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From Detroit to Dresden to Siberia

American memoirist imprisoned in Soviet gulag dead at 84

By Nick McMaster, Newser Staff

Posted Nov 16, 2007 5:42 PM CST

(Newser) – John Noble, an American who wrote two memoirs about the decade he spent as a Soviet prisoner, including 3 years in the gulag, died last week at 84, the Telegraph reports. Taken into Soviet custody in 1945, Noble and his father were incarcerated in Dresden, Germany, where they had run a family-owned camera factory. "Justice doesn't exist," a guard warned them.

"The Soviets in Dresden were worse than the air raids," Noble said later. After his father was released in 1952, Noble was transferred to the gulag system; he participated in an inmate revolt in Siberia in 1953 and was freed in 1955 after President Eisenhower intervened in his case. Noble later wrote about finding faith in God through the experience and returned to live in Dresden after the fall of the Berlin Wall.

John H. Noble holding a speech in Nossen, Germany (Wikimedia Commons)

John Noble spent several years in the Soviet gulag system despite being an American citizen, later documenting that time in two volumes of memoirs. (janhofer.de)

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From Detroit to Dresden to Siberia

American memoirist imprisoned in Soviet gulag dead at 84

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From Detroit to Dresden to Siberia

American memoirist imprisoned in Soviet gulag dead at 84

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OTHER STORIES ON OUR RADAR

Detroit • Soviet Union • obituary • World War II • Dresden • John Noble • Soviet gulag

MOST POPULAR STORIES

[ By Views ]

[ By Comments ]

More Newser Stories

Josef Stalin's Daughter Dies in Wisconsin

Lana Peters defected from Soviet Union in 1967

Last of Polish Pilots Who Foiled Hitler in UK Dead at 97

Tadeusz Sawicz earned high military honors for bravery

'Schindler’s List' Typist Dead at 91

Mietek Pemper convinced Schindler to make munitions to save prisoners' lives

Real-Life Rosie the Riveter Is Dead at 86

Geraldine Hoff Doyle's face became Rosie the Riveter's

WWII Pilot Who Forever Repaid Rescuers Dies at 94

Getting shot down in Pacific shaped Fred Hargesheime's whole life

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Newser By Users

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What is Newser?