Lidija Doroņina-Lasmane (born Lidija Lasmane in 1925) is a Latvian dissident, a member of anti-

Soviet The Soviet Union,. officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR),. was a List of former transcontinental countries#Since 1700, transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 to 1991. A flagship communist state, ...

resistance during the

occupation Occupation commonly refers to: *Occupation (human activity), or job, one's role in society, often a regular activity performed for payment *Occupation (protest), political demonstration by holding public or symbolic spaces *Military occupation, th ...

Latvia Latvia ( or ; lv, Latvija ; ltg, Latveja; liv, Leţmō), officially the Republic of Latvia ( lv, Latvijas Republika, links=no, ltg, Latvejas Republika, links=no, liv, Leţmō Vabāmō, links=no), is a country in the Baltic region of ...

and a candidate for 2018

Nobel Peace Prize The Nobel Peace Prize is one of the five Nobel Prizes established by the will of Swedish industrialist, inventor and armaments (military weapons and equipment) manufacturer Alfred Nobel, along with the prizes in Nobel Prize in Chemistry, Chemi ...

Biography

Born on July 28, 1925, in the Ulmale Parish of the Aizpute District in a

Baptist Baptists form a major branch of Protestantism distinguished by baptizing professing Christian believers only (believer's baptism), and doing so by complete immersion. Baptist churches also generally subscribe to the doctrines of soul compete ...

family, she was baptized at the age of 13 at a Baptist congregation in

Saka The Saka ( Old Persian: ; Kharoṣṭhī: ; Ancient Egyptian: , ; , old , mod. , ), Shaka (Sanskrit ( Brāhmī): , , ; Sanskrit (Devanāgarī): , ), or Sacae (Ancient Greek: ; Latin: ) were a group of nomadic Iranian peoples who hist ...

. After

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...

, Lasmane began to study nursing in

Riga Riga (; lv, Rīga , liv, Rīgõ) is the capital and largest city of Latvia and is home to 605,802 inhabitants which is a third of Latvia's population. The city lies on the Gulf of Riga at the mouth of the Daugava river where it meets the Ba ...

. She and members of her family were arrested for the first time for delivering medications and bandage materials to

Latvian partisans Latvian national partisans were Latvian pro-independence partisans who waged guerrilla warfare against Soviet rule during and after the Second World War. Aftermath of World War I The decisions of the 1917 congresses and the declaration of ind ...

. In April 1947, the War Tribunal of the Soviet Latvian Interior Ministry Armed Forces sentenced Lidija Lasmane to five years in a

concentration camp Internment is the imprisonment of people, commonly in large groups, without charges or intent to file charges. The term is especially used for the confinement "of enemy citizens in wartime or of terrorism suspects". Thus, while it can simply ...

, with limitation of her rights to last for three years afterward. Her father, Andrejs Lasmanis, was sentenced to 10 years, while her mother received a suspended sentence of three years. While at a labor camp called Vosturallag in the eastern

Ural Mountains The Ural Mountains ( ; rus, Ура́льские го́ры, r=Uralskiye gory, p=ʊˈralʲskʲɪjə ˈɡorɨ; ba, Урал тауҙары) or simply the Urals, are a mountain range that runs approximately from north to south through western ...

, Lidija came down with a case of

tuberculosis Tuberculosis (TB) is an infectious disease usually caused by '' Mycobacterium tuberculosis'' (MTB) bacteria. Tuberculosis generally affects the lungs, but it can also affect other parts of the body. Most infections show no symptoms, in ...

. In 1951, she was sent for life to

Vorkuta Vorkuta (russian: Воркута́; kv, Вӧркута, ''Vörkuta''; Nenets for "the abundance of bears", "bear corner") is a coal-mining town in the Komi Republic, Russia, situated just north of the Arctic Circle in the Pechora coal basin at ...

, where she met her future husband, Mikhail Doronin. After

Stalin Joseph Vissarionovich Stalin (born Ioseb Besarionis dze Jughashvili; – 5 March 1953) was a Georgian revolutionary and Soviet political leader who led the Soviet Union from 1924 until his death in 1953. He held power as General Secretar ...

's death, Lidija Lasmane was allowed to return to Latvia, where she lived with her cousin, Edvards Lasmanis, in the

Mežaparks Mežaparks (german: Kaiserwald) is a neighbourhood of Northern District in Riga Riga (; lv, Rīga , liv, Rīgõ) is the capital and largest city of Latvia and is home to 605,802 inhabitants which is a third of Latvia's population. The ...

neighborhood. In 1970, she was arrested again for reading illegal literature and distributing handwritten copies of same. The Soviet Latvian Supreme Court sentenced Doronina-Lasmane to two years in prison for "the distribution of purposefully untrue imaginations which discredit the Soviet state and its social order." She served this sentence at the Dzegužkalns women's prison in the Iļģuciems neighborhood of

. She was arrested for a third time during the repressions of the era of

Yuri Andropov Yuri Vladimirovich Andropov (– 9 February 1984) was the sixth paramount leader of the Soviet Union and the fourth General Secretary of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union. After Leonid Brezhnev's 18-year rule, Andropov served in the po ...

on January 6, 1983, along with Jānis Rožkalns,

Gunārs Astra Gunārs Astra (22 October 1931 – 6 April 1988) was a Latvian human rights activist and anti-Soviet dissident arrested by the Soviet Union in 1961 and sentenced to prison for 15 years. He was released in 1976. In 1983, he was arrested again but ...

and

Jānis Vēvers Jānis is a Latvian masculine given name. The first written use of the name Jānis dates back to 1290. It may refer to: *Jānis Ādamsons (born 1956), Latvian politician *Jānis Akuraters (1876–1937), Latvian poet, writer, playwright and polit ...

, accused of "anti-Soviet

propaganda Propaganda is communication that is primarily used to influence or persuade an audience to further an agenda, which may not be objective and may be selectively presenting facts to encourage a particular synthesis or perception, or using loaded ...

and campaigning." The Soviet Latvian Supreme Court sentenced her in August 1983 to five years at a

labor camp A labor camp (or labour camp, see spelling differences) or work camp is a detention facility where inmates are forced to engage in penal labor as a form of punishment. Labor camps have many common aspects with slavery and with prisons (especi ...

Mordovia The Republic of Mordovia (russian: Респу́блика Мордо́вия, r=Respublika Mordoviya, p=rʲɪsˈpublʲɪkə mɐrˈdovʲɪjə; mdf, Мордовия Республиксь, ''Mordovija Respublikś''; myv, Мордовия Рес ...

and then to three years in a

settlement Settlement may refer to: *Human settlement, a community where people live *Settlement (structural), the distortion or disruption of parts of a building * Closing (real estate), the final step in executing a real estate transaction *Settlement (fin ...

outside of Latvia. During the

perestroika ''Perestroika'' (; russian: links=no, перестройка, p=pʲɪrʲɪˈstrojkə, a=ru-perestroika.ogg) was a political movement for reform within the Communist Party of the Soviet Union (CPSU) during the late 1980s widely associated wit ...

age of

Mikhail Gorbachev Mikhail Sergeyevich Gorbachev (2 March 1931 – 30 August 2022) was a Soviet politician who served as the 8th and final leader of the Soviet Union from 1985 to dissolution of the Soviet Union, the country's dissolution in 1991. He served a ...

, Doroņina-Lasmane was liberated on January 14, 1987, and was sent to a camp in the Altay region of

Siberia Siberia ( ; rus, Сибирь, r=Sibir', p=sʲɪˈbʲirʲ, a=Ru-Сибирь.ogg) is an extensive geographical region, constituting all of North Asia, from the Ural Mountains in the west to the Pacific Ocean in the east. It has been a part of ...

for several months. During the summer of 1987, Doroņina-Lasmane returned to Latvia. After the restoration of the independence of the Republic of Latvia, she restored her maiden name, Lasmane, and became an active employee of the Center to Document the Consequences of

Totalitarianism Totalitarianism is a form of government and a political system that prohibits all opposition parties, outlaws individual and group opposition to the state and its claims, and exercises an extremely high if not complete degree of control and reg ...

. In 1994, Doroņina-Lasmane received the

Order of Three Stars Order of the Three Stars ( lv, Triju Zvaigžņu ordenis) is the highest civilian order awarded for meritorious service to Latvia. It was established in 1924 in remembrance of the founding of Latvia. Its motto is "Per aspera ad astra", meaning "Thr ...

, Fifth Grade, but she refused to accept it because, she said, several

KGB The KGB (russian: links=no, lit=Committee for State Security, Комитет государственной безопасности (КГБ), a=ru-KGB.ogg, p=kəmʲɪˈtʲet ɡəsʊˈdarstvʲɪn(ː)əj bʲɪzɐˈpasnəsʲtʲɪ, Komitet gosud ...

agents would be presented with the order together with her. She received the Award of the

Cabinet of Ministers of Latvia 200px, Meeting room of the Government of Latvia in the Palace of Justice The Government of Latvia is the central government of the Republic of Latvia. The Constitution of Latvia ( lv, Satversme) outlines the nation as a parliamentary republic ...

in 2019.

References

Bibliography

Lidija Doroņina-Lasmane
biography (in German) on the website dissidenten.eu, an online biographical encyclopedia {{DEFAULTSORT:Doronina-Lasmane, Lidija 1925 births Living people Dissidents Latvian women Latvian partisans Latvian dissidents Soviet dissidents