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Of HEROIC PROPORTION An American Story: of Patriotism and Survival in the Soviet Union During the Cold War is a narrative nonfiction and tribute to a great American hero. It reveals a fascinating little-known chapter in American and Soviet history, and the extraordinary resilience of one boy who defied the system, the odds and even Stalin!
Danyk Szafranski is described by historians as a historical anomaly. He became an American hero at the age of fourteen when he was stranded by post-World War II boundary changes and Stalin's determination to disregard anything western. In 1947, separated from his father in New York and his mother in Siberia, the lone boy must make a harrowing journey to the United States Embassy in Moscow to claim his American citizenship. Embraced and then housed by the arms of the embassy for ten months, the United States Foreign Service officials desperately fought to protect him from the KGB and send the American child home.
The author, Mary Bruno Friedman, had a personal connection to the protagonist as he was a custodian where she taught in East Meadow, New York. She believed him to be a Soviet immigrant until he presented a puzzling box of artifacts exposing a past that he couldn't otherwise share due to his limited English. This evidence and their friendship helped uncover this inspiring American story.
Supported by letters, photographs, and documents, Danyk's story is weaved over continents, time, and complex historical events to reveal not only a very human experience of patriotism and enduring love between a father and son but also the intricacies of war, mysteries of the Ukrainian Insurgent Army, and devotion of US Foreign Service officials in the Soviet Union at this time.
Of HEROIC PROPORTION An American Story targets a sophisticated adult audience intrigued by unprecedented events brought to life within a historical context. Readers will have depth of history and characters to explore, as well as the question...
"What does it mean to be an American?"
Second Edition
Page count: 442
