This is the true and striking story by a Jewish doctor of his struggle for survival when caught in 1939 between the evils of Nazi Germany and Stalin's Russia. After facing death from frontier patrols, a firing squad and torture, Urban arrives at a position of considerable power in Soviet society in a medical post. He risks his life again, fighting epidemics. These fascinating memoirs give a rare glimpse of the Soviet Union in wartime, particularly into the exotic life of the Moscow élite, where beautiful women, diplomats and spies mingled at parties, and sex was used as a method of recruiting agents. Compassionate to the sick, defiant to authority, Garri S. Urban courageously insisted on his own way, even in the face of death. He tells his remarkable tale as boldly as he lived it. "A most remarkable man . a most remarkable book" The Observer "Written with the narrative skill of a professional, this book became an international best seller." The Times