# I Chose Freedom

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Book by Viktor Kravchenko

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I Chose Freedom Author Viktor Kravchenko Publisher Scribners Publication date 1947

***I Chose Freedom: The Personal Political Life of a Soviet Official*** is a book by the Soviet Ukrainian defector [Viktor Kravchenko](/source/Victor_Kravchenko_(defector)). It was a bestseller in the United States and Europe. The book was written in 1946 and published in 1947. A review was published in *[The New York Times](/source/The_New_York_Times)* that year.[1] *I Chose Freedom* depicts many episodes in Soviet history, including the [Soviet famine of 1932–1933](/source/Soviet_famine_of_1932%E2%80%931933), the [Gulag](/source/Gulag) system, and the [Molotov–Ribbentrop Pact](/source/Molotov%E2%80%93Ribbentrop_Pact) (1939).

The book received support from the [Information Research Department](/source/Information_Research_Department) (IRD), a secret branch of the [UK Foreign Office](/source/UK_Foreign_Office) which specialised in disinformation, anti-communism, and pro-colonial propaganda.[2][3] Through the IRD, the British government bought the foreign rights to *I Chose Freedom* and then deployed their agents to promote both the author and its works both within Britain and across the globe.[4]

It depicted collectivization in the [USSR](/source/Soviet_Union) and caused a serious strike to the communist regime and [Stalin](/source/Stalin). It depicted the crimes of the Stalinist regime, in particular the [Famine of 1932-1933](/source/Soviet_famine_of_1932%E2%80%9333), the [Gulag](/source/GULAG), the cooperation of the governments of [Joseph Stalin](/source/Joseph_Stalin) and [Adolf Hitler](/source/Adolf_Hitler) and the [Holodomor](/source/Holodomor). It was reprinted many times, including decades after its first publication, at least in 2007, 2008, 2012, 2016, 2022.[5][6]

It was published:

- 73 times in English

- 42 times in French

- 28 times in German

- 27 times in Spanish

- some times in Italian [7]

- Several times in Ukrainian [8][9]

Western researchers often refer to it.[10][11][12][13][14][15]

It has at least 50 references in other books.[16]

The book is still popular.[17][18]

## References

1. **[^](#cite_ref-1)** ["I CHOSE FREEDOM REVIEWED BY THE NYT - New York City April 1946"](https://sites.google.com/site/newyorkcityapril1946/books/book-reviews-this-week-in-1946/i-chose-freedom-reviewed-by-the-nyt). *sites.google.com*.

1. **[^](#cite_ref-2)** Mitter, Rana; Major, Patrick (2005). *Across the Block: Cold War Cultural and Social History*. Taylor & Francis e-library: Frank Cass and Company Limited. p. 125.

1. **[^](#cite_ref-3)** Jenks, John (2006). *British Propaganda and News Media in the Cold War*. Edinburgh: Edinburgh University Press. p. 132.

1. **[^](#cite_ref-4)** Jenks, John (2006). *British Propaganda and News Media in the Cold War*. Edinburgh: Edinburgh University Press. p. 71.

1. **[^](#cite_ref-5)** ["Editions of I Chose Freedom by Victor Kravchenko"](https://www.goodreads.com/work/editions/1790244-i-chose-freedom?filter_by_format=&sort=date_published&utf8=%E2%9C%93). *www.goodreads.com*. Retrieved 2019-08-25.

1. **[^](#cite_ref-6)** ["Escolhi a Liberdade"](https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/61134963-escolhi-a-liberdade). *Goodreads*. Retrieved 2022-10-23.

1. **[^](#cite_ref-7)** Kravchenko, Victor (1946). *Yo escogí la libertad; In the area of policy and politics, it is a fundamental task of the Emigration of the U.R.S.S. en Washington* (in Spanish). Madrid: Nos. [OCLC](/source/OCLC_(identifier)) [21958815](https://search.worldcat.org/oclc/21958815).

1. **[^](#cite_ref-8)** ["Formats and Editions of <>. \[WorldCat.org\]"](https://www.worldcat.org/oclc/749044046/editions?editionsView=true&referer=br). *www.worldcat.org*. Retrieved 2019-08-01.

1. **[^](#cite_ref-9)** Kravchenko, Victor (1948). *I͡A vybrav voli͡u : osobyste ĭ politychne z͡hyttii͡a sovi͡etsʹkoho uri͡adovi͡a*. Toronto: Druk. "Ukraïnsʹkoho robitnyka ". [OCLC](/source/OCLC_(identifier)) [977648184](https://search.worldcat.org/oclc/977648184).

1. **[^](#cite_ref-10)** Parry-Giles, Shawn J. (2002). [*The Rhetorical Presidency, Propaganda, and the Cold War, 1945-1955*](https://books.google.com/books?id=gvdoVp5rUCgC&dq=I+Chose+Freedom:+The+Personal+and+Political+Life+of+a+Soviet+Official&pg=PA100). Greenwood Publishing Group. [ISBN](/source/ISBN_(identifier)) [9780275974633](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Special:BookSources/9780275974633).

1. **[^](#cite_ref-11)** Снайдер, Тимоти *[Timothy Snyder](/source/Timothy_Snyder)* (2015). [*Кровавые земли: Европа между Гитлером и Сталиным*](https://books.google.com/books?id=wb2nDQAAQBAJ&dq=I+Chose+Freedom:+The+Personal+and+Political+Life+of+a+Soviet+Official&pg=PT162) (in Russian). Дуліби. [ISBN](/source/ISBN_(identifier)) [9789668910975](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Special:BookSources/9789668910975).

1. **[^](#cite_ref-12)** Overy, Richard (2005-04-28). [*The Dictators: Hitler's Germany and Stalin's Russia*](https://books.google.com/books?id=32Vy2Fj4KFUC&dq=I+Chose+Freedom:+The+Personal+and+Political+Life+of+a+Soviet+Official&pg=PT1258). Penguin Books Limited. [ISBN](/source/ISBN_(identifier)) [9780141912240](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Special:BookSources/9780141912240).

1. **[^](#cite_ref-13)** Fitzpatrick, Sheila (1999-03-04). [*Everyday Stalinism: Ordinary Life in Extraordinary Times: Soviet Russia in the 1930s*](https://books.google.com/books?id=_wgXiv8AGOkC&dq=I+Chose+Freedom:+The+Personal+and+Political+Life+of+a+Soviet+Official&pg=PT367). Oxford University Press. [ISBN](/source/ISBN_(identifier)) [9780199839247](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Special:BookSources/9780199839247).

1. **[^](#cite_ref-14)** Miner, Steven Merritt (2003-10-16). [*Stalin's Holy War: Religion, Nationalism, and Alliance Politics, 1941-1945*](https://books.google.com/books?id=VnZ1AwAAQBAJ&dq=I+Chose+Freedom:+The+Personal+and+Political+Life+of+a+Soviet+Official&pg=PA391). Univ of North Carolina Press. [ISBN](/source/ISBN_(identifier)) [9780807862124](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Special:BookSources/9780807862124).

1. **[^](#cite_ref-15)** Lee, Stephen J. (2005-06-20). [*Stalin and the Soviet Union*](https://books.google.com/books?id=cmKFAgAAQBAJ&dq=I+Chose+Freedom:+The+Personal+and+Political+Life+of+a+Soviet+Official&pg=PR7). Routledge. [ISBN](/source/ISBN_(identifier)) [9781134665747](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Special:BookSources/9781134665747).

1. **[^](#cite_ref-16)** [""I Chose Freedom" Kravchenko - Пошук Google"](https://www.google.com.ua/search?q=%22I+Chose+Freedom%22+Kravchenko&hl=en&tbm=bks&ei=az_bXKnXNKWvrgSuyqKgBg&start=40&sa=N&ved=0ahUKEwjpuO6jh5ziAhWll4sKHS6lCGQ4MhDy0wMIbA&biw=1920&bih=937&dpr=1). *www.google.com.ua*. Retrieved 2019-05-14.

1. **[^](#cite_ref-17)** ["I Chose Freedom"](https://www.goodreads.com/work/best_book/1790244-i-chose-freedom). *www.goodreads.com*. Retrieved 2019-05-14.

1. **[^](#cite_ref-18)** ["Escolhi a Liberdade"](https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/61134963-escolhi-a-liberdade). *Goodreads*. Retrieved 2022-10-23.

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Adapted from the Wikipedia article [I Chose Freedom](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/I_Chose_Freedom) by Wikipedia contributors ([contributor history](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/I_Chose_Freedom?action=history)). Available under [Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International](https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/). Changes may have been made.