Anatoly Ignatovich Pristavkin (russian: Анато́лий Игна́тьевич Приста́вкин, 17 October 1931,

Lyubertsy Lyubertsy ( rus, Люберцы, p=ˈlʲʉbʲɪrtsɨ) is a city and the administrative center of Lyuberetsky District in Moscow Oblast, Russia. Demographics Population: History It was first mentioned in 1621 and was granted town status in 192 ...

— 11 July 2008, Moscow) was a Russian writer and public figure. His mother died when he was nine and his father died in

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the World War II by country, vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great power ...

. After spending several years in Soviet

orphanage An orphanage is a residential institution, total institution or group home, devoted to the care of orphans and children who, for various reasons, cannot be cared for by their biological families. The parents may be deceased, absent, or a ...

s, Pristavkin had to start working from the age of 14, and had various jobs. He started a career as a writer in 1961 and later became a lecturer at a university. Pristavkin's novel "The Inseparable Twins" was successful in the

Soviet Union The Soviet Union,. officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR),. was a transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 to 1991. A flagship communist state, it was nominally a federal union of fifteen nationa ...

, and describes the miserable conditions of orphans' life in an orphanage near Moscow during the years of World War II and the re-settlement to Chechnya in 1944, as Chechens had been deported. The book became part of school curriculum in the

Perestroika ''Perestroika'' (; russian: links=no, перестройка, p=pʲɪrʲɪˈstrojkə, a=ru-perestroika.ogg) was a political movement for reform within the Communist Party of the Soviet Union (CPSU) during the late 1980s widely associated wit ...

-era USSR. Books by Pristavkin were translated to many languages. Pristavkin took part in the Soviet opposition movement. In 1988, he joined the writers association ''Aprel'', a pro-Perestroika organization of Russian writers. On 4 November 1989 he took part in the

Alexanderplatz demonstration The Alexanderplatz demonstration (german: link=no, Alexanderplatz-Demonstration) was a demonstration for political reforms and against the government of the German Democratic Republic on Alexanderplatz in East Berlin on Saturday 4 November 1989 ...

in East Berlin against the regime in

East Germany East Germany, officially the German Democratic Republic (GDR; german: Deutsche Demokratische Republik, , DDR, ), was a country that existed from its creation on 7 October 1949 until German reunification, its dissolution on 3 October 1990. In t ...

. In 1991 he supported the Latvian independence movement, stood at barricades in

Riga Riga (; lv, Rīga , liv, Rīgõ) is the capital and largest city of Latvia and is home to 605,802 inhabitants which is a third of Latvia's population. The city lies on the Gulf of Riga at the mouth of the Daugava river where it meets the ...

and appealed to Soviet soldiers via regional television, urging them not to shoot at civilians. In 1995 and 1996 he visited

Chechnya Chechnya ( rus, Чечня́, Chechnyá, p=tɕɪtɕˈnʲa; ce, Нохчийчоь, Noxçiyçö), officially the Chechen Republic,; ce, Нохчийн Республика, Noxçiyn Respublika is a republic of Russia. It is situated in the ...

and encountered assaults on civilian population. He later criticised Russia's Chechnya policies in the media. In the 1990s, Pristavkin headed the Pardon Commission of the Russian Federation.Robert Porter, « Anatolii Pristavkin. Muted Soviet novelist who blossomed into a champion of liberalism », 14 Aug 2008
theguardian.com In 1993, he signed the

Letter of Forty-Two The Letter of Forty-Two (russian: Письмо́ сорока́ двух) was an open letter signed by forty-two Russian literati, aimed at Russian society, the president and government, in reaction to the 1993 Russian constitutional crisis. It was ...

in support of

Boris Yeltsin Boris Nikolayevich Yeltsin ( rus, Борис Николаевич Ельцин, p=bɐˈrʲis nʲɪkɐˈla(j)ɪvʲɪtɕ ˈjelʲtsɨn, a=Ru-Boris Nikolayevich Yeltsin.ogg; 1 February 1931 – 23 April 2007) was a Soviet and Russian politician wh ...

in his stand against the Russian parliament.

References

Sources

*http://www.penrussia.org/n-z/an-prs.htm *http://www.iht.com/articles/2008/07/20/europe/obits.php {{DEFAULTSORT:Pristavkin, Anatoly 1931 births 2008 deaths People from Lyubertsy Communist Party of the Soviet Union members Russian male novelists Soviet dissidents Advisers to the President of Russia Recipients of the USSR State Prize Burials in Troyekurovskoye Cemetery Maxim Gorky Literature Institute alumni