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Raisa Maximovna Gorbacheva (Russian: Раиса Максимовна Горбачёва tr. Raisa Maksimovna Gorbachyova, née Titarenko, Титаренко; 5 January 1932 – 20 September 1999) was a Soviet and Russian activist who was the wife of Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev.
Raisa Gorbacheva | |
|---|---|
| Раиса Горбачёва | |
 Gorbacheva in 1985 | |
| Spouse of the President of the Soviet Union | |
| In office 15 March 1990 – 25 December 1991 | |
| President | Mikhail Gorbachev |
| Spouse of the General Secretary of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union | |
| In office 11 March 1985 – 24 August 1991 | |
| Preceded by | Anna Chernenko |
| Succeeded by | Office abolished |
| Spouse of the Chairman of the Supreme Soviet of the Soviet Union | |
| In office 25 May 1989 – 15 March 1990 | |
| Preceded by | Office established |
| Succeeded by | Ludmila Lukyanova |
| Spouse of the Chairman of the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet of the Soviet Union | |
| In office 1 October 1988 – 25 May 1989 | |
| Preceded by | Lydia Gromyko |
| Succeeded by | Office abolished |
| Personal details | |
| Born | Raisa Maximovna Titarenko 5 January 1932 Rubtsovsk, West Siberian Krai, Russian SFSR, Soviet Union |
| Died | 20 September 1999 (aged 67) Münster, North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany |
| Cause of death | Leukemia |
| Resting place | Novodevichy Cemetery, Moscow, Russia |
| Spouse | |
| Children | 1 |
| Alma mater | Moscow State University[1] |
| Profession | Philosopher |
She raised funds for the preservation of Russian cultural heritage, fostering of new talent, and treatment programs for children's blood cancer.
Life and work
Raisa Maximovna Titarenko was born in the city of Rubtsovsk in the Altai region of Siberia. She was the eldest of three children of Maxim Andreyevich Titarenko, a railway engineer originally from Chernihiv in Ukraine, and his Siberian wife, Alexandra Petrovna Porada, originally from Veseloyarsk. She spent her childhood in the Ural Mountains, and met her future husband while studying philosophy in Moscow. She earned an advanced degree at the Moscow State Pedagogical Institute, and taught briefly at Moscow State University.[2]
She married Mikhail Gorbachev in September 1953 and moved to her husband's home region of Stavropol in southern Russia upon graduation. There, she taught Marxist–Leninist philosophy and defended her sociology research thesis about kolkhoz life. She gave birth to a daughter on 6 January 1957; Irina Mikhailovna (married name: Virganskaya; Ирина Михайловна Вирганская).[a] When her husband returned to Moscow as a rising Soviet Communist Party official, Gorbacheva took a post of a lecturer at her alma mater, Moscow State University. She left the post when her husband became General Secretary of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union in 1985. Her public appearances beside her husband as first lady were a novelty at home and went a long way in humanizing the country's image. She was one of the few wives of a communist party leader to have a high public profile of her own.
On 1 June 1990, Gorbacheva accompanied U.S. first lady Barbara Bush to Wellesley College in Massachusetts. Both women spoke before the graduating class during the commencement service, touching on the role of women in modern society. All the American television networks covered the addresses live; CNN provided live cable-TV coverage around the world. The events of the Soviet Coup of 1991, which attempted to depose her husband from power, left a lasting scar on Gorbacheva, who suffered a minor stroke on the final day.[4][5] The political turmoil that followed pushed the Gorbachevs into the shadows.
Death and legacy
In 1989, following a personal address from Professor Rumyantsev and others, Gorbacheva contributed US$100,000 to the charity "International Association of Hematologists of the World for Children". This and further donations raised by both of the Gorbachevs helped to buy equipment for blood banks and to train Russian doctors abroad.
Gorbacheva suffered a stroke in October 1993.[6] However, in 1997 she went on to establish the Raisa Maksimovna's Club aimed at galvanizing the participation of women in politics. She also worked to raise awareness of children's issues (she had frequently welcomed youth delegations to the Kremlin when her husband could not be present).
In July 1999, she was diagnosed with leukemia by the Institute of Haematology RAMS. Shortly after, she travelled with her husband and daughter to Münster in Germany for treatment at the medical clinic of the Münster University Hospital. She received treatment for two months under the supervision of Professor Thomas Büchner, a leading haematologist. However, she died on 20 September aged 67. Her remains were repatriated to Russia and interred at the Novodevichy Cemetery in Moscow.
In 2006, her family founded the Raisa Gorbacheva Foundation, which raises money to support those with childhood cancer.[7]
In 2007, the Raisa Gorbacheva Institute of Pediatric Hematology and Transplantology, a division of the First Pavlov State Medical University of St. Petersburg, was opened.[8]
Books
- Gorbachyova, Raisa Maksimovna (1991). Ya nadejus'... Kniga. ISBN 5212003245.
- Moroz B. D. (2000). Raisa. Vospominaniya, dnevniki, interview, statyi, telegrammy. Moscow: Vagrius Petro-News. ISBN 5264004323.
Notes
- ^ According to Mikhail Gorbachev, Gorbacheva had an induced abortion after they married in Moscow due to heart complications associated with an attack of rheumatic fever one year earlier.[3]
References
- ^ Gorbachev's Revolution, p. 55
- ^ Watson, Robert P. (1 September 2000). The Presidents' Wives: Reassessing the Office of First Lady. Lynne Rienner Publishers. pp. 9–. ISBN 978-1-55587-948-8. Retrieved 15 June 2012.
- ^ "Gorbachev heartache at having to choose between wife and unborn son". Express. 17 September 2014. Retrieved 27 August 2022.
- ^ Neef, Christian (11 August 2011). "The Gorbachev Files: Secret Papers Reveal Truth Behind Soviet Collapse". Der Spiegel. Spiegel.de. Retrieved 16 June 2012.
- ^ Hoffman, David E. (2009). The dead hand : the untold story of the Cold War arms race and its dangerous legacy (1 ed.). New York: Doubleday. ISBN 978-0-385-52437-7. OCLC 320432478.
- ^ Schmemann, Serge (3 November 1993). "Gorbachev, Energetic, Chatty, but Not Yet Political". The New York Times. p. 3. Retrieved 4 May 2020.
- ^ "Combatting Childhood Cancer". RG Foundation. Archived from the original on 20 January 2013. Retrieved 31 March 2013.
- ^ "Child hematology center opens in St. Petersburg". The International Foundation for Socio-Economic and Political Studies (The Gorbachev Foundation). 21 September 2007. Retrieved 27 August 2022.
Sources
- "Transcripts of the Commemoration Meeting". 18 September 2000. Archived from the original on 27 September 2007.
- Raisa Gorbacheva biography at the Gorbachyov Foundation website
- Raisa Gorbachev's life in pictures, BBC News
- Profile of Alexandra Titarenko (Raisa Gorbachev's mother)
External links
