Lyubov Brezhneva
Lyubov Yakovlevna Brezhneva (Russian: Любовь Яковлевна Брежнева) was a niece of Soviet leader Leonid Brezhnev (an illegitimate but acknowledged daughter of Leonid's brother, Yakov Brezhnev). She was hounded by the KGB for many reasons including being somewhat liberal in her political philosophy and for being in love with a soldier from East Germany.
She wrote a book about her experience called The World I Left Behind. (Russian: Племяница Генсека) She describes the hypocrisy of the Soviet system from the point of view of a member of the privileged elite. However, she also says that they were also prisoners of the system.
She begged her father to protect her from the KGB, but he could do nothing and eventually the KGB beat her so severely as to cause a miscarriage.
She described the two-tier system of shops and other goods that were available to members of the Soviet elite, in contrast with the barren shops available for the ordinary person. She described the aimless job she worked at an office where rooms full of people had nothing to do but file their fingernails. Some of her friends went off to work in hard labor simply because they could not stand being part of the system.
She found a new boyfriend. She later fled to a Soviet satellite state and from there to the United States where she lives to this day.
External links
- Review of her book (English)
- Interview with Lyubov Brezhneva (Russian)
