Maria Alexandrovna Ulyanova (; née Blank; – ) was the mother of the Bolshevik leader Vladimir Lenin, who in 1922 founded the Soviet Union. Well-educated and married to a mathematics-physics teacher, she focused on raising her children.
Life
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. 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 father, Johan Groschopf, and a Swedish mother, Anna Östedt.
Family
She was married to Ilya Ulyanov from 1863 until his death in 1886. They had eight children, two of whom died as infants.
- Anna (1864–1935)
- Aleksandr (1866–1887)
- Olga (1868–1869)
- Vladimir (1870–1924)
- Olga (1871–1891)
- Nikolai (1873–1873)
- Dmitri (1874–1943)
- Maria (1878–1937)