and the White House in Washington. The Americans disappeared in prisons, labor camps and execution grounds. But Sasha’s mom married a high-ranking State Security officer. Did it save her from arrest and execution? The answer remains a mystery. Under orders from above, the secret police destroyed the records of these Americans’ emigration to Russia.

x After Sasha’s mom died, Sasha’s dad gathered her few belongings and took them someplace out of the apartment. Sasha was afraid to ask why, but at the last minute he rescued his mother’s old notebook. Sasha’s mom loved fresh flowers, but in the cold Moscow climate she had to get by with the dried ones kept in this notebook. On the night when Sasha’s dad was arrested, the secret policemen searched the room and found the notebook hidden by Sasha. He would never see the notebook again.