January 5, 1932
В Rubtsovsk I was born Raisa Gorbacheva. The last First Lady of the USSR. An object of ardent admiration for some and bitter hostility for others.
There are people who are attracted to the external side of my life. They even envy me—my clothes, my formal attire. But for me, something else is more important—being a part of the enormous undertakings that have befallen my husband... That's what I cherish.
Father, Maxim Titarenko, He came to the Altai region from Chernihiv region, became a railroad worker, and laid tracks. His mother, a peasant's daughter, lived in Rubtsovskoye. the village of Veseloyarsk — that's where they met. The father chose the name of his first daughter from the word "paradise."
Soon my maternal grandfather was repressed.
In the early 30s, my grandfather's family was dispossessed, losing their land and home. Then, my mother says, my grandfather was accused of Trotskyism, arrested, and disappeared without a trace. <> My mother still doesn't know who Trotsky was, and my grandfather certainly didn't.
She was her father's favorite, even though they spent little time together—her father was constantly working, and the family moved from place to place. Her favorite memories include reading aloud to the whole family in the evenings. Her favorite book was "The Little Prince" by Saint-Exupéry. Her greatest childhood fear was war.
[The war] was right on our heels. The war in Spain. The Finnish war. Khalkhin Gol. And inside the country? The 30s – “enemies of the people.” I remember how in first and second grade at school, portraits of Yegorov, Blucher, Tukhachevsky were erased from textbooks… And finally, the Great Patriotic War. Devastated homes, orphaned families, destroyed cities… Overcrowded train stations. The country – a train station. Only two feelings seemed to hover over it: farewells and expectations.
She was involved in artistic gymnastics—when building pyramids, she would always end up at the very top as the lightest (she quit after falling off the apparatus in university). She graduated from high school with a gold medal and was accepted into the philosophy department at Moscow State University without taking entrance exams.
According to her dormmates, any clothes worn in turn out of girlish solidarity fit Raya like a glove. She styled her braids into a "crown" on her head, the weight of which always kept her posture straight. It was impossible to wear a hat on this structure, so she often caught colds. Her braids had to be cut off.
At the beginning of her student years, she experienced a tragedy: she was planning to marry a physics student, the son of a "railway general," but her potential mother-in-law, who arrived for the wedding in a private train car, disapproved. The law student was pleased about this. Mikhail Gorbachev. Soon he became a regular at intellectual gatherings in the girls' room, in which the suitors of Raya's neighbors participated - Merab Mamardashvili и Yuri Levada.
They married in 1953. A year later, they lost their first child. After graduating from Moscow State University, they moved to her husband's hometown in Stavropol Krai. In 1957, their daughter, Irina, was born.
Gorbachev called his wife "Zakharka" all his life because of her resemblance to the character in the film Venetsianova.
She lectured at the local branch of the "Knowledge" society, studied sociology, and taught. In 1967, she defended her dissertation on "The Formation of New Features of the Lifestyle of the Collective Farm Peasant."
In 1978, her husband was transferred to Moscow. In 1985, Gorbachev became General Secretary of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union (CPSU) Central Committee. The "First Lady" strived to live up to her status—always impeccably dressed and smart, she accompanied her husband on trips, attended receptions, and gave interviews. She was a "soft power" that helped ease tensions in international politics.
One cannot live with hatred. I think that endless graves ultimately call not for vengeance, but for reason.
Together with Academician Likhachev, she founded the Soviet Cultural Foundation. She helped children with cancer. In 1987, she was named "Woman of the Year" by Woman's Own magazine.
Many Soviet women were irritated by her, who said she talked too much, changed her clothes frequently, and was always close to her husband. However, there were also those who saw this image as a good sign:
Thanks to you, the image of Soviet women is changing in the country and around the world. Her dignity is returning.
(from a letter from R. Gorbacheva)
After her husband's voluntary resignation as President of the USSR, she disappeared from the media spotlight. She became involved in charity work.
What I can never come to terms with is doom.
She died of leukemia in 1999.
