Biography of the spouse of this odious general secretaryThe Soviet Union in sources on historiography is not so detailed and meaningful, therefore Nina Kukharchuk is mentioned only in the context of Nikita Sergeyevich’s personal life. At the same time, Khrushchev’s wife is a rather colorful figure who for many years provided a reliable rear to the general secretary of a great country, supporting him in all his endeavors. How did she turn from a simple girl into the first lady of the USSR? Consider this question in more detail.
Years of childhood and adolescence
Nina Petrovna Kukharchuk (wife of Khrushchev) - a nativesettlement called Vasilev, located in the Kholm province of Ukraine. She was born on April 14, 1900 in an ordinary peasant family. Nina had a younger sister, Maria, who later married the famous writer Mikhail Sholokhov, and two older brothers.
Khrushchev’s future wife will graduate from the village schooltwelve years old. The teachers noted the girl's diligence and interest in the sciences, so they recommended that parents move further in this direction, but already in the city. Soon Nina was already a student of one of the Odessa schools.
In the midst of the Civil War, Kukharchuk penetrated the "left" ideas and replenished the ranks of the RCP (b). In Odessa, she (the future wife of Khrushchev) unfolds active underground activities.
In the winter of 1920, Nina Petrovna became a member of the newly created Galician bureau. Working here, she meets with famous Ukrainian figures: Osip Bushkovanny and Taras Franco.
Soon Nina Petrovna is transferred to the Polish front, where she, risking her own life, conducts propaganda work among the military.
Fateful acquaintance
In 1922, the future wife of Nikita Khrushchev receivesAn appointment to Moscow and on the road (in the Donetsk Yuzovka area) she feels seriously unwell. She gets typhus. The famous Bolshevik Seraphim Gopner takes care of her.
It was she who introduces the girl with a young manby the name of Khrushchev, who was sent to the party work in the Donetsk region. In fairness to say, Nikita Sergeevich was attracted by a pretty Ukrainian with a round face and a short haircut. Sympathy was mutual. Their destinies were similar: they both wanted to serve the ideas of the Communist Party selflessly. Nikita Sergeevich then really needed a close friend. Khrushchev's first wife died in 1920, and he was left alone with two children. Soon, young people began to live together.
Exemplary Soviet family
In the early 1930s, Nikita Sergeevich and Nina Petrovnamoving to live in the capital. While the spouse devoted all his time to party work, she was engaged in housekeeping and raising children. Three offspring were born in marriage with Khrushchev: the daughter Rada (1928), the son Sergey (1935) and the daughter Elena (1937). But Nina Petrovna also protected her husband’s children from her first wife with care. But in education she was strict and demanding. Despite the fact that she made an impression of a woman-keeper of the home, in reality, domestic issues were not her element.
She herself did not like to clean, wash, cook, indifference, for example, from the wife of Leonid Brezhnev. All the "rough" work was done by maids, who were changed like gloves. Nina Petrovna, however, successfully performed the role of administrator, scrupulously monitoring the quality of cleaning, cooking, and washing. And if any assignment was not made, then the dismissal should be prompt.
However, the spouse of the secretary general never boomedby the fact that Nikita Sergeevich holds high leadership positions in the apparatus of state administration. She herself did not enjoy a privileged position, preferring to get to work by public transport.
During the war
The Khrushchev family experienced the death of their sonNikita Sergeevich from his first marriage - Leonid. Another son, Sergey, suffered from tuberculosis. Well, Nikita Sergeevich himself fought on the battlefields, freeing the Motherland from the fascist invaders.
He repeatedly visited Kiev, meeting with passersby and convincing them that victory was inevitable.
Postwar years
In the late 1940s, Khrushchev continued his political career and in Stalin’s team did not occupy the last place.
At this time, Nina Petrovna is actively in contact withwriters, poets, actors of Ukraine. She wants the culture of this region to have a new development, and asks her spouse to pay attention to this. Nikita Sergeevich, accustomed to making concessions to his wife, in every possible way contributes to this. After some time, the Ukrainian republic becomes the leading region on a number of criteria.
First Lady of the country
After the death of the "leader of nations" power in the countrypassed into the hands of Nikita Khrushchev. In order to comply with the elite status of the general secretary’s wife, Nina Petrovna raises her level of education and begins to study foreign languages. In her youth she was already fluent in Polish. Now she decided to learn English, and she succeeded. As it turned out, the knowledge of a foreign helped Nina Petrovna in business trips abroad.
Overseas visit
Khrushchev was the first of the Soviet leaders who ventured to go with his family to a capitalist country in order to establish foreign economic relations.
Many historians remember the famous meeting of NikitaSergeevich and American President Kennedy. It took place in the Schönbrunn Palace. And, of course, the wife of Khrushchev and Kennedy Jacqueline met for the first time at this event.
Two opposites
Пресса потом долго обсуждала и сравнивала жен the first persons of the USSR and the USA. And there was a reason for this. The fact is that outwardly the spouses of the leaders of the two world powers turned out to be complete opposites. Nina Petrovna came to the meeting in a simple dress, in which millions of Soviet women went. She should soon be 60 years old, she did not recognize any cosmetics, and with her plump figure, the Western press dubbed her "grandmother." And Jacqueline Kennedy, on the contrary, was a real woman of fashion with refined and refined manners. She carefully watched the figure and face.
Журналистам казалось, что жена Хрущева и Жаклин unlikely to find a common topic for conversation. But what was the amazement of the public when Nina Petrovna showed the guests knowledge of a foreign language.
And the American president was pleasantly surprised by the factthat the first lady of the Soviet state is well versed in economic matters. One way or another, the way of life that the wife of Khrushchev and Jacqueline Kennedy led was heaven and earth, so they could not become close friends.
Ideological assistant and ally
Эпоха Хрущева историками оценивается неоднозначно.But he was able to strengthen the vertical of state power, make the country powerful and strong in terms of defense. One trinity of “Rockets. Space. Gagarin "turned the USSR into a superpower. And, of course, the merit of this is not only Nikita Sergeevich, but also his faithful companion Nina Petrovna. If the Secretary General did not listen to her opinion, it is not known if the country could have achieved all of the above.
After Khrushchev left big politics, it turned out that Nina Petrovna had lived for 40 years with Nikita Sergeevich in a civil marriage. Only in old age did they correct this mistake.
Khrushchev's wife, whose biography, of course,It is of great interest to historians, outlived the Secretary General for 13 years. She took the death of Nikita Sergeevich hard. Nina Petrovna shared with him all the sorrows and joys, helping him in everything that depended on her only. She did not need anything, receiving a pension that was good enough by Soviet standards - 200 rubles. In recent years, the wife of the secretary-general lived in the state dacha in Zhukovka. The daughter Rada worked in the editorial office of the print edition “Science and Life”, the son Sergey worked at the Research Institute.
Nina Petrovna died on August 13, 1984. The funeral ceremony was modest. The wife of Nikita Sergeevich Khrushchev was buried in the Novodevichy cemetery of the capital.
