Litvinova alternative

In 2025 G L Epstein wrote an article in the journal Mathematical Education which gives a different account of how and why Litvinova left Russia. We give a translation of part of this article below.

According to parish register records preserved in the St. Petersburg archives and uncovered by the VGD genealogy forum, on October 31, 1871 the wedding of Mikhail Pavlovich Litvinov (1846-1918), a 1870 graduate of the Imperial Medical-Surgical Academy, and Elizaveta Feodorovna Ivashkina, daughter of a titular councellor, took place in the Trinity Cathedral of St. Petersburg (archive file 19-126-819101).

Since 1924, the Tver Regional Psychiatric Hospital has borne the name of M P Litvinov. The eminent historian of Russian psychiatry, YV Kannabikh (1872-1939), included Litvinov in a list of four names that "should be remembered by every Russian psychiatrist". Mikhail Pavlovich devoted his entire life to alleviating the plight of the most disadvantaged people in Russia the mentally ill and played an outstanding role in the humanisation of Russian psychiatry; towards the end of his life, from 1908 to 1918, he was director of the Coronation Asylum in Moscow for the helpless and destitute, and those suffering from incurable neurological and mental illnesses.

During his studies, he had been one of the closest pupils of Ivan Mikhailovich Sechenov (1829-1905). After graduating from the Imperial Medical-Surgical Academy, he joined the state psychiatric service and worked in a private psychiatric hospital. In general, he lived in St Petersburg, was engaged in scientific work and was financially secure. However, in 1873 he found himself working as a general practitioner in a small hospital deep within one of the districts of the Tver Governorate, and only returned to St Petersburg three years later.

Considering Mikhail Litvinov's political activism, it can be surmised that his unexpected departure to the Tver Governorate in 1872 was prompted by administrative exile under police supervision. This version immediately explains all the omissions in Litvinova's publications, which were subject to censorship. If we accept the theory of Litvinov's administrative exile, the dilemma facing for Elizaveta Fyodorovna: to go into exile with her husband and give up her dream of a higher mathematical education and female independence, or to effectively separate from her husband and become a living example and active figure in the women's movement, and in particular in the cause of equal education for women. Elizaveta Fyodorovna chose the latter. To obtain a foreign passport, a spouse's consent was required. The consent of a repressed individual was hardly of any use. It is likely that friends helped Elizaveta Fyodorovna obtain a passport as the widow of a certain deceased Dr Litvinov.

In light of the above version, the following passage from Litvinova's memoirs also becomes clear:

Then, in the spring of 1872, all my friends and acquaintances spoke with one voice: you love mathematics so much, go abroad to study. And they not only spoke, but also contributed, as best they could, to my departure. Of course, I was very grateful to them all, but at the same time I was sad that even the people who took the greatest interest in my fate were rushing me to leave.

Of course, the presented description of the events of the spring of 1872, despite all its logical persuasiveness, remains only one possible version until supporting documents or credible personal recollections are found. The only certainty is that the name of Dr Viktor Litvinov is not mentioned in the Russian medical registers of the 1860s and early 1870s, while the name of Mikhail Litvinov and the wedding date are listed in an archival document.

Last Updated April 2026