Antonina Pirožkova

Antonina Pirozhkova (1 July 1909 – 12 September 2010) was a Soviet civil engineer and writer, best known for her contributions to the construction of the Moscow Metro and the preservation of the literary legacy of her husband Isaac Babel.

Early life and education Antonina Nikolaevna Pirozhkova was born on 1 July 1909 in the village of Krasny Yar, Tomsk Governorate, Siberia. Her father died when she was fourteen, and she helped support her family by tutoring children at mathematics. In 1926, she joined Tomsk Polytechnic University to study construction and engineering, graduating four years later.

Relationship with Isaac Babel In 1932, Pirozhkova met the writer Isaac Babel. They began to live together in 1934 and had a daughter Lidiya in 1937. Babel was separated from his wife, and he did not enter into a formal marriage with Pirozhkova. However, following his death, the Soviet authorities recognised her as his heir. Following its construction, she transferred in 1934 to Moscow where she joined the Metroproekt, the institute responsible for the design and construction of the Moscow Metro.

Pirozhkova and her daughter were evacuated during the war to Abkhazia. In the 1950s, she was involved in the design and construction of palatial houses in the resorts of Caucasus.

Pirozhkova then joined the faculty of the Moscow State University of Railway Engineering. Here she taught subway engineers, and in 1964 wrote the definitive textbook Tunnels and Subways.

In 1996, she emigrated with Lidiya to the US.

Pirozhkova's memoir of Babel titled By His Side was published in 1996, while a second volume which covered the rest of her remarkable life appeared posthumously in 2013.

She died on 12 September 2010, aged 101, in Sarasota, Florida.

Works