Ilya Mamantov
 Ilya Mamantov    (seismologist, translator) | |
|---|---|
| Born | 1914 |
| Party | Republican Party |
A highly suspicious translator of Marina Oswald's testimony. | |
Ilya Mamantov translated for Marina Oswald during her initial questioning by the Dallas authorities in the hours immediately after her husband Lee Harvey Oswald had been arrested. Russ Baker claims that these "were far from literal translations of her Russian words and had the effect of implicating her husband in Kennedy's death."[1]
Early life
Mamantov was born in the Russian Empire in 1914. When he was seven years old his family moved to Latvia. He later studied geology at the University of Latvia. In 1938 he married Dorothy Gravitis and continued to live in Riga during the Second World War. In 1944 Mamantov retreated with the German Army and was captured by the United States Army in Peissenberg in Bavaria and was confined to a displaced persons camp.[1]
United States
Mamantov emigrated to the United States and in 1951. The following year he was employed as a seismologist by the Donnally Geophysical Company in Dallas.[1]
On 22nd November 1963, President John F. Kennedy was assassinated in Dallas. Jack Alston Crich arranged for Mamantov to work for the Dallas Police Department as a translator for Russian-born Marina Oswald. He translated for Oswald during her initial questioning by the Dallas authorities in the hours immediately after her husband Lee Harvey Oswald had been arrested.[1]
Russ Baker claims that these "were far from literal translations of her Russian words and had the effect of implicating her husband in Kennedy's death."[1]
Further reading
Spartacus Educational has a full article on Ilya Mamantov
