Maria Alexandrovna Ulyanova (born
Maria Alexandrovna Blank) () ( — ) was the mother of
Vladimir Lenin, the
Bolshevik revolutionary leader and founder of the
Soviet Union.
Ulyanova was one of six children. Her father was
Alexandr Blank (born Israel Blank), a well-to-do physician who was a
Jewish convert to
Orthodox Christianity. Her mother, Anna Ivanovna Groschopf, was the daughter of a German father, Johann Groschopf, and a
Swedish mother, Anna Östedt.
In 1838, Ulyanova's mother died and her father turned to his sister-in-law, Ekaterina von Essen, to help raise the children. Together they bought a country estate near
Kazan and moved the family there.
Ulyanova was
educated at home, studying
German,
French and
English as well as
Russian and
Western literature. In 1863, she took an
external degree and became an
elementary school teacher. However, she would go on to dedicate most of her life to raising her children.
After marrying
Ilya Nikolayevich Ulyanov, an upwardly mobile teacher of mathematics and physics, the couple lived in moderate prosperity in
Penza. Later, they moved to
Nizhny Novgorod and then
Simbirsk, where Ulyanov took up a prestigious position as an inspector of primary schools.
Ulyanova displayed a courage and firmness in the face of tragedies and misfortunes that would haunt her family during her...
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