Aľa Rachmanovová

Aľa Rachmanovová (born Alja/Galina Ďurjagina von Hoyer) was a Russian writer and diarist whose works are regarded as some of the most powerful literary testimonies of the Russian Revolution, the civil war, and life in exile. Born in 1898 in the Ural region, she studied philology, married Austrian war prisoner Arnulf von Hoyer, and after being expelled from the Soviet Union lived in Austria and later Switzerland. She is best known for her diary trilogy (Students, Love, the Cheka and Death, Marriage in the Red Storm, The Milkmaid of Ottakring), written with striking honesty and emotional clarity. Her writing captures everyday life under revolution, the reality of fear and repression, and the challenges of emigration in Europe. Her style is direct, precise, and deeply human — without romanticizing history. Aľa Rachmanovová’s work is valued for its authenticity, historical insight, and unique ability to combine personal narrative with grand historical events. She remains a vital literary voice offering a personal, unfiltered view of turbulent 20th-century history.