The Soul of Viktor Tronko (Nancy Pearl’s Book Lust Rediscoveries) by David Quammen

Author:David Quammen [Quammen, David]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: AmazonEncore
Published: 2014-09-16T04:00:00+00:00

He told the Warren Commission that he never gave Oswald any money, Barry says. The testimony was under oath, of course—for whatever difference that might conceivably have made. Probably none. Anyway, whether it was true or not, significant or not, Djevdjevich sounded the point rather emphatically: No, he never gave Lee Oswald a cent.

Nor was there ever a loan, no. Toys for the baby, yes; he did occasionally bring small toys. They were so dreadfully poor, Lee and Marina, and the infant had almost nothing. Groceries, yes; on at least one occasion he had brought a bag of groceries, including some beer and a few jars of baby food, for which Oswald seemed grudgingly grateful. But the man was too proud to accept anything more, Djevdjevich testified. Lee’s stubborn pride alone would have made the giving of money impossible, unthinkable—though Djevdjevich himself confessed (as he put it) that for his own part he felt no great desire to subsidize the Oswalds financially. He had rather liked Lee, yes, he would admit that. Damaging as it might seem now, in the circumstances, he would not deny that. This was April of 1964, remember, Barry inserts, so it was in fact a reasonably courageous, or foolhardy, thing to say. Or maybe just very cunning. Yes, he had liked Lee Oswald, Djevdjevich told them, and had enjoyed his company, sometimes. No question, this angry young fellow had a very good brain. He could be either quite pleasant in conversation, stimulating even—or else utterly obnoxious, boorish. Sometimes very boorish. But in their chats about politics and world travel and foreign cultures—chats that were generally conducted in Russian, though at times too in English—Djevdjevich himself seemed to bring out the better side of the man, if he might be allowed to say so. Politics was boring to Djevdjevich, so he claimed, but good conversation on any subject at all, even politics, was a rarity to be savored. Also—Djevdjevich added this as an afterthought—like all autodidacts, Oswald was sometimes pompous. Confused and pompous. He would use large words, which one could tell he had taken from his lonely reading but never quite digested, and often as not he would mispronounce them. In English and Russian both, one encountered this trait in Oswald. But he did have a good mind. No, Djevdjevich would never have tried to give the man money, positively not. Djevdjevich had no desire to insult Lee. Nor to be insulted back, as thanks for his good intentions. It was bad enough, Lee’s reaction, when Djevdjevich performed those few small kindnesses for Marina and the baby. That’s what he told the Commission, Barry says.

One other Dallas samaritan who had helped Marina, though, remembered it differently.

This woman’s name was Jane Chestnoy. She was a middle-aged American, recently widowed, whose husband had been part of the same circle of Russian émigrés, there in Dallas, among whom Alex Djevdjevich spent much of his time. The émigré group was a loose collection of couples who gathered regularly to

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