The Russian Empire, My Soviet Loyalist Grandfather, and Me
From Catherine the Great to Stalin, My Family Played a Part in Imperial Rule Over Ukraine—Until They Didn’t
This is the first of two essays exploring the intertwined histories of Russia and Ukraine, told through one family’s history. Read the second essay here.
We like to believe that we think with our rational minds. But a little bit of us, a deep bit, thinks with our blood. When I think and write about Ukraine, I cannot ignore my deep family connection to that country’s history.
My mother Lyudmila Bibikova was born in Kharkov, a Russian-speaking industrial city in northern Ukraine, in 1934. Her father, …
