Tatyana Velikanova
Tatyana Velikanova | |
---|---|
Татьяна Михайловна Великанова | |
Born | Moscow, Anti-Soviet agitation and propaganda (Article 70 of the RSFSR Criminal Code) | 3 February 1932
Criminal penalty | Four years in corrective-labour camps; five years internal exile |
Spouse | Konstantin Babitsky |
Tatyana Mikhailovna Velikanova (Russian: Татья́на Миха́йловна Велика́нова, 3 February 1932 in Moscow – 19 September 2002 in Moscow) was a mathematician and
She was also a founding member in 1969 of the
Biography
Born on 3 February 1932, Velikanova graduated from the Faculty of Mechanics and Mathematics of Moscow State University in 1954. A mathematician by training, she began work as a teacher in a school in the Urals. Then, from 1957 onwards, she was employed as a programmer in Moscow.[5]
The making of a dissident (1968–1969)
Velikanova became a dissident in 1968. That year she witnessed the 1968 Red Square demonstration, an open protest by seven people against the crushing of the Prague Spring reforms by the Soviet-led invasion of Czechoslovakia.[4] She had gone to the Square with one of the demonstrators, her husband Konstantin Babitsky, so as to testify as a witness in court if needed. Like the other protestors Babitsky was arrested on the spot. He was sentenced to three years in exile in the Far Northern Komi Region.[5][6] Velikanova's experience at the trial where her testimony was distorted and used against Babitsky, led her to decide she would never again participate in such judicial proceedings.[6] (Nor did she, see below, when she was herself put on trial in 1980.)
In May 1969, with 14 other dissidents, Velikanova co-founded the
In 1970, Velikanova began contributing to the
As the years passed similar journals came into existence in other Soviet republics, The Ukraine Herald and the Chronicle of the Catholic Church in Lithuania. Their information continued to flow to Moscow, however, for translation into Russian and inclusion in the Chronicle of Current Events.
Chronicle resumes publication (1974–1979)
In 1974, the KGB initiated a major crackdown on the bulletin, arresting several of its editors and distributors, threatening to make more arrests, regardless of authorship, for every published issue of the Chronicle.
In order to deflect pressure from other participants, and to stress that the Chronicle was in their view a legal publication, three of those involved decided to forsake anonymity. On 7 May, Tatyana Velikanova, Sergei Kovalev and Tatyana Khodorovich assumed public responsibility at a press conference in Moscow for the bulletin's future distribution. They then released three delayed issues, one for December 1972 and two covering 1973,[13] and a statement that "we regard it as our duty to facilitate as wide a circulation for [the Chronicle] as possible."[12]: 32
Sergei Kovalev was arrested at the end of 1974 and given a long term of imprisonment and internal exile at his trial the next year; Tatyana Khodorovich emigrated from the USSR in 1977. In 1979, Velikanova along with Arina Ginzburg, Malva Landa, Viktor Nekipelov and Andrei Sakharov demanded a referendum in the Baltic States to allow them to determine their own political fate.[10] She was arrested that summer on charges of "
Trial, sentence and return to Moscow (1980–1988)
At her trial in August 1980, Velikanova refused to defend herself,[15] stating: "by participating in this trial, I would be collaborating in an unlawful act. I respect the law, and therefore, I refuse to take part in this trial."
When the verdict was handed down, Velikanova commented: "The farce is over. So that's that."[11]: 81 She had been sentenced to four years in prison camp, followed by five years of exile.[4] Velikanova spent her camp term in Mordovia, east of Moscow, and in 1984 was sent into internal exile in western Kazakhstan.[4] An account of Velikanova's time in the Mordovian camps can be found in Grey Is the Color of Hope, written by fellow prisoner Irina Ratushinskaya.[16]
In December 1987 Gorbachev offered an amnesty to the last two women prisoners still serving a sentence under Article 70 (Anti-Soviet Agitation and Propaganda). Velikanova turned it down, demanding that she be rehabilitated and absolved of any crimes.[3] Like a number of other political prisoners Velikanova refused to agree to such conditions, and she served her full term of exile.[11]: 86
Documentary and death
In late 1989
Kovalyov subsequently became a familiar figure on Russian TV as the country's first Human Rights Ombudsman and a member of successive convocations of parliament (Supreme Soviet, State Duma). Velikanova and Lavut lived the rest of their lives, known only to a few, and died in comparative obscurity. After her return to Moscow late in 1988, she took up work in the School 57, teaching math and Russian language and literature.[18] She died on 19 September 2002.[4]
References
- ^ "To readers of the Chronicle", A Chronicle of Current Events (28.0), 31 December 1972 (May 1974).
- ^ "The trial of Tatyana Velikanova", A Chronicle of Current Events (58.1), November 1980.
- ^ a b "The release of political prisoners and the application of amnesties", USSR News Update (23-1), 15 December 1987 (in Russian).
- ^ New York Times., 17 October 2002.(Retrieved 14 August 2015.)
- ^ a b c "Алфавит инакомыслия. Великанова". Радио Свобода (in Russian). 14 February 2012. Retrieved 14 August 2015.
- ^ a b ""Параллели, события, люди". Шестая серия. Татьяна Великанова". www.golos-ameriki.ru. Voice of America. 14 March 2014. Retrieved 14 August 2015.
- ^ "Tatyana Velikanova". The Times. 30 October 2002.
- ^ "An Appeal to the UN Commission on Human Rights", A Chronicle of Current Events (8.10) 30 June 1969.
- ^ Yakobson, Anatoly; Yakir, Pyotr; Khodorovich, Tatyana; Podyapolskiy, Gregory; Maltsev, Yuri; et al. (21 August 1969). "An Appeal to The UN Committee for Human Rights". The New York Review of Books.
- ^ "A Chronicle of Current Events". A Chronicle of Current Events. Retrieved 25 August 2020.
- ^ ISBN 9780203412855.
- ^ ISBN 978-0415546119.)
{{cite book}}
: CS1 maint: location missing publisher (link - ^ "31 December 1972 – 31 December 1973". 27 September 2013. Retrieved 25 August 2020.
- ^ "No 55 : 31 December 1979". 6 April 2019. Retrieved 25 August 2020.
- ^ "The "Trial of T. Velikanova", A Chronicle of Current Events (58.1), 30 October 1980". Retrieved 25 August 2020.
- ISBN 978-0-679-72447-6.
- Yorkshire Television, 1990/Vestron Video, 1992. Produced and directed by Mike Dormer, Gwyneth Hughes, and Jill Marshall.
- ^ "Tatjana Welikanowa - dissidenten.eu - Biografisches Lexikon". dissidenten.eu. Retrieved 25 August 2020.
External links
- "Алфавит инакомыслия. Великанова" [Alphabet of dissent. Velikanova]. Радио Свобода (in Russian). Radio Liberty. 4 February 2012.
- Natella Boltyanskaya (14 March 2014). "Шестая серия. Татьяна Великанова" [The sixth part. Tatyana Velikanova]. Voice of America (in Russian). Parallels, Events, People.