Haia Lifşiţ

Who was Haia Lifşiţ?

Haia Lifşiţ or Lifschitz was a Russian-born Romanian communist who died as a result of a hunger strike while in detention for her political opinions.

She was born in Kishinev, Bessarabia, in a family of petty civil servants of Jewish origin. While in high school, she joined the local communist organisation. After finishing high school, Haia worked a schoolteacher, however she was soon arrested for her political options by the Romanian authorities, as Bessarabia had joined Greater Romania in 1918. She was set free, but not allowed to teach any more, so she had to work in a factory, where she continued her political activism.

In 1923 Haia Lifşiţ was elected in the local committee of the still legal Union of Communist Youth. In May 1924 she was arrested again for distributing manifestos for the Communist Party of Romania. She was included in a group of communists put under trial in a major case that was transferred several times around the main cities of Romania. Eventually set free, she was arrested again in 1925 for the same charges. Lifşiţ decided to flee Romania, and emigrated to Belgium, then Germany, before finally settling in Vienna, Austria. In the mean time, she was convicted in absentia with 10 years of detention, for "crimes against state security". In the summer of 1926 she returned to Romania, but was quickly apprehended, then set free for lack of evidence.