Born in Berlin, Germany, Victor Fischer was a delegate to the Alaska Constitutional Convention, served in the territorial House of Representatives and the Alaska State Senate, and worked in the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development. A member of the faculty of the University of Alaska at Fairbanks and Alaska, he was director for the Institute for Social and Economic Research. He continues to work in state policy, local government, and Alaska-Russia issues.

From the book: Son of the famous American journalist Louis Fischer, who corresponded from Berlin and Moscow, and the Russian writer Markoosha Fischer, Victor Fischer grew up in the shadow of Hitler and Stalin and watched his friends’ parents disappear after political arrests. Eleanor Roosevelt personally engineered the Fischer family’s escape from Russia, and soon after, Victor was serving in the United States Army in World War II, while his childhood friends fought in the Soviet and German armies.

As a young adult, Fischer went on to help shape Alaska’s map by planning towns throughout the state. This unique autobiography recounts his earliest days in Germany, Russia, and Alaska, where he soon entered civic affairs and was elected as a delegate to the Alaska Constitutional Convention – the body responsible for establishing statehood in the territory. A move to Washington, DC, and further government appointments allowed him to witness key historic events of his era, which he also recounts here. Finally, Fischer brings his memoir up to the present, describing how he has returned to Russia many times to bring the lessons of Alaska freedom and prosperity to the newly democratic states.

For a brief time in history, when the world was in turmoil and the end was in doubt, the noblest of human motives shown through the night, and prevailed. Vic Fischer was a part of those times. He still carries the banner, a rebuke to cynicism and dishonesty and self-focus. Through this gripping autobiography, that is his gift to us. –Steve Cowper, former Governor of Alaska

For those of us who know Vic Fischer as a savvy, progressive Alaska state senator, this terrific book is a revelation. Stories of his roots in Russia, his time in Germany – where some still know him as one of the fabled Troika – and much more besides, make this a wonderful introduction to a fascinating life. –Peter Kenyon Foreign Correspondent, NPR

Vic Fisher’s book “To Russia With Love–An Alaskan’s Journey”