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terrorists threatened their security. Tormented by fear, Soviet citizens clung to Stalin for guidance and protection, and soon his popularity reached cult status. “The father of all Soviet children” smiled and waved at his supporters during parades and celebrations, while at night, in his Kremlin office, he was signing orders for innocent people to be shot without trial.
    Paradoxically, when I was growing up in the 1960s Soviet Union, few people of my generation were aware of what had transpired under Stalin. During his lifetime, the crimes had been carried out in absolute secrecy. After
his death, the secrecy continued: All evidence was classified or destroyed. Older generations, either still terrified or responsible for the crimes, kept silent.
    But Stalin could not simply disappear; his legacy endured in the Russian people. They had lived in fear for so long that fear had become an integral part of their very beings. Unchecked, fear was passed on from generation to generation. It has been passed on to me, as well.
    This book is my attempt to expose and confront that fear. Like my main character, I wanted to be a Young Pioneer. My family shared a communal apartment. My father was a devoted Communist. And like my main character, I, too, had to make a choice. My choice was about whether to leave the country of my birth.
    I set this story in the past, but the main issue in it transcends time and place. To this day, there are places in the world where innocent people face persecution and death for making a choice about what they believe to be right.
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    â€”Eugene Yelchin
Los Angeles, California

Henry Holt ® is a registered trademark of Henry Holt and Company, LLC.
    Copyright © 2011 by Eugene Yelchin
    All rights reserved.
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    Henry Holt and Company, LLC
Publishers since 1866
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    eISBN 9781429949958
    First eBook Edition : August 2011
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    Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Yelchin, Eugene.
Breaking Stalin’s nose / Eugene Yelchin.—1st ed.
p. cm.
Summary: In the Stalinist era of the Soviet Union, ten-year-old Sasha idolizes his
father, a devoted Communist, but when police take his father away and leave Sasha
homeless, he is forced to examine his own perceptions, values, and beliefs.
    ISBN 978-0-8050-9216-5 (hc)
    1. Soviet Union—History—1925–1953—Juvenile fiction.
[1. Soviet Union—History—1925–1953—Fiction. 2. Communism—Fiction.
3. Fathers and sons—Fiction.] I. Title.
PZ7.Y3766Br 2011 [Fic]—dc22 2011005792
    First Edition—2011 / Designed by April Ward
    Graphite on paper was used to create the illustrations for this book.