"I was born in Berlin, where my father was studying medicine. Russia, however, is the country of my childhood and Russian is my native language."¹

"I remember ... the Russian Revolution in Odessa, where we lived: winter famine, chaos on the streets, terror indoors. I remember standing with my mother in a long line ... for our family ration of green bread; green because in the absence of flour, it was made from the dried shells of peas. I remember carefully stepping over a dead body, shot in front of our house and frozen into a grotesque posture. I remember being sent to the Camp for the Children of the Proletariat in order to be eligible for the square inch of meat we were given once a week, and I remember how the children used to separate that meat into its threads to make it last. As for presents, my...