Background
Mandelstam, Nadezhda was born on October 31, 1899 in Saratov.
Mandelstam, Nadezhda was born on October 31, 1899 in Saratov.
Studied painting with A. Ekster. Studied painting with A. Ekster.
Grew up in Kiev. Met the poet O. Mandelstam, 1919, and married him soon after. Shared the life of her husband in Moscow and in exile. During the Stalin years, had to move to different cities (Tashkent, Tarusa, Ulianovsk) as the ‘wife of an enemy of the people’.
Earned her living by teaching English. During all these decades, kept the literary heritage of her husband, and thus saved from total oblivion the name of one of the finest 20th century poets. Received permission to return to Moscow, 1958.
Wrote 2 volumes of memoirs (published abroad), which made her world famous as one of the best chroniclers of the Stalin epoch: Vospominaniia, New York, 1970, and Vtoraia Kniga, Paris, 1972.