An American in Magnitogorsk, 1930: Clare F. Saltz’s Letter and a Half to His Aunt Hazel in La Crosse, WI

Abstract

This article tells the story of Clare F. Saltz, a married middle-aged man from the Detroit area, who spent roughly two years working in Magnitogorsk in the early 1930s. The included letters predate John Scott’s well-known account of the city, and hence offer different information for historians. Saltz’s experiences reveal much about everyday life – everything from working conditions, to securing provisions, to social activities – at a time when the Soviet state had fewer resources to invest in cultural work and had yet to establish the food rationing system or the special enclave that offered better accommodations to foreign workers.