Anna Akhmatova

"I never expected to learn so many useful and complex details about someone whose life and career intersected with mine for over 40 years. He was one of the first critics to praise my poetry as long ago as 1920, before we even met. During World War II, I admired his outspoken articles against the Nazis and wrote to him twice from Tashkent to seek his help. How did Rubenstein find those letters? After Stalin died and my son Lev Gumilev was still a political prisoner, I sought Ehrenburg's help. He appealed directly to Nikita Khrushchev, but Lev was not released until 1956. I do think that Ehrenburg's letter made a difference."