Birth Name: Vladimir Ilyich Ulyanov
Date of Birth: 22 April, 1870
Place of Birth: Simbirsk, Russian Empire
Date of Death: 21 January, 1924
Place of Death: Gorki, Russian SFSR, Soviet Union
Ethnicity:
*Russian, with possible Chuvash and Kalmyk (father)
*Ashkenazi Jewish (maternal grandfather)
*German, Swedish (maternal grandmother)
Vladimir Lenin was a Russian communist revolutionary, politician, and political theorist. He was Premier of the Soviet Union from 30 December, 1922 to 21 January, 1924, and Chairman of the Council of People’s Commissars of the Russian SFSR, from 8 November, 1917 to 21 January, 1924.
He was the son of Maria Alexandrovna (Blank) and Ilya Nikolayevich Ulyanov, a public figure in education.
Lenin’s father was born in Astrakhan, Russia, of Russian, and possibly Chuvash and Kalmyk, descent, and was of the Russian Orthodox religion. Lenin’s mother was born in Saint Petersburg, Russia. Lenin’s maternal grandfather was born Jewish, and converted to Christianity. Lenin’s maternal grandmother was a Lutheran, of half German and half Swedish descent, and Lenin’s mother was also raised Lutheran. Lenin himself was baptized Russian Orthodox.
Lenin’s paternal grandparents were Nikolay Vasilyevich Ulyanin/Ulyanov (the son of Vasily Nikitich Ulyanin and Anna Semyonovna) and Anna Alexeyevna Smirnova (the daughter of Aleksey Lukyanovich Smirnov and Alexandra Ulyanova). Lenin’s paternal grandfather Nikolay was a former serf. Lenin’s patrilineal ancestry can be traced back to Andrew Ulyanin, from the village Eropkin, which was located in present-day Nizhny Novgorod Oblast, an area inhabited by the Chuvashes, a Turkic ethnic group. Lenin’s father was committed to building a primary school in Simbirsk, for Chuvash-speaking children, and possibly spoke the language himself. These factors makes it possible that Lenin’s grandfather had Chuvash ancestry. Some sources have stated that he also had Mordvinian and/or Tatar ancestry. Lenin’s paternal grandmother Anna possibly had Kalmyk ancestry. The Kalmyks are a Mongolian ethnic group in Russia. However, it is not clear if it has been verified that Lenin’s father had ancestry other than Russian.
Lenin’s maternal grandparents were Srul (or Israel) Moishevich Blank (the son of Moshko/Moshe Itskovich Blank and Mariam Froimovich) and Anna Ivanovna Grosschopff (the daughter of Johann Gottlieb Grosschopff and Anna Beata Östedt). Lenin’s maternal grandfather Srul was born in Starokostiantyniv, Ukraine, to a Jewish family; he converted to Orthodox Christianity, and was baptized as Aleksandr Dmitrievich Blank. Lenin’s maternal grandmother Anna was born in Saint Petersburg, to a German father, who was born in Lübeck, Germany, and to a Swedish mother, who was born in Stockholm, Sweden.
Sources: Genealogy of Vladimir Lenin – http://www.geni.com
http://www.istpravda.com.ua
https://books.google.se
Photo By L. Léonidov [Public domain], via Wikimedia Commons