Melānija Vanaga (née Šleija; September 4, 1905, in

Drabeši Parish Drabeši Parish () is an administrative unit of Cēsis Municipality in the Vidzeme region of Latvia Latvia, officially the Republic of Latvia, is a country in the Baltic region of Northern Europe. It is one of the three Baltic states, alo ...

"Kalna Sermuļi" – September 23, 1997, in

Carnikava Carnikava ( Livonian: ''Sarnikau'', , ''Zarnikau''), previously Sānkaule, is a village and the center of the Carnikava Parish of Ādaži Municipality in the Vidzeme region of Latvia. It's located 25 km north from Riga at the mouth of the ...

) was a

Latvia Latvia, officially the Republic of Latvia, is a country in the Baltic region of Northern Europe. It is one of the three Baltic states, along with Estonia to the north and Lithuania to the south. It borders Russia to the east and Belarus to t ...

n writer and journalist. She was deported to Siberia and is known for having documented her life in a series of diaries.

Biography

Melānija Vanaga was born on September 4, 1905, at the homestead "Kalna Sermuļi" in

Drabeši parish Drabeši Parish () is an administrative unit of Cēsis Municipality in the Vidzeme region of Latvia Latvia, officially the Republic of Latvia, is a country in the Baltic region of Northern Europe. It is one of the three Baltic states, alo ...

. She started studying at the Dole (now Amata) Primary School in the fall of 1912 and later studied at the

Cēsis Cēsis (; (, , , ) is a town in Latvia located in the northern part of the Central Vidzeme Upland. Cēsis is on the Gauja River valley, and is built on a series of ridges above the river, overlooking the woods below. Cēsis was selected to b ...

Gymnasium. She later commenced law studies at the

University of Latvia University of Latvia (, shortened ''LU'') is a public research university located in Riga, Latvia. The university was established in 1919. History The University of Latvia, initially named as the Higher School of Latvia () was founded on Se ...

. She worked at a

court A court is an institution, often a government entity, with the authority to adjudicate legal disputes between Party (law), parties and Administration of justice, administer justice in Civil law (common law), civil, Criminal law, criminal, an ...

, and as a journalist in newspapers ''Brīvā Zeme'' and ''Daugavas Vēstnesis'', as well as the Latvian Radio. On 14 June 1941, Vanaga was deported to Siberia's Krasnoyarsk Oblast together with her eight-year-old son Alnis. Her husband, Aleksandrs, was separated from the family and sent to a

Gulag The Gulag was a system of Labor camp, forced labor camps in the Soviet Union. The word ''Gulag'' originally referred only to the division of the Chronology of Soviet secret police agencies, Soviet secret police that was in charge of runnin ...

camp in the

Urals The Ural Mountains ( ),; , ; , or simply the Urals, are a mountain range in Eurasia that runs north–south mostly through Russia, from the coast of the Arctic Ocean to the river Ural (river), Ural and northwestern Kazakhstan.

, where he was executed in 1942. She returned to Soviet-occupied Latvia in 1957. She worked as a herder in the kolhozs in the vicinity of Cēsis, where she started collecting local histories, stories, documents, and photos. She was awarded the

Order of the Three Stars Order of the Three Stars () 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 "Through hardships towards the ...

and the

Eduards Veidenbaums Eduards Veidenbaums (3 October 1867 – 24 May 1892) was a Latvian poet and translator. Biography Eduards Veidenbaums was born at the Glāznieki farmstead in the Priekuļi parish (now territory of Cēsis). In 1872 his family moved to Kālā� ...

Prize in Literature in 1994 for her book ''Tēvu cilts'' (The Tribe of Fathers). In 2000, a memorial museum to Vanaga was opened at the Amata Primary School. Some of her writings have been published in English under the title "Suddenly, a Criminal: Sixteen Years in Siberia". In 2016, director Viesturs Kairišs released a biopic film " The Chronicles of Melanie" based on her book "Suddenly, a Criminal".

References

External links

Esi Pats
– Virtual exhibition about the life of Melānija Vanaga. {{DEFAULTSORT:Vanaga, Melanija 1905 births 1997 deaths Latvian writers Soviet writers University of Latvia alumni