Russian Personalities

People well-known in art, sport, film, fashion

Category Archive: History

Vladimir Zarubin – Soviet painter, cartoonist

Vladimir Zarubin

Vladimir Zarubin – Soviet painter, cartoonist

Vladimir Zarubin (1925-1996) was a Soviet painter, cartoonist (animator) and perhaps the best Soviet postcard master. He was born on August 7, 1925 in the Andriyanovka village, Oryol region. Vladimir took part in the Great Patriotic War. According to his son, the Germans occupied the town and Vladimir was moved to Germany, worked in a labor camp in Ruhr. Later he was liberated by the U.S. troops. After the war, from 1945 to 1949 Zarubin served as a gunner in the Soviet army. Since 1949, he began his career as an artist. First he worked in the Ministry of Coal Industry and from 1950 to 1958 at the factory. In 1958 he graduated from the Moscow evening secondary school. From 1957 to 1982 Zarubin worked as an animator in Soyuzmultfilm studio, where he had taken part in the creation of about a hundred drawing cartoons. In the late 1970s, Vladimir was admitted to the Union of Cinematographers of the USSR. Also Zarubin is known as a greeting card artist. In 2007 the catalog of his postcards was published.
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Ded Moroz vs Santa Claus

Ded Moroz vs. Santa Claus

Ded Moroz vs Santa Claus

Ded Moroz vs Santa Claus
They both became a symbol of the New Year holiday.
First I’d like to say some words about Ded Moroz (or Moroz, Grandfather Frost, Treskun, Studenetz). He is a Slavonic deity, Lord of the winter cold.
Hard to believe, but in the twentieth century Grandfather Frost had nearly disappeared! After the revolution, it was decided that to celebrate Christmas and New Year was bad for the people! However, in 1935 Ded Moroz appeared on New Year celebrations. It’s difficult to imagine that almost for 20 years the New Year celebrations were banned!
Prior to 1998, All-union, and then the All-Russian Ded Moroz lived in Arkhangelsk. In 1998, Moscow Mayor Luzhkov and the governor of the Vologda region Pozgalev housed fabulous old man in Veliky Ustyug, Vologda region.
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Undefeated Alexander Pokryshkin

Aleksandr Pokryshkin

Undefeated Alexander Pokryshkin

On November 13, 1985, National Hero of the Soviet Union, the legendary fighter pilot Alexander Pokryshkin passed away. He became the first three-time Hero of the Soviet Union.
The author of the formula Height – Speed – Maneuver – Fire was born on March 6, 1913 in Novonikolayevsk (now – Novosibirsk) into a working class family. He graduated from the Perm School of Aviation Technicians. In September 1938 he passed the exams without attending lectures at the flying club. And in 1939, Pokryshkin graduated from the Kachin Air Force Pilot School. After it, the young man was sent to the 55th Fighter Wing, to the Soviet-Romanian border.
On the first day of the Great Patriotic War, Alexander shot down … Soviet bomber Su-2. Of course, by mistake. The wounded pilot landed in a field on the fuselage and the culprit had not received severe punishment.
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Beautiful USSR girls

Soviet Girl

Soviet Girl


Beautiful USSR girls
On these photos you can see natural beauty and not the work of make-up artists and retouchers.
In an era when the world is ruled by Photo shop and the Internet is flooded with images of incredible beauties, we begin to forget how natural, ordinary, really pretty girls look.
Just one look at the photos of young women of the Soviet Union: students, athletes, beauties, and we immediately see how charming someone’s mothers and grandmothers were.
I offer you to look at the most beautiful thing that was in the Soviet Union – the girls. It was a pure and simple beauty.
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Well-known Soviet female Partisans

Soviet Partisans

Soviet Partisans


Well-known Soviet female Partisans during World War II.
Nadezhda Troyan, legendary Soviet partisan, Hero of the Soviet Union was born on October 24, 1921.
When the Great Patriotic War began Nadezhda lived in Belarus. From the beginning of the German occupation she became a member of the youth underground organization. In July 1942 Troyan went to the partisans. She also was a nurse. Brave girl was involved not only in gathering information, but also in undermining the bridges and other military operations. In 1943, Nadezhda took an active part in the preparation and conduct of operations against Belarus Gauleiter Wilhelm Kube.
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Lev Yashin – best goalkeeper

Lev Yashin

Lev Yashin – best goalkeeper


Lev Yashin was the famous Soviet football player, European and Olympic Champion. By the way, he was the best goalkeeper of the XX century. Yashin had played 207 games in which he did not miss a single ball. You know, Yashin was the first Soviet player to receive the most prestigious Golden Ball award. To tell the truth, he is still the only goalkeeper to receive this honorary sports award. Talented man became a legend of world sports.
Worldwide, Yashin was called Black Panther – for his black goalkeeper uniform, agility and acrobatic jumping, Black Spider or Black Octopus – for his long hands.
Lev was born on October 22, 1929 in Moscow into the working class family. In 1941, when World War II began, the boy and his parents moved to Ulyanovsk and in 1944 they returned to Moscow. He worked at the factory and played football in his free time.
Professional coaches drew their attention to the promising young man when he served in the army. Yashin chose the Moscow club Dynamo and became the goalkeeper of the youth team.
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Brightest Silver Age poetesses

Silver Age poets

Brightest Silver Age poetesses

Brightest Silver Age poetesses
Let’s have a look at the brightest representatives of Russian poetry of the last century.
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