Antonina Apollo
Antonina Apollo | |
|---|---|
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| Born | November 3, 1909 Tallinn, Estonia |
| Died | January 15, 1993 Tallinn, Estonia |
| Other names | Antonina Anissimova |
Antonina Apollo (November 3, 1909 - January 15, 1993) was an Estonian Bahá’í who was the third person to declare in the country.
Biography[edit]
Apollo was born Antonina Anissimova in Tallinn, Estonia, in 1909 to a Russian father and Estonian mother and she had a brother. Her family move to Finland in her childhood where she began her education but the family returned to Tallinn at some point. In 1928 the family moved to Novosibirsk in Russia where she enrolled in the Moscow Pedagogical Institute. At some point she married a Mr. Setskin and they settled in Ivanovo, Russia, and had a son, Valeri, in 1930 but later divorced.[1]
In 1937 Apollo was arrested by the Soviet authorities on espionage charges as she had lived outside Russia and spoke many languages and she was held in a labor camp in Arhangelsk until 1947. After being released she returned to Estonia but she was imprisoned again in 1950 and imprisoned in Siberia. She met Albert Apollo, an imprisoned Estonian journalist, in the prison camp and in 1956 they were both pardoned, married, and returned to Estonia where they settled in Tallinn.[1]
After settling in Tallinn Apollo began working as a book-keeper and taught German lessons. She also pursued painting, writing, translation work, and studied Esperanto.[1] She came into contact with Johannes and Raia Palu, the first two Estonian Bahá’ís, through Esperanto circles and learnt about about the Bahá’í Faith from them. She also studied the religion with Habib'u'llah Zabihian who lived in Finland before becoming the third Estonian to declare in 1977.[2]
In 1990 a Local Spiritual Assembly of Tallinn was established and Apollo was elected to the body. At some point her husband passed and she settled in a one room apartment in the suburb Lasnamae in Tallinn where she hosted Feasts up until shortly before her passing in January, 1993.[2]
