Roald Mandelstam (1932-1961) was born in Leningrad. He studied at the Polytechnic Institute, and then at the Faculty of Oriental Studies at Saint Petersburg State University. He did not graduate; he could not work anywhere, and rarely left the house because of a severe form of tuberculosis. In the late 1950s, he experienced persistent acute illness and was hospitalized many times. On January 26, 1961, he died from a hemorrhage. “Roald Mandelstam, the pioneer of post-war uncensored literature, the first poet who became famous exclusively thanks to samizdat. Roald Mandelstam, like his artist friends (A. Arefiev, R. Vasmi, I. Thomov, R. Gudzenko, L. Titov, A. Mourning, VL. Shagin, Sh. Schwartz), belongs to the generation of military children who built their art and their World Vision on the Ruins of Civilization; who felt themselves both savages and heirs of the Silver Age.” (from Complete Poems of Roald Mandelstam, published by Limbach Ivan Publishing House). In 2012, a postal stamp was issued commemorating Roald Mandelstam’s 80th anniversary.