Volkonskaia, Mariia
Volkonskaia, Mariia Nikolaevna
Born 1805; died Aug. 10 (22), 1863. Princess, wife of the Decembrist S. G. Volkonskii, and daughter of General N. N. Raevskii.
Volkonskaia was one of the first among the Decembrists’ wives to overcome the resistance of her family and, in 1827, follow her husband to Siberia, where she lived until 1855. She left the work Notes, which provides a vivid description of the prison and forced-labor regimen, characterizations of many Decembrists, and information about the daily life, mores, and culture of the population of Siberia and their attitude toward the Decembrists. Volkonskaia’s sacrifice was commemorated by N. A. Nekrasov in his narrative poem Russian Women.