The biography of the wife of this odious General Secretary of the Soviet Union in historiographic sources is not so detailed and informative, therefore Nina Kukharchuk is mentioned only in the context of Nikita Sergeevich's personal life. And at the same time, Khrushchev's wife is a rather colorful figure who for many years provided a reliable rear for the Secretary General of a great country, supporting him in all his endeavors. How did she manage to turn from a simple girl into the first lady of the USSR? Let's take a closer look at this issue.
Years of childhood and youth
Nina Petrovna Kukharchuk (Khrushchev's wife) is a native of a settlement called Vasilev, located in the Kholmsky 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.
The future wife of Khrushchev will graduate from the rural school at the age of twelve. The teachers noted the girl's diligence and interest in the sciences, so they recommended that the parents move further in this direction, but already in the city. Soon Nina was already a student at one of the Odessa schools.
In the midst of the Civil War, Kukharchuk is imbued with "leftist" ideas and joins the ranks of the RCP(b). In Odessa, she (Khrushchev's future wife) launches active underground activities.
In the winter of 1920, Nina Petrovna became a member of the newly created Galician Bureau. While working here, she meets famous Ukrainian figures: Osip Bushkovanny and Taras Franko.
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 was assigned to Moscow and on the road (near Donetsk Yuzovka) she felt seriously unwell. She gets typhus. The well-known Bolshevik Serafima Gopner is courting her.
It is she who introduces the girl to a young man named Khrushchev, who was sent to do party work in the Donetsk region. To be fair, Nikita Sergeevich liked a pretty Ukrainian woman with a round face and a short haircut. The sympathy was mutual. Their fates were similar: they both wanted to wholeheartedly serve the ideas of the Communist Party. Nikita Sergeevich then really needed a close friend. Khrushchev's first wife died in 1920, leaving him alone with two children. Soon the young people began to live together.
Exemplary Soviet family
In the early 1930s, Nikita Sergeevich and Nina Petrovna moved to live in the capital. While her husband devoted all his time to party work, she was engaged in domestic work.farming and raising children. In a marriage with Khrushchev, three offspring were born: daughter Rada (1928), son Sergei (1935) and daughter Elena (1937). But Nina Petrovna also protected the children of her husband from his first wife and surrounded them with care. But in her upbringing she was strict and demanding. Despite the fact that she gave the impression of a woman-keeper of the hearth, in reality, domestic issues were not her element.
She herself did not like to clean, wash, cook, unlike, for example, the wife of Leonid Brezhnev. All the "rough" work was done by housekeepers, who were changed like gloves. Nina Petrovna, on the other hand, successfully played the role of an administrator, scrupulously monitoring the quality of cleaning, cooking and washing. And if any assignment was not done, then the dismissal followed immediately.
At the same time, the secretary general's wife never boasted that Nikita Sergeevich occupied high leadership positions in the state administration apparatus. She herself did not enjoy a privileged position, preferring to get to work by public transport.
During the war
The Khrushchev family was very upset by the death of their son Nikita Sergeevich from his first marriage - Leonid. Another son, Sergei, had tuberculosis. Well, Nikita Sergeevich himself fought on the battlefields, liberating the Motherland from fascist invaders.
He repeatedly visited Kyiv, meeting with passers-by and convincing them that victory is inevitable.
Post-war years
In the late 1940s, Khrushchevcontinued his political career and was by no means the last in Stalin's team.
At this time, Nina Petrovna is actively in contact with writers, poets, actors of Ukraine. She wants the culture of this region to develop anew, and asks her husband to pay attention to this. Nikita Sergeevich, accustomed to making concessions to his wife, contributes to this in every possible way. After some time, the Ukrainian Republic becomes the leading region in terms of a number of criteria.
First lady of the country
After the death of the “leader of the peoples”, power in the country passed into the hands of Nikita Khrushchev. To match the elite status of the secretary general's wife, Nina Petrovna raises her level of education and begins to study foreign languages. In her youth, she already spoke excellent Polish. Now she decided to master the English language, and she succeeded. As it turned out, knowledge of a foreign language helped Nina Petrovna on business trips abroad.
Foreign visit
Khrushchev was the first of the Soviet leaders who dared to go with his family to a capitalist country in order to establish foreign economic relations.
Many historians remember the famous meeting between Nikita Sergeevich and US President Kennedy. It took place in Schönbrunn Palace. And, of course, Khrushchev's wife and Jacqueline Kennedy met for the first time at this event.
Two opposites
The press then discussed and compared the wives of the first persons of the USSR and the USA for a long time. And there was a reason for this. The fact is that outwardly the spousesleaders of the two world powers turned out to be complete opposites. Nina Petrovna arrived at the meeting in a simple outfit that millions of Soviet women went to. She will soon be 60 years old, she did not recognize any cosmetics, and given her plump figure, the Western press dubbed her "grandmother." And Jacqueline Kennedy, on the contrary, was a real fashionista with sophisticated and refined manners. She carefully watched the figure and face.
It seemed to the journalists that Khrushchev's wife and Jacqueline were unlikely to find a common topic for conversation. But what was the amazement of the public when Nina Petrovna demonstrated her knowledge of a foreign language to the guests.
And the American president was pleasantly surprised that the first lady of the Soviet state is well versed in economic issues. One way or another, but the lifestyle that Khrushchev's wife and Jacqueline Kennedy led was heaven and earth, so they could not become close friends.
Ideological assistant and colleague
The Khrushchev era is ambiguously assessed by historians. But he was able to strengthen the vertical of state power, make the country powerful and strong in terms of defense capability. One trinity "Rockets. Space. Gagarin" turned the USSR into a superpower. And, of course, the merit in this is not only Nikita Sergeevich, but also his faithful companion Nina Petrovna. If the Secretary General had not listened to her opinion, it is not known whether the country would have been able to achieve all of the above.
After Khrushchev's departure from big politics, it turned out that NinaPetrovna 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 is certainly of great interest to historians, outlived the Secretary General by 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 only on her. She did not need anything, receiving a fairly good pension by Soviet standards - 200 rubles. In recent years, the Secretary General's wife lived at the state dacha in Zhukovka. Daughter Rada worked in the editorial office of the printed edition "Science and Life", son Sergey worked at the research institute.
Nina Petrovna died on August 13, 1984. The funeral ceremony was modest. The wife of Nikita Sergeyevich Khrushchev was buried at the Novodevichy cemetery of the capital.
