- Yekaterina Peshkova
Yekaterina Pavlovna Peshkova née Volzhina ( _ru. Екатерина Павловна Пешкова, урождённая Волжина; 1887–1965) was a
Russia nhuman rights activist andhumanitarian , first wife ofMaxim Gorky .Before the
October Revolution she took an active part in the work of "Committee for Assistance to Russian Political Prisoners" (Комитета помощи русским политкаторжанам) under the leadership ofVera Figner . After 1914 led the "Children Commission" at the "Society for Assistance to the War Victims". After 1918 she was the major activist of "Moscow Committee of Political Red Cross".After 1922, she was the chairwoman of organization "Assistance to Political Prisoners" (Pompolit, "Помощь политическим заключенным", Помполит). She was awarded by an order of Polish Red Cross for her participation in the exchange of
POW s after thePolish-Soviet War .During the years of
Stalin 's political repressions, she was often the only person who actually helped the political prisoners, passed along letters and parcels of food, and advocated softening of the jail terms and amnesties. Thousands of Russian intellectuals owed her their lives. Among them was RabbiYosef Yitzchok Schneersohn , the sixthRebbe of theChabad Lubavitch chasidic movement, who was arrested and imprisoned in the Shpalernaya prison inLeningrad . His death sentence was softened and changed two times. Finally he was released and left Russia.External links
*ru icon Yaroslav Leontiev " [http://www.rg-rb.de/2005/24/mir.shtml "Dear Ekaterina Pavlovna] "
*ru icon [http://2002.novayagazeta.ru/nomer/2002/81n/n81n-s39.shtml History of Political Red Cross]* "The Murder of Maxim Gorky. A Secret Execution" by Arkady Vaksberg. (Enigma Books: New York, 2007. ISBN 978-1-929631-62-9.)
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