{"id":4580,"date":"2026-09-19T13:34:26","date_gmt":"2026-09-19T13:34:26","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/soosterfoundation.org\/?p=4580"},"modified":"2026-09-19T17:09:24","modified_gmt":"2026-09-19T14:09:24","slug":"lidia-soosteri-malestuseks","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/soosterfoundation.org\/en\/lidia-soosteri-malestuseks\/","title":{"rendered":"In Memory of Lidia Sooster"},"content":{"rendered":"

On 23 September, it will be 100 years since the birth of Lidia Sooster (n\u00e9e Serkh). Her 79 years contained enough for several lifetimes...<\/p>\n\n\n\n

A happy childhood with the nickname \u201cLidka the Abyssinian,\u201d cut short by war. An escape from Dnipropetrovsk one day before the occupation. Wartime Moscow, with bombings and nights spent in the Mayakovskaya metro station. And at the same time - dancing with American allies at the Metropol Hotel, which later earned her her first prison sentence for \u201cespionage\u201d after the Soviet Union fell out with its former wartime partners.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The GULAG, Karaganda, the camp, exhausting logging work, where she and her friends harnessed themselves to a yoke to drag logs, reciting romantic poetry to keep one another going...<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Release and a secret return to Moscow, admission to art school, and a denunciation by a teacher because Lidia refused to study \u201cthe Party line\u201d... Then another arrest, this time for \u201canti-Soviet propaganda.\u201d She was initially sentenced to 25 years in the camps, later reduced to ten. Once again: transfers, overcrowded prison wagons, Karaganda, Peschanlag, the Taishet camp, and exhausting labor - now in the fields, now planting forests.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Then came a stroke of luck: she found work as an artist at the camp House of Culture. There was a drama group and a dance ensemble, and an Estonian opera singer taught singing... And most importantly, she met her future husband - at that time the chief artist of the inter-camp House of Culture, himself a prisoner and a member of an \u201canti-Soviet group\u201d: \u00dclo Sooster.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

A passionate romance began by correspondence, with countless drawings and rare meetings.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Her sentence ended, and Lidia left for Moscow, but soon returned to Karaganda to be with the man she loved... Stalin died - then came amnesty and departure for Estonia, to her beloved\u2019s family. The family gave permission for him to marry a Jewish woman - \u201cas long as she isn\u2019t Russian.\u201d A modest wedding among close friends and relatives. But the impossibility of finding work as an artist forced \u00dclo Sooster and his wife to move to Moscow and begin a new life.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Tenno Pent Sooster,\nson of \u00dclo and Lidia Sooster<\/p>\n\n\n\n

(To be continued)<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\n
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\"\"<\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n

In the photo: \u00dclo Sooster\u2019s works \u2018Blue portrait\u2019. 1956-57; \u201cFlying to You\u201d. 1955; \u201cEmbrace\u201d. 1955-56<\/p>\n\n\n\n

See less<\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

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[…]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":4584,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_coblocks_attr":"","_coblocks_dimensions":"","_coblocks_responsive_height":"","_coblocks_accordion_ie_support":"","_uag_custom_page_level_css":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[34],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-4580","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-blog"],"uagb_featured_image_src":{"full":["https:\/\/soosterfoundation.s3.eu-west-1.amazonaws.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/09\/19132524\/814493558_122283363878084492_8600635514817513573_n-1.jpg?v=1789824327",843,1215,false],"thumbnail":["https:\/\/soosterfoundation.s3.eu-west-1.amazonaws.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/09\/19132524\/814493558_122283363878084492_8600635514817513573_n-1-150x150.jpg?v=1789824327",150,150,true],"medium":["https:\/\/soosterfoundation.s3.eu-west-1.amazonaws.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/09\/19132524\/814493558_122283363878084492_8600635514817513573_n-1-208x300.jpg?v=1789824327",208,300,true],"medium_large":["https:\/\/soosterfoundation.s3.eu-west-1.amazonaws.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/09\/19132524\/814493558_122283363878084492_8600635514817513573_n-1-768x1107.jpg?v=1789824327",768,1107,true],"large":["https:\/\/soosterfoundation.s3.eu-west-1.amazonaws.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/09\/19132524\/814493558_122283363878084492_8600635514817513573_n-1-710x1024.jpg?v=1789824327",710,1024,true],"1536x1536":["https:\/\/soosterfoundation.s3.eu-west-1.amazonaws.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/09\/19132524\/814493558_122283363878084492_8600635514817513573_n-1.jpg?v=1789824327",843,1215,false],"2048x2048":["https:\/\/soosterfoundation.s3.eu-west-1.amazonaws.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/09\/19132524\/814493558_122283363878084492_8600635514817513573_n-1.jpg?v=1789824327",843,1215,false],"trp-custom-language-flag":["https:\/\/soosterfoundation.s3.eu-west-1.amazonaws.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/09\/19132524\/814493558_122283363878084492_8600635514817513573_n-1-8x12.jpg?v=1789824327",8,12,true],"woocommerce_thumbnail":["https:\/\/soosterfoundation.s3.eu-west-1.amazonaws.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/09\/19132524\/814493558_122283363878084492_8600635514817513573_n-1-300x300.jpg?v=1789824327",300,300,true],"woocommerce_single":["https:\/\/soosterfoundation.s3.eu-west-1.amazonaws.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/09\/19132524\/814493558_122283363878084492_8600635514817513573_n-1-600x865.jpg?v=1789824327",600,865,true],"woocommerce_gallery_thumbnail":["https:\/\/soosterfoundation.s3.eu-west-1.amazonaws.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/09\/19132524\/814493558_122283363878084492_8600635514817513573_n-1-100x100.jpg?v=1789824327",100,100,true]},"uagb_author_info":{"display_name":"Sergei","author_link":"https:\/\/soosterfoundation.org\/en\/author\/sergei\/"},"uagb_comment_info":0,"uagb_excerpt":"23 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