Malva Landa

Malva Noyevna Landa (Russian: Ма́льва Но́евна Ла́нда; 4 August 1918 – 3 July 2019) was a geologist. She was the author of multiple articles a veteran of the human rights movement in the USSR, and member of the Moscow Helsinki Group since its founding in 1976. She received the Officer of the Order of the Cross of Vytis (Lithuania, 8 January 2003).[1]

Malva Landa
Born
Malva Noyevna Landa

(1918-08-04)4 August 1918
Odessa, Ukrainian State
Died3 July 2019(2019-07-03) (aged 100)
Haifa, Israel
OccupationHuman rights activist

Early life

Landa was born in Odessa, Ukraine into the family of a high school teacher. 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. In 1938 he was shot.[2] From 1940-1945, she studied at the Moscow geological prospecting Sergo Ordzhonikidze Institute (now the Russian State Geological prospecting University).[3] In the 1950s, she worked as a head of geological surveying party Karatau expedition MGRI.

Landa joined the Moscow Helsinki Group, which campaigned for the USSR to abide by its human rights commitments under the 1975 Helsinki Accords, when it was founded in 1976. 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 (human article). She joined the Helsinki group to more effectively expose the situation of human rights in the USSR. The group was mainly involved in the issue of political prisoners.[4]

On 26 March 1980 Landa was sentenced to five years exile under article 190-1 of the RSFSR criminal code (dissemination of false fabrications defaming the Soviet state and social system). She served time in the village of Dzhezdy, Dzhezkazgan Region in Kazakhstan. She remained in the Helsinki group and returned from exile in 1984. Landa continued to participate in political activities, criticizing in particular the war in Chechnya. In March 2010 she signed a petition advocating that Putin must go.

In 2015, aged 97, Landa moved to Israel, where she lived with her son and daughter-in-law in Haifa.[5] She died there on 3 July 2019.

References
  1. The decree of the President of the Republic of Lithuania of 8 January 2003, No. 2007 Информация на официальном сайте Президента Литвы
  2. Воспоминания о ГУЛАГе
  3. Из воспоминаний Мальвы Ланды
  4. "Хроника текущих событий. Выпуск 44 от 16 марта 1977 года". Archived from the original on 2017-05-13. Retrieved 2017-07-22.
  5. 97-year-old is oldest person to make aliyah this year, Ynetnews, 30 December 2015.
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