Patricia Soltysik

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Patricia Soltysik running out the bank with a bag of money. To her right is Patty Hearst and to her left Donald DeFreeze

Patricia Soltysik

Patricia "Mizmoon" Soltysik (1950 – 17 May 1974) was one of the founders of the Symbionese Liberation Army.

[edit] Bio

She was the daughter of a pharmacist, the third of seven children, the oldest of five girls. She grew up in Goleta, California, with her Roman Catholic family, and graduated from Dos Pueblos High School in 1968 in the top 10 percent of her class and was even the student body treasurer of her high school.

She enrolled in the University of California, Berkeley on a state scholarship in 1968. While at Berkeley she became enbittered by the "Bloody Thursday" incident where a protester was killed^[1]. Drifting into radical groups she became both a radical feminist and notably promiscuous. When her brother asked about her plans of becoming a lawyer, she replied, "Sisters, none of us are free until we are all free". In 1971 she attached herself to the radical ex-convict group United Prisoners Union and dropped out of school. She and her neighbor, Camilla Hall, became lovers, and it was Hall who gave Soltysik the name "Mizmoon."

In 5 March, 1973 Donald DeFreeze escaped prison and future SLA members Russell Little and Willy Wolfe took him to Soltysik's house because unlike their other associates, Soltysik didn't visit the prisons^[2]. The two became lovers and Soltysik and DeFreeze created the first SLA literature.

On 6 November 1973 in Oakland, California, two members of the S.L.A. killed superintendent of schools Dr. Marcus Foster and badly wounded his deputy Robert Blackburn as the men left an Oakland school board meeting. The S.L.A. condemned Foster's plan to introduce identification cards into Oakland schools as "fascist." It was later revealed that it was Soltysik and Emily Harris were the two who shot Marcus Foster according to Patty Hearst's sworn testimony.^[3]

[edit] L.A. shootout and death

Main article: Symbionese Liberation Army

Soltysik was one of the six SLA members killed in a shootout with Los Angeles Police Department on 17 May 1974. She was found underneath the floor of the house in a crawl space. She likely died from smoke inhalation and burn injuries as the house burned down around them.

[edit] References

• In 1976, Fred Soltysik published In Search of a Sister, his account of his sister's involvement with the SLA:

Soltysik, Fred [1976]. In Search of a Sister (in English). New York: Bantam, 248. ISBN B0006WBNXU. 

[edit] Notes