User:MishaThal

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[edit] Misha Thal

For reasons I cannot fathom, I have long though of myself as Russian. My maternal Grandfather, Morris Thal, died long before I was born, and my paternal grandparents died before I was old enough to have any kind of discussion with them. But I was on good terms with my maternal Grandmother, who was born in Riga, whose grandparents were from Belarus, and who had spent some very harrowing years as a child living in a cattle car near Moscow waiting for the first world-war to end. She told me many good stories when I was young. One of her brothers name was Misha, so I made the assumption that "Misha" was an appropriate nickname for someone named Michael.

Thus the explanaition of my user name.

I am not Russian, and I do not read or speak Russian, but I am slowly learning, with the patient help of some good friends at work. I came to be interested in all things Russian in a circuitous way. My father died long before I was ready for his death. In trying to reconnect with his past, I started reading war history. At first, mostly about battles he had been involved with - Alamein, Monte Cassino, but then expanding my interest. It very soon became obvious to me that my understanding of the war he fought in was very different from the story I was slowly uncovering. This led me to read more and more about the Great Patriotic War, which in turn led to reading other Russian history, and so on.

[edit] Pages I have Created

*  Aleksandr Chekalin - Hero of the Soviet Union