Yuri Andropov
Birth Name: Grigory Vladimirovich Andropov
Date of Birth: 15 June, 1914
Place of Birth: Stanitsa Nagutskaya, Stavropol Governorate, or Moscow; Russian Empire (now Russia)
Date of Death: 9 February, 1984
Place of Death: Moscow, Russian SFSR, Soviet Union (now Russia)
Ethnicity:
*father – Russian, Don Cossack
*mother – possibly German
Yuri Andropov was a Soviet politician. He led the USSR, as General Secretary of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union, from 12 November, 1982 to 9 February, 1984, his death. He was also Chairman of the Committee for State Security (KGB), from 18 May, 1967 to 26 May, 1982, Second Secretary of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union, from 24 May, 1982 to 10 November, 1982, and Chairman of the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet of the Soviet Union, from 16 June, 1983 to 9 February, 1984.
He was Time Magazine’s Person of the Year for 1983 (sharing the award with Ronald Reagan).
His father, Vladimir Konstantinovich Andropov, worked on the railway. His mother, Yevgenia Karlovna (Fleckenstein), worked at a women’s gymnasium. His father was of a Don Cossack family. His mother was said to have been adopted by the Fleckenstein family, although many sources differ on his mother’s background, or whether the story of her adoption is accurate. Some state that his mother was of Jewish origin, although it is not clear if this is accurate.
Yuri was married to pedagogue Tatyana Andropova (born Tatyana Filippovna Lebedeva), until his death. He had two children with his former wife Nina Ivanovna; and two children with Tatyana.
Yuri’s paternal grandfather was named Konstantin Andropov.
Yuri’s maternal grandfather was said to have been Karl Frantsevich/Franzovich/Franzevich Fleckenstein (the son of Franz Fleckenstein and Anna Maria Steigerwald). Karl was said to have been from Finland, and was a Moscow watchmaker and jeweler. Franz was born in Hösbach, Lower Franconia, Bavaria, Germany, the son of Johannes Paulus Fleckenstein and Anna Maria Sickenberger.
Yuri’s maternal grandmother was said to have been Evdokia/Eudokia Mikhailovna Sidon (the daughter of Michael Sidon and Elisabetha Schoberin).
Source: Genealogy of Yuri Andropov – https://www.geni.com
Tag Cossack and Don Cossack and change ethnicity to
Ethnicity: Russian, Don Cossack, other
Has his ancestry been traced definitively? Many sources say he was of Jewish or German descent.