Vera Velichkina

Vera Mikhailovna Velichkina (; 1868 – 30 September 1918) was a Russian politician, physician, writer and revolutionary who was involved with the Bolshevik movement from the 1890s. After the October Revolution, Velichkina was tasked to organise Soviet health services. Velichkina was a personal physician to Vladimir Lenin and was the first wife of politician Vladimir Bonch-Bruyevich.

Early life and education

Vera Velichkina was born on 1868 in Moscow. She was the daughter of a priest and was one of thirteen children. Velichkina completed her secondary education at the 1st Girls' High School in Moscow in 1885, and that same year she began attending pedagogy courses.

Editorial career and activism In 1901, Velichkina quickly returned to Russia due to her mother's illness but she was arrested on the border while attempting to enter at Vezhbolovo on 2 October for organising a demonstration against the repression of student movements outside the Russian consulate in Geneva. She was sent to Kresty Prison in Saint Petersburg. Velichkina was released from prison in January 1902 and she returned to Switzerland in May. She was also one of Lenin's personal physicians.

Death Vera Velichkina died on 30 September 1918 in Moscow from the Spanish flu, at the age of 50.