biographies
Biographies and autobiographies of key historical figures and thinkers, and ordinary people who have tried to change the world.
Buela, Juana Rouco 1889-1969
A short biography of Juana Rouco Buela, formidable fighter for women's liberation and anarchism
“At the age of eighteen, the police considered me to be an element dangerous for the tranquillity of capitalism and the State”.
Sacha Piotr (Sascha Pjotr) aka Alexander Shapiro aka Sergei 1889/1890-1942(?)
A short biography of the obscure figure of Ukrainian anarchist Sacha Piotr-real name Alexander Schapiro, active in the Ukraine, Russia, Belgium, France and Germany. He fought with the anarchists in Spain and was murdered by the Nazis in Auschwitz. Father of the gifted mathematican Alexander Grothendieck.
Alexander Schapiro was born into a Jewish family with a Hasidic background in Novozybkov in the Ukraine on October 11th 1889 or 6th August 1890. This is the date given by his son Alexander, but it is not clear whether this was by the Julian or Gregorian calendar! In addition the Red Cross report of 1957 on him give two different birth dates, one of 10/11/1889 and one of 11/10/1889!
Borisov, Sergei Makarovich, aka Sasha Ciorniyi, Makar Sliahovsky, Piotr, Seeii, 1884-1910
A short biography of Sergei Borisov, organiser of anarchist combat groups in south Russia and the Ukraine
Sergei Makarovich Borisov was born in Kharkov on 4th of October 1884 into a family of workers. At the age of 16 he started working as a turner and then as a fitter in a Kharkov factory. In 1901 he joined a social-democratic circle. In summer 1904 he left the Social Democrats to join the Odessa Group of Anarchist Communists and soon became a leading member.
Christakis, Leonidas, 1928-2009
A short biography of Leonidas Christakis, publisher of the first counterculture antiauthoritarian magazines in Greece during the colonels' junta, who has died aged 81 in Athens.
Leonidas Christakis who died at the age of 81 in Athens and was burried with a political funeral last Thursday (30/04/09) was born is Thessaloniki in 1928. He graduated from the Paedagogical Academy and the Fine Arts School, and first worked as a classical violinist. During the Nazi occupation of the 1940s, he took part in the Resistance and participated in numerous ant-occupation actions.
De Jong, Albert 1891-1970
A short biography of Albert de Jong, Dutch anarchist veteran.
Albert Andries de Jong was born on 29 April 1891 in Amsterdam. His parents came from the Frisian region in northern Holland. His father was a baker and nightwatchman, and his mother was an enthusiast of the ideas of the anarchist Domela Nieuwenhuis.
Meschi, Alberto 1879-1958
A short biography of Alberto Meschi, great figure of Italian anarchism and still remembered fondly in Carrara.
Alberto Meschi was born at Borgo San Donnino (Parma) on 27 May 1879. An autodidact, as a boy he rallied to the workers movement in La Spezia. He worked as a bricklayer. From 1899 he wrote political articles in the paper Pro Coatti, the union magazine L'Edilizia and the antimilitarist La Pace.
Doster, Gustav aka Gustl 1904-1977
Gustav Doster was a leading light in the anarchist movement in the Rhineland. He organised underground anarchist networks under Nazism and experienced the Spanish Revolution.
Gustav Doster’s father was a boiler maker, and a union militant and member of the Social Democratic Party. From 1919 until 1923 he worked as a lathe operator and then worked as an instructor of metal workers until 1933.
Friedetzky, Heinrich, 1910-1998
Heinrich Friedetzky was a German anarchist who preserved his beliefs despite the experiences of Nazism, prison and concentration camps.
The last of eight children of a railway worker, Heinrich Friedetzky was born on 8th October 1910 at Bebra in the state of Hesse, Germany. His mother died in 1913, his father in 1920. From 1912 the family lived at Ratibor in Upper Silesia, now part of Poland, where Heinrich lived with his brothers, sisters and a stepmother.
Storione, Lawrence 1867-1922
A short biography of Lawrence Storione, miner and founder of the Anarchist Communist League in Fife.
Lawrence Storione was the son of the Italian stonemason Felix Storione and Philomena Moir (or Noir). He was born in Italy in 1867 and worked as a miner in Italy, France, Belgium and the west of Scotland before settling in Lumphinnans in 1908. It appears he had French citizenship, according to the 1901 census. He married Annie Cowan whom he met whilst living in Hamilton, Lanarkshire in 1900.
Wolberg, Aniela Franciszka 1907-1937
A short biography of Polish anarchist Aniela Wolberg
“When only twenty years old she sacrificed time and money for her ideal. At that time her sense of criticism and reality was highly developed; her heart was passioned for the masses, for the revolution. Her burning aim was to help the formation of an Anarchist movement in Poland; one that would not be locked up in groups, but powerful, popular, and able to materialize our aspirations”.
