MENU
Documenting
war crimes in Ukraine

The Tribunal for Putin (T4P) global initiative was set up in response to the all-out war launched by Russia against Ukraine in February 2022.

In Memoriam: Nadiya Svitlychna

09.08.2006   
Nadiya Svitlychna, who spent four years in a Soviet labour camp, and who in emigration was active in the External Representation of the Ukrainian Helsinki Group and edited the “Bulletin of repression in Ukraine”, has died

On 8 August 2006, in Irvington (USA), Nadiya Svitlychna died after a long illness. There had seemed some hope after she was able to once again leave her bed, in the early hours of Tuesday morning her heart stopped beating.

It is hard to write about people very dear to us during their lifetime. It is harder still, though, to write about them when they are no longer with us.

On the same day, we remembered Larissa Bogoraz who would have been 77.

“Do not speak with sadness

Of those dear companions who gave life to our world

They have gone, yes,

but for their life, we are thankful”

The key word here is “gave life”. Both Nadiyka Svitlychna and Larissa Bogoraz by their presence in this world, their moral integrity, their nobility of spirit, courage, their refusal to cave in and conform, to accept what was unacceptable, created an atmosphere in which the world seemed less intolerable. And they remained at the same time natural, tolerant and profoundly human.

More details about Nadiya Svitlychna’s life can be found at:

http://khpg.org/1155706346

Yevhen Zakharov

 Share this