In 1978, Ieva Lesinska was a university student in Soviet Latvia with dreams of becoming a writer. She had just spent a heady month in New York visiting her father, Imants Lesinskis, a Soviet translator working at the United Nations. However, he was an employee of the KGB and a member of the Communist Party.

During her trip to the US, Ieva’s father informed her that he and his wife Rasma were about to defect. He offered her a blunt choice: take a taxi to the Soviet Embassy and denounce him as a traitor, or stay with him and never see her mother or her homeland of Latvia again. She chose to stay.

The new family officially became East German immigrants with new identities: Peter and Linda Dorn, and their daughter Evelyn. They were citizens of nowhere who possessed re-entry permits but no passports. In 1985, soon after Mr Lesinskis publicly disclosed confidential items on various KGB operations in Latvia, he died under mysterious circumstances.

Watch the film about Ieva story here:

UK https://amzn.to/3In12Ra US https://amzn.to/3xRZsBX

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I am delighted to welcome Ieva Lesinska to our Cold War conversation…

There’s further information here. https://coldwarconversations.com/episode225/

0:00 Introduction and story of Ieva Lesinska's parents as sleeper agents

2:26 Ieva Lesinska on her childhood and family history in Soviet Latvia

17:03 Revelation of Ieva's father's KGB affiliation and defection plans

23:02 Ieva Lesinska's journey to the United States and her decision to stay

39:13 Ieva Lesinska's adjustment to new life and identity in the US

50:13 Ieva's academic journey in the US, from Ohio State University to University of Colorado

57:42 Maintaining contact with her mother and dealing with homesickness

1:00:39 Ieva's father's mysterious death and his double life as a CIA and KGB agent

1:08:17 Reunion with her mother and her life after liberation in Latvia

1:14:04 Her story being adapted into a film and rejection of the victim narrative

1:17:41 Ieva Lesinska's current life as a journalist and translator

1:19:13 Acknowledging and thanking patrons

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