[1] He is the author of the book The Story of a Real Man about Soviet World War II fighter pilot Aleksey Maresyev.

[3] Prior to starting his career as a writer, he worked as a technologist at a textile factory in Kalinin.

His accounts reportedly differ from what others found, including a description of a conveyor belt that first electrocuted, then transported inmates' corpses into a furnace.

He was chief editor of the literary youth magazine Yunost (Юность [ru]) from 1962 until his death and was a board member of the Union of Soviet Journalists from 1959.

I felt sure that Gideon Jackson, who fought the good fight to the bitter end, would not have been less taken aback than I was by what happened.

Neither would Spartacus, even if he did live at a time when there were neither the philosophical theories nor the practical experience that throw light over mankind's path today, a time without the cultural values of today or the progressive intellectuals bearing aloft the banner of peace at all circumstances.

"Polevoy's books, articles, and political commentaries gained him an international readership well before the end of the war.

He remained influential until his death in 1981, at which time he was secretary of the all-powerful Union of Soviet Writers," wrote Heddescheimer.