Natalya Yevgenyevna Gorbanevskaya ( rus, Ната́лья Евге́ньевна Горбане́вская, p=nɐˈtalʲjə jɪvˈɡʲenʲjɪvnə ɡərbɐˈnʲefskəjə, a=Natal'ya Yevgen'yevna Gorbanyevskaya.ru.vorb.oga; 26 May 1936 – 29 November 2013) was a Russian poet, a translator of Polish literature and a civil-rights activist. She was one of the founders and the first editor of ''
A Chronicle of Current Events
''A Chronicle of Current Events'' (russian: Хро́ника теку́щих собы́тий, ''Khronika tekushchikh sobytiy'') was one of the longest-running ''samizdat'' periodicals of the post-Stalin USSR. This unofficial newsletter reported v ...
'' (1968–1982). On 25 August 1968, with seven others, she took part in the
1968 Red Square demonstration against the
Soviet invasion of Czechoslovakia
The Warsaw Pact invasion of Czechoslovakia refers to the events of 20–21 August 1968, when the Czechoslovak Socialist Republic was jointly invaded by four Warsaw Pact countries: the Soviet Union, the Polish People's Republic, the People's Rep ...
. In 1970 a Soviet court sentenced Gorbanevskaya to incarceration in a psychiatric hospital. She was released from the Kazan Special Psychiatric Hospital in 1972, and emigrated from the USSR in 1975, settling in France. In 2005, she became a citizen of Poland.
Life in Moscow
Gorbanevskaya was born in Moscow. She graduated from
Leningrad University
Saint Petersburg State University (SPBU; russian: Санкт-Петербургский государственный университет) is a public research university in Saint Petersburg, Russia. Founded in 1724 by a decree of Peter the G ...
in 1964 and became a
technical editor
Editing is the process of selecting and preparing written, photographic, visual, audible, or cinematic material used by a person or an entity to convey a message or information. The editing process can involve correction, condensation, orga ...
and translator.
Only nine of her poems had been published in official journals by the time she quit the USSR in 1975; the rest circulated privately (
samizdat
Samizdat (russian: самиздат, lit=self-publishing, links=no) was a form of dissident activity across the Eastern Bloc in which individuals reproduced censored and underground makeshift publications, often by hand, and passed the document ...
) or were published abroad (tamizdat).
Dissident activities
From 1968 onwards Gorbanevskaya was active in what was later called the Soviet "dissident movement."
She was founder and first editor of ''
A Chronicle of Current Events
''A Chronicle of Current Events'' (russian: Хро́ника теку́щих собы́тий, ''Khronika tekushchikh sobytiy'') was one of the longest-running ''samizdat'' periodicals of the post-Stalin USSR. This unofficial newsletter reported v ...
'', a
samizdat
Samizdat (russian: самиздат, lit=self-publishing, links=no) was a form of dissident activity across the Eastern Bloc in which individuals reproduced censored and underground makeshift publications, often by hand, and passed the document ...
publication that focused on the violation of basic human rights in the Soviet Union. Her contribution was to compile and edit the reports, and then type the first six carbon copies of the issue, the "zero-generation" copy, for further replication and distribution.
Gorbanevskaya was also one of eight protesters in the 25 August
1968 Red Square demonstration against the
Soviet invasion of Czechoslovakia
The Warsaw Pact invasion of Czechoslovakia refers to the events of 20–21 August 1968, when the Czechoslovak Socialist Republic was jointly invaded by four Warsaw Pact countries: the Soviet Union, the Polish People's Republic, the People's Rep ...
.
Having recently given birth, she was not immediately tried with the other demonstrators. She used this time to follow the trial in the ''Chronicle of Current Events'', and published the accumulated documentation abroad in French and Russian (Polden). The book appeared in English in 1972 as ''Red Square at Noon''.
In 1969, she signed An Appeal to The UN Committee for Human Rights.
In December 1969 Gorbanevskaya was arrested. In July the following year she was put on trial and found guilty of offences under Article 190-1 of the RSFSR Criminal Code, committed while of unsound mind. Gorbanevskaya was sentenced to indefinite confinement in a psychiatric hospital where she would be treated for "
sluggish schizophrenia
Sluggish schizophrenia or slow progressive schizophrenia (russian: вялотеку́щая шизофрени́я, translit=vyalotekushchaya shizofreniya) was a diagnostic category used in the Soviet Union to describe what was claimed to be a for ...
", a diagnosis commonly applied to dissidents. Gorbanevskaya was released from the
Kazan Special Psychiatric Hospital
Kazan ( ; rus, Казань, p=kɐˈzanʲ; tt-Cyrl, Казан, ''Qazan'', IPA: ɑzan is the capital and largest city of the Republic of Tatarstan in Russia. The city lies at the confluence of the Volga and the Kazanka rivers, covering an ...
in February 1972.
Life in emigration
In December 1975, Gorbanevskaya emigrated to Paris.
There, French psychiatrists at their request examined Gorbanevskaya and found her to be mentally normal.
They concluded that in 1969–72 she had been committed to a psychiatric hospital for political, not medical reasons.
For a time Gorbanevskaya was a celebrity figure in the West. In 1976
Joan Baez
Joan Chandos Baez (; born January 9, 1941) is an American singer, songwriter, musician, and activist. Her contemporary folk music often includes songs of protest and social justice. Baez has performed publicly for over 60 years, releasing more ...
released a song dedicated to Gorbanevskaya called "Natalia", written by Roy Apps,
Shusha Guppy
Shushā Guppy ( fa, شوشا گوپی; née Shamsi Assār ( fa, شمسی عصار; 24 December 1935 – 21 March 2008) was a writer, editor and a singer of Persian and Western folk songs. She lived in London from the early 1960s, until her death ...
and
G.T. Moore, on the live album ''
From Every Stage
''From Every Stage'' is a double live album recorded by Joan Baez on tour in the summer of 1975. The first half of the album was acoustic, with Baez accompanying herself on her guitar, while the second half features electric backup. Baez' record ...
''. Introducing the song, Baez criticized Gorbanevskaya's internment in the psychiatric hospital and said: "It is because of people like Natalya Gorbanevskaya, I am convinced, that you and I are still alive and walking around on the face of the earth."
Adrienne Rich also wrote "For a Sister," from the book ''
Diving into the Wreck: Poems 1971–1972'', in acknowledgement of Gorbanevskaya and other women and their wrongful imprisonment.
For thirty years, however, Gorbanevskaya was stateless until Poland granted her
citizenship
Citizenship is a "relationship between an individual and a state to which the individual owes allegiance and in turn is entitled to its protection".
Each state determines the conditions under which it will recognize persons as its citizens, and ...
in 2005.
In 2005 Gorbanevskaya took part in ''
They Chose Freedom
''They Chose Freedom'' (russian: Они выбирали свободу, Oni vybirali svobodu) is a four-part TV documentary on the history of political dissent in the USSR from the 1950s to the 1990s. It was produced in 2005 by Vladimir V. Kara- ...
'', a four-part television documentary on the history of the
Soviet dissident
Soviet dissidents were people who disagreed with certain features of Soviet ideology or with its entirety and who were willing to speak out against them. The term ''dissident'' was used in the Soviet Union in the period from the mid-1960s until ...
movement directed by
Vladimir Kara-Murza Jr.
In 2008, she was a signatory of the
Prague Declaration on European Conscience and Communism
The Prague Declaration on European Conscience and Communism was a declaration which was initiated by the Czech government and signed on 3 June 2008 by prominent European politicians, former political prisoners and historians, among them former ...
.
On 29 November 2013, Gorbanevskaya died in her house in Paris.
Commemoration rally on Red Square, 2013
In August 2013, Gorbanevskaya participated in a rally in Moscow to commemorate the forty-fifth anniversary of the invasion of Czechoslovakia. The rally was quickly dispersed by police, and ten participants (but not Gorbanevskaya) were taken into custody. They were released after international protests, especially from the Czech Republic.
Awards
In 2008, October, Gorbanevskaya received Poland's Marie Curie Award. The same year, Gorbanevskaya was nominated for the Angelus Central European Literature Award.
On 22 October 2013 Gorbanevskaya received an honorary medal from
Charles University in Prague
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, budget = 8.9 billion CZK
, rector = Milena Králíčková
, faculty = 4,057
, administrative_staff = 4,026
, students = 51,438
, undergr ...
for her lifelong commitment to the struggle for democracy, freedom and human rights.
On 27 October 2014 Gorbanevskaya was awarded posthumously the highest Slovak award, the
Order of the White Double Cross
The Order of the White Double Cross ( sk, Rad Bieleho dvojkríža) is the highest state decoration of the Slovak Republic.
The Order was instituted on 1 March 1994 after Slovakia became independent on 1 January 1993. It continues the Czechoslova ...
, for her lifelong efforts to defend democracy and human rights.
Books and other publications
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See also
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Chronicle of Current Events
''A Chronicle of Current Events'' (russian: Хро́ника теку́щих собы́тий, ''Khronika tekushchikh sobytiy'') was one of the longest-running ''samizdat'' periodicals of the post-Stalin USSR. This unofficial newsletter reported v ...
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samizdat
Samizdat (russian: самиздат, lit=self-publishing, links=no) was a form of dissident activity across the Eastern Bloc in which individuals reproduced censored and underground makeshift publications, often by hand, and passed the document ...
*
1968 Red Square demonstration
References
External links
Links in English
* (English translation from a review, published in ''
Novy Mir
''Novy Mir'' (russian: links=no, Новый мир, , ''New World'') is a Russian-language monthly literary magazine.
History
''Novy Mir'' has been published in Moscow since January 1925. It was supposed to be modelled on the popular pre-Soviet ...
'', No.7, 1997, p. 67–68).
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10 poems by Natalya Gorbanevskaya Audio of her own reading with text translations into different languages
Poems and texts by Gorbanevskayaat
Prague Writers' Festival
The Prague Writers' Festival (PWF) is an annual literary festival in Prague, Czech Republic, taking place every spring since 1991. In 2005 the festival was also held in Vienna. Many of the events are broadcast via the internet. International lite ...
Links in Russian
Photographs and biographyБиография*
ttp://www.memo.ru/history/DISS/chr/chr3.htm Информация о демонстрации в бюллетене «Хроника текущих событий»Информация о суде над демонстрантами в бюллетене «Хроника текущих событий»
*https://web.archive.org/web/20071012132901/http://yale.edu/annals/sakharov/documents_frames/Sakharov_008.htm; Письмо
Андропова в ЦК про демонстрацию (windows encoding)
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{{DEFAULTSORT:Gorbanevskaya, Natalya
1936 births
2013 deaths
Writers from Moscow
Saint Petersburg State University alumni
Russian women poets
Soviet women poets
Soviet poets
Soviet dissidents
Soviet psychiatric abuse whistleblowers
Psychiatric survivor activists
Russian activists
Russian women activists
Soviet translators
Soviet emigrants to France
20th-century Russian women writers
20th-century Russian translators
20th-century Russian writers
Russian memoirists
People associated with the magazine "Kultura"
Women memoirists