Do you want to ask any questions for Ana Zeiger re Oswald and time in USSR?

[Jim Hargrove]

If anyone should want to contact and talk with Ana, please remember that she speaks only Spanish and Russian. Good Luck.

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Jim

I can possibly do this. My Russian is too rusty now but can probably manage in Spanish. If any one wants to ask any questions please let me know. Is she in any contact with Prof Titoviz?

Hi, Magda,

I called John as soon as I read your note. He said it would be wonderful if you were able to contact Ana. He suggested that you mention his name, and remind her about his visit in 1998, and their three-day talk about Oswald. John doesn't recall Ana mentioning Prof. Titoviz, but remembered that she did show him some photos of Oswald with people he didn't recognize. John added that since the Oswalds lived next door to the Zigers, and they were roughly the same age as Ana and her sister, and since they also went to social engagements with the Ziger family and Ana's father worked with LHO and translated for him, John wonders at what times Oswald associated with Prof. Titoviz?

I have a question for Ana also: Is she aware of any recording of Oswald speaking Russian, or has she seen anything written by Oswald in Russian? Also, how often did she see Marina and what language did she hear Marina speak? Thanks so much for your interest in this, and best of luck contacting Ana. I'm keeping my fingers, toes, and eyes crossed, so please hurry ;>.

--Jim

[Magda Hassan]

You're welcome Jim. I'll try to be as quick as I can given your excitement and that none of us are getting any younger.... I will speed read the Prof's book on Oswald and hope Peter Lemkin who has been in contact with him also has some questions to ask Ana about Oswald from those days.

Every one please add your questions for Ana in this thread. I'll be happy to translate them to Spanish for her, get them checked by a native speaker, and ask her very soon I hope. And with luck some answers from her too. I'll post her answers as she gives them in Spanish with English translation.

[Peter Lemkin]

As I mentioned on the other thread about Oswald in Minsk, Ernst Titovitz PhD - a highly respected and published medical researcher now - was Oswald's best friend and most often person with him in Minsk. What needs to be done is to have him and Ana compare notes. Best would be if Marina would, as well...but I doubt she would...but who knows. Yes, I'd have questions for Ana, but I think Ernst could better construct them. When* and who is going to try to call her? I can inform Ernst and ask him to construct some questions. He only speaks English and Russian. He is to speak at COPA this year, but is currently having problems getting his visa.

*when is quite important for me, as baring an unforeseen 'miracle' I'm about to go 'off radar' soon for a while....[or forever?]. I've run out of money, am loosing my flat, and might not recover.....it is going to be very rough, at best. I can't do anything beyond a week from now, for an indeterminate period. I hope I'll resurface...but it is looking very 'bleak'.

[Magda Hassan]

When* and who is going to try to call her? .

I will Peter just as soon as people post their questions and I get up to speed on Oswald's Minsk period.

[Peter Lemkin]

When* and who is going to try to call her? .

I will Peter just as soon as people post their questions and I get up to speed on Oswald's Minsk period.

I just sent off an email to Ernst. As he and Ana both speak Russian, it might be productive if they could speak together - I believe they NEVER have! A three-way call and you can then pose the other questions or ask them in English and Spanish what their joint conclusions or lack of them were.....just an idea. Maybe they all have skype.

[Peter Lemkin]

I posted this somewhere else, but it likely belongs here. Ernst Titovits was very impressed with J.A.'s work and book, but found what he considered errors about Oswald in Minsk. Here are a few he sent me....

Commentson deviations from the real facts I found in the book Harveyand Lee byJohnArmstrong. I touched only upon Oswald's Russian period of life thatis familiar to me.


Armstrong: "I wanted to be sure that I understood her answer and said, "Ana,you knew
Oswaldfrom the time he arrived in Minsk until the day he and Marina leftfor the
UnitedStates. You and your parents accompanied them to the train stationand took
photographs(published in the Warren Volumes). During this time he never spokeany
Russian,even up to the day he left Minsk?" Ana, once again, replied,"No-not a word.
Myfather always interpreted for him-he was the only one in our familywho spoke
English."..."
"AnEnglish-speaking medical student, Erich [Ernst] Titovets, first metOswald at the Hotel Minsk and later was a regular visitor to hisapartment.
Titovets:Actually,I met Oswald not at the Hotel Minsk but at the Ziggers apartments. Itwas in the presence of the whole family: Alexander Ziggers, his wifeSignora Anna and his two daughters, Anita and Eleanora. Oswald spokeRussian and there was absolutely no need to interpret for him.


Armstrong: Atthe factory Oswald met another person who spoke English, PavelGolovachev, the son of a famous Soviet Air Force General. … AfterPavel and Oswald began spending a lot of time together the KGB askedhim to report on Oswald's activities. He dutifully informed them ofhis contacts with Oswald and kept them apprised of his movements.
Titovets: PavelGolobachev did not speak English at all. Once he confided in me thathe wished he did and was sorry he did not speak the language.


Armstrong:OnOctober 18 Lee Harvey Oswald celebrated his 21st birthday. EllaGermann,
agirl from the Horizon factory who Oswald had been dating for the pasttwo months and
spokevery good English, attended a small birthday party at his apartment.
Titovets:EllaGermann did not speak English at all.


Armstrong:"It is clear that Marina associated with Americans, spoke Englishwith Webster, and almost certainly spoke English with Oswald." …"Marina's ability to read, write, and speak English fluently beforeshe left Russia is indisputable".
Titovets:Marinadid not speak English at all. It would have been really surprising ifshe would have spoken English with Oswald and completely ignored meeven when the three of us were together.
Armstrong:" When Oswald and Marina met, danced, and agreed to a date thefollowing Friday
theyspoke a common language. Was it Russian or English? The HSCA askedMarina,
"Atthis time you were speaking in Russian together.P" She answered,"Yes. He spoke
withan accent so I assumed he was from another state. "70 Oswaldcame in contact with
hundredsof people in Russia, but Marina is the only person-THE ONLY PERSONwho
saidthat Oswald spoke Russian while in Russia
Titovets:Armstrong is right about so many people who met Oswald in Minsk.There are still many living who would have willingly testified to thefact that Oswald spoke Russian to them had John Armstrong followedNorman Mailer's example of having come to Minsk and interviewedthem.
Inthe book Oswald:Russian Episodeby Ernst Titovets one can find an illustration with Oswald'slonghand in Russian on an inside cover of a book where Oswaldcontemplates the names for his future child. Incidentally, Oswaldsigned his writings.

About Ana telling that Lee did not speak Russian. I take it that Ana is Anita Ziger, the junior daughter. It beats me why she would say so to Armstrong.

You might tell John Armstrong that I might sent him a copy of my book so that he would get familiar with my side of the story. If he comes over here to Minsk he might personally interview those who knew Lee to settle the issue once for all. I would do my best to help him along.

[Peter Lemkin]

Titovets has some interesting comments about Marina, but I felt it best not to put them up here, now.

It is purely speculation on my part, but perhaps the 'reason' Dr. Titovets is having a 'difficult' time getting a visa to the US to attend COPA as a featured speaker is that he is living evidence that the Oswald in Minsk spoke Russian moderately well - which is at odds with PARTS of the official version - which had him both not speaking Russian in the USSR and learning it well before and using it after he was back. Russian is NOT a language one can pick up in a short stay in the USSR! [i.e. Titovets might hold some vital clues to the two Oswalds.]

[Jim Hargrove]

Hi. My response to Magda's question was moved to this new thread from the Harvey and Lee thread, and so I wanted to include John's original note here, so readers could see what started this. Also, there is a question about the spelling: Ziger vs Zeiger. It certainly seems to appear both ways, but a Google search of Warren Commission Ziger seem to produce far more, and more relevant results,than Warren Commission Zeiger.

Anyway, for those who missed it in the other thread, here is John's original note:

John asked me to post the following to the group:


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I interviewed Ana Evalina Ziger in Buenes Aires, Argentina over 3 days in 1998 (she spoke Spanish and Russian-no English). Her sister, Elenora, was then living in Florence, Italy and her mother was in the hospital. Her father died years earlier. We first met at a restaurant and spoke for hours over coffee and tea. I asked Ana if I could use a tape recorder for the interview and she politely said, "no". After a couple of hours of asking questions about Oswald, I was having trouble thinking of more questions to ask. I asked Ana how well she and her sister spoke Russian (perfectly). I then asked "how well did Oswald speak Russian?" She looked at me with a surprised/curious/questionable face and said, "He didn't." I was momentarily "stunned" by her answer and said nothing.




I read story after story, for many years, wherein Marina said that Oswald spoke near-perfect Russian with a Baltic accent. I was confused when Ana said that Oswald did not speak Russian, and for a moment didn't know what to say. I then asked, "He didn't speak Russian to say hello, good-bye, thank you, nothing?" Ana replied (word for word), "My father was his boss at the factory and always interpreted for him. I never heard him speak a word of Russian." We left the restaurant and returned to the hotel, where I could not sleep. Someone was lying, but was it Ana or Marina?? I thought about this for hours, and finally concluded that Ana would have no reason to lie. It occurred to me that Oswald had been sent to Russia precisely because of his ability to speak Russian. The last thing he would want to do, while in Russia, would be to let anyone know that he understood or spoke Russian. Therefore, Marina was lying but why?




Marina had no choice. She met Oswald at a dance and he walked her home. During the next two weeks Oswald was in the hospital, where Marina visited him each day. When Oswald got out of the hospital (without dating and apparently with no physical contact) he and Marina immediately applied for a marriage license. During these two weeks, the only language they spoke was English (same language Marina spoke when she met the 1st "defector", Robert Webster, in Moscow). Why would Oswald dare speak a word of Russian while in Russia?




Marina arrived in the USA and didn't let anyone know that she spoke English (except Oswald). If she spoke English the CIA/FBI would immediately suspect her of being KGB (which, according to CIA analysts, she was). Anyway, my conclusion was that both Oswald and Marina both spoke Russian and English and both were cold-war intelligence operatives.




After several hours of conversation at the restaurant Ana Ziger apparently felt comfortable with us (myself and interpreter) and invited us to her home, where she served dinner. She surprised me by showing a few black and white photos of Oswald that she had "smuggled" out of Russia. We met for the last time at her home on the third day and she served "matte," a local drink that tasted like cinnamon. After returning to the USA I wrote a couple of letters to Ana but never again spoke with her.




Today Ana Ziger would be 74 years old, and most likely retired.




The only address I have for Ana Evalina Ziger, as of 1998, is the following:




Ana Evalina Ziger
Av. 4595 Piso #3 ro. Dept A
codigo 1195
Buenes Aires, Republica Argentina
South America




011 541 865 5931 (home) I spoke with Ana, thru an interpreter, at this phone number in 1998.








Ana worked at the Colon Theater (large opera house) in 1998:




Teatro Colon (Colon Theater)
Buenes Aires, Republica Argentina
011541 865 5931




http://www.teatrocolon.org.ar/en/




If anyone should want to contact and talk with Ana, please remember that she speaks only Spanish and Russian. Good Luck.


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Jim

[Magda Hassan]

Apologies Jim. I had meant to bring that post too. Thanks for doing that.

[Jim Hackett II]

I don't have a question for Dr. Titovets nor Ms. Zeiger.

I am certain better questions than my own will be asked and answered in this communication.

Many like myself will be interested in the information, not as another "parlor-guessing-game" of charades,
but because more and more truth is coming to the surface of the pond of nasty scum and lies.

When truth is found trying to surface from the the muck,
as one of my better USMC commanders said "Truth shines like a diamond in a goat's a**!"

I even named one of my Sailplane designs "D.I.G.A."