Anna Chernenko
{{family name hatnote|Dmitrievna|Chernenko|lang=Eastern Slavic}}
{{Short description|Belarusian woman specialized in agriculture (1913–2010)}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=May 2023}}
{{Infobox person
| image =
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| caption =
| birth_name = Anna Dmitrievna Lyubimova
| birth_date = 3 September 1913
| birth_place =
| death_date = {{death date and age|2010|12|25|1913|9|3|df=y}}
| death_place =
| nationality =
| occupation = Technician
| years_active =
| alma_mater =
| known_for = Wife of Konstantin Chernenko
}}
Anna Chernenko ({{langx|ru|Анна Черненко}}, née Lyubimova; 3 September 1913 – 25 December 2010) was the wife of Soviet leader Konstantin Chernenko.[http://www.famhist.ru/famhist/all_st/000d4692.htm Черненко К.У. (1911-1985)] (in Russian)[http://sr.rodovid.org/wk/Посебно:ChartInventory/267101 Анна Дмитриевна Любимова (Черненко) b. 3 септембар 1913 d. 2010 - Индекс потомака] (in Russian)
Biography
Anna Dmitrievna Lyubimova was born into an illiterate family and joined the Pioneer movement and Komsomol in the 1930s. She was educated as a tractor technician.{{cite news|title=Secret lives of Kremlin wives|newspaper=The Independent|url=https://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/secret-lives-of-kremlin-wives-andrew-higgins-on-the-loneliness-of-women-at-the-heart-of-soviet-power-1478983.html|author=Andrew Higgins|date=17 January 1993|access-date=3 September 2013}}
She was the second wife of Konstantin Chernenko, and the couple had three children: a son and two daughters. She served as the director of the University of Culture. In addition, she worked for Moscow cultural organizations for nearly thirty years, particularly in the house on Kutuzovsky Prospekt.{{cite book|author=Larisa Vasilyeva|title=Kremlin Wives|year=1994
|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=cFxBIYW4AMMC&pg=PA221|publisher=Arcade Publishing|isbn=978-1-55970-260-7|page=221|location=New York}}{{cite news|title=Raisa Gorbachev|access-date=3 September 2013|newspaper=The Guardian|date=21 September 1999|author=Isobel Montgomery|url=https://www.theguardian.com/news/1999/sep/21/guardianobituaries.isobelmontgomery}} However, Anna left professional life later due to the objection of her sister-in-law who insisted that she should focus on her family.{{cite journal|author=Lynne Attwood
|title="Hearing a Woman's Voice": Female Perspectives on Change in Russia and the Former Soviet Union|journal=Journal of Women's History
|date=Summer 1996|volume=8|issue=2|page=184|doi=10.1353/jowh.2010.0440|s2cid=143698854 }}
Anna's husband, Konstantin Chernenko, served as the Soviet head of state from 11 April 1984 to 10 March 1985. She reportedly protested over the election of her husband as party leader in 1984, saying "his health would never stand the strain." When a red telephone line was installed in their bedroom following the appointment of Chernenko it was kept on her side of the bed. She answered the calls and mostly refused to wake him. During this period, she was the patron of Soviet movies.
Anna was described as a modest, kind, shy and courageous woman.{{cite book|title=Inside Gorbachev's Kremlin|year=1993
|publisher=Westview Press|location=Boulder, CO|page=54|isbn=978-0-6794-1392-9|author=Yegor Ligachev}} She was not a public figure like other spouses of the Soviet leaders{{cite news|title=Spouses of local politicians must come out into public arena|newspaper=Sunday Standard
|url=http://www.sundaystandard.info/article.php?NewsID=17165&GroupID=2|access-date=3 September 2013|date=24 June 2013|author=John Regonamanye
|archive-url=https://archive.today/20130903090349/http://www.sundaystandard.info/article.php?NewsID=17165&GroupID=2|archive-date=3 September 2013|url-status=dead}} and was seen with her husband in parliamentary elections in March 1984.{{cite news |date=11 March 1985 |title=Konstantin U. Chernenko, Soviet Leader |url=https://apnews.com/c341d3e097e38646aefcbc1f83dfbe22 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210428212641/https://apnews.com/article/c341d3e097e38646aefcbc1f83dfbe22#expand |archive-date=April 28, 2021 |access-date=12 September 2013 |work=Associated Press}} The other public appearance was in her husband's funeral in March 1985.
References
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Category:20th-century Russian women