Tatyana Andropova

Summary

Tatyana Andropova (Russian: Татьяна Андропова; née: Lebedeva; 1917–1991) was a Soviet woman who was the second wife of Soviet leader, Yuri Andropov.[1]

Tatyana Andropova
Born
Tatyana Filippovna Lebedeva

1917
Died1991 (aged 73–74)
NationalityRussian
OccupationPedagogue
Known forWife of Yuri Andropov
Children2

Biography edit

Lebedeva was born in 1917.[2] She graduated from a pedagogical school and joined the Komsomol activities where she was appointed to the Komsomol in Karelia in 1940.[3] The same year Tatyana met her future husband at the Komsomol work in Petrozavodsk where she was the secretary of the Zaretsk district committee.[4][5] At that time Yuri Andropov was serving as the first secretary of the Central Committee of the Komsomol of the Karelo-Finnish SSR.[3] Andropov's wife and two children did not move to the region with him when he was appointed the post.[4] Following his contact with Tatyana Yuri Andropov divorced his first wife.[5] Tatyana and Yuri married in Summer 1941 and had two children, Igor and Irina.[1][6][7] Igor was born shortly before their marriage which was harmonious.[7]

In 1951 the family began to live in Moscow when Yuri Andropov was assigned to the central committee of the Communist Party.[8] From 1954 to 1957 Yuri Andropov served as the Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary of the Soviet Union to Hungary.[6][9] Tatyana and their children accompanied him.[6] In the late October 1956 extensive protests against the Soviet Union occurred in Budapest, and their residence was besieged by the protestors which had negative long-term effects on Tatyana's health.[6] She left Budapest, but returned there after two months.[6] As a result of this incident Tatyana would experience hypertension and suffer from acute headaches during her lifetime.[6] In addition, since then, she was terrified of crowds and open spaces.[5]

The family lived at Kutuzovsky Prospekt in Moscow where Suslov and Brezhnev also lived.[10] Due to health problems Tatyana did not fulfil the official duties when Andropov was the general secretary of the Communist Party and lived as a recluse in their apartment.[5] She died in 1991.[2][11]

References edit

  1. ^ a b "Yuri Andropov". Global Security. Retrieved 22 July 2021.
  2. ^ a b "АНДРОПОВА (урожд. Лебедева) Татьяна Филипповна (1917 – 1991)". moscow-tombs.ru (in Russian). Retrieved 4 September 2023.
  3. ^ a b "Неразгаданная любовь Андропова". MK (in Russian). 9 February 2004. Retrieved 22 July 2021.
  4. ^ a b "Юрий Андропов" (in Russian). Republic. 13 November 2019. Retrieved 22 July 2021.
  5. ^ a b c d "Две жены, две семьи: какие тайны хранил генсек из КГБ Юрий Андропов". Krasnodar Media (in Russian). 23 March 2020. Retrieved 22 July 2021.
  6. ^ a b c d e f Daniel Johnson (26 December 2019). "What happened to the wife of Yuri Andropov in Hungary". Global News. Retrieved 22 July 2021.
  7. ^ a b "Интимная жизнь чекиста. Какие тайны хранил генсек Юрий Андропов". Life (in Russian). 17 October 2020. Retrieved 22 July 2021.
  8. ^ Yuri Glazov (October 1983). "Yuri Andropov: A New Leader of Russia". Studies in Soviet Thought. 26 (3): 176. doi:10.1007/BF00832689. JSTOR 20099269. S2CID 144155336.
  9. ^ Oleg Yegorov (15 June 2019). "5 facts about Yuri Andropov, the only KGB agent to rule the USSR". Russia Beyond. Retrieved 22 July 2021.
  10. ^ Yuri Slezkine (2017). The House of Government: A Saga of the Russian Revolution. Princeton, NJ; Oxford: Princeton University Press. p. 926. ISBN 978-06911-927-27.
  11. ^ M. Zyankovich (2005). Самые секретные родственники (in Russian). Олма-Пресс. p. 12. ISBN 978-5-94850-408-7.