Lisitzin was born in Dresden to the 40-year-old mining engineer Gregorius Lisitzin, who was still in Germany after graduating from the Bergakademie Freiberg 13 years earlier, and Eugenie Maria de Ratomska. Her father's scientific activities took the family to Belgium, Sweden, and eventually back to Karelia (then in Finland) where the family lived in Sortavala. Gregorius had studied nearby in Vyborg, maintained absentee status through the 1900s, and later became an honorary member of the Technical Club; he was also influential in the Käkisalmi area where he was on the board of several railroad companies until Karelia became part of Russia.