Forsake Fear

This is Aleksandr Nekrich's classic autobiography, the history of historians in post-war Soviet society. Nekrich, in recounting his own brave story, relates how he dared to challenge the prevailing conformism. From his unique and riveting vantage point, Nekrich also provides a broader picture of Soviet society and its intellectual life during high Stalinism and after. In 1945, Captain Aleksandr Nekrich returned from the front. He spent the next three decades at the center of the Soviet historical profession. He maintained friendships with such noted public figures as Ivan Malsky, Soviet ambassador to Britain, and Abram Deborin, whom Stalin branded a "Menshevik-idealist". He also encountered writers, artists, scientists, and even spies. Among Soviet historians, Nekrich was the only one who dared to break the taboo and declare that the Stalin-Hitler pact was advantageous to Nazi-Germany.