Quick Facts
LeoBiography
Marija Leiko (14 August 1887 – 3 February 1938), also known as Marija Leyko, was a Latvian silent film actress in Europe, especially popular in Latvia, Germany, and Russia.
Life and film career
Leiko conquered the German big screen first, starring in the The Diamond Foundation (1917), Kain (1918), Ewiger Strom (1919), Die Frau im Käfig (1919) and Lola Montez (1919) as the dancer.
When the silent movie era ended Leiko retired from film acting. After the Nazi seizure of power in 1933, she returned to her native Latvia. In 1935 she visited the Soviet Union and stayed to join the company of the Latvian State Theatre in Moscow.
During the so-called "Latvian Operation" the theatre was shut down, and on 15 December 1937, Leiko was arrested on charges of belonging to a "Latvian nationalist conspiracy". On 3 February 1938 at the age of 50 she was shot and buried in a mass grave at the secret NKVD killing field at Butovo, near Moscow.
Maria Leiko was posthumously rehabilitated for the absence of a crime (corpus delicti) on May 12, 1958.
Memory
On May 14, 2017 in Moscow on the wall of the house 9, building 3 at Obolensky lanememorial sign Last Address of Maria Karlovna Leiko was posted.
Sources
- Guna Zeltina, Anita Uzulniece Russian: Мария Лейко : Актриса театра и кино, 1887-1937 Language: Latvian Riga Liesma 155 pages (Illustrated) January 1989 ISBN 5-410-00276-8 ISBN 9785410002769
