Tatyana Andropova (

née A birth name is the name of a person given upon birth. The term may be applied to the surname, the given name, or the entire name. Where births are required to be officially registered, the entire name entered onto a birth certificate or birth re ...

: Lebedeva; 1917–1991) was a Soviet woman who was the second wife of Soviet leader,

Yuri Andropov Yuri Vladimirovich Andropov (– 9 February 1984) was the sixth paramount leader of the Soviet Union and the fourth General Secretary of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union. After Leonid Brezhnev's 18-year rule, Andropov served in the po ...

Biography

Lebedeva was born in 1917. She graduated from a pedagogical school and joined the

Komsomol The All-Union Leninist Young Communist League (russian: link=no, Всесоюзный ленинский коммунистический союз молодёжи (ВЛКСМ), ), usually known as Komsomol (; russian: Комсомол, links=n ...

activities where she was appointed to the Komsomol in

Karelia Karelia ( Karelian and fi, Karjala, ; rus, Каре́лия, links=y, r=Karélija, p=kɐˈrʲelʲɪjə, historically ''Korjela''; sv, Karelen), the land of the Karelian people, is an area in Northern Europe of historical significance for ...

in 1940. The same year Tatyana met her future husband at the Komsomol work in

Petrozavodsk Petrozavodsk (russian: Петрозаводск, p=pʲɪtrəzɐˈvotsk; Karelian, Vepsian and fi, Petroskoi) is the capital city of the Republic of Karelia, Russia, which stretches along the western shore of Lake Onega for some . The population ...

where she was the secretary of the Zaretsk district committee. At that time Yuri Andropov was serving as the first secretary of the Central Committee of the Komsomol of the Karelo-Finnish SSR. Andropov's wife and two children did not move to the region with him when he was appointed the post. Following his contact with Tatyana Yuri Andropov divorced his first wife. Tatyana and Yuri married in Summer 1941 and had two children, Igor and Irina. Igor was born shortly before their marriage which was harmonious. In 1951 the family began to live in

Moscow Moscow ( , US chiefly ; rus, links=no, Москва, r=Moskva, p=mɐskˈva, a=Москва.ogg) is the capital and largest city of Russia. The city stands on the Moskva River in Central Russia, with a population estimated at 13.0 million ...

when Yuri Andropov was assigned to the central committee of the

Communist Party A communist party is a political party that seeks to realize the socio-economic goals of communism. The term ''communist party'' was popularized by the title of ''The Manifesto of the Communist Party'' (1848) by Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels. A ...

. From 1954 to 1957 Yuri Andropov served as the Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary of the Soviet Union to

Hungary Hungary ( hu, Magyarország ) is a landlocked country in Central Europe. Spanning of the Carpathian Basin, it is bordered by Slovakia to the north, Ukraine to the northeast, Romania to the east and southeast, Serbia to the south, Croatia a ...

. Tatyana and their children accompanied him. In the late October 1956 extensive protests against the Soviet Union occurred in

Budapest Budapest (, ; ) is the capital and most populous city of Hungary. It is the ninth-largest city in the European Union by population within city limits and the second-largest city on the Danube river; the city has an estimated population ...

, and their residence was besieged by the protestors which had negative long-term effects on Tatyana's health. She left Budapest, but returned there after two months. As a result of this incident Tatyana would experience

hypertension Hypertension (HTN or HT), also known as high blood pressure (HBP), is a long-term medical condition in which the blood pressure in the arteries is persistently elevated. High blood pressure usually does not cause symptoms. Long-term high bl ...

and suffer from acute headaches during her lifetime. In addition, since then, she was terrified of crowds and open spaces. The family lived at

Kutuzovsky Prospekt Kutuzovsky Prospekt (russian: Куту́зовский проспе́кт) is a major radial avenue in Moscow, Russia, named after Mikhail Illarionovich Kutuzov, leader of the Russian field army during the French invasion of Russia. The prospekt ...

in Moscow where Suslov and

Brezhnev Leonid Ilyich Brezhnev; uk, links= no, Леонід Ілліч Брежнєв, . (19 December 1906– 10 November 1982) was a Soviet politician who served as General Secretary of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union between 1964 and 198 ...

also lived. 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. She died in 1991.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Andropova, Tatyana 20th-century Russian women 1917 births 1991 deaths Soviet women Spouses of Russian and Soviet national leaders