(St. Petersburg, 1872-Moscow, 1952)
Minister and ambassador
She received an excellent education at the University of Zurich and was the first female minister not only in Soviet history, but also in world history. She headed the People’s Commissariat for State Welfare in the very first Soviet government. In addition to her activities in the Soviet government, she was the head of the Women’s Department, the Zhenotdel, for many years. She was one of the first female ambassadors in the world, in 1922 she obtained the post of diplomat in Norway and from 1930 to 1945 she led the Soviet embassy in Sweden. She did much to improve relations between the two countries and prevented Sweden from joining the Soviet-Finnish war of 1939.
