They Took My Father: Finnish Americans in Stalin's Russia

By Mayme Sevander and Laurie Hertzel

A riveting memoir of one family's struggle under a totalitarian regime

"Mayme Sevander and Laurie Hertzel tell a poignant tale of a hidden corner of U.S. and Soviet history. Tracing the hopes and hardships of one family over two continents, They Took My Father explores the boundaries of loyalty, identity, and ideals." --Amy Goldstein, Washington Post

"What makes Mayme's story so uniquely--almost unbelievably--tragic is that her family chose to move from the United States to the Soviet Union in 1934, thinking they were going to help build a 'worker's paradise.' They found, instead, a deadly nightmare." --St. Paul Pioneer Press

"This gripping and timely book traces the beginnings of communism not as dry history but as a fascinating personal drama that spreads across Russia, Finland, and the mining towns of Upper Michigan and the Iron Range of Minnesota. . . . An important and largely ignored part of history comes alive in one woman's story of her tragic family, caught up in the all-consuming struggle of the twentieth century." --Frank Lynn, political reporter, New York Times

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0816643369
• ISBN13: 9780816643363
• Release Date: January 2004
• Publisher: University of Minnesota Press
• Length: 208 Pages
• Weight: 0.80 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.5" x 6.1" x 9.1"

Customer Reviews

The stuff epic movies are made of

What an account. Sevander's father was among the leaders of a movement of idealistic Finnish-Americans (from the US and Canada) committed to creating a socialist community in Soviet Karelia. Instead, he and hundreds of others fell victim to Stalin's ruthless paranoia in the purges of the late 1930s. Sevander spent part of her childhood in a gulag before finding her place in Soviet society in World War II. The final irony (actually, it opens the book): During the Glasnost era, the onetime Karelian pioneer town of Petrozavodsk establishes a sister-city relationship with Duluth, Minn., twin city to Sevander's childhood hometown of Superior, Wis. When Duluth sends a citizen's delegation, she's at the railway station to welcome her onetime neighbors. I read no particular propaganda here, just a first-person recitation of empirical fact. In fact, Sevander concludes by reaffirming her socialism, even after returning to the United States to live out her final days.

If you're of Finnish descent - read this one!

This is THE book for those of Finnish heritage that are interested in a nearly forgotten time in our history. Mayme gives us a gripping tale about her time in Soviet Russia after being moved there by her communist agitator father Oscar Corgan. Oscar was one of the primary proponents of American Finns moving to Russia to begin a new life there. This time is called "Karelian Fever". Mayme's description of her life and times in Russia is harrowing. Even though her father was taken and killed by soviet authorities she remains unapologetic. This is a fine companion piece to "No Home for us Here" and "Karelia".