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Popular Culture Review
embassy, where it stayed, presumably broadcasting American diplomats’
conversations, until 1952, when embassy officials finally discovered it (Fong
12). The incident was widely-reported at the time, and was highly significant in
the history of espionage.
Even though there is no doubt that Theremin was a spy for the Russian
government—for example, he spent years cleaning up audio tapes for the
KGB— the evidence is unclear even here. Probably the biggest debate about
Theremin’s life is whether his heart and soul were in his espionage activity for
the Soviets, or whether he was forced to do it to survive and to pursue his
inventions and his love of electronic music. Most Western accounts are
sympathetic to Theremin’s plight and motives, but author Albert Glinsky claims
“Theremin had a soul that was Russian to the core,” and that he was very
dedicated to his Soviet mission—believing in what he did—^and very much in
control of his own actions. Glinsky claims that while most Western accounts
depict Theremin as being a victim of Soviet oppression—coerced into espionage
activities—^Russian accounts simply see him as just doing his duty (Glimsky 2).
Theremin’s own comments when he first emerged from the Soviet
Union in 1989 lend credence to Glinsky’s assertions. By that time Theremin was
in his 90s, having been born in St. Petersburg in 1896. In a little-known
interview with Olivia Mattis—she is a musicologist and scholar of the composer
Edgard Varese, who was a pioneer in electronic music—^Theremin made some
fascinating observations (Mattis). Mattis was the first person to interview
Theremin “after he came out of Soviet seclusion.”
Still, the question of reliability persists. Theremin’s memory was
certainly unclear on some points, and it is equally unclear whether he was being
completely accurate on others, but he verified clearly to Mattis that he had been
“working under the leadership” of the Soviet Consulate while he was in New
York. In fact, he divorced his first wife after being instructed to do so by Soviet
officials who were concerned about her alleged Fascist sympathies (Mattis 8).
The belief that Soviet agents kidnapped him and returned him to the USSR
seems inconsistent with his simple statements. As indicated below, he claimed
to have asked for re-assignment to the USSR, and to have repeated his request
many times. He said to Mattis, “I came here on special assignment.” She asked,
“Where is here?” to which he replied, “To the Soviet Union” (Mattis 9). He
spoke of being “not quite a prisoner” there, and of having been arrested. He
explained, though, that he worked on electronics in a lab, and was not in prison.
He indicated that at the time it had been “quite accepted for people to be
detained in such a way” (Mattis 9-10).
Thus, it is difficult to sort out fact from fallacy, especially since the
Soviet government made a specialty out of historical revisionism—routinely
rewriting history, and even airbrushing over photos. By the time Theremin was
politically free enough to tell his own story, age may have taken a toll on his
memory. Also, he seemed to see a certain sense of romance in his spy claims;,
and while his life and accomplishments were amazing enough, he had a history