Malva Noyivna Landa
uk, Ма́льва Но́ївна Ла́нда
he, מלבה לנדה (4 August 1918 – 3 July 2019) was a

Ukrainian Ukrainian may refer to: * Something of, from, or related to Ukraine * Something relating to Ukrainians, an East Slavic people from Eastern Europe * Something relating to demographics of Ukraine in terms of demography and population of Ukraine * So ...

-born

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, ...

Russia Russia (, , ), or the Russian Federation, is a List of transcontinental countries, transcontinental country spanning Eastern Europe and North Asia, Northern Asia. It is the List of countries and dependencies by area, largest country in the ...

dissident A dissident is a person who actively challenges an established Political system, political or Organized religion, religious system, doctrine, belief, policy, or institution. In a religious context, the word has been used since the 18th century, and ...

, publicist, and geologist. She was the author of multiple articles about human rights, the translator of number of humanitarian essays from

English English usually refers to: * English language * English people English may also refer to: Peoples, culture, and language * ''English'', an adjective for something of, from, or related to England ** English national ide ...

Russian Russian(s) refers to anything related to Russia, including: *Russians (, ''russkiye''), an ethnic group of the East Slavic peoples, primarily living in Russia and neighboring countries *Rossiyane (), Russian language term for all citizens and peo ...

, and a veteran of the

human rights movement Human rights movement refers to a nongovernmental social movement engaged in activism related to the issues of human rights. The foundations of the global human rights movement involve resistance to: colonialism, imperialism, slavery, racism, segr ...

in the Soviet Union, being a member of the

Moscow Helsinki Group The Moscow Helsinki Group (also known as the Moscow Helsinki Watch Group, russian: link=no, Московская Хельсинкская группа) is today one of Russia's leading human rights organisations. It was originally set up in 1976 ...

from its founding in 1976. She received the Officer of the

Order of the Cross of Vytis The Order of the Cross of Vytis ( lt, Vyčio Kryžiaus ordinas) is a Lithuanian presidential award conferred for heroic defence of Lithuania's freedom and independence. November 23 is a holiday in honour of the Order of the Cross of Vytis. His ...

(Lithuania, 8 January 2003).

Early life and career

Malva Noyivna Landa was born in

Odessa Odesa (also spelled Odessa) is the third most populous city and municipality in Ukraine and a major seaport and transport hub located in the south-west of the country, on the northwestern shore of the Black Sea. The city is also the administrativ ...

, in what was then the

Ukrainian State The Ukrainian State ( uk, Українська Держава, translit=Ukrainska Derzhava), sometimes also called the Second Hetmanate ( uk, Другий Гетьманат, translit=Druhyi Hetmanat, link=no), was an anti-Bolshevik government ...

, amidst

World War I World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, the United States, and the Ottoman Empire, with fightin ...

and the

Russian Civil War , date = October Revolution, 7 November 1917 – Yakut revolt, 16 June 1923{{Efn, The main phase ended on 25 October 1922. Revolt against the Bolsheviks continued Basmachi movement, in Central Asia and Tungus Republic, the Far East th ...

. Landa's family was

Jewish Jews ( he, יְהוּדִים, , ) or Jewish people are an ethnoreligious group and nation originating from the Israelites Israelite origins and kingdom: "The first act in the long drama of Jewish history is the age of the Israelites""The ...

. Her mother was a high school teacher, and her father was a professor of animal husbandry and a veterinary institute. In the autumn of 1932, her father was imprisoned and tortured in the jail of

Stalingrad Volgograd ( rus, Волгогра́д, a=ru-Volgograd.ogg, p=vəɫɡɐˈɡrat), geographical renaming, formerly Tsaritsyn (russian: Цари́цын, Tsarítsyn, label=none; ) (1589–1925), and Stalingrad (russian: Сталингра́д, Stal ...

, and in 1938, he was executed. From 1940 to 1945, she studied at the Moscow Geological Prospecting Sergo Ordzhonikidze Institute (now the

Russian State Geological Prospecting University Sergo Ordzhonikidze Russian State University for Geological Prospecting (, МГРИ), or the Russian State University for Geological Prospecting is named after Sergo Ordzhonikidze and previously known as the Moscow Geological Prospecting Institut ...

).Из воспоминаний Мальвы Ланды
/ref> In the 1950s, she worked as a head of geological surveying party Karatau Expedition MGRI.

Dissident activities

Landa was a founding member of the

, which campaigned for the Soviet Unions to abide by its human rights commitments under the 1975

Helsinki Accords The Helsinki Final Act, also known as Helsinki Accords or Helsinki Declaration was the document signed at the closing meeting of the third phase of the Conference on Security and Co-operation in Europe (CSCE) held in Helsinki, Finland, between ...

. She made the statement that the Soviet socialist system may not respect human rights and, accordingly, was not in compliance with the provisions of the Helsinki Accords. She joined the Helsinki Group to more effectively expose the situation of human rights in the Soviet Union. The group was mainly involved in the issue of political prisoners. On 26 March 1980, Landa was sentenced to five years exile under article 190-1 of the Russian SFSR criminal code, which banned the dissemination of false fabrications defaming the Soviet state and social system. She served time in the village of Dzhezdy, Dzhezkazgan Region in

Kazakhstan Kazakhstan, officially the Republic of Kazakhstan, is a transcontinental country located mainly in Central Asia and partly in Eastern Europe. It borders Russia to the north and west, China to the east, Kyrgyzstan to the southeast, Uzbeki ...

. She remained in the Helsinki Group and returned from exile in 1984.

Later life and death

Following the

dissolution of the Soviet Union The dissolution of the Soviet Union, also negatively connoted as rus, Разва́л Сове́тского Сою́за, r=Razvál Sovétskogo Soyúza, ''Ruining of the Soviet Union''. was the process of internal disintegration within the Sov ...

, Landa continued to participate in political activities in Russia, particularly criticising the

Chechen–Russian conflict The Chechen–Russian conflict (russian: Чеченский конфликт, ''Chechenskiy konflikt''; ce, Нохчийн-Оьрсийн дов, ''Noxçiyn-Örsiyn dov'') was the centuries-long conflict, often armed, between the Russian (form ...

and

President President most commonly refers to: *President (corporate title) *President (education), a leader of a college or university *President (government title) President may also refer to: Automobiles * Nissan President, a 1966–2010 Japanese ful ...

Vladimir Putin Vladimir Vladimirovich Putin; (born 7 October 1952) is a Russian politician and former intelligence officer who holds the office of president of Russia. Putin has served continuously as president or prime minister since 1999: as prime min ...

. In March 2010, she signed a petition advocating for Putin's removal from office. In 2015, aged 97, Landa moved to

Israel Israel (; he, יִשְׂרָאֵל, ; ar, إِسْرَائِيل, ), officially the State of Israel ( he, מְדִינַת יִשְׂרָאֵל, label=none, translit=Medīnat Yīsrāʾēl; ), is a country in Western Asia. It is situated ...

, where she lived with her son and daughter-in-law in

Haifa Haifa ( he, חֵיפָה ' ; ar, حَيْفَا ') is the third-largest city in Israel—after Jerusalem and Tel Aviv—with a population of in . The city of Haifa forms part of the Haifa metropolitan area, the third-most populous metropol ...

.97-year-old is oldest person to make aliyah this year
Ynetnews, 30 December 2015. She died there on 3 July 2019.

Notes

References

External links

Воспоминания Мальвы Ланда

* [https://books.google.com/books?id=UFM5AQAAIAAJ&q=мальва+ланда+1918&dq=мальва+ланда+1918&hl=ru&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwirqdSTktLcAhVIDZoKHdpNAvsQ6AEIOzAE A Chronicle of Human Rights in the USSR] {{DEFAULTSORT:Landa, Malva 1918 births 2019 deaths Odesa Jews Scientists from Odesa Soviet dissidents Russian dissidents Soviet human rights activists Russian human rights activists Women human rights activists Russian geologists Russian emigrants to Israel Russian centenarians Recipients of the Order of the Cross of Vytis Women centenarians