1 00:00:00,320 --> 00:00:03,680 Speaker 1: We last left set Lana on Christmas nineteen seventy five, 2 00:00:04,040 --> 00:00:07,840 Speaker 1: clutching a telephone in her ex sister in law's California home. 3 00:00:08,400 --> 00:00:11,120 Speaker 1: She just placed what I can only imagine was a 4 00:00:11,240 --> 00:00:15,160 Speaker 1: very expensive long distance call from Mill Valley to Moscow, 5 00:00:15,560 --> 00:00:19,159 Speaker 1: and had spoken directly to her son Joseph for the 6 00:00:19,200 --> 00:00:22,759 Speaker 1: first time in almost a decade. I can't say I 7 00:00:22,880 --> 00:00:25,799 Speaker 1: understand how exactly she got three to him, or what 8 00:00:25,920 --> 00:00:29,120 Speaker 1: exactly she felt hearing his gruff voice echoing through the 9 00:00:29,200 --> 00:00:33,360 Speaker 1: receiver from roughly six thousand miles away. But this call 10 00:00:33,800 --> 00:00:36,680 Speaker 1: sets in motion a chain of events that threatened to 11 00:00:36,720 --> 00:00:39,560 Speaker 1: make my head explode. A chain of events that, while 12 00:00:39,560 --> 00:00:42,479 Speaker 1: trap set Lana in the same cycles she's been stuck 13 00:00:42,479 --> 00:00:45,760 Speaker 1: in over and over again, a chain of events that 14 00:00:45,800 --> 00:00:53,040 Speaker 1: will get her from the US to England, to Russia 15 00:00:53,880 --> 00:01:01,480 Speaker 1: and back again. She's been here before, overwhelmed, fired up, impulsive, 16 00:01:01,600 --> 00:01:06,679 Speaker 1: and unstoppable. But this time the circumstances are different. This time, 17 00:01:06,800 --> 00:01:10,280 Speaker 1: it's not just her life she's uprooting. It's her daughters too, 18 00:01:11,560 --> 00:01:19,440 Speaker 1: a daughter who is quote as American as apple Pie. Ironically, 19 00:01:19,640 --> 00:01:22,920 Speaker 1: America was never set on his dream. When she made 20 00:01:22,959 --> 00:01:25,560 Speaker 1: up her mind to defect in nineteen sixty seven, she 21 00:01:25,640 --> 00:01:28,440 Speaker 1: thought perhaps she could stay in India. At her first 22 00:01:28,480 --> 00:01:31,000 Speaker 1: press conference in New York, she had high hopes for 23 00:01:31,000 --> 00:01:33,720 Speaker 1: her new homeland, but she wasn't ready to put a 24 00:01:33,800 --> 00:01:36,319 Speaker 1: ring on it just yet. Do you intend to make 25 00:01:36,360 --> 00:01:39,479 Speaker 1: your a permanent home in America? And do you intend 26 00:01:39,560 --> 00:01:45,560 Speaker 1: to apply for American citizenship? Well? I think that before 27 00:01:45,640 --> 00:01:49,720 Speaker 1: the marriage, it should be loved. So if I will 28 00:01:50,280 --> 00:01:53,880 Speaker 1: love this country and this country will love me, then 29 00:01:53,920 --> 00:01:56,280 Speaker 1: the marriage will be settled. But I cannot say now. 30 00:01:57,480 --> 00:02:00,760 Speaker 1: So in this episode, we're going to watch spet Lana 31 00:02:00,840 --> 00:02:04,000 Speaker 1: fall out of love with America and run back into 32 00:02:04,040 --> 00:02:10,200 Speaker 1: the arms of her X the USSR. I'm damn Katroser 33 00:02:10,400 --> 00:02:16,240 Speaker 1: and this is sped Lana. Speed Lana. You wake up 34 00:02:16,320 --> 00:02:21,440 Speaker 1: in the morning, you live your day, and then you 35 00:02:21,639 --> 00:02:32,760 Speaker 1: do it tomorrow and over and over again, and over 36 00:02:33,080 --> 00:02:42,280 Speaker 1: again and over. Act one, A stateless woman of the World. 37 00:02:45,520 --> 00:02:49,360 Speaker 1: The year is nineteen seventy seven. Both Atari and the 38 00:02:49,400 --> 00:02:52,680 Speaker 1: Apple two computer make their way to the marketplace. Arnold 39 00:02:52,680 --> 00:02:56,680 Speaker 1: Schwarzenegger gets swollen in the film Pumping Iron and Debbie 40 00:02:56,680 --> 00:02:59,160 Speaker 1: Boone's You Light Up My Life is number one for 41 00:02:59,320 --> 00:03:02,960 Speaker 1: ten straight weeks. And if you were to open the 42 00:03:03,000 --> 00:03:07,000 Speaker 1: pages of your April edition of McCall's magazine, you might 43 00:03:07,080 --> 00:03:11,880 Speaker 1: find yourself reading an article titled the Americanization of Stalin's Daughter, 44 00:03:12,240 --> 00:03:15,920 Speaker 1: a profile in which set Lana seems positively happy and 45 00:03:16,160 --> 00:03:20,600 Speaker 1: free living in California. Spet is wearing blue jeans and 46 00:03:20,800 --> 00:03:24,560 Speaker 1: likes to dance. Adorable Little Olga is pestering her mother 47 00:03:24,600 --> 00:03:29,120 Speaker 1: for Kentucky fried chicken and corrects sveet Lana's English. Sipping 48 00:03:29,160 --> 00:03:32,960 Speaker 1: a beer, Svetlana tells the interviewer, I think in English, 49 00:03:33,120 --> 00:03:36,200 Speaker 1: I dream in English, I read in English. I don't 50 00:03:36,200 --> 00:03:40,120 Speaker 1: even think about Russia. I'm getting rusty speaking Russian. I 51 00:03:40,200 --> 00:03:43,360 Speaker 1: have to stop and remember the words. She tells the 52 00:03:43,400 --> 00:03:47,200 Speaker 1: interviewer that she is quote a stateless woman of the world, 53 00:03:47,640 --> 00:03:51,720 Speaker 1: a Russian defector, an American alien. If all you had 54 00:03:51,760 --> 00:03:54,840 Speaker 1: to go off of was this article, you'd think spet Lana, 55 00:03:54,880 --> 00:03:58,600 Speaker 1: while a little unrooted, was living a life of domestic bliss, 56 00:03:58,760 --> 00:04:02,640 Speaker 1: of absolute normalcy. That is what she wants to give 57 00:04:02,640 --> 00:04:05,800 Speaker 1: her daughter, and she makes it clear in every interview 58 00:04:05,800 --> 00:04:08,520 Speaker 1: she gives that Olga is not to know the truth 59 00:04:08,560 --> 00:04:11,400 Speaker 1: of their lineage. Here she is around that time on 60 00:04:11,480 --> 00:04:16,200 Speaker 1: Good Morning America. Have you told her who her grandfather? Yeah, 61 00:04:16,400 --> 00:04:19,040 Speaker 1: for her own good, she doesn't know much about it 62 00:04:19,120 --> 00:04:21,400 Speaker 1: than maybe she isn't going through I don't think it's 63 00:04:21,480 --> 00:04:24,440 Speaker 1: necessary for her. And you want your daughter to be 64 00:04:24,839 --> 00:04:29,000 Speaker 1: completely America. Oh, she will be. She will be. One 65 00:04:29,080 --> 00:04:32,320 Speaker 1: might wonder if going on Good Morning America to say 66 00:04:32,320 --> 00:04:34,800 Speaker 1: that she was keeping a secret was the best way 67 00:04:34,839 --> 00:04:37,880 Speaker 1: to keep that secret. But there are a lot of 68 00:04:37,920 --> 00:04:41,400 Speaker 1: contradictions when it comes to sed Lana, because in truth, 69 00:04:41,760 --> 00:04:44,719 Speaker 1: these years of being a single mom without a stable 70 00:04:44,760 --> 00:04:47,640 Speaker 1: income in a country where she still wasn't a citizen, 71 00:04:47,720 --> 00:04:51,760 Speaker 1: where as you might imagine hard and in running away 72 00:04:51,760 --> 00:04:54,960 Speaker 1: from her problems in Russia or at tali Essen, she'd 73 00:04:55,040 --> 00:05:00,479 Speaker 1: run right into new ones. In her solitude at home, 74 00:05:00,800 --> 00:05:04,919 Speaker 1: she worries about secret Soviet microwave experiments and plots to 75 00:05:05,000 --> 00:05:09,200 Speaker 1: kidnap Olga. She clips pictures from magazines of her estranged 76 00:05:09,320 --> 00:05:12,760 Speaker 1: Russian children, Joseph and Coccia, and frames them on the mantel. 77 00:05:13,200 --> 00:05:16,400 Speaker 1: Eventually she sees a psychiatrist to work through her quote 78 00:05:16,680 --> 00:05:23,600 Speaker 1: undigested bitterness towards west, and she moves around a lot speed. 79 00:05:23,640 --> 00:05:26,719 Speaker 1: Lana would later write to a friend. I feel very 80 00:05:26,800 --> 00:05:30,839 Speaker 1: much being a stranger, a fild them everywhere, a gypsy 81 00:05:30,880 --> 00:05:34,000 Speaker 1: of sorts, and I do not mind that. But I 82 00:05:34,160 --> 00:05:38,200 Speaker 1: carry the inner feeling of home with me everywhere, like 83 00:05:38,320 --> 00:05:46,359 Speaker 1: a snail carries her shell. Throughout the first seven years 84 00:05:46,360 --> 00:05:50,440 Speaker 1: of her daughter's life, sped Lana moves them from Scottsdale, Arizona, 85 00:05:50,520 --> 00:05:54,200 Speaker 1: to Princeton, New Jersey, to Oceanside, California, to La Joya, 86 00:05:54,320 --> 00:05:57,440 Speaker 1: and back to Princeton again. And inside of those cities, 87 00:05:57,480 --> 00:06:00,800 Speaker 1: they're moving from rental houses to purchase ones. Olga is 88 00:06:00,839 --> 00:06:04,200 Speaker 1: in and out of different public and private schools. Why 89 00:06:04,400 --> 00:06:08,760 Speaker 1: was spent Lana so driftless, so lost? Why was it 90 00:06:08,880 --> 00:06:11,919 Speaker 1: that every autumn, as the cold and darkness set in, 91 00:06:12,360 --> 00:06:15,760 Speaker 1: she'd feel the same familiar urge to blow everything up. 92 00:06:17,440 --> 00:06:24,679 Speaker 1: November the dark short days, the time when my mother 93 00:06:24,800 --> 00:06:28,640 Speaker 1: took her life. I felt as if I was sinking 94 00:06:28,640 --> 00:06:33,159 Speaker 1: into dark waters, as it is sometimes in a nightmare 95 00:06:33,240 --> 00:06:37,919 Speaker 1: when water floods everything. And do you know that you 96 00:06:37,960 --> 00:06:44,040 Speaker 1: are doomed? Yet spent Lana is spending off the dark 97 00:06:44,080 --> 00:06:48,520 Speaker 1: waters and she sees dry land ahead Yoho, Captain thar 98 00:06:48,640 --> 00:06:53,360 Speaker 1: Be America, and so in nineteen seventy eight, she's back 99 00:06:53,400 --> 00:06:56,920 Speaker 1: in Princeton once more, and she officially becomes a citizen 100 00:06:57,080 --> 00:07:03,080 Speaker 1: of the United States. Final spet Lana has officially chosen America, 101 00:07:03,440 --> 00:07:07,640 Speaker 1: and America has chosen her. The story is over. Spet 102 00:07:07,720 --> 00:07:13,480 Speaker 1: Lana will never move again until four years later, when 103 00:07:13,520 --> 00:07:16,240 Speaker 1: she says she's done with America, packs up her daughter 104 00:07:16,360 --> 00:07:19,640 Speaker 1: and moves to England. The move comes after a trip 105 00:07:19,640 --> 00:07:22,440 Speaker 1: stet Lana had taken to the English countryside for a 106 00:07:22,480 --> 00:07:27,280 Speaker 1: televised interview with the BBC presenter Malcolm Muggridge. It was 107 00:07:27,320 --> 00:07:29,880 Speaker 1: her first time out of the country since her defection. 108 00:07:30,920 --> 00:07:36,040 Speaker 1: Dear mister Mugridge, I am getting somewhat nervous about meeting 109 00:07:36,040 --> 00:07:39,840 Speaker 1: you in person because I have been and always wanted 110 00:07:39,880 --> 00:07:45,240 Speaker 1: to be an ordinary person. Something about Muggridge's plea resonated 111 00:07:45,280 --> 00:07:48,760 Speaker 1: with her. He seemed interested in spet Lana the person, 112 00:07:49,040 --> 00:07:52,400 Speaker 1: not spet Lana the headline. I have been pushed around 113 00:07:52,400 --> 00:07:56,200 Speaker 1: a lot and developed a certain protective habits to say 114 00:07:56,320 --> 00:08:01,800 Speaker 1: no leave me alone piece. Something in your letters has 115 00:08:01,840 --> 00:08:05,080 Speaker 1: stashed me and I feel I cannot say no to 116 00:08:05,200 --> 00:08:12,920 Speaker 1: you anymore. We connected with the show's producer, Jonathan Steadall Hello, Jonathan. Hello. 117 00:08:13,440 --> 00:08:16,720 Speaker 1: Jonathan had been gardening all morning before our chat. Because 118 00:08:16,720 --> 00:08:20,800 Speaker 1: he's very British. He's also very warm and introspective, and 119 00:08:20,920 --> 00:08:24,640 Speaker 1: his relationship with Stetlana didn't end with the show. We 120 00:08:24,720 --> 00:08:27,640 Speaker 1: finished the filming my wife and I showed her around 121 00:08:27,760 --> 00:08:32,880 Speaker 1: London and she'd never been to England before. A Great Britain, 122 00:08:33,200 --> 00:08:37,160 Speaker 1: damp and monarchical and filled with BBC presenters asking her 123 00:08:37,240 --> 00:08:41,600 Speaker 1: introspective questions. Perhaps England can be her new home, and 124 00:08:41,679 --> 00:08:44,000 Speaker 1: she decided that she wanted to come and live here, 125 00:08:44,720 --> 00:08:54,760 Speaker 1: and she settled in Cambridge. Nineteen eighty two. Bangs are in. 126 00:08:55,240 --> 00:09:00,640 Speaker 1: Prince William comes out of Princess Diana, the Iron Margaret 127 00:09:00,640 --> 00:09:04,480 Speaker 1: Thatcher runs her country with austerity and hawkishness, And just 128 00:09:04,679 --> 00:09:08,120 Speaker 1: like that, to quote Carrie Bradshaw, Speed Lana sells her 129 00:09:08,160 --> 00:09:11,880 Speaker 1: Princeton house, enrolls Olga in a British boarding school, and 130 00:09:11,960 --> 00:09:15,520 Speaker 1: rents a flat in Cambridge, just fifteen miles from her daughter. 131 00:09:17,960 --> 00:09:22,600 Speaker 1: Everything is perfect. Olga fits in beautifully at school and 132 00:09:22,679 --> 00:09:26,080 Speaker 1: in the storied flats of Cambridge. Stet Lana dives back 133 00:09:26,120 --> 00:09:29,439 Speaker 1: into her writing, working on short stories and even penning 134 00:09:29,440 --> 00:09:33,160 Speaker 1: her third memoir called The Faraway music about her time 135 00:09:33,160 --> 00:09:37,800 Speaker 1: at Taliesin. Feeling anonymous again, set Lana is hopeful that 136 00:09:37,880 --> 00:09:41,079 Speaker 1: this time she's finally found her home where she can 137 00:09:41,080 --> 00:09:44,000 Speaker 1: be a writer and a mother and live a completely 138 00:09:44,120 --> 00:09:50,160 Speaker 1: normal life. Svetlana moved to England and then she asked 139 00:09:50,200 --> 00:09:54,320 Speaker 1: me to please not let on that she'd come here 140 00:09:54,480 --> 00:09:58,360 Speaker 1: or where she was, which was fine and I honored that, 141 00:09:58,520 --> 00:10:00,960 Speaker 1: but it was a little bit naive of her to 142 00:10:01,080 --> 00:10:04,720 Speaker 1: think that, you know, the press wouldn't find out if 143 00:10:04,800 --> 00:10:07,080 Speaker 1: that somebody like her who was coming to live here, 144 00:10:07,400 --> 00:10:10,680 Speaker 1: and of course they did. Spet Lana had spent the 145 00:10:10,760 --> 00:10:14,920 Speaker 1: past decade trying to protect Olga, fighting to protect herself. 146 00:10:15,480 --> 00:10:19,000 Speaker 1: She tried to secure them a home, anonymity, freedom, but 147 00:10:19,120 --> 00:10:21,880 Speaker 1: she could only step into the sun and out of 148 00:10:21,880 --> 00:10:27,600 Speaker 1: her father's shadow for so long. One day, the paparazzi 149 00:10:27,720 --> 00:10:30,679 Speaker 1: show up at eleven year old Olga's boarding school in 150 00:10:30,760 --> 00:10:41,800 Speaker 1: search of Stalin's granddaughter. Spe Lana's family secret is out here, 151 00:10:41,880 --> 00:10:46,560 Speaker 1: spet Lana's daughter, as she told it to me, Mom 152 00:10:46,600 --> 00:10:48,560 Speaker 1: had to just basically break down and tell me the 153 00:10:48,600 --> 00:10:53,440 Speaker 1: whole story. I got confined to the house for the 154 00:10:53,520 --> 00:10:58,520 Speaker 1: next three weeks, keeping the curtains drawn, sneaking out in disguises, 155 00:10:59,320 --> 00:11:02,640 Speaker 1: getting carved chases. I mean, it was just ridiculous. It 156 00:11:02,679 --> 00:11:05,000 Speaker 1: was all just weird. I didn't know what to make 157 00:11:05,040 --> 00:11:08,520 Speaker 1: of it. I mean, it was it was not normal. 158 00:11:09,840 --> 00:11:12,800 Speaker 1: On the one hand, this reveal must have been difficult 159 00:11:12,840 --> 00:11:15,760 Speaker 1: for both mother and daughter, but on the other hand 160 00:11:16,160 --> 00:11:20,240 Speaker 1: it must have been incredibly liberating. No more secrets, no 161 00:11:20,320 --> 00:11:23,800 Speaker 1: more lies. The Soviet cat was out of the Babushka, 162 00:11:24,040 --> 00:11:28,600 Speaker 1: as someone somewhere probably says. But that wasn't the only 163 00:11:28,640 --> 00:11:32,920 Speaker 1: secrets fet Lana was keeping. See. Something else was going 164 00:11:32,960 --> 00:11:36,240 Speaker 1: on during this time, something that only spent Lana and 165 00:11:36,280 --> 00:11:39,559 Speaker 1: a few trusted people knew, something that must have felt 166 00:11:39,640 --> 00:11:44,679 Speaker 1: at the same time wildly dangerous and painfully hopeful. Over 167 00:11:44,760 --> 00:11:47,880 Speaker 1: the last decade, speed Lana had been playing a strange 168 00:11:47,960 --> 00:11:51,520 Speaker 1: game of late stage Cold War telephone with her son. 169 00:11:52,160 --> 00:11:55,880 Speaker 1: There were letters and photos in the mail journalists playing Middleman. 170 00:11:56,120 --> 00:11:59,600 Speaker 1: Speed Lana's friend George Kennon, had advised against any further 171 00:11:59,679 --> 00:12:02,800 Speaker 1: con tact. It was too dangerous both for her and 172 00:12:02,960 --> 00:12:08,800 Speaker 1: her son. But all of that changes one December in Cambridge, 173 00:12:11,559 --> 00:12:17,200 Speaker 1: Spetlana is in her flat when the phone rings Mama, 174 00:12:17,800 --> 00:12:20,679 Speaker 1: is that you, asks the gruff voice of her son 175 00:12:20,760 --> 00:12:24,079 Speaker 1: on the other end of the line. Spet Lana's heart 176 00:12:24,120 --> 00:12:26,760 Speaker 1: is a flutter. She remembers the last time they spoke 177 00:12:26,760 --> 00:12:29,680 Speaker 1: at Christmas, when the call was cut short. She knows 178 00:12:29,679 --> 00:12:33,600 Speaker 1: she has to speak and speak quickly. Your voice has changed, 179 00:12:33,640 --> 00:12:36,480 Speaker 1: so she tells her son, who laughs and spits back, 180 00:12:36,880 --> 00:12:40,480 Speaker 1: you too, You speak like a Russian tourist. They chat 181 00:12:40,520 --> 00:12:43,400 Speaker 1: some more, and Joseph gives her his personal phone number, 182 00:12:43,760 --> 00:12:48,920 Speaker 1: and soon they are connected, really connected, Trading phone calls 183 00:12:49,000 --> 00:12:52,680 Speaker 1: back and forth. Spetlana and Olga talk to Josef and 184 00:12:52,760 --> 00:12:56,040 Speaker 1: to his new wife, Luda. Joseph and Nuda even ask 185 00:12:56,120 --> 00:12:59,640 Speaker 1: if Stetlana and Olga could come and visit Russia over 186 00:12:59,679 --> 00:13:02,800 Speaker 1: the net next year or two. More invitations are made, 187 00:13:03,200 --> 00:13:06,280 Speaker 1: Could Joseph come to England? Oh no, maybe spet Lana 188 00:13:06,360 --> 00:13:08,880 Speaker 1: and Olga can meet them in Finland. Why don't you 189 00:13:08,920 --> 00:13:12,200 Speaker 1: come here to Russia. It sounds like they're planning an 190 00:13:12,320 --> 00:13:16,080 Speaker 1: ordinary family vacation, But when you're the descendants of Stalin 191 00:13:16,280 --> 00:13:19,440 Speaker 1: and the Iron Curtain is still hanging tight, this is 192 00:13:19,480 --> 00:13:23,080 Speaker 1: all very high stakes, and there's something about it that 193 00:13:23,240 --> 00:13:28,719 Speaker 1: is unsettling. To Stetlana, I now found it unexpectedly difficult 194 00:13:28,800 --> 00:13:34,040 Speaker 1: to combine my usual life in the West with the 195 00:13:34,200 --> 00:13:40,600 Speaker 1: news from out there, blending the two worlds, it was 196 00:13:40,679 --> 00:13:44,360 Speaker 1: difficult for me. I get separated them in the my 197 00:13:44,520 --> 00:13:49,080 Speaker 1: psyche with wolves. Sveet Lana has a daughter now, a 198 00:13:49,160 --> 00:13:53,040 Speaker 1: completely westernized one. She can see that a return would 199 00:13:53,080 --> 00:13:56,000 Speaker 1: not be an Olga's best interest, and she can see 200 00:13:56,000 --> 00:13:59,200 Speaker 1: that any move, no matter how personal her motivations, will 201 00:13:59,240 --> 00:14:05,320 Speaker 1: be construed as political. And yet the more my mind 202 00:14:05,640 --> 00:14:09,920 Speaker 1: realized what a shock my trip to the USSR would 203 00:14:10,000 --> 00:14:14,679 Speaker 1: be for everyone, the more my heart insisted on it 204 00:14:15,320 --> 00:14:19,760 Speaker 1: for its own reasons. In September nineteen eighty four, Splana 205 00:14:19,800 --> 00:14:27,280 Speaker 1: seeks guidance from her astrological horoscope. It read not to 206 00:14:27,440 --> 00:14:32,440 Speaker 1: make right now any big decisions for clear understanding of 207 00:14:32,560 --> 00:14:40,080 Speaker 1: things is somewhat befogged and an absolutely iconic fashion. She 208 00:14:40,160 --> 00:14:45,120 Speaker 1: does not take this advice. What nonsense, I said to myself, 209 00:14:45,920 --> 00:14:48,680 Speaker 1: and I sat down to write a letter to the 210 00:14:48,800 --> 00:14:52,680 Speaker 1: Soviet ambassador with a request to permit me to return 211 00:14:52,880 --> 00:14:58,120 Speaker 1: to my motherland. Our stateless woman of the world is 212 00:14:58,160 --> 00:15:08,920 Speaker 1: going back to the uss ARE after the break Act 213 00:15:09,040 --> 00:15:13,400 Speaker 1: two there's no place like home. You know that feeling 214 00:15:13,400 --> 00:15:15,760 Speaker 1: you get when you've decided that you are in fact 215 00:15:15,840 --> 00:15:18,800 Speaker 1: going to have pizza for dinner. You've scrolled through all 216 00:15:18,800 --> 00:15:22,600 Speaker 1: the other options but valiantly landed on some za because 217 00:15:22,680 --> 00:15:26,280 Speaker 1: you deserve it. And today has been a day that 218 00:15:26,480 --> 00:15:29,120 Speaker 1: pizza is on its way feeling. I'd like to think 219 00:15:29,160 --> 00:15:32,360 Speaker 1: that's what speed Lana is experiencing as she prepares to 220 00:15:32,400 --> 00:15:35,880 Speaker 1: take a delicious bite of her children. The plan comes 221 00:15:35,880 --> 00:15:39,840 Speaker 1: together faster than she'd ever thought possible. Olga had a 222 00:15:39,960 --> 00:15:42,880 Speaker 1: fall semester break coming up, and speed Lana would use 223 00:15:42,880 --> 00:15:47,000 Speaker 1: that opportunity to take her daughter to Russia. Now there 224 00:15:47,160 --> 00:15:50,880 Speaker 1: is only one problem. She has sort of kind of 225 00:15:51,000 --> 00:15:53,920 Speaker 1: maybe suggested to Olga that the two of them are 226 00:15:54,040 --> 00:15:56,760 Speaker 1: sort of kind of maybe just going on a little 227 00:15:56,840 --> 00:16:00,840 Speaker 1: vacation to Greece at the last possible. In it, the 228 00:16:00,880 --> 00:16:02,840 Speaker 1: truth comes out and she just said, We're going to 229 00:16:02,880 --> 00:16:06,200 Speaker 1: go move to Russia. So I cried, and I cried, 230 00:16:06,240 --> 00:16:07,800 Speaker 1: and I cried, and I cried the whole night, and 231 00:16:07,840 --> 00:16:10,040 Speaker 1: I cried the home warning and then she said, okay, 232 00:16:10,080 --> 00:16:19,240 Speaker 1: we won't, which I think she just lied. So as 233 00:16:19,320 --> 00:16:34,040 Speaker 1: the Beatles once sang Joseph Stalin's daughter, Spethlana, is back 234 00:16:34,040 --> 00:16:37,400 Speaker 1: in the USSR seventeen years after she defected to the West. 235 00:16:37,880 --> 00:16:40,000 Speaker 1: Friends say she never got over the life that she 236 00:16:40,120 --> 00:16:42,920 Speaker 1: left behind. She said that not for one single day 237 00:16:43,080 --> 00:16:45,480 Speaker 1: was she free while in the West. She also said 238 00:16:45,520 --> 00:16:48,520 Speaker 1: that she had complete legal control over her thirteen year 239 00:16:48,560 --> 00:16:51,760 Speaker 1: old American born daughter, Olga, who returned with her to Moscow. 240 00:16:51,840 --> 00:16:54,440 Speaker 1: It's fifty nine years of age. She had decided to 241 00:16:54,520 --> 00:17:00,960 Speaker 1: return home to live with the past. Okay, pawn, let's 242 00:17:00,960 --> 00:17:03,640 Speaker 1: take a moment to reflect on this. The Princess of 243 00:17:03,680 --> 00:17:06,760 Speaker 1: the Kremlin is on her way back to the USSR, 244 00:17:07,160 --> 00:17:10,200 Speaker 1: the land of ice, skates and communism, where the roads 245 00:17:10,240 --> 00:17:15,119 Speaker 1: are paved with caviar and borshed. This is, of course 246 00:17:15,280 --> 00:17:19,240 Speaker 1: a big flipping deal. The USSR is in decline, the 247 00:17:19,359 --> 00:17:22,880 Speaker 1: Soviets are bolstering Joseph Stalin's memory as the World War 248 00:17:22,920 --> 00:17:26,680 Speaker 1: Two hero who defeated the Nazis, and now his daughter, 249 00:17:26,720 --> 00:17:30,359 Speaker 1: the Princess of the Kremlin, is undeffecting proving that life 250 00:17:30,359 --> 00:17:33,440 Speaker 1: in Russia is as good as it gets. Trading capitalism 251 00:17:33,520 --> 00:17:37,320 Speaker 1: back in for communism, well, that's a hot piece of propaganda. 252 00:17:37,400 --> 00:17:40,439 Speaker 1: But when Spetlana arrives in Moscow. She doesn't want the 253 00:17:40,480 --> 00:17:43,720 Speaker 1: big press conference, she doesn't want to give interviews. All 254 00:17:43,760 --> 00:17:46,520 Speaker 1: she wants is to go somewhere quiet and private and 255 00:17:46,720 --> 00:17:49,680 Speaker 1: hug the sun she hasn't touched in almost two decades. 256 00:17:50,440 --> 00:17:53,440 Speaker 1: At first speed, Lana and Olga have to do some boring, 257 00:17:53,480 --> 00:17:57,240 Speaker 1: bureaucratic shit meeting with a committee of Soviet women, getting 258 00:17:57,320 --> 00:18:01,920 Speaker 1: ushered from room to room handing over their passports. But 259 00:18:02,080 --> 00:18:10,159 Speaker 1: finally the moment arrives. The Hotel Sovietsky sits right in 260 00:18:10,200 --> 00:18:14,040 Speaker 1: the middle of Moscow. It is a big, brown, impressive structure. 261 00:18:14,600 --> 00:18:20,480 Speaker 1: Inside the decor is nineteenth century chic chandeliers, ornate moldings, pillars, 262 00:18:20,600 --> 00:18:24,720 Speaker 1: burgundy carpets, Golden crowned birds peek out of corners, just 263 00:18:24,840 --> 00:18:27,920 Speaker 1: to remind you that here there are golden crowned birds. 264 00:18:31,520 --> 00:18:36,160 Speaker 1: This is the grandiose, ostentatious landing pad for spet Lana, 265 00:18:36,200 --> 00:18:39,080 Speaker 1: A woman who had never been one for pomp and circumstance, 266 00:18:40,640 --> 00:18:43,920 Speaker 1: she cares little for the backdrop. What she cares about 267 00:18:44,359 --> 00:18:47,359 Speaker 1: is the man who awaits her, and finally, in the 268 00:18:47,480 --> 00:18:51,720 Speaker 1: white marbled lobby she sees him. Her thirty nine year 269 00:18:51,720 --> 00:18:59,280 Speaker 1: old son, Joseph. They embrace quickly. Here she is holding 270 00:18:59,320 --> 00:19:04,040 Speaker 1: her son, him holding her. It had been nearly eighteen years. 271 00:19:06,200 --> 00:19:09,320 Speaker 1: When she releases herself from the overdue hug, she sees 272 00:19:09,320 --> 00:19:12,280 Speaker 1: who else is with him Her ex husband, Joseph's father, 273 00:19:12,600 --> 00:19:15,520 Speaker 1: and a woman in her mid fifties with grayish permed 274 00:19:15,520 --> 00:19:20,600 Speaker 1: hair Spedlana assumes that this woman is her ex husband's 275 00:19:20,640 --> 00:19:25,399 Speaker 1: new wife, but then Joseph intervenes Mama. He says, this 276 00:19:25,720 --> 00:19:30,680 Speaker 1: is Luda Svetlana is taken aback. She describes Luda as 277 00:19:30,800 --> 00:19:33,720 Speaker 1: portly more than once in her writing, and can't fathom 278 00:19:33,760 --> 00:19:37,119 Speaker 1: how Joseph has married someone his mother's age. But that 279 00:19:37,280 --> 00:19:40,720 Speaker 1: was just the start of her concerns. He looks much 280 00:19:40,720 --> 00:19:44,919 Speaker 1: older than he's thirty nine years, somewhat boldish, with somewhat 281 00:19:44,920 --> 00:19:50,240 Speaker 1: of tummy. Nothing he's left of that slim, quick boy 282 00:19:50,320 --> 00:19:56,480 Speaker 1: with shining eyes. The other weird thing is that though 283 00:19:56,560 --> 00:19:59,639 Speaker 1: Joseph was fluent in English, he says not one word 284 00:19:59,680 --> 00:20:02,919 Speaker 1: to his English speaking little sister. He merely looks thirteen 285 00:20:03,000 --> 00:20:07,280 Speaker 1: year old Olga up and down at dinner. Things get 286 00:20:07,320 --> 00:20:11,359 Speaker 1: even more awkward speed Lana's first husband, Joseph's father tries 287 00:20:11,400 --> 00:20:15,480 Speaker 1: to make conversation in Russian, but Olga doesn't understand anything. 288 00:20:15,960 --> 00:20:19,000 Speaker 1: Joseph holds his mother's hand throughout the meal, but he 289 00:20:19,040 --> 00:20:23,440 Speaker 1: remains silent. Speed Lana can feel her heart breaking. Her 290 00:20:23,520 --> 00:20:27,080 Speaker 1: daughter Kacha doesn't show up at all. My sister was 291 00:20:27,240 --> 00:20:33,359 Speaker 1: never in on this. She was absolutely Communist. She turned 292 00:20:33,359 --> 00:20:36,280 Speaker 1: her back on my mother when she defected, and that 293 00:20:36,440 --> 00:20:39,080 Speaker 1: was it. And she's lived on top of this volcano. 294 00:20:40,000 --> 00:20:43,199 Speaker 1: A quick aside, this is not a Russian euphemism that 295 00:20:43,240 --> 00:20:48,200 Speaker 1: doesn't translate. Speed Lana's daughter literally became a geophysicist studying 296 00:20:48,280 --> 00:20:56,560 Speaker 1: volcanoes in the remote peninsula known as Kumchatka. So not 297 00:20:56,720 --> 00:21:01,080 Speaker 1: exactly the reunion anyone was hoping for. After dinner, things 298 00:21:01,119 --> 00:21:05,280 Speaker 1: go from awkward to hostile. Stetlana is harassed by the 299 00:21:05,320 --> 00:21:08,200 Speaker 1: press and police on the street. When things get tense, 300 00:21:08,600 --> 00:21:12,600 Speaker 1: she loses her cool. The daughter of Joseph Stalin was 301 00:21:12,640 --> 00:21:15,960 Speaker 1: not happy about her involuntary meeting with Western newsman. Today, 302 00:21:16,200 --> 00:21:20,080 Speaker 1: you have savages, you have un civilized people. She wasn't 303 00:21:20,119 --> 00:21:23,240 Speaker 1: about to tell where her daughter Olga was either. Look 304 00:21:23,280 --> 00:21:28,639 Speaker 1: your blood business. It was just a front line of 305 00:21:28,680 --> 00:21:32,280 Speaker 1: paparazzi outside the front I wouldn't know until years later 306 00:21:32,720 --> 00:21:37,200 Speaker 1: that that's how people who I knew here, my father included. 307 00:21:38,000 --> 00:21:42,639 Speaker 1: We're keeping tabs on us West alleges that Stetlana kidnapped Olga, 308 00:21:42,840 --> 00:21:45,920 Speaker 1: intensifying the media circus. There are ferrish tonight for the 309 00:21:45,960 --> 00:21:49,360 Speaker 1: happiness of a thirteen year old California born girl named Olga. 310 00:21:50,040 --> 00:21:53,320 Speaker 1: She happens to be the granddaughter of Soviet dictator Joseph Stalin. 311 00:21:53,680 --> 00:21:57,280 Speaker 1: Olga's father, William Wesley Peters, thinks that the girl may 312 00:21:57,280 --> 00:22:00,760 Speaker 1: have been taken against her will. Stetlana and Olga are 313 00:22:00,840 --> 00:22:04,879 Speaker 1: under constant state surveillance. Missus Ali Lujeva is staying at 314 00:22:04,880 --> 00:22:08,399 Speaker 1: a hotel where the Soviets often house visiting dignitaries. The 315 00:22:08,520 --> 00:22:12,960 Speaker 1: hotel is under constant guard from uniformed and plane closed police. 316 00:22:13,480 --> 00:22:16,720 Speaker 1: Sources have told CBS News that she is staying as 317 00:22:16,720 --> 00:22:19,360 Speaker 1: a guest of the government. All her expenses are being 318 00:22:19,359 --> 00:22:22,280 Speaker 1: picked up by the state, and where Spitlana had once 319 00:22:22,280 --> 00:22:25,600 Speaker 1: felt like a quote Cia pet she now felt like 320 00:22:25,640 --> 00:22:29,200 Speaker 1: a KGB puppets. Any decision to talk to the press 321 00:22:29,280 --> 00:22:32,640 Speaker 1: officially would probably be made by the Soviet Foreign Ministry, 322 00:22:32,840 --> 00:22:35,520 Speaker 1: which he has organized. News conferences in the past for 323 00:22:35,520 --> 00:22:39,080 Speaker 1: former defectors, they are usually trundled out before the cameras. 324 00:22:39,320 --> 00:22:42,200 Speaker 1: They denounced the West, endorse the Soviets, and when they're 325 00:22:42,200 --> 00:22:46,520 Speaker 1: no longer needed, they usually fade from public view. Oh 326 00:22:46,680 --> 00:22:50,399 Speaker 1: if only they would let Spelana fade. Everywhere she goes, 327 00:22:50,440 --> 00:22:54,840 Speaker 1: she's being watched, questioned, lampooned. All of this might have 328 00:22:54,920 --> 00:22:58,119 Speaker 1: been bearable worth it even if Spitlana had gotten what 329 00:22:58,240 --> 00:23:02,240 Speaker 1: she'd come for, a happy little family reunion. But instead 330 00:23:02,680 --> 00:23:06,359 Speaker 1: she rarely sees Josef, and when she does, the encounters 331 00:23:06,400 --> 00:23:10,000 Speaker 1: are so icy Joseph's father has to step in. Sped 332 00:23:10,080 --> 00:23:16,400 Speaker 1: Lana writes leave with Freese together alone. She and Olga 333 00:23:16,440 --> 00:23:18,919 Speaker 1: would both come to believe that her son and his 334 00:23:18,960 --> 00:23:22,040 Speaker 1: wife were in cahoots with the KGB, that they'd simply 335 00:23:22,119 --> 00:23:24,440 Speaker 1: done their part in an effort to get her back 336 00:23:24,480 --> 00:23:29,880 Speaker 1: onto Soviet soil, and it was all just reeked of KGB. 337 00:23:30,520 --> 00:23:33,399 Speaker 1: There's no other way that they would be able to 338 00:23:33,560 --> 00:23:36,280 Speaker 1: call each other. She would later go on to say 339 00:23:36,320 --> 00:23:37,879 Speaker 1: that it was I mean, it's definitely pulling out her 340 00:23:37,880 --> 00:23:41,280 Speaker 1: heart strings, but it was all staged. Russia got its 341 00:23:41,280 --> 00:23:44,879 Speaker 1: marker back, Russia got its mascot. Just like when Svetlana 342 00:23:44,920 --> 00:23:48,480 Speaker 1: flew to talies In West under the pretense of finding family, 343 00:23:48,840 --> 00:23:52,840 Speaker 1: she now finds herself in Moscow, useful for only her name. 344 00:23:53,359 --> 00:23:56,120 Speaker 1: Her son is married to a woman her age, her 345 00:23:56,200 --> 00:23:59,600 Speaker 1: daughter is married to a volcano, and Moscow feels like 346 00:23:59,640 --> 00:24:06,320 Speaker 1: a huge graveyard, sad and isolated. It's November again. She's lost, 347 00:24:06,480 --> 00:24:10,480 Speaker 1: She's trapped. She wants to go home. But where is home. 348 00:24:11,359 --> 00:24:15,520 Speaker 1: It wasn't tally Essen, it was in California, it wasn't Princeton, 349 00:24:15,600 --> 00:24:18,440 Speaker 1: it wasn't England. And now for sure she knows it's 350 00:24:18,520 --> 00:24:22,840 Speaker 1: not Moscow. Much like after I've eaten that entire pizza 351 00:24:22,880 --> 00:24:26,879 Speaker 1: by myself, steed Lana was filled with guilt and unable 352 00:24:26,920 --> 00:24:32,960 Speaker 1: to sleep. And then, suddenly, amidst the sleepless night of 353 00:24:33,000 --> 00:24:38,440 Speaker 1: anxiety and doubt, emerged the image of a country where 354 00:24:38,520 --> 00:24:47,280 Speaker 1: were born, leaved, married. Almost all my ancestors ah Georgia, 355 00:24:47,720 --> 00:24:51,359 Speaker 1: a fragrant land full of old stone churches cut into 356 00:24:51,400 --> 00:24:55,960 Speaker 1: the hills, fine arden, storied history. If anywhere was home, 357 00:24:56,200 --> 00:25:00,280 Speaker 1: it was the home of her ancestors. When st Lana 358 00:25:00,320 --> 00:25:03,280 Speaker 1: flew to Taliesin to meet Olga Vana, she had been 359 00:25:03,320 --> 00:25:07,240 Speaker 1: seduced by the idea of being near a Balkan maternal figure. 360 00:25:07,640 --> 00:25:11,040 Speaker 1: Georgia was full of them. If anywhere was home, it 361 00:25:11,119 --> 00:25:18,159 Speaker 1: was the home of her ancestors. As much as I 362 00:25:18,240 --> 00:25:21,000 Speaker 1: want to honor speed Lana's line of thinking here, I 363 00:25:21,080 --> 00:25:24,119 Speaker 1: do want to point out that this late night revelation 364 00:25:24,240 --> 00:25:27,320 Speaker 1: slash decision to move, this is all part of a 365 00:25:27,400 --> 00:25:31,919 Speaker 1: cycle that she just keeps repeating again and again. But 366 00:25:32,080 --> 00:25:35,800 Speaker 1: what's interesting, or maybe just sad, is that this cycle 367 00:25:35,880 --> 00:25:40,800 Speaker 1: had previously taken years. Now it's tightening. No sooner does 368 00:25:40,880 --> 00:25:44,640 Speaker 1: fet Lana declare someplace home than she declares it her prison. 369 00:25:46,400 --> 00:25:50,240 Speaker 1: So two months after their arrival in Moscow, sped Lana 370 00:25:50,400 --> 00:25:52,919 Speaker 1: yang Solga out of her public school, and mother and 371 00:25:53,000 --> 00:25:56,560 Speaker 1: daughter head south across the border, over the range of 372 00:25:56,560 --> 00:26:01,080 Speaker 1: the Caucasus Mountains to the capital of Georgia, to Tubilisi. 373 00:26:04,560 --> 00:26:07,879 Speaker 1: Georgia is a place of great meaning, where both sides 374 00:26:07,880 --> 00:26:11,760 Speaker 1: of Speedlana's family had lived, crossed paths and changed the 375 00:26:11,800 --> 00:26:15,080 Speaker 1: course of history, Where the Bolsheviks had rallied, and where 376 00:26:15,080 --> 00:26:18,840 Speaker 1: the Alla Lujevs had sheltered a young Yosep Jugashvili, the 377 00:26:18,920 --> 00:26:23,720 Speaker 1: man who would become Joseph Stalin, which means Joseph Man 378 00:26:23,720 --> 00:26:27,040 Speaker 1: of Steel, which sounds like a great porn star name. Honestly, 379 00:26:28,240 --> 00:26:31,080 Speaker 1: speed Lana had been running from her father for most 380 00:26:31,119 --> 00:26:35,320 Speaker 1: of her life. Now she was heading right back to 381 00:26:35,359 --> 00:26:49,480 Speaker 1: where he'd been born and raised. After the break, Act 382 00:26:49,760 --> 00:26:56,240 Speaker 1: three a repeat of Act one, it's time for some 383 00:26:56,440 --> 00:27:04,119 Speaker 1: fun facts about Georgia or Fag for short. Georgia is 384 00:27:04,160 --> 00:27:08,919 Speaker 1: considered the birthplace of wine. Georgia has twelve climate zones. 385 00:27:09,520 --> 00:27:13,040 Speaker 1: Georgia the country is not the same as Georgia the state, 386 00:27:14,080 --> 00:27:17,600 Speaker 1: and in December of nineteen eighty four, Georgia becomes the 387 00:27:17,640 --> 00:27:21,800 Speaker 1: new home of sped Lana and Olga Peters. The Times 388 00:27:21,800 --> 00:27:25,399 Speaker 1: of London reports they've been allocated a flat in a 389 00:27:25,480 --> 00:27:30,320 Speaker 1: prestige block reserve for Georgian VIPs. They're offered a car 390 00:27:30,359 --> 00:27:34,359 Speaker 1: and chauffeur. The Soviets are trying hard to keep Splana happy, 391 00:27:34,840 --> 00:27:39,040 Speaker 1: but it seems to make her squirm. Here's Rosemary Selana 392 00:27:39,119 --> 00:27:43,040 Speaker 1: was given so many things to keep her there, including 393 00:27:43,080 --> 00:27:46,919 Speaker 1: it all, chauffeur, wonderful apartment, all of which she refused 394 00:27:47,280 --> 00:27:50,560 Speaker 1: in the name of her own integrity. Sped Lana and 395 00:27:50,640 --> 00:27:55,120 Speaker 1: her daughter visit Stalin's birthplace, the town of Gory. They 396 00:27:55,160 --> 00:27:57,760 Speaker 1: find that it's something of a shrine. There's even a 397 00:27:57,880 --> 00:28:03,000 Speaker 1: Joseph Stalin museum built around his childhood home, glorifying his life. 398 00:28:03,400 --> 00:28:07,159 Speaker 1: Sveetlana tries to bite her tongue. I already seemed to 399 00:28:07,240 --> 00:28:12,280 Speaker 1: be a somewhat strange bird to the Georgians. Anyway, the 400 00:28:12,359 --> 00:28:15,040 Speaker 1: admirers of my father thought I did not pay enough 401 00:28:15,080 --> 00:28:19,400 Speaker 1: respect and attention to his memory. Either Slana was hated 402 00:28:19,560 --> 00:28:22,600 Speaker 1: as the daughter Stalin or loved as the daughter Stalin 403 00:28:23,200 --> 00:28:26,880 Speaker 1: and as speed. Lana is yearning for home, yearning for family, 404 00:28:27,040 --> 00:28:30,800 Speaker 1: Feeling lost and confused and pulled in different directions. She 405 00:28:30,960 --> 00:28:35,480 Speaker 1: finally hears from her daughter Katya, who closes her incendiary 406 00:28:35,560 --> 00:28:41,200 Speaker 1: letter with the Latin phrase dixit, meaning she has spoken great? 407 00:28:42,240 --> 00:28:45,400 Speaker 1: Is anyone else getting a little deja vu? Like? Haven't 408 00:28:45,400 --> 00:28:48,280 Speaker 1: we been stuck inside of the Soviet Union? Feeling like 409 00:28:48,440 --> 00:28:52,680 Speaker 1: upon feeling misunderstood, cast hopelessly in the eternal role as 410 00:28:52,720 --> 00:28:56,280 Speaker 1: a child of Stalin before. It's the kind of thing 411 00:28:56,520 --> 00:29:02,480 Speaker 1: that would make someone want to undeffect Ah, not Russia anymore, 412 00:29:02,920 --> 00:29:05,720 Speaker 1: away with the Soviets and the handlers and the people 413 00:29:05,760 --> 00:29:09,720 Speaker 1: obsessed with Stalin, and not in a good way. The 414 00:29:09,920 --> 00:29:12,760 Speaker 1: story of how spet Lana and her daughter Olga got 415 00:29:12,800 --> 00:29:15,120 Speaker 1: out of Russia in the spring of nineteen eighty six 416 00:29:15,680 --> 00:29:19,239 Speaker 1: is really interesting, and I would so tell it to you, 417 00:29:19,920 --> 00:29:24,240 Speaker 1: But the thing is you already know it. It's happened before. 418 00:29:29,080 --> 00:29:33,360 Speaker 1: This second Soviet defection is begging for passports, leaving in 419 00:29:33,400 --> 00:29:36,200 Speaker 1: the middle of the night, working diplomats on both sides 420 00:29:36,200 --> 00:29:39,920 Speaker 1: of the globe, even a pit stop in Switzerland. There 421 00:29:39,920 --> 00:29:43,600 Speaker 1: are car chases and paparazzi for Olga, and no certainty 422 00:29:43,680 --> 00:29:46,320 Speaker 1: for spet Lana until she touches down in the United 423 00:29:46,320 --> 00:29:50,760 Speaker 1: States of America. Even set Lana can see it's ridiculous. 424 00:29:51,680 --> 00:29:56,840 Speaker 1: In the fut beg the movie infot amateurish screen the 425 00:29:56,920 --> 00:30:01,600 Speaker 1: play with a fledgling writer dare to arrange all the 426 00:30:01,640 --> 00:30:05,320 Speaker 1: events in facts so as to repeat the final scene 427 00:30:05,520 --> 00:30:11,120 Speaker 1: with the opening scene in such detail. In my life, 428 00:30:11,200 --> 00:30:15,440 Speaker 1: it was as if some joker playwright was doing just that, 429 00:30:16,360 --> 00:30:22,560 Speaker 1: forcing me down his chalk line in a repeat of ACTE. 430 00:30:23,120 --> 00:30:29,360 Speaker 1: For the record, that joker playwright is me. Olga goes 431 00:30:29,400 --> 00:30:31,680 Speaker 1: back to boarding school in England, where all of her 432 00:30:31,720 --> 00:30:35,320 Speaker 1: classmates have carried on without her. The late Soviet dictator 433 00:30:35,400 --> 00:30:38,960 Speaker 1: Joseph Stalham's granddaughter went back to school in the West. Today, 434 00:30:39,400 --> 00:30:42,480 Speaker 1: Olga Pedios arrived at the Quaker boarding school she attends 435 00:30:42,480 --> 00:30:45,360 Speaker 1: in England. It was a tearful reunion with the classmate 436 00:30:45,440 --> 00:30:48,040 Speaker 1: she left eighteen months ago when she went back to 437 00:30:48,080 --> 00:30:51,280 Speaker 1: the Soviet Union with her mother. Olga speaks to reporters 438 00:30:51,320 --> 00:30:53,880 Speaker 1: waiting for her at her school, telling them that she 439 00:30:54,040 --> 00:30:57,360 Speaker 1: doesn't regret the experience, she's glad to be back, and 440 00:30:57,400 --> 00:31:00,400 Speaker 1: that she and her Russian family simply quote, didn't know 441 00:31:00,440 --> 00:31:03,480 Speaker 1: what to say to each other. And Stetlana goes back 442 00:31:03,520 --> 00:31:07,040 Speaker 1: to the US and hides out in a farmhouse in 443 00:31:07,080 --> 00:31:12,320 Speaker 1: the driftless Wisconsin. Stetlana, I'll llow you Jeva is back 444 00:31:12,320 --> 00:31:15,040 Speaker 1: in the United States tonight, after once again abandoning the 445 00:31:15,120 --> 00:31:18,120 Speaker 1: Soviet Union. The daughter of the late Soviet dictator Joseph 446 00:31:18,120 --> 00:31:22,120 Speaker 1: Stalin is staying with friends in Wisconsin. That's right, of 447 00:31:22,160 --> 00:31:25,120 Speaker 1: all the places she could have gone, Stetlana is living 448 00:31:25,240 --> 00:31:29,840 Speaker 1: once again, mere miles from tally Essen. When I think 449 00:31:29,880 --> 00:31:33,240 Speaker 1: about this chapter of stet Lana's life, bursting out of 450 00:31:33,280 --> 00:31:37,560 Speaker 1: Moscow again, landing with international fanfare. Back in the English 451 00:31:37,560 --> 00:31:41,600 Speaker 1: speaking West again, I can't help but think that Stetlana 452 00:31:41,720 --> 00:31:45,400 Speaker 1: had not only repeated her escape from Soviet Russia, but 453 00:31:45,520 --> 00:31:50,000 Speaker 1: she had unwittingly forced Olga to do it too. So 454 00:31:50,080 --> 00:31:54,840 Speaker 1: now look at them, tornadoing around the globe, uprooting themselves 455 00:31:54,840 --> 00:31:59,040 Speaker 1: and everything in their path. Olga wants stability, speed, Lana 456 00:31:59,240 --> 00:32:04,240 Speaker 1: wants home. What do they have left each other? And 457 00:32:04,440 --> 00:32:08,400 Speaker 1: the story of it all on the next and final 458 00:32:08,440 --> 00:32:16,280 Speaker 1: episode of Setana spet Lana. St Lana. Stet Lana is 459 00:32:16,360 --> 00:32:20,240 Speaker 1: a production of iHeart Podcasts and the documentary group I'm 460 00:32:20,280 --> 00:32:23,280 Speaker 1: Your Host Dan Katroser. The show was written and produced 461 00:32:23,320 --> 00:32:26,840 Speaker 1: by me Adam Weber, Alison Joy, and Katherine Isaac. We 462 00:32:27,000 --> 00:32:30,719 Speaker 1: also serve as executive producers at the documentary group. Our 463 00:32:30,800 --> 00:32:34,719 Speaker 1: executive producer is Joe Batzilouts, with production oversight by Stacy 464 00:32:34,840 --> 00:32:39,360 Speaker 1: Kleiger an additional support from Tom Yellen and Gabrielle tenenbau Our. 465 00:32:39,400 --> 00:32:43,840 Speaker 1: iHeart team is supervising producer Casey Pegram and executive producer 466 00:32:43,960 --> 00:32:48,240 Speaker 1: Maya Howard, editing assistants from producers Christina Lorenger and Joey 467 00:32:48,320 --> 00:32:53,920 Speaker 1: pat Original music by Elan Iszakoff. Production counsel by Slas Eckhouse, 468 00:32:53,960 --> 00:32:58,760 Speaker 1: Dasty Haynes, Locko, Clearance counsel by Ballard Sparr. Fact checking 469 00:32:58,800 --> 00:33:03,120 Speaker 1: assistance by Megan Trout. Special thanks to my husband Jordan Siegel. 470 00:33:03,760 --> 00:33:07,840 Speaker 1: Excerpts from Spetlana Alieva's book, A Book for Granddaughters are 471 00:33:07,920 --> 00:33:09,680 Speaker 1: performed by Cassie Greer