Rhea Clyman

Rhea Clyman (originally spelled Kleiman; July 4, 1904 – July 9, 1981) was a Polish-born Canadian journalist who worked as a foreign correspondent in the USSR for four years before being expelled in 1932.

Early life

Rhea Clyman was born in Poland on July 4, 1904, to a Jewish family. Her parents were Solomon and Anna Kleiman. They had five children. In 1906 the family moved to Canada and settled in Toronto, Ontario. she was hit by a streetcar and badly injured, requiring the amputation of one leg and many subsequent hospital visits. Her father died around the same time, and at 11, Clyman left school and began working in a factory to help support her family, continuing her education by night class. and also reported for the London Daily Express. When Clyman arrived in Tbilisi, Georgia, she was arrested and ultimately expelled from the USSR for allegedly reporting false news. She never married or had children.

In popular culture Actress Beata Pozniak portrayed Clyman in Mr. Jones, a 2019 feature film about Gareth Jones, a Welsh journalist who also reported on the Soviet famine of 1930-1933.

Clyman is the focus of the 2018 documentary, Hunger for Truth: The Rhea Clyman Story.