She fought for the equality of people of different nationalities, loved dangerous adventures and possessed encyclopedic knowledge. Death overtook the heroine when she hurried to the aid of the wounded.
In the Russian Empire, it was not only the lack of equality between people of different incomes and representatives of different classes that was legally enshrined. They could restrict their rights on the basis of ethnicity and religion. Those who did not want to endure such oppression joined the ranks of the revolutionaries. There were also women among them.
Childhood
Berta was born in September 1874 in the city of Mir near Minsk. The happy father was a local bourgeois Kalman Slutsky. He was a literate person and dreamed of giving a good education to his many children. Soon after adding to the family, he organized a move to Minsk. Jews were forbidden to live in the capital, so they had to find a provincial town where there were good prospects for study and career.
At the new place of residence, the head of the family worked in a shop and taught Hebrew. This worthy husband invested the income from his business in the future of his heirs. Baby Berta attended preparatory courses, and then gymnasium. The intelligent girl surprised her parents - she improved her level of knowledge at home, passed the exams as an external student and left for Kiev to become a doctor.
Youth
The girl returned home as a high-class dentist. She opened her office and received patients there, whom the quality of her work made to forget about national prejudices and neglect of women. In 1898, Bertha's brother Samuel told his sister about his new acquaintance, Yevgeny Gurevich. At one time, this lady was a member of the organization "Earth Will", and now she focuses on translating the works of foreign authors into Russian. She attracted the guy not by her erudition, but by the ideas that she expressed.
Two bright women met. Gurevich turned out to be not just a public activist, but also the organizer of an underground printing house that published forbidden literature. Our heroine enthusiastically started distributing anti-government leaflets and was arrested the same year. Together with her, the whole company fell into the clutches of the gendarmes. Brother and sister were sent to Moscow, tried and kept in prison for almost a year.
Fight for equality
The punishment did not frighten or break the young rebel. Released, she again joined the revolutionaries. In 1901 Slutskaya joined the Bund. It was a left-wing organization that united Jews in the fight against anti-Semitism that prevailed in the country. Activists formed squads to repulse the rioters and campaigned against nationalist delusions.
The new girl became a valuable asset - she reopened her medical practice in Minsk, traveled to Lodz on business, was decent in her personal life and diligent in work. True, her briefcase always contained anti-government leaflets, and many of her clients fought the regime. To make it safer, Bertha turned into Vera. Despite the excellent disguise, she was noticed and sent into exile.
On the run
The place of exile for the incorrigible lady was the hometown of Mir. The comrades helped Vera to get out of there. On the way, Slutskaya got hold of several more passports in different names. She traveled around the empire, was detained several times, but each time she escaped imprisonment. This could not go on for long. In 1902 she had to leave her homeland and go to Germany.
In emigration, Vera Slutskaya met like-minded people. The Bund in its program was a Marxist organization, therefore our heroine joined the RSDLP. She participated in party meetings, became famous among the revolutionaries. In 1905, this woman was not afraid to return to Minsk to take part in revolutionary events. From the provinces, she was called to the capital, where she plunged into a whirlwind of political battles.
In the link
The restless person greatly interfered with the authorities. In 1909, her comrades persuaded her to go abroad. Slutskaya visited Germany and Switzerland, and then reappeared in St. Petersburg. The impudent woman was arrested and was going to be sent to Arkhangelsk province for 3 years. The unfortunate woman wrote petitions for pardon, influential people stood up for her, and the Astrakhan province became the place of exile. Having gained freedom again, she left for Germany.
Slutskaya this time not only escaped from a new arrest, she entered the university. In addition to studying abroad, it was possible to get the practice of foreign languages - Vera spoke and wrote 6 fluently. Party activity was also not forgotten by this fidget. Vladimir Lenin himself asked her to translate the resolutions of the RSDLP. Unable to live without adventures, in 1912 Vera returned to her homeland and 2 years later was exiled to Lyuban.
Doom
The biography of this woman amazed her comrades. They called her "Iron Faith" - arrests, exile, underground - they did not make her give up. Perhaps this halo of masculinity made those who would like to see Slutskaya as their wife unnecessarily shy of her. Party members said that she lives exclusively in politics.
In 1917, Vera conducted educational work among women, was the secretary of the Vasileostrovsky district committee. When the fighting of the Bolsheviks against Kerensky's troops began, she was carrying medicines for the wounded by car. The enemy's artillery knocked out the transport, Vera Slutskaya was killed by a shell fragment.
