Maria Ulyanova

Maria Alexandrovna Ulyanova (; née Blank; – ) was the mother of Bolshevik revolutionary Vladimir Lenin, who in 1922 founded the Soviet Union. She was born in Saint Petersburg as Maria Alexandrovna Blank, one of six children. Her father, Alexandr Dmitrievich Blank, was a well-to-do physician. Some researchers argue that he was a Jewish convert to Orthodox Christianity, while others say he was actually the descendant of German colonists invited to Russia by Catherine the Great. There is evidence that he was a Jewish convert to Christianity and that he was born as Srul Moshevich Blank also spelled Israil Moiseevich Blank. However, some historians argue this was another man by a similar name. Her mother, Anna Ivanovna Groschopf, was the daughter of a German-Swedish father, Johan Groschopf, and a Swedish Lutheran 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.