As Israel Helms sits signing copies of his book, On Both Sides of the Iron Curtain, he emits a kind, generous nature that seems to oppose his tale. 

In the book, the 76-year-old author details a hero’s journey from Communist Russia to America. Though the book is labeled as pseudo-autobiographical fiction, the story remains true for Helms, who lived the tale firsthand.

Helms was born in Moscow in 1933 during a famine brought on by Joseph Stalin’s collectivization program. The plan saw the majority of peasant-owned farms replaced by a series of collective farms under the government, limiting food and health in the area.

“It was the year when five million people died from starvation,” Helms said. “I was born with a big head, which was a sign of starvation in my mother when she was carrying me.”

At age 8, Helms and his family fled Moscow in response to the Nazi invasion, ending up in Omsk, Siberia. After years of experiencing hunger and war in Siberia, Helms moved back to Moscow as a teenager, where he experienced communism for the first time.

“They pay you, employ you, and they decide what they are going to do with you if they do not like you,” Helms said. “You are a possession of the state in Communist Russia.”

Helms said if you did not work the government-sanctioned jobs, then you were limited to either shining shoes or living on the streets. 

“You cannot have your own company,” Helms said. “If you do not work with the government’s enterprises, you are out in the cold with no way to survive.”

Helms worked for a government company specializing in machine manufacturing. During this time, Helms created a variety of machines that won him recognition. This eventually earned him an award for his position.

During this period, Helms wanted to leave Russia to avoid the socialist government he detested. In 1978, he applied for immigration.  

At the time, the Russian government considered immigration a betrayal. People who applied became traitors in the eyes of those in power.

“When you applied for immigration, you would always think you would be a victim,” Helms said. “They would always say they possessed the state’s secrets.”

Luckily, Helms slipped through the cracks of the government, eventually immigrating to America.

“Somehow, bureaucracy lost me in the shuffle,” Helms said. “I was lucky.”

Helms went back to work as soon as he got to the United States, starting a small machine manufacturing company with friends. He worked for 17 years before retiring to Bullhead City in 1995.

In Bullhead City in 2003, Helms was diagnosed with Parkinson’s disease. Upon hearing this, Helms immediately began searching for a way to sustain his mind. Eventually he turned to writing.

“Recollections came to me like a snowball,” Helms said. “The process of writing [became] a curing process. It gave my brain life.”

At the encouragement of his family, Helms published his diaries, creating his first full-length book, On Both Sides of the Iron Curtain.

Even though the book calls upon his own memories, Helms’ hero is not a copy of himself. Instead, the hero is a person Helms wishes he could have been.

“I would say I have much more pitfalls than my character in the book,” Helms said. “He is an ideal character I would like to be, but maybe not always succeeded to be.”

After moving to Flagstaff, a city he finds reminiscent of Russia in appearance only, Helms continued writing. He has written many essays concerning his political beliefs, and he has started to write a second book.

Though the world around him has changed, Helms said his message of ending oppressive government remains firm.

“Life develops faster than you can catch with your writing,” Helms said. “It is sometimes too difficult to think about politics, but it makes you vulnerable [if you do not]. One morning you will wake up to socialism, and there is no way back.”

Israel Helms will be signing copies of his book On Both Sides of the Iron Curtain this Saturday at Hastings between 5 and 7 p.m.