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Seeking political asylum
Tomas Venclova Poet
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There were cases like that. There weren’t many of them, probably only about 40. The first, the very first was that of Stalin’s daughter Svetlana Alliluyeva who had fled the Soviet Union. She published a popular book in the West but didn’t make a career for herself as such, and died somehow, I think, recently, but at the end of her life she wasn’t known to anyone and was of no interest to anyone. So she was the first to have her Soviet citizenship revoked. Then there were several more people, then [Aleksandr] Solzhenitsyn. Well, I was the ninth. We used to joke that I got into the first group of 10 cosmonauts. What was said about Svetlana Alliluyeva was that she was Laika, the dog sent into space. Solzhenitsyn was [Yuri] Gagarin, the first cosmonaut, and I was in the first 10. I was also very proud of that. There were several other well known people after me: the musician [Mstislav] Rostropovich, the theatre director [Yuri] Lyubimov, and the writer [Vasily] Aksyonov, but that was after me. They’re part of the first 40 but not of the first 10. Well, then there was nothing else for me to do but to ask for political asylum from the Americans since I couldn’t go back to Lithuania and it was necessary to somehow legalise my status in America. I was granted asylum – the Americans knew about my status, they were following my, as it were, activities – they gave me political asylum. They understood I couldn’t go back. And after that I could, after waiting several years, ask for American citizenship which, five or six years later, was granted to me. I now have two citizenships – American and Lithuanian.

Tokių atvejų tada būdavo. Jų buvo nedaug, jų buvo turbūt tiktai apie keturiasdešimts. Pirma, pati pirmoji buvo Stalino dukra Svetlana Alilujeva, kuri pabėgo iš Tarybų Sąjungos, jinai Vakaruose išleido populiarią knygą, bet šiaip jokios karjeros nepadarė, ir kažkaip, taip sakant, mirė, rodos, neseniai, bet gyvenimo gale jau niekam nebuvo žinoma ir niekam nebebuvo įdomi. Tai jinai pirmoji buvo nustodinta šitaip tarybinės pilietybės. Paskui dar keli žmonės, paskui Solženicynas, nu aš buvau devintas. Tai mes juokavome, kad aš patekau į tą pirmąjį kosmonautų dešimtuką, kad apie Svetlaną Alilujevą sakė, kad tai buvo Laika, šunelis pasiųstas į kosmosą. Solženicynas tai buvo Gagarinas, pirmasis kosmonautas, o aš dar irgi pirmąjam dešimtuke, labai tuo irgi didžiavausi. Po manęs dar buvo keli žymūs žmonės: muzikas Rostropovičius, teatro režisierius Liubimovas, ir rašytojas Aksionovas, bet tai jau buvo po. Jie įeina į pirmąjį keturiasdešimtuką, bet ne į pirmąjį dešimtuką. Na, ir tada man nieko kito neliko, kaip prašyti iš amerikiečių politinio prieglobsčio, nes grįžti į Lietuvą jau negalėjau, o reikia kažkaip jau savo padėtį Amerikoje legalizuoti. Prieglobstis man buvo suteiktas, amerikiečiai žinojo apie mano situaciją, sekė mano, taip sakant, veiklą, davė man tą politinį prieglobstį, suprato, kad aš grįžti negaliu. Ir po to jau aš galėjau, išlaukęs keletą metų, prašyti Amerikos pilietybės kuri po penkerių ar šešerių metų man ir buvo suteikta. Dabar turiu dvi pilietybes – amerikietiškąją ir lietuviškąją.

Born in 1937, Tomas Venclova is a Lithuanian scholar, poet, author and translator of literature. He was educated at Vilnius University and later at Tartu University. As an active participant in the dissident movement he was deprived of Soviet citizenship in 1977 and had to emigrate. Between 1977 and 1980 he lectured at University of California, Berkeley, where he became friends with the Polish poet Czesław Miłosz, who was a professor of Slavic Languages and Literature at the school, as well as the Russian poet Joseph Brodsky. He is currently a full professor at Yale University.

Listeners: Andrzej Wolski

Film director and documentary maker, Andrzej Wolski has made around 40 films since 1982 for French television, the BBC, TVP and other TV networks. He specializes in portraits and in historical films. Films that he has directed or written the screenplay for include Kultura, which he co-directed with Agnieszka Holland, and KOR which presents the history of the Worker’s Defence Committee as told by its members. Andrzej Wolski has received many awards for his work, including the UNESCO Grand Prix at the Festival du Film d’Art.

Tags: Soviet Union, USA, Svetlana Alliluyeva, Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn, Yuri Gagarin, Mstislav Rostropovich, Yuri Lyubimov, Vasily Aksyonov

Duration: 1 minute, 58 seconds

Date story recorded: May/June 2011

Date story went live: 20 March 2012