Anna Markova: 'A Doukhobor Martyr'

A Doukhobor Martyr : Anna Markova : 1902-1978 is a chapter in a new book 100 More Canadian Heroines: Famous and Forgotten Faces, by Merna Forster, pages 236-239. This entire 4-page Anna Markova chapter appears on Google Books in 2 file segments — first 3 pages and last 3 pages.

She was passionate about family and faith — and forgiving of those who imprisoned her.

The short 4-page biography, with a photo of a young babushka Markova (above), positions a Doukhobor woman among female scientists, doctors, scholars, educators, pioneers, athletes, business women, politicians, peace activists, artists, actors, an astronaut, detective, soldiers, and other notable women who impacted Canadian history since the 1700s.

'Doukhobor pioneer Anna Markova…' appeared in the announcement: 'Book continues list of Canada's most important women,' Times Colonist (Victoria & Vancouver Island, BC), Oct. 9, 2011.

This book is the second in a series for Forster, who places Markova among the 101th to 200th of her selection of heroines in Canadian history. References used were:

• George Woodcock and Ivan Avakumovic, The Doukhobors (Toronto: Oxford University Press, 1968).
• Jim Popoff, "Passing of a Doukhobor Martyr" and "An Interview with Anna Petrovna Markova," Mir No. 17, pages 2-23, May 1979.
• Koozma J. Tarasoff, 'An Esteemed Babushka Who Weathered the Storm,' Spirit Wrestlers: Doukhobor Pioneers' Strategies for Living, 2002, pages 113-114.

Forster concludes: 'Anna Petrovena Markova [Voykin] … One of the first Canadian Doukhobor social activists, she is still remembered as a visionary. The local newspaper noted, "She was zealous, but not a zealot, and a staunch advocate of enlightenment, family unity, spiritual and moral rebirth."' And she adds that Markova was memorialised in 4 ways:

• Markova Road, along south-east side of Brilliant Culture Centre, Castlegar BC.
• Anna Petriovna Markova Room, Doukhobor Discovery Centre (Text shows pre-2006 name: 'Doukhobor Village Museum')
• Dedication: An Album of Hymns and Folk Songs, by the The Friendship Choir of the USCC, 1978. (Markova also sang the first song on the album: Our Blessed Home, 1970s) [“The Night Is Dark, But Our Sun Keeps Shining,” mistakenly on track-2]
• TV documentary Anna Markova: Forgiveness in Exile

Forster missed much online:

• She was the daughter of Canadian Community Doukhobor leader Peter P. Verigin (Chistiakov) who named the Union of Spiritual Communities of Christ (USCC) in 1938.
• In 1978 Markova co-compiled and co-edited a 752-page book: Sbornikdukhoborscheskikh psalmov, stikhov i pesen [Collection of Doukhobor Psalms, Hymns and Songs]. Grand Forks, B.C.: Union of Spiritual Communities of Christ. [Reported in: Klymasz, Robert B. Tracking the "Living Book": Doukhobor Song in Canada Since 1899, Canadian Journal for Traditional Music (1993).]
• In 1978 she also recorded an album: Our Blessed Home : 6 Organized Choirs & Anna P. Markova, dedicating the new Brilliant culture Centre.
• In 1963 the Slocan Valley Choir recorded a song she brought from Russia: Забыт позаброшен в сибирских краях (Forgotten and Neglected).
• In 1963 she recorded a solo: Стоит гора высокая (Magnificently Stands the Grand Mountain); and elders sang a song John F. Sysoev composed and dedicated to her: Пташка милая зачем ты (Why Dear Bird Have You Come to Us).
• In 1964 she recorded 2 songs with son John and his wife Laura Verigin, archived at the online Doukhobor Song Library.
• ~25 items on USCC Doukhobors.org
• ~11 archived Google News articles, 1960-1981
• Negotiated Memory: Doukhobor Autobiographical Discourse, by Julie Rak, pages 70+ — Discussion of Jim Popoff interview with Anna Markova.