Political system of Russia
According to COMPUTERMINUS.COM, the Russian Federation has been a presidential republic with a republican form of government since 1991. According to the constitution, the Russian Federation consists of nine federation circles, which are made up of a number of federation entities such as republics, oblasts or regions. See AbbreviationFinder for more information about Russia politics, and acronyms as well.
At the head of the state is a president who determines the guidelines of politics, represents Russia politically externally and internally and is also the commander in chief of the armed forces. The Russian president is directly elected by the people every four years and exercises particularly strong executive power. Re-election is only possible one more time. Since January 1, 2000, Vladimir Putin (born 1952) has been the Russian head of state. His party “United Russia” won two-thirds of the seats in parliament, the Duma, in the election on December 2, 2007. But the communists as well as the two Kremlin-affiliated parties “Just Russia” and the nationalist “Liberal Democratic Party (LDPR)” of the populist Vladimir Zhirinovsky made it into the Duma.
The Russian parliament (federal assembly) is a bicameral system. It consists of two houses: the (State) Duma (lower house) and the Federation Council (upper house). The Russian Federation Council (Upper House) consists of 178 members. Each of the 89 federal subjects sends two representatives, who are appointed by the regional executive and the local parliament for 4 years. The 450 members of the Duma are elected every four years. A good 50% of the MPs are determined directly, and the rest via the party lists. In contrast to Germany there are no overhang mandates in the Russian Federation. With the exception of the appointment of the Prime Minister, the Duma has no direct influence over the executive. If the Duma rejects the president’s candidate three times, the president can dissolve the Duma and call new elections. The government is responsible not to parliament but to the president. He appoints and dismisses the government. Both houses of the Russian parliament, like the president, the highest courts and the parliaments of the federal subjects, have the right to legislate and decide on the state budget. Bills first pass through the Duma and then usually have to be approved by the Federation Council and the President, who has the final veto. A law comes into force with the signature of the President.
The Russian Federation is a founding member of the Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS), Russian: Sodruschestwo nesawisimych gossudarstw. On December 8, 1991, the confederation of Russia, Ukraine and Belarus was founded in Minsk. In the same year, the independent states of Armenia, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Moldova or Moldova, Uzbekistan and Georgia joined. All states were part of the former Soviet Union.
The official name of the country is:
| Rossijskaja FederacijaRussian Federation
Short form: Russia |
National anthem
The national anthem of the Russian Federation was written by Sergei Mikhalkov and set to music by Alexander Alexandrov. The anthem was introduced in 2000/2001 and replaced the previous one in the Soviet Union.
In the English translation
| Russia, our holy landRussia, our beloved land
Mighty will and great glory Will be yours for all timeRefrain glory to you fatherland, our free one! Ancient alliance of fraternal peoples Wisdom handed down by our forefathers Glory to you country, we are proud of you! Our fields and forests stretch from the southern seas to the polar circle. You are unique in the world, so unique that God will protect you, homeland Refrain A wide space for dreams and for life Will open up to us in the future Faithfulness to our fatherland gives us strength It was like that, it is like that, and it will always be like that refrain |
The hymn of the Soviet Union 1944-1992
“Gimn Sovetskogo Soyuza”, “Anthem of the Soviet Union” was the title of the national anthem of the Soviet Union. It was written by Sergey Mikhalkov (born 1913) and the music was composed by Alexander Alexandrov (1883-1946). On March 15, 1944, she became the successor to the “Internationale” that was played after the fall of the Tsarist Empire. Stalin was mentioned in the anthem until his death in 1953. After his death these passages were deleted and not sung until 1977. In the period between 1977 and the collapse of the Soviet Union in 1991, all passages were used again and Stalin’s name was left out in the corresponding lines. It was not until the year 2000 that the melody of the old hymn was remembered and its text was revised. All passages that extolled the former communist sentiments,
The Russian text of the anthem from 1944-1992 reads in the transliteration
| Soyuz nerushimiy respublik svobodnykhSplotila naveki velikaya Rus’!
Da zdravstvuet sozdanniy voley narodov Velikiy, moguchiy Sovetskiy Soyuz!REFRAIN: Slavsya Otechestvo nashe svobodnoye, Druzhbi narodov nadyozhniy oplot, Partiya Lenina, sila narodnaya Nas k torzhestvu kommunizma vedyot! Skvoz tuchi siyalo nam solntse svobodi, I Lenin velikiy nam put \ ‘ozaril, Na pravoe delo on podnyal narodi, Na trud i na podvigi nas vdokhnovIl! REFRAIN V pobede velikikh idey kommunizma Mi vidim gryadutshee nashey strani, I krasnomu znameni slavnoy otchizni Mi budem vsegda bezzavetno verni! REFRAIN |
The English translation of the anthem from 1944-1992
| Unbreakable Union of freeborn Republics,Great Russia has welded forever to stand.
Created in struggle by will of the people, United and mighty, our Soviet land!REFRAIN: Sing to the Motherland, home of the free, Bulwark of peoples in brotherhood strong. O Party of Lenin, the strength of the people, To Communism’s triumph lead us on! Through tempests the sunrays of freedom have cheered us, Along the new path where great Lenin did lead. To a righteous cause he raised up the peoples, Inspired them to labor and valorous deed. REFRAIN In the vict’ry of Communism’s deathless ideal, We see the future of our dear land. And to her fluttering scarlet banner, Selflessly true we always shall stand! REFRAIN |
Tsar’s
hymn 1833-1917 “God save the tsar”: this was the first line of the hymn of imperialist Russia, a song that emerged as the winner of a competition in 1833. The song was composed by the violinist Prince Alexey Fedorovich Lvov. The text came from a friend of Alexander Pushkin’s, the court poet Vasily Zhukovsky. The Tsar’s anthem was still in use during the decline of the Romanovs and was only banned after the October Revolution and the murder of the Tsar’s family. From then on until 1944 the “Internationale” was played on festive occasions.
The English translation of the Tsar’s hymn
| God save the noble Czar!Long may he live, in power,
In happiness, In peace to reign! Dread of his enemies, Faith’s sure defender, God save the Czar! God save the Czar! (Repetition of the previous three lines) |
National flag
Based on flag descriptions by Countryaah.com, the national flag of the Russian Federation first became known as the trade flag of the Tsarist Empire. A certain resemblance to the Dutch national flag is unmistakable. Tsar Peter the Great (1672-1725) introduced the flag to his merchant fleet after his educational trips to the Netherlands and England. After the collapse of the former Soviet Union, the flag was reintroduced on August 23, 1991 as the national flag of the Russian Federation.
- Check top-mba-universities for public holidays, sports events, UNESCO world heritage sites and major places to visit in Russia.
Administrative structure
According to the Constitution, the Russian Federation consists of 89 federal subjects. These territorial units are divided into 21 republics, six regional districts, 49 areas, two cities of federal importance (Moscow and St. Petersburg), one autonomous region and ten autonomous districts.
The Russian Federation is divided administratively into:
| Administrative unit | Area in 1000 km2 | Residents in 1000 | Residents per km2 | Administrative headquarters |
| Republics | ||||
| Adygias | 7.6 | 446.5 | 59 | Maikop |
| Altai | 92.6 | 205.6 | 3 | Gorno-Altaysk |
| Bashkortostan | 143.6 | 4109.0 | 29 | Ufa |
| Buryatia | 351.3 | 1029.2 | 3 | Ulan-Ude |
| Khakassia | 61.9 | 508.1 | 9 | Abakan |
| Dagestan | 50.3 | 2166.4 | 43 | Makhachkala |
| Ingushia | 3.2 | 460.8 | 144 | Magas |
| Yakutia (Sakha) | 3103.2 | 973.8 | 0.3 | Yakutsk |
| Kabardino-Balkaria | 12.5 | 790.0 | 63 | Nalchik |
| Kalmykia | 76.1 | 314.3 | 4 | Elista |
| Karachay Cherkessia | 14.1 | 433.3 | 31 | Cherkessk |
| Karelia | 172.4 | 761.8 | 4 | Petrozavodsk |
| Komi | 415.9 | 1123.9 | 3 | Syktyvkar |
| Mari El | 23.2 | 755.3 | 33 | Yoshkar-Ola |
| Mordovia | 26.2 | 920.3 | 35 | Saransk |
| North Ossetia (Alania) | 8.0 | 678.6 | 85 | Vladikavkaz |
| Tatarstan | 68.0 | 3784 | 56 | Kazan |
| Chechnya | 16.0 | 608.3 | 38 | Grozny |
| Chuvashia | 18.3 | 1351.4 | 74 | Cheboksary |
| Tuvinia | 170.5 | 311.2 | 2 | Kyzyl |
| Udmurtia | 42.1 | 1627.2 | 39 | Izhevsk |
| Regions | ||||
| Altai | 169.1 | 2645.0 | 16 | Barnaul |
| Khabarovsk | 788.6 | 1506.7 | 2 | Khabarovsk |
| Krasnodar | 76.0 | 5058.4 | 67 | Krasnodar |
| Krasnoyarsk,therein: Taimyr Autonomous Okrug of the Dolgans and Nenets | 2339.7862.1 | 3019.743.0 | 10.05 | KrasnoyarskDudinka |
| Autonomous circle of the Evenks | 767.6 | 18.1 | 0.02 | Tura |
| Primorye | 165.9 | 2157.7 | 13 | Vladivostok |
| Stavropol | 66.5 | 2683.4 | 40 | Strawropol |
| Autonomous area | ||||
| Jewish Autonomous Region | 36.0 | 197.5 | 5 | Birobidzhan |
| Areas | ||||
| Amur | 363.7 | 997.5 | 3 | Blagoveshchensk |
| Arkhangelsk,in it: Autonomous Okrug of the Nenets | 587.4176.7 | 1443.345.9 | 30.3 | ArkhangelskNaryan-Mar |
| Astrakhan | 44.1 | 1019.4 | 23 | Astrakhan |
| Belgorod | 27.1 | 1501.3 | 55 | Belgorod |
| Bryansk | 34.9 | 1429.2 | 41 | Bryansk |
| Irkutsk,therein: Buryat, Ust-Orda Autonomous Okrug | 767.922.4 | 2734.7143.4 | 46 | IrkutskUst-Ordynski |
| Ivanovo | 21.8 | 1208.7 | 55 | Ivanovo |
| Yaroslavl | 36.4 | 1402.0 | 39 | Yaroslavl |
| Kaliningrad | 15.1 | 946.8 | 63 | Koenigsberg |
| Kaluga | 29.9 | 1071.4 | 36 | Kaluga |
| Kamchatka Peninsula,therein: Koryak Autonomous Okrug | 472.3301.5 | 378.328.5 | 0.80.1 | Petropavlovsk-KamchatskyPalana |
| Kemerovo | 95.5 | 2967.7 | 31 | Kemerovo |
| Kirov | 120.8 | 1575.0 | 13 | Kirov |
| Kostroma | 60.1 | 780.1 | 13 | Kostroma |
| Kurgan | 71.0 | 1088.3 | 15 | Kurgan |
| Kursk | 29.8 | 1302.9 | 44 | Kursk |
| Leningrad | 85.3 | 1666.6 | 20 | St. Petersburg |
| Lipetsk | 24.1 | 1235.0 | 51 | Lipetsk |
| Magadan | 461.4 | 227.2 | 0.5 | Magadan |
| Moscow | 46.0 | 6482.7 | 141 | Moscow |
| Murmansk | 144.9 | 970.6 | 7 | Murmansk |
| Nischegorod | 76.9 | 3627.1 | 47 | Nizhny Novgorod |
| Novgorod | 55.3 | 720.9 | 13 | Veliky Novgorod |
| Novosibirsk | 178.2 | 2734.0 | 15 | Novosibirsk |
| Omsk | 139.7 | 2146.0 | 15 | Omsk |
| Orel | 24.7 | 892.3 | 36 | Orel |
| Orenburg | 124.0 | 2216.8 | 18 | Orenburg |
| Penza | 43.2 | 1517.4 | 35 | Penza |
| Perm,in it: Komi-Permyak Autonomous Okrug | 160.632.9 | 2949.6150.3 | 185 | PermKudymkar |
| Pskov | 55.3 | 790.6 | 14 | Pskov |
| Ryazan | 39.6 | 1269.2 | 32 | Ryazan |
| Rostov | 100.8 | 4333.7 | 43 | Rostov on Don |
| Sakhalin | 87.1 | 590.6 | 7 | Yuzhno-Sakhalinsk |
| Samara | 53.6 | 3282.0 | 61 | Samara |
| Saratov | 100.2 | 2698.3 | 27 | Saratov |
| Smolensk | 49.8 | 1118.5 | 22 | Smolensk |
| Sverdlovsk | 194.8 | 4582.4 | 24 | Ekaterinburg |
| Tambov | 34.3 | 1255.0 | 37 | Tambov |
| Tyumen,in it: the Khanty and Mansi autonomous community | 1435.2523, 1 | 3236.61387.9 | 23 | TyumenKhanty-Mansisk |
| Yamalo-Nenets Autonomous Okrug | 750.3 | 496.7 | 0.7 | Salekhard |
| Tomsk | 316.9 | 1064.4 | 3 | Tomsk |
| Chelyabinsk | 87.9 | 3656.4 | 42 | Chelyabinsk |
| Chita,in it: Buryat, Aginskoye Autonomous Okrug | 431.519.0 | 1249.479.1 | 34 | ChitaAginskoye |
| Tula | 25.7 | 1721.8 | 67 | Tula |
| Tver | 84.1 | 1582.0 | 19 | Tver |
| Ulyanovsk | 37.3 | 1458.0 | 39 | Simbirsk |
| Vladimir | 29.0 | 1594.2 | 55 | Vladimir |
| Volgograd | 133.9 | 2659.3 | 23 | Volgograd |
| Vologda | 145.7 | 1316.1 | 9 | Vologda |
| Voronezh | 52.4 | 2440.7 | 47 | Voronezh |
| Autonomous district (independent of the area) | ||||
| Chukchi Autonomous Okrug | 737.7 | 68.9 | 0.1 | Anadyr |
| Autonomous cities | ||||
| Moscow | 1.091 | 8638.1 | 7817 | – |
| St. Petersburg | 0.606 | 4660.6 | 7691 | – |
Doctors and natural scientists
Alexander Achijeser (1911-2000)
physicist. Alexander Ilyich Achijeser was born in Cherikav in 1911 as the child of a doctor and later studied in Kiev. From 1938 he was director in Kharkiv at the Institute for Theoretical Physics and later also professor at the university there. Achijeser specialized in quantum electrodynamics, nuclear physics and solid state physics and wrote several scientific papers. He died in 2000 – many awards, for example from the Russian Academy of Sciences.
Vladimir Berestetsky (1913-1977)
theoretical physicist. Vladimir Borissowitsch Berestetski was born in 1913 in Kharkiv and studied at the Leningrad Lebedev Institute and the Moscow Lomonosov University. At the latter he later received a lecturer position and then his own chair. Among other things, he worked on the Russian hydrogen bomb. Together with Alexander Achijeser he wrote a treatise on quantum electron dynamics, which was very successful. Berestetsky died in 1977.
Evgeni Botkin (1865-1918)
personal physician to Nikolaus II. Evgeni Sergejewitsch Botkin was born in 1865 in Tsarskoye Selo as the son of the personal physician of Tsar Alexander II. He studied in St. Petersburg and among others in Berlin. In 1908 the Tsar’s family around Nicholas II appointed him personal physician. His main task was to cure the young heir to the throne of his hemophilia, which was impossible. After the February Revolution, he led the tsarist family into exile in Tobolsk and Yekaterinburg. Botkin was murdered there in a massacre by the Bolsheviks and the Tsar’s family in 1918.
Sergei Botkin (1832-1889)
personal physician to Tsar Alexander II and Alexander III. Sergei Petrovich Botkin was born in 1832 and studied at Moscow’s Lomonosov University. From 1881 the pioneer taught in the fields of applied medicine and pathological anatomy as a professor at the St. Petersburg Military Medical Academy Kirov. Ivan Pavlov was one of his students and assistants. Botkin was the personal physician of the family around Tsar Alexander II and also worked as a medic on several war fronts. He died in 1889.
Alexei Fedchenko (1844-1873)
geographer and explorer. Alexei Pavlovich Fedtschenko was born near Chamonix in 1844 and studied zoology, botany and ethnography in Moscow. He traveled a lot through Europe and taught at German universities (Leipzig, Heidelberg). He also went on expeditions and discovered Central Asia. Fedtschenko died at the age of 29 while climbing a glacier in Chamonix. In Pamir a glacier is named after him in his memory.
Alexander Friedmann (1888-1925)
physicist, geophysicist and mathematician. Alexander Alexandrowitsch Friedmann was born in Saint Petersburg in 1888. He dealt intensively with the curvature of space and relativistic cosmology and thus inspired the work of Albert Einstein. He developed the Friedmann equations and thus explained the homogeneous universe. His studies also explained the expansion of the universe. Friedmann died in Leningrad in 1925.
Witali Ginsburg (1916-2009)
physicist. Vitaly Lasarewitsch Ginsburg was born in Moscow in 1916 as the son of a doctor. He studied at the University of Moscow and did his doctorate in Kazan. Ginsburg worked on the Soviet hydrogen bomb and was a member of the Academy of Sciences. He was awarded the 2003 Nobel Prize in Physics for “groundbreaking work in the theory of superconductors and superfluids”. Ginsburg died in Moscow in 2009.
Pavel Jakobi (1841-1913)
physician and psychiatrist, ethnographer. Pavel Ivanovich Jakobi was born into a noble family in Kazan in 1841. He studied at a Soviet military academy and at Heidelberg University. Jakobi is considered a pioneer in the field of psychiatry in Russia and introduced a paradigm shift in the organizational structure. He also devoted himself to ethnographic research. He taught in Moscow and Orel, among others. Jakobi died in Saint Petersburg in 1913.
Sergei Korolev (1906-1966)
scientist, designer of space transport systems and space pioneer. Sergei Pawlowitsch Koroljow was born in Schytomyr in 1906 and studied in Moscow and Kiev, among others. Korolyov was a member of the Academy of Sciences of the USSR and made several rockets, as well as spaceships, which for the first time could fly people into space. His motto was the simplicity of the construction. During World War II he worked in Omsk for over 15 years. Korolev died in Moscow in 1966.
Sofja Kovalevskaya (1850-1891)
mathematician. Sofja Wassiljewna Kowalewskaja was born in Moscow in 1850 into a wealthy family. The “princess of mathematics” studied in Heidelberg, where she was the first woman to be admitted to this type of scientific study. She wrote a total of three dissertations and dealt, for example, with differential equations. Kowalewskaja died in Stockholm in 1891 as the world’s first female professor of mathematics who was allowed to give lectures, among other things.
Alexander Lebedev (1881-1938)
biochemist. Alexander Nikolaevich Lebedev was born into a Moscow family of Russian intelligentsia in 1881. He studied at the local university, including at the Institute for Agriculture. In 1921 he was appointed professor at Moscow State University. He dealt mainly with the theory of alcoholic fermentation and wrote important treatises on it. Lebedev died in 1938.
Nikolai Lobachevsky (1792-1856)
mathematician. Nikolai Ivanovich Lobachevsky was born in Nizhny Novgorod in 1792. He studied chemistry, mathematics, astronomy, etc. in Kazan and was friends with Carl Friedrich Gauß. From 1816 he taught as a professor in Kazan and was the first to write a treatise with a definition of non-Euclidean geometry. He also wrote scientific works on higher algebra. He was recognized for his work and raised to the rank of nobility (1838). Lobachevsky died in Kazan in 1856.
Mikhail Lomonosov (1711-1765)
Mikhail Wassiljewitsch Lomonossow (born 1711 in Denissowka, died in Saint Petersburg 1765) was the son of a fisherman and devoted himself primarily to the studies of natural science and philosophy in Saint Petersburg, Marburg and Freiberg. From 1745 he taught as a professor of chemistry at the Academy of Sciences in Saint Petersburg and made a decisive contribution to the establishment of Moscow University. conducted basic research to develop chemistry teaching and was a supporter of atomistic theory. Scientific successes are the explanation of heat through the movement and friction of material particles, the determination of the expansion coefficient of air and the melting points and solubilities of salts. He also had a pioneering influence on Russian geography and meteorology through his research successes, so that he among others
His most important work as a linguist was the writing of the first Russian grammar in 1757 (Rossijskaja grammatika), which contributed to the preservation and fixation of today’s Russian language. As a scientist, linguist and reformer, Lomonosov was one of Russia’s outstanding polymaths.
Dimitri Mendeleev (1834-1907)
chemist. Dmitri Ivanovich Mendeleev was born in Tobolsk in 1834. He studied at the University of Heidelberg and obtained his doctorate in Saint Petersburg. His work on alcohol and water contributed significantly to improving the quality of Russian vodka. He is also the publicist of the Periodic Table of the Elements (PSE), which is still used worldwide today. Mendeleev died honored many times in 1907 in Saint Petersburg.
Ilya Metschnikow (1845-1916)
zoologist. Ilya Ilyich Metschnikow was born near Kharkov in 1845. He studied in Göttingen, Würzburg, Gießen and Munich, among others. In 1908 he was awarded the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine together with Paul Ehrlich. Metschnikow was the discoverer of white blood cells in the animal organism and researched healing methods for cholera. Metschnikow died in Paris in 1916.
Ivan Pavlov (1849-1936)
Ivan Petrovich Pavlov (born in 1849 in Ryazan near Moscow, died in 1936 in Leningrad) was a Russian physiologist and physician. As the son of a clerical family, he initially studied theology and later natural sciences and medicine in Saint Petersburg. Between 1884 and 1886 he studied in Germany with Heidenhain and Ludwig, before becoming professor of pharmacology (1890) and physiology (1895) at the Military Medical Academy in Saint Petersburg. In 1904 Pavlov received the Nobel Prize for Medicine for his work in physiology on the digestive glands, especially on the nervous control of the internal secretion involved. He worked in his experiments with dogs (“the Pavlovian dog”) and developed the distinction between unconditional reflex and conditioned reflex on the basis of their reactions.
Andrei Sakharov (1921-1989)
Andrei Dmitrijewitsch Sakharov (born in Moscow in 1921, died in Moscow in 1989) was a Russian physicist and civil rights activist. By the end of the sixties Sakharov gained fame as a physicist, among other things because of his leading involvement in the development of the hydrogen bomb, his contribution to the development of today’s tokamak systems, his contributions to particle physics, cosmology and gravitation theory and his prediction of the instability of the proton (1967). From the end of the 1960s onwards, Sakharov became increasingly involved as a civil rights activist in what was then the Soviet Union. In his memorandum “Thoughts on progress, peaceful coexistence and spiritual freedom”, which became known worldwide in 1968, he spoke out against the ideological division of the world. Its aim was global cooperation under the conditions of intellectual freedom. Together with the historian Medvedev, he wrote an open letter to the Soviet leadership in 1970 that emphatically advocated the democratization of Soviet society and later founded the first Soviet committee for human rights. Sakharov was increasingly persecuted by the KGB and always tried to use his level of fame in Western Europe (including being awarded the Nobel Peace Prize (1975)) for his work as a civil rights activist. Although Sakharov had to submit to forced exile to Gorky (1980 to 1986) and greater control by the KGB in the 1980s, he continued his criticism of the Soviet leadership. It was not until Gorbachev’s reform policy that Sakharov was elected to the Congress of People’s Deputies as a non-party in 1987, where he supported the group of radical reformers. Until his death, the human rights activist and regime critic held hearings (Sakharov Hearings), at which victims of the Soviet regime since 1975 had their say.
Nikolai Semjonow (1896-1986)
physical chemist. Nikolai Nikolajewitsch Semjonow was born in Saratov in 1896 to wealthy parents and studied mathematics and physics in Saint Petersburg. In 1928 he followed the call as professor of physical chemistry at the University of Leningrad. In 1956 he was awarded the Nobel Prize in Chemistry for “his analyzes of reaction mechanisms in chemical reactions”. Semyonov died in Moscow in 1986.
Igor Tamm (1895-1971)
physicist. Igor Evgenyevich Tamm was born in Vladivostok in 1895 and studied physics in both Edinburgh and Moscow. Later he was a university scholar in Crimea and Moscow. “For the discovery and interpretation of the Cherenkov effect” he and two colleagues received the Nobel Prize in Physics in 1958. Many other honors followed, also because he is considered the discoverer of the tokamak principle, which is used in a fusion reactor. Tamm died in Moscow in 1971.
Pafnuti Chebyshev (1821-1894)
mathematician. Pafnuti Lwowitsch Tschebyschow was born in Okatowo in 1821 as the son of large landowners. He graduated from Moscow State University. As a professor in Saint Petersburg, he lectured on algebra and number theory, among other things. Several mathematical terms have been named after him, making him one of the most important mathematicians in Russia of the 19th century. He also founded a mathematics school in Saint Petersburg. Chebyshev died there in 1894.
Visual artist
Marc Chagall (1887-1985)
Painter. Chagall was born in Vitebsk in 1887 to a Jewish family and trained as an artist in St. Petersburg. The “painter-poet” traveled through Europe, was in the USA and later settled in France. Chagall is one of the most important painters of the 20th century and dedicated himself particularly to biblical subjects, circus motifs and inspirations that he gained from his family. In terms of style, he belonged to the Expressionists. “Les Mariés de la Tour Eiffel” and the black and white picture “The Dead” are among his most important works.
Chagall died in France in 1985.
Gala Éluard Dalí (1894-1942)
muse of the surrealists. Jelena Dmitrijewna Djakonowa, later known only as Gala, was born in Kazan in 1894 and grew up in a wealthy family in Moscow. She contracted tuberculosis at an early age and relocated to Switzerland because of the air, where she met her future husband and writer Paul Éluard, who also had the disease. She inspired him to literary heights. From 1934 she was married to the painter Salvador Dalí, to whom she was also an accomplished muse. Gala died in Spain in 1942.
Alexander Andreevich Ivanov (1806-1858)
Painter. Ivanov was born in St. Petersburg in 1806 and at the age of eleven was already a member of the Petersburg Academy of Fine Arts, where he studied with his father. Awarded prizes early on, Ivanov devoted himself in particular to landscape and history painting. He was friends with Gogol and later lived mainly in Rome. His most famous work is “Appearance of Christ to the People”. There is something classic about his strokes. Ivanov died in his native city in 1858.
Wassily Kandinsky (1866-1944)
Painter. Wassily Kandinsky (born in Moscow, died in Neuilly-sur-Seine) is considered both a Russian and a French painter. In 1900 he was a student of F. von Stuck in Munich and between 1904 and 1906 he lived in Paris and Tunis for a long time. He is one of the co-founders of the New Munich Art Association (1909) and the Blue Rider (1911).
Between 1914 and 1921 he worked in his old homeland, Russia, but from 1922 lived in Weimar and Dessau, where he worked at the Bauhaus. After emigrating to France in 1933, Kandinsky lived in Paris, where he made contact with the artist group Abstraction Création.
Kandinsky’s early works were of Art Nouveauand Russian folk art (iconography). Stylistically, he developed from expressionism to abstract painting. After an encounter with the Russian Constructivists, his works were characterized by increasingly geometrically and linearly established motifs. He was a graphic artist (woodcut and etchings), painter (abstract painting) and art historian (his Bauhaus script was called “Point and Line for Surface” 1926).
Kasimir Severinovich Malevich (1878-1935)
Kasimir Severinovich Malevich (born in Kiev, died in St. Petersburg) studied at the art academies in Moscow and St. Petersburg.
At the beginning of his career, Malevich oriented himself towards the Fauves, Cubists and Futurists, especially their rural scenes.
In 1915 in the manifesto “From Cubism to Suprematism” he defined the term Suprematism (the pure non-objectivity) and took the abstraction begun by Cubism to the extreme. His abstract artistic language was based on geometric shapes and pure colors.
In 1929 he finally returned to the USSR. Like other Russian painters, he devoted himself (probably) to figurative painting under political pressure; his works at this time were peasant pictures and portraits. Until the 80s, his abstract paintings were not valued in the USSR. His most famous works are “Black Square” (1912) and “Eight Red Rectangles” (1914).
Ilja Jefimowitsch Repin (1844-1930)
(born 1844 in Ukraine, died 1930 in Kuokkala in Finland; today: Repino near Petersburg in Russia) studied at the Academy in Petersburg from 1864 to 1871.
In 1870 he found his most important motif while traveling on the Volga – the motif for the painting “Burlaken an der Wolga” or “Wolgatreidler” from 1870-73.
The painting becomes the program image of the artist group Peredwischniki (Wanderer), which Repin joined in 1878. In his pictures Repin, who is considered to be the most important representative of the Russian realists in the second half of the 19th century, denounces the social grievances.
His works are characterized by strong colors, dramatic scenes, psychological insights and historical representations.
They are considered a model of Soviet realism.
Musicians, composers, actors and directors
Musicians and composers
Mikhail Ivanovich Glinka (1804-1857)
Composer. Michail Ivanovich Glinka was born on June 1, 1804 in Novospasskoye as the son of a nobleman in the Smolensk Governorate, Russian Empire.
He is considered to be the creator of his own classical Russian music and thus the father of Russian music.
He lived the first six years of his life – heavily shielded from external influences – with his grandmother.
After the death of his grandmother in 1810, he returned to his parents’ home, where he came into contact with music.
Around 1817 he began studying at the aristocratic institute in Petersburg.
In 1823 he went on a trip to the Caucasus and after his return to St. Petersburg in 1824 he was employed as undersecretary. In December 1825 Glinka made the acquaintance of Alexander Pushkin through mediation. In 1830 he traveled to Italy, where he was able to gain in-depth knowledge of Italian opera for three years. During this time he got to know Vincenzo Bellini, Gaetano Donizetti and Felix Mendelssohn Bartholdy.
In 1833 he had expanded his knowledge in special areas of music in Berlin.
And three years later his opera A Life for the Tsar premiered in the Great Theater in St. Petersburg – the first classical opera in Russia to be sung in Russian.
Because of the great success of the opera, Glinka was subsequently appointed Kapellmeister of the Petersburg Chapel. His second opera Ruslan and Lyudmila followed in 1842.
Two years later he traveled to Paris.
On further trips to Poland, he immersed himself in the music of Chopin.
After another stay in and to France, he traveled to Berlin in May 1856, where he died on February 15, 1857. He found his final resting place in the Tikhvin cemetery at the Alexander Nevsky Monastery in Saint Petersburg.
In the Französische Strasse 8 in Berlin-Mitte a plaque commemorates this great Russian musician
Modest Mussorgsky (1839-1881)
Composer. Modest Petrovich Mussorgsky was born on March 1839 in Karewo, Pskov Oblast.
He is considered one of the most independent Russian composers of the 19th century. He became known as a composer mainly through his operas and songs as well as the piano cycle “Pictures at an Exhibition”.
He left most of his works in an unfinished state. His friend Rimsky-Korsakov revised and completed the pieces.
Mussorgsky died on March 28, 1881 in Saint Petersburg
Anna Netrebko (born 1971)
opera singer. Anna Jurjewna Netrebko was born in Krasnodar in 1971 and studied singing in St. Petersburg. Her pure and precise voice as well as her interpretational versatility are appreciated internationally. Netrebko has already sung at the Vienna State Opera, the Salzburg Festival and the New York Metropolitan Opera as well as at the Royal Opera House in London. She has won several awards, for example the Bambi, the Russian State Prize, the Echo Klassik and the Golden Feather. She has had Austrian citizenship since 2006, which Russia is less happy about. Her aria repertoire includes Mozart and Rossini pieces.
Sergei Rachmaninov (1873-1943)
Composer, conductor, pianist. Sergei Wassiljewitsch Rachmaninow was born to Staraya Russa in 1873 as the son of a wealthy landowner and later studied at the Moscow Conservatory. Plagued by self-doubt about his global success, Rachmaninoff left behind a very extensive work of symphonies, piano concertos and operas. The “c sharp minor prelude” (1893) is his best-known piano piece and can be assigned to the tradition of the late Romantic period. Rachmaninov died in Beverly Hills in 1943.
Dmitri Shostakovich (1906-1975)
Composer. Dmitri Dmitrijewitsch Schostakowitsch (born 1906 in Saint Petersburg, died 1975 in Moscow) was shaped by the avant-garde and experimental currents of the 1920s in what was then Petrograd. In 1926 the young composer’s “1st Symphony in F minor” was performed by the Leningrad Philharmonic. With his second opera, “Lady Macbeth von Mzensk” (1932) or “Katarina Ismailowa” (1956), Shostakovich turned Stalin against himself in 1936 with quite revealing representations in the opera. In 1941 he wrote the 7th Symphony for Leningrad, which was besieged by the German Wehrmacht. Even today, this symphony, which is a monument to the perseverance of Leningrad, opens every concert season of the Petersburg Philharmonic.
Fyodorowitsch Stravinsky (1882-1971)
Composer. Igor Fjodorowitsch Stravinsky (born 1882 in Russia, died 1971 in the USA) is a composer of modern music. He led Russian music into the broad field of experimental composition methods. At first his expressive early work was influenced by Russian romanticism. Later he showed an unheard-of tonal vitality in his compositions, as he detached harmonic-melodic structures from a centuries-old system of rules and the rhythm from its rhythmic background. The work “Feuervogel” (1910) and its follow-up works “Petruschka” (1911) and “Le sacre du Printemps” (1913), which are unforgettably linked to the scandal premiere in Paris in 1913, are particularly well known. For his life’s work, he received a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame.
tATu
pop music duo, consisting of the singers Jelena Katina and Julija Wolkowa. tATu
was founded in 1999 and split up as a band in 2011. The lesbian Lolita duo achieved their biggest hit with “All the things she said” (“Ya Soshla S Uma”) in 2002. The song is on their first English album “200 km/h in the Wrong Lane”, the one became a worldwide success. tATu made a name for itself through deliberate breaking of taboos and homosexuality, which is not only lived out in music videos.
Peter Tchaikovsky (1840-1893)
Composer. Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky was born near the Urals in 1840 and died in Saint Petersburg in 1893. As a young composer he came to Saint Petersburg and studied with Anton Rubinstein at the Conservatory. He received an engagement at the Moscow Music Academy, where he taught from 1866 to 1878. In his compositions Tchaikovsky succeeded in merging Russian-national elements with stylistic and compositional means of Western European Romanticism. Among other things, his ballets “Swan Lake” (1876), “The Nutcracker” (1892) and “Sleeping Beauty” (1889) are world famous.
Ruki wwerch
dance music group of the 1990s. Ruki wwerch (“Hands up!”) Is considered the most successful group of dance musicians in Russia and existed in the years 1996-2006. The duo, consisting of Alexei Potechin and Sergei Schukow, achieved the biggest chart hit with “Kroschka Moja” (“My Little One”). Her song “Pesenka” (1998) was covered by the German pop band ATC and reached number 1 in the German charts, but then under the title “Around the World” (2000).
Wiktor Zoi (1962-1990)
rock musician and actor. Viktor Robertovich Zoi was born in Leningrad in 1962. Even as a schoolboy he was a member of music groups. In 1982 he formed a rock band that later changed its name to Kino. First he appeared as the band’s front man in the underground. But suddenly, in 1987, Kino became the hottest Russian rock band with the seventh album, which is called “blood group” in German. Zoi is considered a pioneer of Russian rock music and has many punk influences. He died young at Tukums in a car accident.
Actors, directors
Alexander Abdulov (1953-2008)
actor and director. Alexander Gavrilowitsch Abdulow was born in Tobolsk in 1953 and made his debut in 1974 in the film “About Vitya, Masha and the Navy”. Just four years later, he gained fame for his lead role in “The Ordinary Miracle”. Overall, Abdulow starred in hundreds of films. The 1980s Russian sex icon was honored by Vladimir Putin and died in Moscow in 2008.
Timur Bekmambetow (born 1961)
filmmaker and director. Timur Nuruachitowitsch Bekmambetow was born in Guryev in 1961, later made a living as a commercial filmmaker and saved money for his first real feature film “Peshavar Waltz” (1991). Bekmambetov’s international breakthrough came with his third film, “Watcher of the Night – Nochnoi Dozor” (2004). For his movie “Wanted” he was able to win Angelina Jolie and Morgan Freeman as actors and continued to win. Bekmambetow is a great talent as a director, from whom a lot of moving things are expected.
Sergej Eisenstein (1898-1948)
film director. Sergei Michailowitsch Eisenstein was born in Riga in 1898 as the son of an upper-class urban architect. With his revolutionary film “Battleship Potemkin” (1925) he drew international attention. Several parts of “Ivan the Terrible” were later published under his direction, but they were already censored. Eisenstein has written numerous works on film theories and, as a visionary and one of the most important directors in history, is part of the basic studies of every media scientist. He died in Moscow in 1948.
Lyudmila Markovna Gurchenko (1935-2011)
Lyudmila Markovna Gurchenko was born on November 12, 1935 in Kharkov in what is now Ukraine. She was a Soviet and later Russian actress and Estrada singer.
As a child in the Ukraine she experienced the German occupation between 1941 and 1943. And already in 1944 she came to the Beethoven music school in Charkow. After completing her school education in 1953, she went to Moscow, where she studied acting and graduated in 1958. Five years later she received an engagement at the Sovremennik Theater in Moscow and then at the Theater of Film Actors.
As a singer, she performed publicly, but also released several albums.
She died on March 30, 2011 in Moscow.
Grigori Kosinzew (1905-1973)
Director and screenwriter. Grigori Michailowitsch Kosinzew was born as a doctor’s son in Kiev in 1905 and later studied at the local art college. His film “Don Quixote” was shown at the 1957 Cannes International Film Festival. In 1964 he received a prize at the Venice International Film Festival for “Hamlet”. Kozintsev, who had risen to become a people’s artist of the USSR and was respected worldwide, died in Leningrad in 1973.
Nikita Michalkow (born 1945)
actor, director, film producer. Nikita Sergejewitsch Michalkow was born in Moscow in 1945 as the son of artists. His father was the author of the Russian national anthem. Mikhalkov received an acting education and took seminars in directing at the Moscow Film School. He had his first major role as an actor in the 1963 comedy “Zwischenlandung in Moskau”. “The Barber of Siberia” came out in 1998 and was a highly acclaimed film in which he acted as well as directed. Michalkow has already received several awards.
Salomon Michailowitsch Michoels (1890-1948)
Salomon Michailowitsch Michoels (born 1890 in Daugavpils (Latvia), died 1948 in Minsk (Belarus)) became famous as a Jewish actor and director in the Soviet Union. He is considered the most important representative of Yiddish theater of the 20th century. In 1918 Michoels joined Alexander Granowski’s Jewish theater workshop in Saint Petersburg after dropping out of law school. In 1920 this workshop established itself in Moscow as the Moscow State Jewish Theater. The theater was Russia’s first national Jewish theater in Yiddish – a representative of Yiddish culture in the Soviet state – promoted by Lenin’s nationality policy. Michoels soon became the star of the ensemble and its director from 1928. He demonstrated a sure sense of success in choosing his roles, so that he among other things when Tewje appeared in an adaptation of Scholem Alejchem’s comic short stories about “Tewje the milk dealer” (known in America as the musical “The Fiddler on the Roof” and in Germany as “Anatevka”) and other translated or original Yiddish works. Michoel’s acting performance in William Shakespeare’s “King Lear”, his most famous role, and in “Richard III” was particularly impressive. Both plays deal with tyranny in an empire and, on closer inspection, contained a hidden criticism of Josef Stalin’s violent regime. Michoel’s contacts to the Russian intelligentsia, especially to the author Isaak Babel, did not endanger him during Stalin’s Great Purge. After his election as chairman of the Jewish Anti-Fascist Committee in 1942, he traveled around the world to actively support Stalin in his fight against Adolf Hitler. After the war, the tide turned for Michoels and the Russian Jews. During the following Stalin purges (after 1948) the State Jewish Theater was closed and the members of the Jewish Anti-Fascist Committee were imprisoned. All but two of the committee members were executed shortly before Stalin’s death. Michoels was spared this fate. He fell victim to a car accident in Minsk in 1948, and his death is believed to have been staged despite the state funeral. As the most conspicuous figure of intellectual Russian Jewry, a show trial with so many world celebrities would have been too damaging even for Stalin’s regime.
Nonna Wiktorowna Mordjukowa (1925-2008)
Nonna Wiktorowna Mordjukowa was born on November 25, 1925 in Konstantinowka in what is now the Russian Oblast of Kaliningrad (Koenigsberg). She was a Soviet and later Russian film actress and held the title of People’s Artist of the USSR – she also received the Stalin Prize in 1949. Mordjukova spent his childhood in southern Russia. From 1945 she studied at the Gerasimow Institute for Cinematography, which she successfully completed in 1950.
Then she worked as an actor at the Moscow State Theater of Film Actors until 1991.
She began a career as a film actress in 1948 under the direction of Sergei Gerasimow (1906-1985) in the film “The Young Guard” by the author Alexander Alexandrovich Fadeev (1901-1956).
The film made them known and popular. She then played in numerous other roles.
She died on July 6, 2008 in Moscow
Tatiana Samoilova (1934)
actress. Tatiana Evgenjewna Samoilowa was born in Leningrad in 1934 and trained as an actress. The actress, known as Russian Audrey Hepburn, has won several awards for her role in “The Cranes Pull” from 1957. She is internationally known for her title role in “Anna Karenina” (1967). Above all, her lively, expressively emotional game was highly praised.
Walentina Talysina (1935)
actress. Valentina Illarionovna Talysina was born in Omsk in 1935 and studied at the Russian Academy of Theater Arts. The film actress had her most important role in 2005 in the film “Leningrad”. She was previously an actress in a Russian series. Talysina also made a name for herself as a voice actress, for example for the film “Ironie des Schicksals” from 1975. So far, she has appeared in over 70 productions as an actress. In 1985 she received the award as People’s Actress of the Russian Soviet Federal Socialist Republic.
Andrei Tarkowski (1932-1986)
film director. Andrei Arsenjewitsch Tarkowski was born in Savrashye in 1932 and studied painting, sculpture and geology, and later at the Moscow Film School. His most famous film is “Stalker” from 1979, which is now one of the classics of Russian movies. Tarkovsky could expect little support from his own country. His critical and provocative films were often censored. But abroad loved him all the more and honored the director many times. Ingmar Bergman held him and his cinematic dream language in high regard. Tarkowski died in Paris in 1986.
Olga Chekhova (1897-1980)
Olga Chekhowa (born in 1897 in Aleksandropol, died in 1980 in Munich) was known in Germany as Olga von Knipper. As the niece of the Russian writer AP Chekhov, she was active in film as a young girl in 1918. In 1921 she came to Germany and shot “Schloss Vogelöd” with director FW Murnau. Later, in 1925, she made her stage debut at the Berlin Renaissance Theater. She also took part in the comedy “Die Drei von der Gasstelle” (1930). In 1955 she founded what is now an internationally known cosmetics company. In 1971 she played with her daughter and granddaughter in “Duel zu Dreitt”. She also starred in the Immenhof films in the early and mid-seventies (“Die Zwillinge vom Immenhof” 1973 and “Frühling auf dem Immenhof” 1974).
Nobel Prize Winner
The Nobel Prize
The award goes back to the Swedish chemist, inventor and industrialist Alfred Nobel (1833–1896). The Nobel Prize is considered to be the highest honor given to scientists, writers and peacemakers (individuals, politicians or organizations).
Alfred Nobel had stipulated in his will that a foundation should be set up with his assets, the interest profits of which should be given in the form of a prize to the people who had rendered the greatest benefit to mankind in the past year.
The money should be divided equally for special achievements in the fields of physics, chemistry, physiology or medicine as well as literature and for peace efforts.
The Nobel Foundation was established – following Nobel’s request – on June 29, 1900 and in 1901 the first Nobel Prizes were awarded in 1901.
The winners will be announced in October, while the official award ceremony will take place on December 10 – the anniversary of Nobel’s death – with the exception of the Nobel Peace Prize in Stockholm.
The Nobel Peace Prize is presented in Oslo.
In 1866 Alfred Nobel developed the explosive “dynamite”. There is evidence that his conscience, because of the use of explosives as a weapon of war, led him to write his will to establish the Nobel Foundation.
However, there is no reliable evidence for this interpretation.
Note
The Nobel Prize winners are listed here who were citizens of Russia at the time of the award, even if they were citizens of the former Soviet Union.
Winner of the Nobel Prize in Chemistry
Amazingly, there is only one Nobel Prize winner in chemistry in this large country.
| Name of the award winner | Date of award | Reason for the award |
| Nikolai Nikolajewitsch Semjonow(1896-1986) | 1956 | Together with the British Cyril Norman HinshelwoodF for their research on the mechanisms of chemical reactions |
Nobel Peace Prize winner
| Name of the award winner | Date of award | Reason for the award |
| Mikhail Sergejewitsch Gorbachev(born 1931) | 1990 | He made a major contribution to the non-violent end of the Cold Warand thus to the reunification of Germany |
| Andrei Dmitrievich Sakharov(1921-1989) | 1975 | Human rights activists in the former USSR |
Winner of the Nobel Prize in Literature
| Name of the award winner | Date of award | Reason for the award |
| Alexander Solzhenitsyn(1918-2008) | 1970 | For the ethical strengthwith which he continued the inalienable tradition of Russian literature |
| Mikhail Scholokhov(1905-1984) | 1965 | For his artistic strength and honesty,with which he
shaped a historical period from Russian folk life in his Don epic |
| Boris Pasternak(1890-1960) | 1958(had rejected the award) | For his significant achievements in both contemporary poetryand the great Russian narrative tradition |
Winner of the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine
| Name of the award winner | Date of award | Reason for the award |
| Ilya Ilyich Metschnikow(1845-1916) | 1908 | Together with the German Paul Ehrlich inrecognition of their work on immunity |
| Ivan Petrovich Pavlov(1849-1936) | 1904 | In recognition of his work on the physiology of digestionwhich has improved and expanded our knowledge of essential aspects of this area |
Winner of the Nobel Prize in Physics
| Name of the award winner | Date of award | Reason for the award |
| Konstantin Novoselov(born 1974) | 2010 | Together with the Dutchman Andre Geimfor basic experiments with the two-dimensional material graph |
| Witali Ginsburg(1916-2009) | 2003 | Together with the Russian-American colleague Alexei Abrikossow and the British-American colleague Anthony James Leggettfor groundbreaking work in the theory of superconductors and superfluids |
| Shores Alfjorow(born 1930) | 2000 | Together with the German Herbert Kroemerfor the development of semiconductor heterostructures for high-speed and optoelectronics |
| Pyotr Kapiza(1894-1984) | 1978 | For his fundamental inventions and discoveries in low temperature physics |
| Nikolai Bassow(1922-2001) | 1964 | Together with the Russian Alexander Prokhorov and the American Charles H. Townesfor fundamental work in the field of quantum electronics, which led to the construction of oscillators and amplifiers
based on the maser-laser principle |
| Alexander Prokhorov(1916-2002) | 1964 | Together with the Russian Nikolai Bassow and the American Charles H. Townesfor fundamental work in the field of quantum electronics, which led to the construction of oscillators and amplifiers
based on the maser-laser principle |
| Lew Landau(1908-1968) | 1962 | For his groundbreaking theories on condensed matter,especially liquid helium |
| Ilja Frank(1908-1990) | 1958 | Together with his colleagues Igor Tamm and Pawel CherenkovF for the discovery and interpretation of the Cherenkov effect |
| Igor Tamm(1895-1971) | 1958 | Together with his colleagues Ilja Frank and Pawel Tscherenkowfor the discovery and interpretation of the Cherenkov effect |
| Pavel Cherenkov(1904-1990) | 1958 | Together with his colleagues Ilja Frank and Igor TammF for the discovery and interpretation of the Cherenkov effect |
Winner of the Nobel Prize in Economics
Note
The Alfred Nobel Memorial Prize for Economics does not go back directly to Alfred Nobel’s will, but was donated by the Swedish Reichsbank in 1968 on the basis of the Nobel Prizes on the occasion of its 300th anniversary. The prize was awarded for the first time in 1969 to the Norwegian Ragnar AK Frisch (1895–1973) and the Dutchman Jan Tinbergen (1903–1994).
| Name of the award winner | Date of award | Reason for the award |
| Leonid W. Kantorowitsch(1912-1986) | 1975 | Together with the American Tjalling Koopmansfor their contribution to the theory of the optimal use of resources |
Politician
Leonid Brezhnev (1906-1983)
Leonid Brezhnev (reign: 1964-1982) (born 1906 in Kamenskoye, died 1982 in Moscow) was an engineer by nature and became General Secretary (from 1966) of the CPSU after the fall of Khrushchev (1964). Brezhnev had been a member of the CPSU since 1931 and took part in the Second World War as political commissar after he had risen as a supporter of NS Khrushchev in the Ukrainian Communist Party organization. Brezhnev’s political rise accelerated with his membership in the Central Committee from 1952. He was secretary of the Central Committee of the CPSU from 1950 to 1952, 1956 to 1960 and 1963 to 1964. From 1957 he was a member of the Presidium, 1966 of the Politburo of the CPSU and from In 1960 he headed the Soviet regime for the first time as Chairman of the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet. Significant for Brezhnev was his participation in the fall of Khrushchev in 1964, whose successor he took over as first secretary and later from 1966 as general secretary of the CPSU. Brezhnev expanded his domestic political power in the following decade, so that in 1976 he received the title of Marshal of the Soviet Union and in the following year, in addition to the party leadership as chairman of the Supreme Soviet, he held the post of Soviet head of state for the second time. During his reign, Brezhnev, like Stalin once, brought about stricter regulation of cultural life and tried to suppress the Soviet civil rights movement that was created by the Helsinki Final Act (1975) and encouraged by the turnaround for partial cooperation between East and West that was heralded in Helsinki. The “Stalin Constitution”, which had been in force since 1936, was replaced in 1977 by the “Brezhnev Constitution”. In it, among other things, the social conditions in the Soviet Union were redefined. Another (personal) domestic political goal was the careful rehabilitation of Stalin in the Soviet Union, not least because Brezhnev was already a member of Stalin’s inner leadership. In terms of foreign policy, Brezhnev increased political influence on the internal affairs of the communist satellite states, especially in Europe. The violent ending of the Prague Spring by the Warsaw Pact troops was justified by the so-called Brezhnev Doctrine. This doctrine basically abolishes the sovereignty of the socialist countries as soon as ” In the East-West conflict he strove to keep the power of the Soviet Union on the world political stage through a détente and disarmament policy by recognizing the Federal Republic of Germany and the existing borders in Europe in the Moscow Treaty of 1970. A year later, in the Four Power Agreement of 1971, West Berlin was confirmed as part of the Federal Republic. At the end of the Brezhnev era (1964-1982), the Soviet Union was marked by heightened political and social differences and general stagnation.
Ruslan Chasbulatow (born 1942 and 1944)
Ruslan Imranowitsch Chasbulatow was born in Grozny in the early 1940s and studied economics in Almaty and Moscow. At the end of the 1970s he was appointed professor in Moscow. Khasbulatov began his political career in 1966 when he joined the CPSU. Between 1991 and 1993 he was President of the Parliament of the Russian Federation. In 1993, when the Russian constitutional crisis struck, he was believed to be one of the toughest opponents of Russian President Yeltsin. Then the original Chechen campaigned for the Russian republic.
Nikita Khrushchev (1894-1971)
Nikita Sergejewitsch Khrushchev (reign: 1954-1964) (born 1894 in Kalinowka, died 1971 in Moscow) was a trained locksmith and later an engineer. The Soviet politician, who came from a rural-proletarian background, began his political career as a member of the Central Committee in 1934. This was followed by membership of the Politburo (1939 to 1952), the Presidium of the CPSU (1952 to 1964), followed by offices such as First Secretary of the Moscow (1935) until 1937) and the Ukrainian party organization (1938 to 1945 and 1947 to 1949). During the Second World War, Khrushchev was political commissar on various sectors of the front (1941 to 1945). After Stalin’s death (March 5th, 1953), Khrushchev stood out after a brief period of collective leadership and became First Secretary of the CPSU. By taking over the decisive offices in the party and state, he was able to go to the XX CPSU party congress of 1956 – extremely cautiously – to criticize and counteract Stalin’s methods of rule and the cult of personality that has arisen around him. With his open criticism, he initiated the de-Stalinization – the sole rule practiced by Stalin was to be dismantled in favor of a collective leadership – which ultimately led to changes in the economic and cultural-political area. From 1958 Khrushchev also took over the leadership of the government. He had continuously removed his internal party critics from the party leadership and was thus able to tackle his political goals, including the reform of economic administration and the expansion of the armaments industry. In terms of foreign policy and especially in the East-West confrontation, the thesis of the peaceful coexistence of states with different social systems was valid under the Khrushchev government. In the eyes of his critics, this policy of détente led, among other bad political decisions, to Khrushchev’s disempowerment in 1964. After his disempowerment, Khrushchev was ignored by the Soviet public as a “non-person”.
Mikhail Gorbachev (born 1931)
Mikhail Sergejewitsch Gorbachev (reign: 1985-1991) (born 1931 in Privolnoje) joined the CPSU in 1952 as a lawyer. He made a rapid career within the party, becoming a member of the Central Committee in 1971, Secretary of the Central Committee in 1978 and a member of the Politburo in 1980. In 1985 he was at the head of the Soviet Union, he became General Secretary of the party. His election brought about not only a generation change at the top of the CPSU, but also a change in style in Soviet politics. Gorbachev changed cadres and appointed new members of the Politburo. Since his appointment as chairman of the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet in 1988, he initiated a reform program that was supposed to loosen up the political structures and to give economic activity within the USSR partial independence. The decisions of the bodies in power should be brought closer to the population in their decision-making process. The leading role of the party should, however, remain untouched within this reform movement, which went down in history with the slogans “Perestroika” (restructuring) and “Glasnost” (transparency and openness). Gorbachev’s “revolution from above” led to a previously impossible variety of socio-political opinions, but also to a radicalization of this. Non-Russian peoples and nationalities strove to leave the Soviet Union, the spirit of “perestroika” and “glasnost” also wafted into the communist countries of Europe. In the GDR in particular, the Soviet reform idea developed its own momentum, which ultimately contributed to the reunification of Germany in 1990. Without Gorbachev’s political rethinking, this quick turnaround on the German-German question would not have been possible. Gorbachev’s reform movement became an autonomous “revolution from below” which in December 1991 led to the dissolution of the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics and the resignation of Gorbachev.
Boris Yeltsin (1931-2007)
Boris Nikolayevich Yeltsin (reign: 1991-1999) was born on February 1, 1931 as the son of a peasant family in Butka near Sverdlovsk. Since 1961 he was a civil engineer and worked in the Sverdlovsk construction industry. When he joined the CPSU in 1961, his party career began in the Sverdlovsk region and culminated for the time being in 1990 when he was elected chairman of the Russian Supreme Soviet. As an expression of his criticism of the slowness of perestroika, especially of Gorbachev’s actions, he resigned from the CPSU in July 1990 and was elected Russia’s first president by an absolute majority in the first free elections on June 12, 1991. After Russia declared independence, Yeltsin promoted the formation of the “Commonwealth of Independent States” (CIS). In 1991 the CIS was founded instead of the dissolved Soviet Union, the last president of the USSR, Mikhail Gorbachev, had to resign. The spectacular dissolution of the Supreme Soviet (People’s Deputies Congress) to ward off its political opponents, the scheduled elections to a federal assembly and the vote on a new constitution for the Russian Federation allowed Yeltsin to win the Russian presidential elections again in 1996. Domestically, Yeltsin tried to bring the Russian Federation onto a market-economy course with radical, rapidly changing and sometimes contradicting reforms. The result of these reforms was, on the one hand, the release of energy, and, on the other, completely confusing conditions. At the end of his political career, the country was politically, economically, socially and morally desolate. The regions of Russia also tried to break away from their political and economic ties to Russia. The efforts of the Caucasus Republic of Chechnya to leave the Russian Federation led in 1994 to a war with Moscow that is still ongoing. In terms of foreign policy, Russia, under Yeltsin’s leadership, took over the seat of the former Soviet Union in all international bodies, such as the UN Security Council. A security agreement with NATO was signed in 1997. Yeltsin tried to make up for Russia’s loss of power by participating in the 1997 meeting of the seven leading economies, the so-called G-7 meeting. After Yeltsin had helped his favorite presidential candidate, Putin, to win the election, he resigned on December 31, 1999. He died on Jan.
Alexander Kolchak (1874-1920)
Alexander Wassiljewitsch Kolchak was born in Saint Petersburg in 1874 into a family of officers. He was involved in wars as a sea captain and as commander in chief of the Russian Black Sea Fleet. He was also used as Minister of War and the Navy. In this position he overthrew the Siberian government and made himself the Supreme Regent of Russia. His mode of government was dictatorial. Kolchak died in Irkutsk in 1920 as a result of an execution.
Sergei Lavrov (born 1950)
Foreign Minister, diplomat. Sergei Viktorovich Lavrov was born in Moscow in 1950. He studied at the Moscow State Institute of International Relations. First he worked in Sri Lanka as ambassador of the USSR, later in New York as first secretary. From 2004 President Putin installed him as Foreign Minister of the Russian Federation, where he is still in office today.
Vladimir Lenin (1870-1924)
Vladimir Ilyich Lenin (reign: 1917-1924) (born 1870 in Simbirsk, died 1924 in Gorki near Moscow) was called Vladimir Ilyich Ulyanov before his political alias. Lenin came from the educated bourgeoisie and, in addition to Russian, he could look back on Jewish, German and Tatar ancestors. The young intellectual came into contact with the revolutionary movement at an early stage, and he soon became one of the leading figures at its head. In 1895 Lenin traveled to Switzerland and was arrested on his return for political agitation among workers. In 1897 he was exiled to Siberia for this. He spent a few years of his life in exile and later in exile in Germany and Switzerland. During this time he wrote some of his basic work. So he stated in his book in 1899 ” In this revolution he saw his chance to act and worked purposefully towards the proletarian revolution. His April theses, a revolutionary, uncompromising program of action, found increasing approval among the Russian population, so that in July 1917 there was another uprising of workers and peasants supported by the Bolsheviks, albeit unsuccessful. Lenin fled to Finland. There he prepared for another armed uprising in Russia and wrote his basic paper on the form and methodology of Bolshevik rule (“State and Revolution” 1917). Supported by Trotsky and Stalin, after a successful and violent change of power in Russia on October 25, 1917, Lenin set up a dictatorial system of government based on his political ideals, the use of violent means and brutal severity was legitimate to enforce. In terms of foreign policy, Lenin pursued a long-term policy of world revolution and tried to win over the revolutionary movements in Europe and the national currents in Asia to his political goals through the “Communist International” (Comintern) founded in March 1919. His undisputed authority, among other things through his precise knowledge of Marx’s writings and their further development (Marxism-Leninism) enabled him to hold together the opposing forces of the party domestically and to tackle the development of the party, state and economic apparatus. With the establishment of the Politburo and the Secretariat in 1919 and the prohibition of the formation of factions in 1921, he centralized political power in the hands of his leadership cadre and created decisive conditions for the bureaucratization of the party. This centralization paved the way for Stalin, who he had warned against coming to power. Lenin suffered two strokes in May 1922 and 1923 and succumbed to their consequences. Before his death, he was no longer able to replace Stalin in the office of general secretary created in 1922, so that Stalin appeared on behalf of the party leadership for the first time at the memorial service for Lenin in January 1924. After Lenin’s death, Stalin headed the “Union of the Socialist Soviet Union”, which had already been proclaimed on December 30, 1922.
Dmitri Medvedev (born 1965)
President of Russia. Dmitri Anatoljewitsch Medvedev was born in Leningrad in 1965 and studied law at the university there. After initially working as a lecturer and legal advisor, he was appointed deputy head of the government apparatus in Moscow in 1999. Medvedev later served on the supervisory board of the Gazprom group, then as vice-prime minister. In 2008 the Russian people elected him president. In his position, he wants to lead Russia into the modern age and make the residents free. But he showed himself to be a vassal of Putin and his governor. In the next presidential election, he did not run again – Putin instead.
Vyacheslav Molotov (1890-1986)
Foreign Minister. Vyacheslav Mikhailovich Molotov was born in Kukarka in 1890 and studied in Saint Petersburg. Already in his youth he had joined the communists, wrote articles for their illegal media organ (Pravda) and was arrested. After his escape, he actively helped to prepare for the October Revolution. From 1930 he held the post of prime minister and from 1939 switched to the office of the People’s Commissar for Foreign Affairs. Molotov served as Foreign Minister between 1953 and 1956. The Molotov cocktail was named after him. Lenin had another name for him: Iron Ass. He died in Moscow in 1986.
Grand Duchess Olga, “the saint” (after 900-965) Ruled
the Kievan Rus in the 10th century. Grand Duchess Olga was born into the Ryurikid dynasty and married Prince Igor of Kiev. Before her son Svyatoslav I reached the age of reign, Igor died in a campaign. Olga, also called “the saint”, took over the office. They modernized the Kievan Rus and went over corpses. In order to promote Christianization in her country, she was baptized in Constantinople in 955 and encouraged King Otto I to support her in her Christianization project. The Grand Duchess of Kiev died in 965 and was finally canonized by the Russian Orthodox Church more than half a century later (1547).
Oleg, “the Prophet” (859-912)
He is considered the founder of the Grand Duchy of Kiev. Grand Duke Oleg, known as “the Prophet”, was born into the Ryurikid dynasty and is said to have ruled in place of the reigning son of Igor, who was still underage. It is alleged that he founded the Kiev Empire. He converted Kiev into a fortress city and ruled the empire from there. In 907 he led a war against Constantinople. Presumably he died in 912.
Vladimir Putin (born 1952)
Vladimir Vladimirovich Putin (reign: since 1999) (born October 1, 1952 in Leningrad) studied law and international law from 1970 and became a member of the CPSU during his studies. Since 1975 he worked in a Leningrad department of the KGB. At this time the KGB became aware of him, so that he then went through training at the KGB University specializing in German-speaking countries. Between 1985 and 1990 he lived in Dresden for business reasons. After his return he took over the leadership of the St. Petersburg regional organization of Chernomyrdin’s movement “Our House Russia” (UHR, Russian: NDR) and organized the UHR’s election campaign for the state duma elections in December 1995. In 1996, Putin went to Moscow, to become Deputy Head of Administration of the President’s Affairs (Presidential Administration) and, in 1998, Director of the FSB Domestic Intelligence Service. His political career began with his short time as Prime Minister of the Russian Federation in 1999. At the end of the year, he was appointed President-in-Office. After Yeltsin’s resignation, Putin was elected President of the Russian Federation/Russia in March 2000. He then became Prime Minister with Dmitry Medvedev as his governor in the President’s office. After Yeltsin’s resignation, Putin was elected President of the Russian Federation/Russia in March 2000. He then became Prime Minister with Dmitry Medvedev as his governor in the President’s office. After Yeltsin’s resignation, Putin was elected President of the Russian Federation/ Russia in March 2000. He then became Prime Minister with Dmitry Medvedev as his governor in the President’s office.
Alexander Wladimirowitsch Ruzkoi (born 1947)
Alexander Wladimirowitsch Ruzkoi was born in Proskurow in 1947. He studied at several military universities in Russia and initially worked as an officer. He became the Hero of Russia after being wounded several times in war zones like Afghanistan. From 1990 Ruzkoi devoted himself to politics and in the following years was employed as vice-president alongside Yeltsin. When Russia got into a constitutional crisis in 1993, Ruzkoi held the presidential regiment instead of Yeltsin for a few days. The dissolved parliament voted.
Eduard Shevardnadze (born 1928)
Foreign Minister. Eduard Shevardnadze was born in Mamati in 1928 and joined the CPSU as a young man. Between 1965 and 1972 he was Minister of the Interior of Georgia. In 1985 he was appointed Foreign Minister of the Soviet Union. In this office he reformed his country’s foreign policy with Gorbachev and campaigned, among other things, for the German turnaround. Shevardnadze survived several assassinations and ruled Georgia as president from 1995 to 2003. He has received numerous awards and was married to a journalist who, however, died in 2004.
Josef Stalin (1879-1953)
Jossif Wissarionowitsch Stalin (reign: 1924-1953) (born 1879 in Gori/Georgia, died in Moscow 1953) was not originally called the “Steely One”, but JV Dschugaschwili and was of Georgian origin. During his time in the Orthodox seminary (from 1894) the young Stalin also dealt with revolutionary literature (including the writings of Karl Marx), which ultimately led to his entry into the Russian Social Democratic Labor Party in 1898. His assistance in organizing strikes and demonstrations gave rise to expulsion from the seminary in 1899. Stalin, devoted to the Bolsheviks, was exiled to Siberia in 1903. After his escape (January 1904) he met the delegate Lenin at the 1905 Bolshevik party congress, who valued him as an organizer and brought about Stalin’s admission to the Central Committee of the Bolsheviks in 1912. Stalin’s influence in the party grew, among other things through the publication of his paper “Nationalities Question and Social Democracy” (1913), in which the solution of the nationality question in the territory of the Russian Empire on the basis of the revolutionary concept of the Bolsheviks was discussed. In the course of Lenin’s determined preparations for a proletarian revolution, Stalin became a member of the Office for the Political Direction of the Insurrection in 1917. After the successful October Revolution, Stalin was the People’s Commissar in Lenin’s government, responsible for nationality issues (1917-23) and for the workers ‘and peasants’ inspection (1917-1924). With the renaming of the party in the Communist Party of Russia (Bolsheviks) and its reorganization (1919), Stalin increased his political power, which culminated in 1922 in the assumption of the newly created office of Secretary General of the party. Although this office originally only included organizational preparatory tasks, under Stalin’s influence it became a key position in the party and his personal instrument of struggle in dealing with internal political opponents. After Lenin’s death, Stalin was able to maintain his political supremacy and, between 1924 and 1929, eliminated his political opponents such as Trotsky and associated currents. Stalin used his power to enforce his thesis of “building socialism in one country” both in the party (from 1925 CPSU (B)) and in the state. From 1929 he had exchanged the collective leadership of the country for his personal dictatorship over party and state. The consequences were excesses of state or party patriotism through a bloody purge (Great Chistka) in the 1930s (which presumably more than 15 million people fell victim to the GULag (head office of the camps) penal system), a consequent Russification that pushed the national-cultural independence of the non-Russian peoples into folklore, and the construction of socialism also in the cultural field, which led to a unification of art as a means of popular education. Art was only allowed to thematize Soviet patriotism. In the economic sector, Stalin has been promoting industrialization of the country with the five-year plans since 1928. At the same time ideological changes were made in the agricultural sector; Between 1930 and 1933, the farmers were subjected to forced collectivization, long-term food crises and millions of starvation victims followed. In terms of foreign policy, Stalin pursued a cautious policy of balance and treaty in the 1930s. However, this policy ended with the invasion of Hitler’s Germany in 1941. The so-called “Great Patriotic War”, the defensive struggle against the Germans, united the previously fragmented Soviet population, since it was not Bolshevism that was to be defended, but “Mother Russia”. The war claimed 20 to 30 million lives on the Soviet side. Stalin used the beginning of the war to deport entire nationalities and population groups because of actual or alleged collaboration with Hitler’s Germany. After the end of the Second World War and the territorial expansion of the USSR, the government under Stalin and the Western powers became alienated – not least because of the “two worlds theory”, which ruled out a peaceful conflict between socialist and capitalist camps. The cold war began. In 1953 Stalin died. He left behind a country plagued by repression and stagnation. The territorial expansion of the country and the status of world power made many overlook the violent crimes of Stalin. After the end of the Second World War and the territorial expansion of the USSR, the government under Stalin and the Western powers became alienated – not least because of the “two worlds theory”, which ruled out a peaceful conflict between socialist and capitalist camps. The cold war began. In 1953 Stalin died. He left behind a country plagued by repression and stagnation. The territorial expansion of the country and the status of world power made many overlook the violent crimes of Stalin. After the end of the Second World War and the territorial expansion of the USSR, the government under Stalin and the Western powers became alienated – not least because of the “two worlds theory”, which ruled out a peaceful conflict between socialist and capitalist camps. The cold war began. In 1953 Stalin died. He left behind a country plagued by repression and stagnation. The territorial expansion of the country and the status of world power made many overlook the violent crimes of Stalin. He left behind a country plagued by repression and stagnation. The territorial expansion of the country and the status of world power made many overlook the violent crimes of Stalin. He left behind a country plagued by repression and stagnation. The territorial expansion of the country and the status of world power made many overlook Stalin’s violent crimes.
Pyotr Stolypin (1862-1911)
Prime Minister. Pyotr Arkadjewitsch Stolypin was born in 1862 into a wealthy Russian family of an envoy in Dresden. Thanks to the rich relationships of his family, he quickly entered the state service in Russia. After suppressing a revolutionary ring in 1905, the Tsar promoted him to the position of Minister of the Interior of Russia. From 1906 he received the post of Prime Minister. Because of his violent way of subjugating the rebellious people, the monarchist was called the “Iron Prime Minister”. Nevertheless, he campaigned for reforms, which in turn brought him political enemies. Stolypin was murdered by a Social Revolutionary in Kiev in 1911.
Leon Trotsky (1879-1940)
People’s Commissar for Foreign Affairs in Soviet Russia, founder of the Red Army. Trotsky, born Lev Dawidowitsch Bronstei in 1879, was a Ukrainian, the son of Jewish farmers. After graduating from high school, he was arrested for distributing politically forbidden books among the people. During his imprisonment he studied Marx’s writings intensively. In 1902 he fled to London and changed his name. He returned after the Russian Revolution, became a Bolshevik and was appointed People’s Commissar for Foreign Affairs in Soviet Russia (1917-1918). He later wrote biographies about Stalin and Lenin. Trotsky was mostly on the run and always involved in political arguments. In 1940 he died after an assassination attempt in Mexico.
Viktor Tschernomyrdin (1938-2010)
Viktor Stepanowitsch Tschernomyrdin was born in Chorny Otrog in 1938 and studied at the technical college of today’s Samara as well as at a distance university. The chauffeur’s son became a trained industrial engineer. At the beginning of the 1960s he joined the CPSU and became a functionary. In 1992, Yeltsin appointed him Prime Minister of the Russian Federation. He served until 1998. This was followed by a position as Chairman of the Supervisory Board of Gazprom. Between 2001 and 2009, Chernomyrdin was used as Russia’s ambassador to Ukraine. He then made a name for himself as an advisor to President Medvedev. He died in Moscow in 2010.
Yaroslav I, “the wise” (979 or 986-1054)
Yaroslav I Vladimirovich was born in the late 10th century as the son of Vladimir I into the Ryurikid dynasty. After his brother died, his father, who was the first Grand Duke of Kiev, made him regent of the wealthy city of Novgorod. When his father passed away, he became the ruler of Kiev. Yaroslav I waged various wars against Poland and is considered to be the man who passed the first Russian law. Yaroslav I, known as “the wise”, died in 1054.
Writer and poet
Anna Akhmatova (1889-1966)
Anna Andreevna Akhmatova was born in 1889 as the daughter of a naval officer near Odessa and studied law in Kiev. She wrote poetry as a young girl and later became one of the most important Russian poets. Her works were first dedicated to themes such as love, death and separation, then to the violent criticism of the Stalin system. Under the latter, she was banned from writing. Her best-known work is “Poem without a Hero” from 1963. Akhmatova died in 1966 near Moscow.
Leonid Andrejew (1871-1919)
Leonid Nikolajewitsch Andrejew was born in Orjol in 1871 and later studied law. Initially, the revolutionary sympathizer from 1905 worked as a lawyer and journalist. His prose had expressionist tones, which, however, darkened and turned into sarcasm after the death of his wife and the failure of the revolution. “Up to the Stars” from 1905 is his best known work and a play. In Russia it is one of the classics. Andreev died in Mustamäki in 1919.
Ivan Bunin (1870-1953)
Ivan Alexejewitsch Bunin was born in Voronezh in 1870 and later became the most famous poet among Russian emigrants. His subject was life in the Russian provinces before the October Revolution. Maxim Gorky’s friend was the first Russian Nobel Prize winner in 1933. His most important works include the novel “Suchodol” (1912) and the novellas “Der Herr aus San Francisco” (1916) and “Mitjas Liebe” (1925). Bunin’s realistic spelling made it unique. He died in Paris in 1953.
Fyodor Michailowitsch Dostoevsky (1821-1881)
Fyodor Michailowitsch Dostojewski (born in Moscow in 1821, died in Saint Petersburg in 1881), the youngest son of a doctor without possessions, studied at the Petersburg Military Academy between 1838 and 1843. In 1839 his father was murdered by serf farmers on the family estate. His mother also died early. Dostoevsky became famous overnight with his debut novel “Poor People” in 1846. Three years later he was sentenced to death by Tsar Nicholas I for reading a “criminal letter” in a revolutionary literary circle. At the last second Dostoevsky was pardoned, but sentenced to several years’ exile as well as forced labor and compulsory military service in Siberia. His epilepsy attacks, which had already occurred in childhood, increased from then on. The main character in the novel “The Idiot” (1868) is also affected by this disease. After his release, Dostoevsky traveled through Europe, where, among other things, “The Gambler” was written after he had lost all his money at roulette in Wiesbaden. The most important works also include “Schuld und Atonement” (1866) and his unfinished novel “The Karamazov Brothers”. Dostoyevsky was married twice, with his first wife dying early. He had four children. The subjects of his works were misery, conflict, murder, debt, pity, among others. Dostoyevsky is one of the most important Russian authors and can be assigned to literary realism. The psychological narrative style is also typical of his style. His influence extends beyond the borders of his country. So, among other things Hermann Hesse, Franz Kafka and Sigmund Freud are inspired by him. The great writer died of emphysema in 1881 and was carried to the grave of 60,000 mourners.
Vsevolod Garschin (1855-1888)
Vsevolod Michailowitsch Garschin was born in 1855 in Yekaterinoslav as a descendant of a Tatar noble family and studied at the mining academy. His life was marked by gloom and deep melancholy, especially with the Turkish-Russian war of 1877-1878. Garschin’s best-known work is the cycle “People and War” (1877-1883). He is considered a role model for Chekhov and anti-war writers. Garschin died in Saint Petersburg in 1888 as a result of an injury sustained in a gloomy depression
Nikolaj Gogol (1809-1852)
Nikolai Wassiljewitsch Gogol was born in 1809 in Velyki Sorotschynzi as the son of landowners. He was friends with Pushkin, initially wrote Ukrainian folk stories and caricatured the corrupt behavior of the Russian landed nobility. From 1834 Gogol taught as a professor of general history at the University of Saint Petersburg. “The Coat” (1842) is his best known work and inspired all subsequent Russian writers. But also “Die Nase” (1836) and “Die toten Seelen” (1842) made him famous beyond the borders of his country. He later suffered from psychosis and religious madness. Gogol died in Moscow in 1852.
Maxim Gorky (1868-1936)
Maxim Gorkij did not originally call himself “the bitter”, but Aleksej Maksimowitsch Peschkow. He was born in Nizhny Novhorod (now Gorky) in 1868 and died in Moscow in 1936. Because of his poor youth and his constant search for work in large parts of Russia, Gorky came into contact with revolutionaries at an early age. Social injustice and the decline of Russian society in the last decades before the revolution became the main subject of his literary works. In the beginning there were romanticizing texts (“Tschelkasch” 1894) and hymns of praise to the revolutionary heroes (“Das Lied vom Sturmvogel” 1901), then the portrayal of the vagabond milieu (“Nachtasyl” 1902) and productions in Moscow and Berlin in 1903 brought him the longed for World success. In 1905 Gorky met Lenin. The two men remained in constant contact throughout their lives. However, Gorky had to leave the country after the 1905 revolution because of his criticism of the harsh crackdown on the demonstrating civilians on the so-called Petersburg Bloody Sunday (January 9, 1905). He traveled through America and later lived on Capri (1906-1913). In the USA the avowed Marxist wrote the first novel of the Russian revolutionary proletariat (“The Mother” 1907). Gorky briefly supported Lenin’s cultural revolution after the October Revolution. The systematic persecution of cultural workers and the regime terror caused him to return to Italy. Gorky returned to Russia and was honored with all kinds of medals and decorations. He became a member of the Central Committee of the CPSU and Stalin made him his model writer. While traveling through the country, he marveled at the achievements of communism and otherwise lived under surveillance and spied on by the KGB in his Moscow city villa. Until his death, he tried to promote young Russian writers. He died of pneumonia on June 18, 1936.
Wladimir Korolenko (1853-1921)
Wladimir Galaktionowitsch Korolenko was born in Zhytomyr in 1853 and later studied at the Technical University in Saint Petersburg and at the Academy of Agriculture and Forestry in Moscow. His works document the complicated everyday life of Russian farmers. Korolenko’s well-known literary pieces include “The Blind Musician” (1886) and the four-volume prose work “The Story of My Contemporary”, which did not appear until 1922. He was acquainted with Gorky and Tolstoy. Korolenko died in Poltava in 1921.
Vladimir Nabokov (1899-1977)
Vladimir Nabokov (born in Saint Petersburg in 1899, died in Montreux in 1977) was born as the first of five children to a well-heeled aristocratic family. After the October Revolution, the family fled into exile in Europe, and Nabokov studied literature and science in Cambridge from 1919-1922. There the slender person deepens his passion for butterfly research and publishes some articles. During a multi-year stay in exile in Berlin (1922-1937), the first prose texts were written in Russian under the artist name W. Sirin. Nabokov works as a private tutor and devotes himself to translations (“Alice in Wonderland”). In 1937 he fled to France with his wife and child, where he finished the novel “Die Gabe”, which tells of the life of a Russian exile. Nabokov lives from 1940, one of the most influential authors of the 20th century and one of the greatest erotica, in the USA, where he teaches at several universities. In 1955 his most famous novel “Lolita” appeared, which was initially banned, but made Nabokov known worldwide. The 50-year-old Humbert Humbert falls in love with the 12-year-old landlord’s daughter Lolita. A controversial and scandalous story unfolds, an amour fou. Other important works by Nabokov are “The true life of Sebastian Knight” (1941) – the first novel that the author wrote in English and “Pnin” (1957) as well as his autobiography “Remembrance, speak” (1967). Nabokov died in Montreux in 1977, where he stayed with his wife from 1961.
Viktor Pelewin (born 1962)
Viktor Olegowitsch Pelewin was born in Moscow in 1962 and studied electrical engineering. The public-shy narrator is known for his satire and literary processing of modern Russian life. He is one of the most important contemporary Russian writers. He wrote the book “Generation P”, which reflects the attitude towards life of young Russians in the 1990s.
Lyudmila Petruschewskaja (born 1938)
Lyudmila Stefanowna Petruschewskaja was born in Moscow in 1938 and grew up in an orphanage during the war. She studied journalism at Lomonosov University in the Russian capital and worked for various TV and radio stations before devoting herself to literature. The stories “Die Geige” and “The Viewing Platform” appeared, among others. But it was only as the playwright of “Three Girls in Blue” (1980), for example, that Petrushevskaya became internationally famous and her play was performed all over the world.
Alexander Pushkin (1799-1837)
Alexander Sergejewitsch Pushkin was born in Moscow in 1799. He is considered a pioneer of modern Russian literature and holds the flag as the national poet of the empire. The verse epic “Eugene Onegin” (1825-1831) is one of the most important works from his pen and was later performed as an opera. The story “Pique Dame” (1834) is also a piece of his that is known worldwide. His mix of satire, drama and narrative elements still symbolize the original Russian narrative style for many. Pushkin died in Saint Petersburg in 1837
Lou Andreas-Salomé (1861-1937)
Lou Andreas-Salomé was born in Saint Petersburg in 1861 to Russian-German parents. Her father was later accepted into the Russian nobility. Andreas-Salomé often published under the stage name Henry Lou. She was not only a writer, but also the muse of, for example, Friedrich Nietzsche and Rainer Maria Rilke, and devoted herself intensively to psychoanalysis. Her works include “Zum Typus Weib” (1914), “Psychosexuality, Three Letters to a Boy” (1917) and “Rainer Maria Rilke (Book of Remembrance)” (1928). Lou Andreas-Salomé died in Göttingen in 1937.
Wassili Schukschin (1929-1974)
Wassili Makarowitsch Schukschin was born in Srostki in 1929 and studied at the Moscow Film School. In his literary work he is assigned to the “sixties” and wrote mainly about ordinary Russian people from the village. “Until the third time the cock crows” and “I came to bring you freedom” are among his most important works as a writer. With his film debut “From One Who Set Out to Find Love” in 1964, his name became known worldwide. Schukschin died near Volgograd in 1974.
Alexander Issajewitsch Solzhenitsyn (1918-2008)
Alexander Issajewitsch Solzhenitsyn led an artillery unit as an officer during the war. In 1945 he was sentenced to eight years in a prison camp for criticizing Stalin and released in 1953. But he remained ostracized and banned. However, in 1957 he was rehabilitated. After the publication of his most famous book “The Gulap Archipelago”, he was deported to the West in 1974. He first went to the Federal Republic, where Heinrich Böll took special care of him. Here he was also presented with the Nobel Prize for Literature, which had already been awarded in 1970. In 1976 he emigrated to the USA. After the change in the former USSR, he returned to Russia in 1994. He died on August 3, 2008 in Moscow at the age of 89.
Michail Soschtschenko (1894-1958)
Michail Michailowitsch Soschtschenko was born into a family of artists in Saint Petersburg in 1894 and later studied law. After the war, he published his first works that were humorous and satirical. “The Sky Blue Book” and “Before Sunrise” are part of his oeuvre. But his style offended the Russian rulers and he was banned from writing and excluded from literary circles. In the 1990s, however, he was remembered again with a stamp in his fatherland. Zoshchenko died in Leningrad in 1958.
Tatjana Tolstaja (born 1951)
Tatjana Nikititschna Tolstaja was born in 1951 in Leningrad as the daughter of a family of nobility writers and is the great-grandniece of Leo Tolstoy. She later studied classical philology in her birthplace and lived for a few years in the USA as a lecturer. Her literary debut “Tryst with a Bird” (1987) was an international success. Tolstaja is one of the most important contemporary Russian writers and is also known as a critical television presenter who ironically targets the national situation of her country.
Lev Nikolayevich Count Tolstoy (1828-1910)
Lev Nikolayevich Count Tolstoy (born in Yasnaya Polyana in 1828, died in Astapowo in 1910) studied oriental languages and law in Kazan from 1844-1847 as the son of a landowner. During his military service (1851-1855) he fought in the Caucasus and Crimea. In the years up to his wedding with Sofia Andrejewna Bers in 1862 he lived partly on his estate Yasnaja Polyana, partly in Moscow and Saint Petersburg or in Western Europe (1857 and 1860-61). After the wedding, he lived with his family on the estate until he decided in 1910 to lead a life of ascetic solitude. Tolstoy could not reconcile his position as a wealthy landowner with his religious and social ideas. He died on his journey into solitude. His literary works are based on autobiographical experiences from his childhood (” negated social and church organizations. Behind his anarchism there was no bitter turning away from life, but the highest trust in God and the effort to fathom the true divine law.
Anton Pavlovich Chekhov (1860-1904)
Anton Pavlovich Chekhov (born in Taganrog in 1860, died in Badenweiler in 1904) was a doctor, employee of newspapers and magazines and one of the most outstanding Russian writers. In 1890 he ventured an information trip to the penal colony on Sakhalin and in 1895 published the book “The Island of Sakhalin”. To alleviate his suffering from tuberculosis, he lived in southern Russia and also in some western European health resorts since 1898. His personal happiness reached a climax when he married the German-born actress Olga L. Knipper. His literary career began with short, humorous prose texts. He mainly wrote short stories, so that his famous story “The Steppe” (1888) was the exception. The humor and direct comedy that initially shaped his works, With increasing age gave way to a partly cheerful, partly melancholy irony, which is often reflected in the descriptions of human coexistence or in human loneliness. In his texts, especially in his dramas, Chekhov describes the changes in contemporary Russian society: the disappearance of the nobility and the simultaneous emergence of the Russian petty bourgeoisie and the “intelligentsia”. On the one hand, Chekhov captivates with his incorruptible analysis of human behavior, on the other hand he surprises with subtle interpretations of the mental state of his characters and thus picks up on moods of European impressionism. With his impressionistic mood drama he developed a new type of drama,
Ivan Turgenew (1818-1883)
Ivan Sergejewitsch Turgenew was born in Orjol in 1818 as the son of an old Russian aristocratic family. He studied literature in Moscow and St. Petersburg and later philosophy abroad in Germany. His work is internationally famous and recognized and was founded in 1852 with “A Hunter’s Notes”. Turgenev was a pioneering writer writing about the needs and concerns of Russian society. Other writings are “Väter und Söhne” (1862) and “Rauch” (1867), the latter being set in Baden-Baden. Goethe and Baudelaire were among his role models. Turgenev, who was sociable for life, died near Paris in 1883.
Nabokov monument in Montreux, Switzerland © goruma (T. Asthalter)
Other interesting people of Russia
Roman Abramowitsch (born 1966)
oligarch. Roman Arkadjewitsch Abramowitsch was born in 1966 in Saratow into a Jewish-Russian family. His parents died when he was a young child. Raised by various uncles who worked in the oil and gas business, Abramowitsch initially devoted himself to engineering studies and later also got into the business. In a very short time he became a billionaire and the second richest Russian. He is the owner of the Chelsea FC football club, several yachts, real estate, a Boeing and much more.
Jelena Baturina (1963)
billionaire, entrepreneur. Jelena Nikolajewna Baturina was born in Moscow in 1963. Baturina, meanwhile the richest Russian woman, started with the establishment of a company that specialized in plastics and later in construction and was significantly involved in the construction of the Olympic stadium in Luzhniki. It owns shares in Gazprom and several 1,000 hectares of land. Baturina is married to the former mayor of Moscow, Yuri Mikhailovich Luschkow.
Yuri Aleksejewitsch Gagarin (1934-1968)
Yuri Aleksejewitsch Gagarin (born in Kluschino in 1934, died near Novosjolowo in 1968) was a Soviet aviation officer and astronaut. He came from a humble background and took part in the Soviet space program with twenty other trainees from 1960. The fact that he passed the training program with flying colors was testimony to his sending into space. On April 12, 1961, he was the first person to orbit the earth in his Vostok-1 space capsule. After his return to earth he was celebrated worldwide. Nikita Khrushchev sent him to all countries of the world as a kind of traveling preacher in honor of communism and its progress. Gagarin couldn’t handle his notoriety, he began to drink heavily, and his marriage failed. On March 27, 1968, the hero of the Soviet Union died on a routine training flight.
Raisa Gorbacheva (1932-1999)
“First Lady” of the Soviet Union, sociologist. Raissa Titarenko was born in Rubtsovsk in 1932 and later studied philosophy and sociology at Lomonosov University in Moscow. There she met Mikhail Gorbachev, a farmer’s son on the way to state power, and married him in 1953. As the president’s wife, she was the characterful and glamorous “first lady” who campaigned for culture and people, but also of those living in communist poverty Population was criticized. Gorbacheva died of leukemia in Moscow in 1999.
Anatoly Karpov (born 1951)
chess grandmaster. Anatoly Evgenjewitsch Karpow was born in Zlatoust in 1951 and sat at the chessboard at the age of four to play against his father. In 1970 he was chess grandmaster and between 1975 and 1985 world chess champion. The genius is the author of several chess books and the founder of chess schools all over the world. Karpov also won the chess Oscar nine times.
Alexandra Kollontai (1872-1952)
revolutionary, diplomat. Alexandra Michailowna Kollontai was born in St. Petersburg in 1872 and studied at the University of Zurich. She campaigned for equal rights for women and was arrested by the state. Kollontai then lived in exile in Paris and in the USA. In 1923 she became the first international female diplomat to be accredited. The advocate of free love also fought as a communist and became a role model for many women in the world. Kollontai died in Moscow in 1952.
Grigorij Kotoff (1859-1942)
Architect, art historian. Grigory Ivanovich attended the Petersburg Art Academy from 1878. After graduating, he studied abroad for four years on a scholarship, before taking up a teaching position at his graduation academy in Saint Petersburg from 1888. From 1889 he taught art history, was the head of the renovation of the academy building from 1891 to 1893 and finally received the chair of architecture in 1894. At the age of 35 he was a professor at the Academy of Arts in Saint Petersburg. Shortly afterwards, Kotoff became director of the Baron Stieglitz drawing school. Kotoff is known for his work as a restorer (he restored the St. Sophia Cathedral in Kiev, the Vladimiro Volynsky Cathedral in Moscow and the Cathedral of the Transfiguration of Christ in Pereslavl-Zalessky), as general curator for numerous sacred buildings and also as an architect (construction of the Moscow City Duma with Preobrazhensky, design for an embassy church in Vienna, which was built from 1839 to 1899). He died at the age of 83.
Nadezhda Krupskaya (1869-1939)
revolutionary, Lenin’s consort, Doctor of Education. Nadezhda Konstantinovna Krupskaja was born in 1869 as the daughter of a nobleman and later trained as a teacher. In 1894 she met Lenin in St. Petersburg, whom she married much later. Since she appeared as a political opponent of the pre-communist regime, she was arrested and exiled for several years. In the meantime, she wrote “Die Arbeitende Frau”, a pamphlet that was distributed free of charge to working women. She spoke several languages and received numerous awards as a communist. Krupskaya died in Moscow in 1939.
Alexander Nevsky (1220-1263)
Russian national hero, prince from the Rurikid dynasty. Alexander Yaroslavl Newski was born in Pereslavl-Zalessky in 1220. He was a military leader, fought against the Teutonic Order and rose to become Prince of Novgorod. The famous Russian director Eisenstein filmed his life. As a hero, he has become the most important Russian of all time. Nevsky, canonized by the Orthodox Church in 1547, died in Gorodets in 1263.
Boris Nikolaj (1892-1961)
Boris Dorofejewitsch Jaruschewitsch Nikolaj (born in Kovno in 1892, died in Moscow in 1961) was a Russian Orthodox theologian and metropolitan. As the son of a clergyman, he graduated from the Spiritual Academy in Saint Petersburg in 1892. Then his career began: as a monk he taught at the St. On January 28, 1944, Nikolay became Metropolitan of Krutitsy and Kolomna and Deputy Patriarch of Moscow. As head of the Foreign Office of the Moscow Patriarchate (1944 to 1960), he strived to improve relations with Western churches on his numerous trips abroad. In 1958, as a result of his efforts, he conducted the first official conversation between the Russian Orthodox Church and representatives of the World Council of Churches in Utrecht. In relation to the communist regime, Nikolaj advocated a policy of compromise with the Russian Orthodox Church. He worked in system-friendly bodies and was President of the All-Slavic Committee and member of the Stockholm World Peace Council. However, he was also a militant advocate of the Orthodox faith and defended it from (political) threats. A year after his retirement, Nikolaj died of heart failure in December 1961. In relation to the communist regime, Nikolaj advocated a policy of compromise with the Russian Orthodox Church. He worked in system-friendly bodies and was President of the All-Slavic Committee and member of the Stockholm World Peace Council. However, he was also a militant advocate of the Orthodox faith and defended it from (political) threats. A year after his retirement, Nikolaj died of heart failure in December 1961. In relation to the communist regime, Nikolaj advocated a policy of compromise with the Russian Orthodox Church. He worked in system-friendly bodies and was President of the All-Slavic Committee and member of the Stockholm World Peace Council. However, he was also a militant advocate of the Orthodox faith and defended it from (political) threats. A year after his retirement, Nikolaj died of heart failure in December 1961.
Grigori Rasputin (1864-1916)
Grigori Jefimowitsch Rasputin (born in 1864 or 1865 near Tyumen, murdered on December 30, 1916 in Saint Petersburg) was a versatile person: he was a farmer, monk and prophet. His important time began in 1907 when he was admitted to the imperial court and, through his (alleged) abilities as a miracle healer, he became a close confidante of the imperial couple Nicholas II and Alexandra Feodorovna. The heir to the throne, suffering from the blood disease, was cared for by representatives of official medicine as well as by Rasputin, who had the task of overcoming the illness of the heir to the throne or at least alleviating its symptoms. Rasputin achieved success through his magnetic and hypnotic powers and gained more and more influence on the Tsarist couple. Numerous rumors of presumptuousness and debauchery arose about the strange healer,
Anastasia Romanowa (1901-1918)
Grand Duchess, fourth and youngest daughter of the last Russian tsar Nicholas II. Anastasia Nikolajewna Romanowa was born in Peterhof and was considered a linguistically gifted tomboy who was able to maintain the entire court. Anastasia and her family were executed in Yekaterinburg in a massacre by the Bolsheviks in 1918. There were legends about the youngest daughter of the Tsar, as it was initially assumed that she was the only one who could escape. Her life has been filmed several times. Various women also pretended to be her until it was scientifically proven in 2007 that she too had fallen victim to the massacre.
Slava Saizew (born 1938)
fashion designer. Saizew was born in Ivanovo in 1938. The “Red Dior” achieved international fame in the 90s of the last century and rose to become the most famous Russian fashion designer. He opened the “Fashion House” and in 1980 designed the clothing for the Russian Olympic team. The Parisian honorary citizen Saizew lives withdrawn. His collection also includes perfumes and shower gels.
Lidija Swereva (1890-1916)
First female pilot in Russia. Swereva was born in 1890. She was the first Russian woman to obtain her pilot’s license in 1911. She often had to defend herself against prejudice. Her first looping in Riga in 1916 is legendary – also as the first woman. Swerewa also has the nickname “sister of Icarus” or “queen of the skies” and has become a female role model.
athlete
Andrei Arshavin (born 1981)
football player. Andrei Sergeevich Arshavin was born in Leningrad in 1981 and graduated from the football school in Smena. There is also a degree in fashion design. Initially, the striker played in the Russian Zenit team. In 2002 he was brought to the Russian national team for the first time. In 2006 Arshavin was voted Russian Footballer of the Year. He has been playing for Arsenal since 2009.
Pavel Datsyuk (born 1978)
ice hockey player. Pawel Valerjewitsch Dazjuk was born in Sverdlovsk in 1978 and initially played for the Russian third division club Dinamo-Energija Yekaterinburg (1996-2000). Despite all the criticisms of his physique, he convinced the scouts of the US National Hockey League and was used there successfully in 2001. Datsyuk was instrumental in the victories of his respective team at Olympic and world championships. His position is a striker.
Oksana “Pasha” Grishchuk (born 1962)
figure skater. Oksana Vladimirovna Grishchuk was born in Odessa in 1962, where she skated on the ice for the first time at the age of four. Your career has taken a steep turn. Together with Yevgeny Platov, she was the dream couple on the ice for many years. You have won 20 consecutive competitions, including two Winter Olympics. After the Olympic victory in Nagano in 1998, Grishchuk ended her career. She had previously changed her first name to Pasha to indicate who is the boss on the ice. Today she lives, who became known through her “Twizzles” in Los Angeles as a trainer.
Alexei Jagudin (born 1980)
figure skater. Alexei Konstantinowitsch Jagudin was born in Leningrad in 1980 and started to skate on the ice at the age of four. From 1994 he was ready for international competitions and only two years later he won the title of Junior World Champion in Brisbane. The single runner became Olympic champion in 2002. He won the world title five times. And Jagudin achieved the European title three times. In 2003 he officially resigned. One of his coaches was the outstanding Tatiana Tarasova, who has already won more than 50 gold medals with her students.
Lev Yashin (1929-1990)
Lev Ivanovich Yashin (born 1929 near Moscow, died 1990 in Moscow) was a Russian football goalkeeper. Yashin was a regular player at Dynamo Moscow throughout his football career (1949 to 1971) and won the USSR football championship five times and the Soviet Cup three times. Originally, Yashin didn’t want to play football when he was young. In addition to his enthusiasm for chess, he also trained fencing, basketball, tennis, water polo and guarded the ice hockey goal. It was only by chance that Yashin got to Dynamo Moscow, which was to pay off for him. His success in goal – only 70 goals conceded in 78 national football matches – and his black jersey not only earned him the nickname “Black Spider”, but also numerous awards and honors. So Yashin became the USSR Olympic champion in 1956, 1960 European Champion and 1963 European Footballer of the Year. In 1969 he was the first and only footballer to be awarded the Order of Lenin by the Soviet Union. Yashin gave his farewell game on May 27, 1971 in front of 103,000 spectators. After his active phase in world football, he was selected by the International Olympic Committee as one of eleven footballers as athlete of the century and later at the beginning of the new millennium as goalkeeper in the MasterCard football world selection of the 20th century. Since 1994 there has been a trophy for the best goalkeeper in honor of his sporting achievements at every World Cup. After his active phase in world football, he was selected by the International Olympic Committee as one of eleven footballers as athlete of the century and later at the beginning of the new millennium as goalkeeper in the MasterCard football world selection of the 20th century. Since 1994 there has been a trophy for the best goalkeeper in honor of his sporting achievements at every World Cup. After his active phase in world football, he was selected by the International Olympic Committee as one of eleven footballers as athlete of the century and later at the beginning of the new millennium as a goalkeeper in the MasterCard football world selection of the 20th century. Since 1994 there has been a trophy for the best goalkeeper in honor of his sporting achievements at every World Cup.
Evgeni Kafelnikow (born 1974)
Evgeni Alexandrowitsch Kafelnikow (born February 18, 1974) is the Russian Olympic champion in men’s singles tennis. He completed his training as a professional tennis player at the State Institute of Sport in Krasnodar. Greatest successes were victories at the French Open 1996, the Australian Open 1999 and the Olympic Games 2000 in Sydney. In the men’s tennis singles, he took first place in the world rankings for a short time. Most recently, he was a member of the victorious Russian Davis Cup team in 2002. After finishing his tennis career, Kafelnikow devoted himself to poker and golf.
Garri Kasparov (born 1963)
world chess champion. Garri Kimowitsch Kasparow was born as Garik Weinstein in Baku in 1963 and played chess for the first time when he was 5 years old. After the early death of his father, who was his teacher, the mother changed the family name to Kasparov and the boy received chess training from the then world champion Botvinnik at the age of 10. Kasparov achieved his first grandmaster title in 1980. From 1985 to 2000 he was non-stop world champion. In 1996 Kasparov was the first person to succumb to a chess computer (“Deep Blue”). In 2005 he officially resigned from professional chess.
Anna Kurnikowa (born 1981)
tennis player. Anna Sergejewna Kurnikowa was born in Moscow in 1981 and started playing tennis at the age of 5. She continued her education in America at the tennis academy in Florida. In 1998 she won doubles for the first time with Monica Seles. Numerous double victories followed, including at the Australian Open and Wimbledon. Especially her strong nerves are widely praised by Kurnikowa, but she never reached first place in the single game. She resigned as a professional in 2003, but is still considered a sex symbol and is highly regarded.
Olga Kusenkowa (born 1970)
hammer thrower. Olga Sergejewna Kusenkowa was born in Smolensk in 1970 and went down in history as the first woman to ever exceed the 70-meter mark in hammer throwing. That was in 1997. She won several silver medals in international competitions, for example at the 2000 Olympic Games. In 2002, Kusenkowa was a gold medalist at the European Championships in Munich and in 2004 at the Summer Olympics.
Natalja Moltschanowa (1962-2015)
Natalja Vadimowna Moltschanowa was born on May 8, 1962 in Ufa.
She started her sporting career as a swimmer, but after the birth of her son, her career as a swimmer ended. At the age of 40, she started freediving (apnea diving) training. In 2003 she set a Russian record. Moltschanowa was the most successful freediver to date and set 43 world records. So she dived to a depth of over 100 m without aids.
Moltschanowa disappeared on August 2, 2015 off Formentera (Spain) during a routine apnea dive about 3 km from the island. Her body was never found.
She leaves behind a daughter and her son Alexei Molchanov, who is also an apnea diver.
Rudolf Nureyev (1938-1993)
ballet dancer. Rudolf Chametowitsch Nurejew was born near Irkutsk in 1938 and initially danced as his sister’s ballet partner. Much later he was trained in his subject at the Choreographic Institute in Leningrad. Nureyev quickly became one of the greatest male ballet dancers of his century. Specializing in classical music, he became an international star and inspired many dancers after him through his technique. In the 1980s he received Austrian citizenship and worked at the Vienna State Opera Ballet. Nureyev died in France in 1993, where he had previously directed the Paris Opera Ballet.
Alexander Ovechkin (born 1985)
ice hockey player. Alexander Michailowitsch Ovetschkin was born in Moscow in 1985. In the early 2000s he made the jump to the Russian Super League at HK Dynamo Moscow, where he won his first silver medal. From 2005, the left winger nicknamed Alexander the Great played for the first time for the US National Hockey League of the Washington Capitals, where he is to date. His awards at international competitions are innumerable.
Anna Pavlova (1881-1931)
ballet dancer. Anna Pavlovna Pavlova was born in Saint Petersburg in 1881, where she graduated from the theater school. The “Russian Swan” advanced to become a master dancer in classical ballet and appeared on the world’s major stages (including Paris and London). Pavlova died of pneumonia in 1931 in The Hague on her farewell tour. In homage to Pavlova, a meringue cake was named and a Russian commemorative coin was minted with its image.
Yevgeny Platov (born 1967)
single skater. Yevgeny Arkadyevich Platov was born in Odessa in 1967 and won the world championships as a junior in the mid-1980s together with his partner Jelena Krikanowa. At the end of the 1980s, Platow was introduced to his new partner Oksana Grishchuk, with whom he won all major championships in the following years, including being the first team to win two Olympic golds. At the zenith of her career, he resigned (1998). Platow then began a coaching career and works in the USA
Irina Rodnina (born 1949)
figure skater. Irina Konstantinovna Rodnina was born in Moscow in 1949 and began her professional training in figure skating at the Moscow Youth Sports School at the age of 13. Despite many illnesses during her childhood, Rodnina became the most successful pair skater in the history of this sport. In total, she won three Olympic golds, was ten times world champion and eleven times European champion. Her trainer was the great Tatyana Tarasova. Rodnina danced alongside Alexei Ulanow until 1972 and from 1973 together with Alexander Saizew. After her resignation in 1980, she became involved as a trainer.
Dimitri Sautin (born 1974)
water diver. Dmitri Ivanovich Sautin was born in Voronezh in 1974 and started jumping at the age of 7. In 1996 his unstoppable triumph at international championships began. The water jumping legend won a total of eight Olympic gold medals for Russia and is still at the very top. Sautin has also made a name for himself as a synchronized jumper and has brought home countless medals for his country.
Maria Sharapova (born 1987)
tennis player. Marija Jurjewna Sharapova was born in Nyagan in 1987 and played tennis for the first time at the age of 4. Five years later she began her training at the Florida Tennis Academy. Sharapova played her first professional season in 2001. So far, she has won three Grand Slam competitions (the Australian and US Open and Wimbledon). Sharapova also works as a photo model. In 2005 she was Russia’s number one in the world.
Alexander Schulin (born 1963)
figure skater. Alexander Vyacheslavovich Schulin was born in Kaliningrad in 1963. His long-time partner on the ice was Maja Ussowa, with whom he won medals in all international championships from 1989-1994, including the 1993 world championship in Prague and the European championship in Helsinki in the same year. The two were also married, but divorced after an affair between Schulin and Grishchuk. Schulin ended his ice dance career in 1994 and started as a trainer.
Irina Sluzkaja (born 1979)
figure skater. Irina Eduardowna Sluzkaja was born in Moscow in 1979 to a Russian-Jewish family. She began to skate on the ice when she was four. In 1996 she won her first gold at the European Championships and bronze at the World Championships in individual runs. In 2002 and 2005 she won the world championship. She also became a seven-time European champion. After resigning in 2006, Slutskaya worked as a presenter and series actress on Russian TV
Tatiana Tarasova (born 1947)
figure skating coach. Tatiana Anatoljewna Tarasowa was born in 1947 and initially ran professionally on the ice herself. After an accident at the age of 18, she had to end her career. Her father, an ice hockey coach, encouraged her to work as a coach as well. Her figure skating students include two-time Olympic champions Oksana Grishchuk and Jevgeni Platow, Alexei Jagudin and Sasha Cohen. She has trained her protégés to gold more than 50 times.
Maja Ussowa (born 1965)
figure skater. Maja Valentinovna Ussova was born in Gorky in 1965 and began to skate on the ice when she was eight. With her partner and later husband Alexander Schulin, she won medals in all major championships between 1989-1994. In addition to the world and European championships in 1993, they won silver and bronze at the Olympic Games in Lillehammer and Albertville. From 1998 onwards, Ussowa danced with Platov, the partner of her greatest rival Oksana Grishchuk, who among other things had an affair with Ussowa’s husband. Today Ussova works as a trainer in America.
Tsars and Tsaresses of Russia
| Name of the ruler | Reign | Particularities |
| Nicholas II(1868-1918) | 1894-1917 | Last official tsar of Russia, fought in World War I,abdicated after the February Revolution in 1917 and was murdered with his family in 1918 |
| Alexander III, “the peacemaker”(1845-1894) | 1881-1894 | During his reign, Russia did not go to war,instead he abolished many of the privileges his father had introduced |
| Alexander II, “the liberator”(1818-1881) | 1855-1881 | Abolished serfdom and ended the Crimean War |
| Nicholas I(1796-1855) | 1825-1855 | Waged war against Turkey and Persia, caused the Crimean War |
| Alexander I(1777-1825) | 1801-1825 | Fought against Napoleon, achieved the Peace of Tilsit and played a major role in the reorganization of Europe |
| Paul(1754-1801) | 1796-1801 | Made peace with France, was supposed to abdicate, but was murdered after his veto |
| Catherine II, “the great”(1729-1796) | 1762-1796 | Let her husband Peter III. murder in order to be crowned tsarina,stabilized and expanded empire significantly |
| Peter III(1728-1762) | 1762 | Led the ruling line Romanow-Holstein-Gottorp, was murdered by agents of his wife Katharina |
| Elisabeth(1709-1762) | 1741-1762 | Was the daughter of Peter, “the great” and Catherine I, known for her strict religious policy |
| Ivan VI(1740-1764) | 1740-1741 | He was appointed ruler as a newborn and overthrown by Elisabeth Petrovna a year later |
| Anna(1693-1740) | 1730-1740 | Their rulers went down in history as a “dark epoch”because they showed no interest in governing and wars broke out |
| Peter II(1715-1730) | 1727-1730 | Grandson of Peter I, was a very young ruler and therefore easily influenced by the powerful of his empire |
| Catherine I(1684-1727) | 1725-1727 | Was the 1st Empress of Russia, Mrs. Peters I, who had already appointed her co-regent |
| Peter I, “the great”(1672-1725) | 1682-1725 | Disempowered his sister Sofia Alexejewna and ascended the throne, was the son of Alexei I,let his wife rule and reformed the empire |
| Ivan V(1666-1696) | 1682-1696 | Crowned as Tsar in double reign with brother Peter I,however, he was in poor health and never ruled |
| Sofia Alexeevna(1657-1704) | 1682-1689 | Was not a real tsarina, but served the country as regent for her two underage brothers,was overthrown and demoted to a nun by brother Peter I. |
| Fyodor III(1661-1682) | 1676-1682 | Warfare during the entire reign led to several reforms that were not implemented |
| Alexei I, “the meekest”(1629-1676) | 1645-1676 | Waged war against Poland and Sweden, the tsarist empire expanded dramatically |
| Michael I(1596-1645) | 1613-1645 | The 1st tsar from the Romanov dynasty had to defend his title harshly against Poleswho did not want him as ruler |
| Wladyslaw IV Wasa(1595-1648) | 1610-1613 | Was considered the designated tsar in the transition period without a Russian ruler, but never ascended the throne |
| Vasily IV(1552-1612) | 1606-1610 | After Dimitri, “the wrong man”, he was chosen by the tsar,but his reign led to a conflict between the nobles and he was taken prisoner |
| Dimitri II., “The wrong one”(unknown-1606) | 1605-1606 | Pretended to be Ivan’s youngest son “the terrible”, seized the throne, then was murdered |
| Fyodor II(1589-1605) | 1605 | Was overthrown from the throne and murdered by the entourage of the false Dimitri |
| Boris Godunov(1552-1605) | 1598-1605 | The 1st tsar after the Rurikid dynasty |
| Fyodor I(1557-1598) | 1584-1598 | Was not sane and had to hand over his scepter to the Regency Council |
| Ivan IV, “the terrible”(1530-1584) | 1533-1584 | The 1st officially crowned Tsar; under his rule the Russian empire was decisively expanded |
| Ivan III, “the great”(1440-1505) | 1462-1505 | The 1st Grand Duke who called himself Tsar of Russia;also the Russian ruler with the longest reign |
