The war was over at last. Lia's father had been released from prison, and the family was alive and intact. But happiness did not last long, as the marriage union forged between Lia and Anatoly Shalyopa during the bonds of war quickly proved untenable in everyday life. Lia left her husband shortly after the birth of Gennady, her only child, in 1946.

Lia finished her studies at Leningrad State University in 1948, and in 1950 was invited to serve as a history lecturer at a Soviet military institute in China. She accepted and was preparing to go when her father died of heart failure. Naum Ilyich, who had survived his army wounds, two world wars, and imprisonment, finally succumbed at the age of 64. In the 45 years that have passed since his death, his wife, Maria Mikhailovna, never married again.

After the funeral, Lia left for China, taking little Gennady with her. "I enjoyed living in China," she says of that time. "Relations between the USSR and China were relatively good at the time, and it was interesting to experience another culture." Lia and Gennady lived in a compound with other Soviets, but took opportunities to explore Chinese culture during their four years there.

In 1953, while Lia was in China, Stalin died. "Everyone acted as though it was this great tragedy," she says. "But I was not sad. I knew too well what Stalin was."