Helen Szamuely: Difference between revisions

| notable_works =

| opponent opponents =

'''Helen Szamuely''' (25 June 25, 1950 – 5 April 5, 2017) was a [[historian]] and [[Euroscepticism|Eurosceptic]] who was a researcher for the [[Bruges Group (United Kingdom)|Bruges Group]] and founder of the [[Anti-Federalist League]].<ref name=Timestimes-obit/><ref name=DTtelegraph-obit/> After the [[Maastricht Treaty]] was signed in 1992, she organised monthly meetings at the [[Red Lion, Westminster|Red Lion]] near Parliament to discuss Europe.<ref name=ECBP>{{citation |page=88 |title=Euroscepticism in Contemporary British Politics |first=Anthony |last=Forster |publisher=Routledge |year=2003 |isbn=9781134445516}}</ref>

Szamuely was born in Moscow, daughter of Hungarian [[Tibor Szamuely (historian)|Tibor Szamuely]] and Russian Nina (née Orlova, 1923-1974), both academics.<ref name="Helen Szamuely"times-obit>{{Citecite news |url=https://www.thetimes.co.uk/article/helen-szamuely-qlskd9qwp |title = Helen Szamuely |newspaper=The Times |location=London |url-access=subscription |date=20 April 2017 |access-date=12 April 2023}}</ref><ref name="oxforddnb.com">{{Cite book|url=https://www.oxforddnb.com/view/10.1093/ref:odnb/9780198614128.001.0001/odnb-9780198614128-e-90000380363|isbn = 978-0-19-861412-8|doi = 10.1093/odnb/9780198614128.013.90000380363|chapter = Szamuely, Helen (1950–2017), historian, translator, and political activist|title = Oxford Dictionary of National Biography|year = 2021|last1 = Taylor|first1 = Rosamund}}</ref> The family moved to [[Ghana]] in 1963, where her father taught until they moved to Britain the next year, settling in West London. Szamuely was educated at a Willesden grammar school, then did her A-levels at [[St Paul's Girls' School]] before attending the [[University of Leeds]] in 1970 to read History and Russian, in which she took a First. She was a research student at [[St Antony's College, Oxford]], from 1975 to 1979, and in 1984 was awarded D.Phil. for her thesis "British Attitudes to Russia 1880-1918".<ref name="telegraph.co.uk"-obit>{{Citecite news |url=https://www.telegraph.co.uk/obituaries/2017/05/14/helen-szamuely-ardent-eurosceptic-obituary/ |title=Helen Szamuely, ardent Eurosceptic – obituary |newspaper=The Daily Telegraph |url-access=limited |date=14 May 2017 |access-date=12 April 2023}}</ref>

A prolific writer and translator, Szamuely had articles published in literary and political journals, contributed to ''The Reader's Companion to Twentieth Century Writers'', and was an interviewer and scriptwriter for the [[BBC News Russian|BBC Russian Service]]. She was a Research Fellow at the Centre for Research into Post-Communist Economies from 1997 to 2017. For many years Szamuely was a researcher and political brief writer in the [[House of Lords]], working with peers on EU issues regarding Russia and Turkey. She was a campaigner for release of political prisoners in the [[Soviet Union]], including the poet Nizametdin Akhmetov, whose work she translated.<ref name="telegraph.co.uk"-obit/><ref name="Helen Szamuely"times-obit/><ref name="oxforddnb.com"/> In later years she worked several years for the [[Countryside Alliance]] on local food campaigns.<ref name=telegraph-obit/><ref name=times-obit/>

Szamuely had a daughter, Katharine, of whose father "she never spoke".<ref name="telegraph-obit/> She never married.co She died of multiple organ failure on 5 April 2017.uk"<ref name=times-obit/>

{{Reflist| refs=}}