With Trotsky in Exile

Harvard University Press has partnered with De Gruyter to make available for sale worldwide virtually all in-copyright HUP books that had become unavailable since their original publication. The 2,800 titles in the “e-ditions” program can be purchased individually as PDF eBooks or as hardcover reprint (“print-on-demand”) editions via the “Available from De Gruyter” link above. They are also available to institutions in ten separate subject-area packages that reflect the entire spectrum of the Press’s catalog. More about the E-ditions Program »

In this intriguing and revealing memoir, Jean van Heijenoort recounts the story of the seven years he served as secretary, translator, and bodyguard for Leon Trotsky. Van Heijenoort was only twenty years old when he arrived at the Turkish island of Prinkipo, where Trotsky and his wife had been living since their expulsion from Russia. He stayed with them from 1932 until 1939, traveling from Prinkipo to France and Norway and then to the Mexican town of Coyoacán. Nine months after he left them, Trotsky was assassinated.

Van Heijenoort’s recollections are as detailed as they are insightful. While describing the course of his years with Trotsky, he also corrects many of the myths and errors that now surround the brilliant revolutionary’s life. He does not attempt a full-length portrait of Trotsky or an analysis of his character or ideas; his purpose is to set down, for the record, incidents that are known to himself alone. The result is a memoir that is fascinating and a primary document that will clearly be invaluable to students and biographers of Trotsky.