AR`s learning of her parents`s death

[A.A]

In Letters of Ayn Rand, I read that sometime in the 1940`s, AR learned that her parents had died during World War II (or shortly before). In her interview in the Mike Wallace show, in 1959, she says that she does not know what has happened to them. Does anyone know the reason for this discrepancy? (I can guess, I am just interested if anyone knows for a fact)

Thanks in advance.

[KendallJ]

Um, it's not a given that the two statements are contradictory, but I don't have the Mike Wallace transcript.

Knowing they died and not knowing what happened to them is possible, if the "what" is the circumstances of their death, or the circumstances of their life after she left.

[intellectualammo]

Um, it's not a given that the two statements are contradictory, but I don't have the Mike Wallace transcript.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5poUSQ4L8pY

37 seconds in (1959):

Wallace asks: "Your parents did they die in Russia, or did they come here to the United States?"

Rand: "No, I came here alone and I don't know. I have no way of finding out whether they died or not."

around page 393 in Letters (in a March 1948 dated letter):

"I had always hoped to bring my parents to America one day, when I had made good. But my parents have died since I left Russia, and I have no way of finding any other relative of mine, or even of learning whether any of them are still alive."

around page 399 in Letters (in a June 1948 letter):

"I have heard from an old friend in Europe that both my parents have died, but I was unable to learn anything about my sisters."

Later she does find out about her sisters.

[ginny]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5poUSQ4L8pY37 seconds in (1959):Wallace asks: "Your parents did they die in Russia, or did they come here to the United States?"Rand: "No, I came here alone and I don't know. I have no way of finding out whether they died or not."around page 393 in Letters (in a March 1948 dated letter):"I had always hoped to bring my parents to America one day, when I had made good. But my parents have died since I left Russia, and I have no way of finding any other relative of mine, or even of learning whether any of them are still alive."around page 399 in Letters (in a June 1948 letter):"I have heard from an old friend in Europe that both my parents have died, but I was unable to learn anything about my sisters."Later she does find out about her sisters.

I wonder why AR said in 1959 that she didn't know whether her parents are alive, when in 1948 she wrote that she'd been told they were dead.

[K-Mac]

What happened to her sisters, Intellectualammo?

[DavidOdden]

The wording in the second letter suggests that she may have reconsidered the information.

[intellectualammo]

What happened to her sisters, Intellectualammo?

She had two sister Natasha and Nora. I think I've read elsewhere, possibly in Britting's book more about her sister and such, but a note in the Letters says:

" *AR eventually learned that her sister Natasha had died and much later discovered that her younger sister Nora, survived the war."

Since I'm at the library let me find Jeff Britting's Ayn Rand...all it says is that her and Nora met each other 46 years later (1974) in NYC after having corresponded with each other, but Nora went back to Russia. Nora found out about her sister Ayn, because she saw her in America Illustrated (mag) and recognized her.

[A.A]

Thanks everyone, but since no one here seems to have a knowledgeable solution, I'll say that my own guess is that AR said what she did in 1959 because she was afraid for her remaining relatives (her sister Nora, for instance), and preferred that no one knew that she could obtain information about Russia. I just wondered if the answer appears in some biography that someone here has read.

(Jesus, isn't there some decent comprehensive biography of Rand, authorized or unauthorized? I mean, I don't think that many people will disagree with her estimation as an interesting and important enough figure... Just a little rant)

[stephenmallory]

Thanks everyone, but since no one here seems to have a knowledgeable solution, I'll say that my own guess is that AR said what she did in 1959 because she was afraid for her remaining relatives (her sister Nora, for instance), and preferred that no one knew that she could obtain information about Russia. I just wondered if the answer appears in some biography that someone here has read.

(Jesus, isn't there some decent comprehensive biography of Rand, authorized or unauthorized? I mean, I don't think that many people will disagree with her estimation as an interesting and important enough figure... Just a little rant)

I think your estimation of her fear is correct. I remember there being something in the documentary "Ayn Rand: A Sense Of Life" about her reluctance to attempt to communicate with anyone in Russia because they would be endangered by her doing so. Obviously in the 1940's she didn't feel this way, but by 1959 she had become considerably more famous and much more critical of the USSR - enough so that even an almost 20 year old correspondence with her would be grounds for being sent to Siberia.