Robert Frimtzis

Tajikistan.

Frimtzis's memoir chronicles his experiences as a child and adolescent during World War II and its aftermath. After detailing a long interval as a Displaced Person, Frimtzis describes life in the U.S. from late adolescence to the present. It's very interesting to read a memoir by a Jew whose family fled further into the USSR. Though still beset by anti-Semitism, they were comparatively safer in the far Eastern portion of the Soviet empire. Ultimately, however, they returned to their home, and then to the West.

While central to Frimtzis's life story, both Tajikistan and the moon are somewhat peripheral to the narrative. "From Tajikistan" does not refer to his departure from his original home in Romanian-occupied Bessarabia, followed by the family's arduous flight across the USSR to Tajikistan, where they lived for over two years. Rather, Tajikistan is the starting point for the journey of return and beyond, culminating in his engineering work that contributed to the Apollo moon landing.

This is a self-published memoir, which shows in the difficulties with verb tense, long asides that disrupt the chronology, and the inclusion of what seems to be every detail the author remembers about his youth. While this is interesting, much of it is only of personal interest. I would have liked more description of the environs in which he lived and through which he traveled. There's a lot of it, but this is the part that I can't picture and with which I'm unfamiliar as a reader. The story picks up speed in the U.S. section; unfortunately, this material is less engaging for the American reader because we are familiar with the settings and themes of the immigrant's narrative. Nonetheless, Frimtzis's memoir grew on me and I appreciate it as a good addition to my understanding of the Jewish experience of World War II and its aftermath. I'm surprised by how few reviews it's received out there, so how about some more of you read it?… (mehr)