Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn Bio (Biography)
Real name:
Aleksandr Isayevich Solzhenitsyn
Date of birth:
December 11. 1918
Place of birth:
Kislovodsk, Russia
Astrology Sign:
Sagittarius
Biography
For many of us, the daily struggles of normal life are a tad too much to handle. We commend and fear those who have suffered far worse daily struggles because we cannot even hope to imagine the horrors that they have experienced, nor do we want to. Aleksandr Solzhenitsvn is not only a man whose struggles deserve preservation and award, but he is also a political activist who dared to speak out when his country was in shambles and war.
Born Aleksandr Isayevich Solzhenitsvn on 11 December 1918, in Kislovodsk, Russia, Aleksandr's birth into a world without a father (a tragedy caused by military service), but blessed with a mother who encouraged him to become interested in both literature and the sciences, things that would become his lifelong passion, and ultimately, save his life as well.
Aleksandr received degrees in both mathematics and physics while taking correspondence courses in literature and working as a schoolteacher. When World War II came to Russia, Aleksandr became a twice-decorated artillery captain (perhaps memorializing his father in his duties, which is not the best reason the join the army, but a reason nonetheless). In 1945, this decorated captain was arrested by the secret service for privately describing Joseph Stalin as a "man with moustache" in a letter to a friend. For this innocent "slight" Aleksandr was sentenced to eight years in prison, a condemnation he almost did not survive.
During his time in the Gulag prison camps, Aleksandr was diagnosed with stomach cancer and would have been left in the camps to die had it not been for his mathematical and physics skills, which got him moved to a secret camp for scientists where he was safe until the death of Joseph Stalin in 1953, which led to his release and ability to seek treatment for his cancer.
Over the next two decades, Aleksandr published dozens of memoirs about his struggles inside Gulag, many of which were banned from Russia and were smuggled to the West for publishing.
In 1970, Aleksander won the Nobel Prize in Literature for his memoirs but could not leave the Soviet Union to accept his award, either from fear of being discovered secretly living within Moscow or because he feared he might not be able to return to the Soviet Union.
In 1973, when "Gulag Archipelago" was found published abroad, Aleksandr was arrested by the KGB and banished from the Soviet Union, to which he returned in 1994, when his Russian citizenship was restored.
In 2006, Aleksandr's "First Circle" was transformed into a TV movie and shown on Russian national television; a big step in the change of government and republicanism in the former Soviet Union.
Aleksandr is married to Natalia Svetlova, who along with their three children remains an American citizen.
So whether you next see him picking apart the indecencies of the current Russian government of reminding people of the horrors of that past that are caused by hatred and misguidance, Aleksandr's words have inspired a people, which is why he receives such heavy, but welcomed criticisms from both sides of the line.
Born Aleksandr Isayevich Solzhenitsvn on 11 December 1918, in Kislovodsk, Russia, Aleksandr's birth into a world without a father (a tragedy caused by military service), but blessed with a mother who encouraged him to become interested in both literature and the sciences, things that would become his lifelong passion, and ultimately, save his life as well.
Aleksandr received degrees in both mathematics and physics while taking correspondence courses in literature and working as a schoolteacher. When World War II came to Russia, Aleksandr became a twice-decorated artillery captain (perhaps memorializing his father in his duties, which is not the best reason the join the army, but a reason nonetheless). In 1945, this decorated captain was arrested by the secret service for privately describing Joseph Stalin as a "man with moustache" in a letter to a friend. For this innocent "slight" Aleksandr was sentenced to eight years in prison, a condemnation he almost did not survive.
During his time in the Gulag prison camps, Aleksandr was diagnosed with stomach cancer and would have been left in the camps to die had it not been for his mathematical and physics skills, which got him moved to a secret camp for scientists where he was safe until the death of Joseph Stalin in 1953, which led to his release and ability to seek treatment for his cancer.
Over the next two decades, Aleksandr published dozens of memoirs about his struggles inside Gulag, many of which were banned from Russia and were smuggled to the West for publishing.
In 1970, Aleksander won the Nobel Prize in Literature for his memoirs but could not leave the Soviet Union to accept his award, either from fear of being discovered secretly living within Moscow or because he feared he might not be able to return to the Soviet Union.
In 1973, when "Gulag Archipelago" was found published abroad, Aleksandr was arrested by the KGB and banished from the Soviet Union, to which he returned in 1994, when his Russian citizenship was restored.
In 2006, Aleksandr's "First Circle" was transformed into a TV movie and shown on Russian national television; a big step in the change of government and republicanism in the former Soviet Union.
Aleksandr is married to Natalia Svetlova, who along with their three children remains an American citizen.
So whether you next see him picking apart the indecencies of the current Russian government of reminding people of the horrors of that past that are caused by hatred and misguidance, Aleksandr's words have inspired a people, which is why he receives such heavy, but welcomed criticisms from both sides of the line.