Garryson Solsberi American journalist, historian, writer. Country: USA

Biography of Harrison Salisbury

Harrison Salisbury was an American journalist, historian, and writer. He was born in the state of Minnesota and graduated from the university there. Salisbury began his career as an assistant editor-administrator for the newspaper "The New York Times".

During World War II, Salisbury was appointed as the head of the United Press International (UPI) agency in London after the United States entered the war. He covered the progress of the war in England, North Africa, the Middle East, and the USSR. Salisbury lived and worked in China for a long time. He first visited the Soviet Union in January 1944 as the head of the UPI bureau. During this time, he and a group of American journalists visited the recently liberated city of Leningrad. In 1949, after the addition of staff from "The New York Times", Salisbury was once again sent to the USSR, where he spent nearly 6 years. He traveled extensively throughout the country, visiting its most remote corners and meeting with politicians, scientists, and cultural figures. He regularly published articles on political and social issues in "The New York Times". Salisbury authored over 20 books, including two novels. His series of essays for the newspaper "Russia - New Review" earned him the Pulitzer Prize. Among his books about the USSR are "An American in Russia" (1955), "Moscow Journal - The End of Stalin" (1961), "Russia in Progress", "New Russia?" (1962), and "The Case of the 'Northern Palmyra'" (1962, about Leningrad and its residents). In his memoirs, "A Journey for Our Times" (New York, 1983), Salisbury dedicated a significant portion to Russia.

His most famous work is the historical research "The 900 Days: The Siege of Leningrad" (1969), which was released in Russian in 1973 in New York and in 1993 in Moscow under the title "900 Days". In the book, Salisbury claimed that he had collected materials and studied numerous documents in Soviet archives for 25 years. He stated, "Thousands of books, articles, and memoirs have been written about the battle for Leningrad and the siege. Yet we still do not have a complete and clear picture of the events experienced by the participants in these grand tragedies and heroic deeds. Much remains unexplored, some has been concealed, distorted... Even experts do not have a consensus, for example, on the aggressor's plans for Leningrad or our high-level military and political circles' plans for its defense, or the balance of power in the Northwestern region. What led to the blockade of the city on the Neva? Could the mass deaths from hunger and disease in 1941-1942 have been prevented? Was there proper order, care, and justice for the citizens in the besieged fortress? What role did the country's leadership, the leaders of the city on the front, and those who headed them play in all of this?"

Salisbury's book "900 Days" can be considered a comprehensive study of the heroic defense of Leningrad. First published in America in 1969, it has been reprinted multiple times and translated into many European languages. For understandable reasons, the book was not available to our readers for a long time. However, as mentioned in the introduction by A. Adamovich, the crumbling system could no longer resist another truth. "To see ourselves, our country through someone else's eyes, from the outside, is always a revelation. If the view is deep, intelligent, and honest. But we lived our 20th century apart from everyone else, not really taking into account the opinions and assessments of others. We sought praise in mockery, in the condemning cries of our enemies. The more enemies there were, the more correct our path seemed. Therefore, it is logical that even our friends managed to turn into enemies. It is amazing that friends were repeatedly discovered among us who stood firmly, despite everything we did. Most often, these public figures and writers were not enthusiastic about our system, but they respected and valued our people, and many genuinely loved us. This was the case with the American Harrison Salisbury. His book was not translated for a long time. We sorted and separated everyone who wrote about us, spoke about us, and evaluated us from the outside. Even John Reed no longer satisfied us: how dare he write and speak about those whom we later imprisoned, shot, and cursed? At one point, Stalin even banned the publication of any documents, memoirs, especially those of military leaders, about the Great Patriotic War. It was believed that for an understanding of the history of the Civil War, Lenin's "Short Course" was enough, and here we could get by with Stalin's brochure compiled from his speeches! ... Stalin estimated our losses in the Great Patriotic War at 7 million ("Do not upset the Soviet people!"). This mocking remark by the "great humanist" influenced the entire literary and publishing policy, even in the years when we turned to the blockade as a topic with Granin (in the mid-70s). Although at that time, the official figure was the "Khrushchev" one - 20 million.

The blockade of Leningrad, the death of so many people, continued in the "Leningrad Case". Stalin and the System were never satisfied. In the late 1940s, almost all prominent leaders of the blockade were arrested and eliminated by the Kremlin jackals, whom Stalin teased and bestowed power upon. They did not please even John Reed, who dared to write and speak about those whom we later imprisoned, shot, and cursed. Our country banned for a long time the publication of any documents, memoirs, especially those of military leaders, about the Great Patriotic War. It was believed that Lenin's "Short Course" was enough to understand the history of the Civil War, and here we could make do with Stalin's brochure compiled from his speeches! ... Stalin estimated our losses in the Great Patriotic War at 7 million ("Do not upset the Soviet people!"). This mocking remark by the "great humanist" influenced the entire literary and publishing policy, even in the years when we turned to the blockade as a topic with Granin (in the mid-70s). Although at that time, the official figure was the "Khrushchev" one - 20 million.

Someone like Salisbury, with his book depicting not only the suffering and hardships of the besieged city but also extremes such as cannibalism, undoubtedly disrupted the strictly defined balance of emotions and feelings for our people. Not to intensify, not to pour salt on wounds! People will mourn the victims of the Great Patriotic War, raising the temperature of memory with all these Khatyns and blockades, and there, you see, they will remember and mourn even the old victims, and they will start counting the cost of Lenin's experiment for our people. Thus, Salisbury's book, which also portrayed such extremes as cannibalism, disrupted the strictly defined balance of emotions and feelings for our people. Not to intensify, not to pour salt on wounds! People will mourn the victims of the Great Patriotic War, raising the temperature of memory with all these Khatyns and blockades, and there, you see, they will remember and mourn even the old victims, and they will start counting the cost of Lenin's experiment for our people. Typically, Salisbury's book faced severe criticism in an article by A. Shchelokov and N. Komarov titled "The Defense of Leningrad in the False Light of Mr. Salisbury" (Military-Historical Journal, 1970). In 1999, "The Blockade Encyclopedia" was published in Moscow, and Salisbury was given only 4 lines in it.