Valery Troitskaya

Who is Valery Troitskaya?

Valery Troitskaya was born in Petrograd on November 15, 1917, during Soviet suppression. Even when young, her gifts were exceptional. She excelled in music and sports and became fluent in French and German in addition to her native Russian. Later she learned English. Her mastery of many languages gave her easy access to world communications. She was always well read in the popular literature of many countries as well as their scientific literature.

In 1937 at a time of intense political persecution referred to as the Great Purge, her father was arrested by the Soviet secret police. Twenty year old Valery managed to send a telegram to the dreaded Beria who was directing the ruthless extermination of large numbers of “enemies of the people”. Remarkably, her pleas on her father’s behalf were successful in obtaining his release in three years. In 2000 she provided an account of her negotiations in the Russian literary magazine Neva

In 1940, at age 23, Valery graduated from Leningrad State University with a Masters in Geophysics, and spent the next four war years in Kazan, the capital of Tatarstan, teaching German to Soviet officers. She returned to Leningrad and married Alexander Waisenberg, a well-known nuclear physicist. Twins Katia and Peter were born to the young couple in 1946 and the following year the family moved to Moscow.