Abdulov, Aleksandr b. May 29, 1953 d. January 3, 2008 Actor. Born in Tobolsk, Russia, he made his 1974 motion picture debut in "About Vitya, about Masha and the Sea Force." In 1975 he was hired by Lenkom Theater director Mark Zakharov, and became a celebrity after appearing in "The Ordinary Miracle." During the early 1980s he was considered a sex symbol and one of the most popular Russian stars, playing in "Look for a Woman," "Magicians" and "The Woman in White." During the 1990s he mostly worked in the Lenkom Theatre, where he directed the play "...[Read More] (Bio by: José L Bernabé Tronchoni) Vagan'kovskoe Cemetery, Moscow, Russian Federation
Abel, Rudolf Ivanovich b. July 11, 1903 d. November 15, 1971 Soviet Union Intelligence Officer. He was a Russian Cold War spy who had been captured by the United States while engaged in espionage. Born Vilyam Genrikhovich Fisher in England to revolutionary parents who fled Czarist Russia, he served in the Russian Army during World War II, engaging in clandestine operations behind Nazi German lines. Trained as a spy by the KGB after the war, he resided in the United States for the purpose of gaining American nuclear secrets and other intelligence...[Read More] (Bio by: Russ Dodge) Cause of death: Lung cancer Donskoi Monastery Cemetery, Moscow, Russian Federation
Akhmatova, Anna b. June 23, 1889 d. March 5, 1966 Poet. She is considered by many to be the greatest woman poet in Russian Literature. Born Anna Gorenko into an upper-class family in Odessa, Ukraine, she spent most of her life in Saint Petersburg, the city with which she is most closely identified. Precocious in her studies, she excelled in languages and began writing verse at age 11. She took the pseudonym Akhmatova after her father told her not to shame the family name by becoming "a decadent poetess." In 1910 she married poet [Read More] (Bio by: Robert Edwards) Komarovo Cemetery, St. Petersburg, Russian Federation
Akhromeyev, Sergei Fedorovich b. May 5, 1923 d. August 24, 1991 Soviet Union Army General. He joined the Soviet Union Army in 1940 and the Communist Party in 1943, attending the Frunze Military Academy and the Astrakhan Infantry School. During World War II he served on the Leningrad Front as commander of a rifle unit and motorized artillery brigade. He served as Chief of the General Staff of the Soviet Armed Forces from 1984 to 1988 and as chief military adviser to Soviet President Mikhail Gorbachev. He was awarded the titles of Hero of the Soviet Union in...[Read More] (Bio by: Nils M. Solsvik Jr.) Troekourov Cemetery, Moscow, Russian Federation
Aksakov, Sergei Timofeyevich b. October 1, 1791 d. May 12, 1859 Author. His books "The Family Chronicle" (1856) and "Years of Childhood" (1858) are considered among the finest of Russian memoirs. Born in Ufa, into a distinguished family that traced its roots back to Novgorod in the 11th Century, he fought in the Napoleonic Wars, an experience that shocked him so badly he retreated to his isolated estate for over 20 years. Around 1836 he moved to Moscow and began to publish semi-autobiographical sketches on hunting, fishing, and other pastoral pursuits;...[Read More] (Bio by: Robert Edwards) Novodevichy Cemetery, Moscow, Russian Federation
Aksyonov, Vasily b. August 20, 1932 d. July 6, 2009 Writer. He was a prolific Russian author best known for his novels critical of the Soviet system. He began his career writing for the Yunost (Youth) magazine in the 1950s and his first novel, "The Colleagues," was published in 1959. In 1970s, Aksyonov with several other writers set up their own journal called Metropol, but it was blocked from publishing causing Aksyonov being expelled from Soviet Union citizenship. Relocating to the United States in 1980, he continued his writing and taught...[Read More] (Bio by: John "J-Cat" Griffith) Vagan'kovskoe Cemetery, Moscow, Russian Federation
Aleksy II, Patriarch b. February 23, 1929 d. December 5, 2008 Russian Orthodox Patriarch. He was spiritual leader of the 140 million members of the Russian Orthodox Church and worked to heal the breaks that had occurred during the Soviet Union era. Born Alexi Mikailovich Ridiger, he was raised in Estonia, and was ordained a Deacon and a Priest in 1950. After his graduation from the Leningrad Theological Academy in 1953, his rise in the Church was rapid, and he was consecrated Bishop of Tallinn and Estonia in 1961. From 1986 until his elevation as...[Read More] (Bio by: Bob Hufford) Epiphany Cathedral, Moscow, Russian Federation
Alexandrov, Alexander b. April 13, 1883 d. July 8, 1946 Conductor, Composer. Founder of the famed Red Army Choir and composer of Russia's national anthem. Alexander Vasilyevich Alexandrov was born in Plakhino, near Moscow. He trained as a choirboy at St. Petersburg's Kazan Cathedral and later studied at the Moscow Conservatory, where he became a professor in 1918. In 1928 he organized the small Red Army Song Ensemble to boost morale and encourage amateur music-making among the soldiers; it quickly won the patronage of dictator Josef Stalin and by...[Read More] (Bio by: Robert Edwards) Novodevichy Cemetery, Moscow, Russian Federation Plot: Section 3
Alexandrov, Grigori b. February 23, 1903 d. December 16, 1983 Motion Picture Director. Best known for his glitzy musical-comedies of the 1930s, the first of their kind in Soviet Cinema. Born Grigori Mormonenko in Yekaterinburg, Russia, he started out as a provincial actor and acrobat and entertained Red Army troops during the Russian Civil War. In 1921 he joined the Proletkult Theatre in Moscow and became friends with its young director, Sergei Eisenstein, whom he later followed into the cinema. Alexandrov served as Eisenstein's chief assistant and co-...[Read More] (Bio by: Robert Edwards) Novodevichy Cemetery, Moscow, Russian Federation Plot: Section 3
Allilujewa-Stalina, Nadezhda Sergejevna b. 1901 d. November 9, 1932 She was the second wife of Josiph Vissarionovich Stalin. Stalin married Allilujeva in 1918, and she was young enough to be his daugter. Allilujewa never fit in the political environment of her husband, she became outsider and she was very unhappy. She was found dead in her sleeping room with one revolver in her hand. At that time (1932) the official version of her death was suicide. But a lot of facts pointed to murder. The death of Stalin's second and last wife remains for all time a secret. Novodevichy Cemetery, Moscow, Russian Federation Plot: entering the cemetery turn to the right. You will always find the flowers on her grave
Andreyev, Leonid b. August 21, 1871 d. September 12, 1919 Author. Born in Oryol, Russia, he studied law at the universities of St. Petersburg and Moscow, but quickly abandoned the legal profession for a literary career. He was mentored by Maxim Gorky, who helped get his first collection of stories published in 1901, but their friendship later ended because of opposing political views. Andreyev's writing is marked by a brooding tone and deep pessimism. His best known works are the novel "The Seven Who Were Hanged" (1909), and the play "He Who Gets...[Read More] (Bio by: Robert Edwards) Volkovskoye Memorial Cemetery, Saint Petersburg, Russian Federation Plot: Literatorskie Mostki Section
Andreyev, Vasily Vasilyevich b. January 14, 1861 d. December 26, 1918 Folk Musician, Impresario. Often called "The Father of the Balalaika". Born into a noble family in Russia's Tverskoi Province, Andreyev started out as a salon violinist. He switched to the balalaika around 1883 after discovering its unique sound in a local village. At the time it was a crude peasant instrument of probable Tartar origin, mentioned in the writings of Gogol and Tolstoy but ignored by serious musicians. With the aid of lutemakers he redesigned it for concert use, developed five...[Read More] (Bio by: Robert Edwards) Alexander Nevsky Monastery, St. Petersburg, Russian Federation Plot: Artist's Cemetery
Annenkov, Nikolay b. September 20, 1899 d. September 30, 1999 Actor. He was born in Inzhaviono, Russia. He become one of the leading actors of the Russian stage, and was named People's Artist of the USSR in 1960. His career spanned from 1922 to his death in 1999, appearing in more than 200 roles with the Maly Theater. In cinema, he appeared in "Giber Orla" (1940), "Varvary" (1953), "Dachniki" (1967), "Opoznanie" (1973) and "Poema o Krylyakh" (1979). He celebrated his 100 birthday on stage, but died shortly after. (Bio by: José L Bernabé Tronchoni) Novodevichy Cemetery, Moscow, Russian Federation
Antropov, Alexei Petrovich b. March 25, 1716 d. June 23, 1795 Artist. One of the most influential Russian painters of the 18th Century, best remembered for the sincerity and directness of his portraits. He was also an accomplished icon painter, miniaturist, and metal worker. Antropov was born in St. Petersburg, to the family of a military carpenter. When he was 15, he started his art schooling and in the next seven years was instructed by some of the best known Russian and foreign painters of the time. In 1739 he became an apprentice in the Chancellery of...[Read More] (Bio by: julia&keld) Alexander Nevsky Monastery, St. Petersburg, Russian Federation Plot: Lazarus cemetery
Apraxina, Marpha Matveyovna b. 1664 d. January 11, 1714 Russian Czarina. Born the daughter of Domna Bogdanovna Lovchikova and Matvey Vasilievich Apraxin, she became the second consort of Fyodor Alexeiovich III 'The Feeble' in 1682, mere months after he had been widowed. She herself was widowed within months of the wedding. They had no children. Her name has also been recorded as Marfa Matveievna Apraksina and Martha Apraxina. (Bio by: Iola) Petropavlovskaya Krepost, St. Petersburg, Russian Federation
Archangel Memorial [memorial] The Archangel Memorial commemorates 219 British officers and men who died during the North Russian Campaign and whose graves are not known. The campaign was ostensibly to protect supplies which had been shipped by the Allies to Archangel before the Russian Revolution and the fall of the Tsar from falling into the hands of German forces which were occupying Finland. It soon became an attempt to intervene in the Civil War between the Red Army and “White” Russian forces which had been loyal to...[Read More] (Bio by: Paul F. Wilson) Archangel Allied Cemetery, Arkhangel'skaya Oblast', Russian Federation
Arensky, Anton b. August 11, 1861 d. February 25, 1906 Composer, Pianist, Conductor. Born in Novgorod, Russia, he was the son of amateur musicians who encouraged him to pursue that art as a career. In 1879 the family moved to St. Petersburg so he could study with Rimsky-Korsakov at its conservatory; he graduated with a gold medal in 1882 and was immediately hired as a professor at the Moscow Conservatory, where he was the youngest member of the faculty. His students would include Sergei Rachmaninov and Alexander Scriabin. Arensky was...[Read More] (Bio by: Robert Edwards) Alexander Nevsky Monastery, St. Petersburg, Russian Federation
Arkhangelsky, Alexander Andreyevich b. October 23, 1846 d. November 16, 1924 Conductor, Composer. As founder of the famed Arkhangelsky Choir, which he led for 37 years, he spearheaded a renaissance of Russian choral music in the late 1800s. Arkhangelsky was born in Penza, Russia, and trained as a choirboy there and in St. Petersburg. He began conducting at age 16. Influenced by the Nationalists, he believed his country's sacred music had become too "Westernized" and sought to revive its earlier repertory. When the church establishment resisted his attempted reforms he...[Read More] (Bio by: Robert Edwards) Alexander Nevsky Monastery, St. Petersburg, Russian Federation Plot: Tikhvin Cemetery