Search

Russia is bitterly divided over whether the mummified remains of Vladimir Illich Lenin should remain on show in his mausoleum in Moscow, Russia, or whether they should be buried. Former Russian Pres. Mikhail Gorbachev expressed his support in Jul. 1999 for burying Lenin's body provided this is carried out in a humane and Christian way. However Lenin's closest surviving relative, his niece Olga Ulyanova, points out that Lenin has been buried according to the traditions of Russian Orthodoxy. She also warns that removing Lenin from his tomb risks sparking unpredictable tremors in Russia.

There is no firm evidence to indicate that Lenin was aware of the Jewish background of his grandfather, according to historian Mikhail Stein. He indicates that Lenin, whose real name was Vladimir Ulyanov, began using Lenin as a pseudonym in 1900.

'Between Truth and Fact' by Tatyana Koloskova, Olga Abramova, and Galina Borodulina investigates the Ulyanov family tree of which Vladimir Lenin is a descendant. Lenin was born on April 22 1870 to a family with German and Swedish roots on Lenin's grandmother's side. To date, Lenin's western European connections have largely been kept under wraps. Other research reveals Lenin's baptism as Kalmyk.

Dr Sergei Debov, Russian master mummifier, is waiting for the order the burial of Ilyich Lenin. Debov has been tending to Lenin's corpse for seven decades. He fears that the order from the Kremlin will waste all his hard work. That was the case with Stalin's corpse which was recently buried after Debov had tended it after Stalin's death in March 1953.