Irina Borisovna Ratuschinskaya

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Irina Ratuschinskaja (2006).
Photo: Mikhail Alexandrovich Yevstafiev

Irina Borissowna Ratuschinskaja ( Russian Ирина Борисовна Ратушинская ; born March 4, 1954 in Odessa , Ukrainian SSR ; † July 5, 2017 in Moscow ) was a Russian dissident , poet and author .

Life

Her mother, Irina Valentinovna Ratuschinskaja, taught Russian literature. Her father, Boris Leonidowitsch Ratuschinski, was an engineer. She has a sister.

Her mother's family was originally from Poland and her grandfather was deported to Siberia after the January uprising . Ratuschinskaja studied physics at Odessa University and taught at a primary school before marrying engineer Igor Gerashenko in 1979 and moving to Kiev .

She lived in Moscow with her husband and two sons.

Political persecution

On September 17, 1982, Ratuschinskaya was arrested for "anti-Soviet propaganda". In April 1983, she was sentenced to seven years in a labor camp and five years in exile. She was released on 9 October 1986, the day before the summit of Ronald Reagan and Mikhail Gorbachev in Reykjavik . Amnesty International , PEN and various US Senators and MPs stood up for Ratuschinskaya during her detention .

Ratuschinskaya continued to write poetry in the labor camp. The themes of her previous work were love, Christian theology and artistic creation. The 250 or so poems written in the labor camp dealt with human rights, freedom, political and personal freedom, and the beauty of life. She wrote these poems on soap and memorized them before washing them away. Her memoirs, Gray is the Color of Hope , chronicle her experiences in prison. Her later poems describe her efforts to endure the hardships and hardships of prison life. Ratuschinskaya was a member of the PEN who followed her situation during her detention.

exile

In 1987 Ratuschinskaya moved to the United States , where she received the Religious Freedom Award from the Institute on Religion and Democracy . In the same year, the Politburo revoked her Soviet citizenship. She was Poet in Residence at Northwestern University from 1987 to 1989 and lived in London until December 1998. After regaining Russian citizenship, she returned to Russia.

Works

Adaptations

The British composer and violinist Sally Beamish has set six poems by Ratuschinskaja to music.

literature

Web links

Commons : Irina Borisovna Ratuschinskaja  - Collection of pictures, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Death report ( Russian ), accessed on July 6, 2017
  2. ↑ a b c d e Irina Ratushinskaya Papers, 1979–1997. In: Wheaton College Archives & Special Collections. Retrieved March 8, 2011 .
  3. ↑ Ewa Kuryluk: An Interview with Irina Ratushinskaya. In: New York Review of Books. May 7, 1987, Retrieved March 17, 2012 .
  4. ^ Encyclopedia of Feminist Literature. P. 441.
  5. ↑ a b Associated Press: Dissident poet Iryna Ratushynska unexpectedly released from prison. October 19, 1986, accessed July 2, 2015 .
  6. ^ Zambrano, Mark: Young Soviet Poet May Be Dying in Gulag, Emigres Report. In: Chicago Tribune. April 25, 1986. Retrieved March 17, 2012 .
  7. ↑ We wrote a letter to Yeltsin, and then we packed our bags. In: The Independent. June 6, 1999, accessed March 17, 2012 .
  8. ↑ Victor Carr Jr: Sally Beamish: Caledonian Road, etc./Harle. In: Classic Today. February 14, 2002, accessed July 2, 2015 .
personal data
SURNAME Ratuschinskaya, Irina Borisovna
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Ратушинская, Ирина Борисовна (Russian)
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Russian poet and dissident
DATE OF BIRTH March 4th 1954
PLACE OF BIRTH Odessa , Ukrainian SSR
DATE OF DEATH 5th July 2017
Place of death Moscow