About
Valeria Novodvorskaya, born May 17, 1950 in Baranovichi, Belarus, and died July 12, 2014 in Moscow, was a Soviet dissident, human rights activist, and liberal journalist. Founder of the Democratic Union party in 1988, the first independent political party in the USSR, she was arrested as early as 1969 for distributing leaflets against the invasion of Czechoslovakia. Forcibly confined to a psychiatric hospital (1970-1972), she was convicted several times for her dissident activity. A fierce critic of the Soviet regime and later of Vladimir Putin, she opposed the Chechen wars, the 2008 war in Georgia, and the annexation of Crimea.
* 1950-05-17 — † 2014-07-12
Major works
- Po tu storonu otchajanija (1993)essay
- Nad propast'ju vo lzhi (1998)essay
Key milestones
- 1969First arrest for distributing leaflets against the invasion of Czechoslovakia.
- 1988Founds the Democratic Union party, the first independent political party in the USSR.
- 2008Awarded the Knight's Cross of the Order of the Lithuanian Grand Duke Gediminas.
Themes
DissidenceHuman rightsLiberalismCriticism of powerAnti-totalitarianism
Sources: id.loc.gov · honorarydoctors.iliauni.edu.ge