Between Memory and Exile: The Iranian Experience of the Soviet GULAG

• In Event: Exile Memory and the Connection to the Homeland through Narratives of Displacement and Return

Abstract

This paper explores No One Dies Old in Magadan, the memoir of Dr. Ata Safari, an Iranian
communist who fled to the Soviet Union seeking refuge but was instead imprisoned in Siberia.
Unlike Russian accounts that focus on Soviet citizens, this study examines how Iranian exiles
experienced and remembered the GULAG, using theories of memory and exile to show how
Siberia became a lasting symbol of betrayal and displacement. By examining Safari’s narrative,
this study underscores the distinctive challenges faced by foreign prisoners in the USSR and the
enduring impact of exile on personal and collective identity

Author

• Mahshid Hosseinian, U of Southern California