Lev Nikolayevich Gumilyov (Russian: Лев Никола́евич Гумилёв; 1 October 1912, St. Petersburg–15 June 1992, St. Petersburg), was a Soviet historian, ethnologist, anthropologist and translator from Persian, who is known for his highly non-orthodox theories of ethnogenesis.

Life

His parents were two prominent poets Nikolay Gumilyov and Anna Akhmatova. They were divorced when Lev was 7 years old, and his father was executed when Lev was just 9. Lev spent most of his youth, from 1938 until 1956 in Soviet labor camps. He was arrested by NKVD in 1935 and released, but rearrested again and convicted to five years in 1938. After serving the time, he joined the Red Army and took part in the Battle of Berlin. However, he was arrested again in 1949 and convicted to ten years in prison camps. In order to secure his release, Akhmatova published a dithyramb to Joseph Stalin, which did not help to release Lev, although it possibly prevented her own imprisonment. The order for her arrest had already been prepared by Soviet secret police, but Stalin decided not to sign it. Relations between Lev and his mother were strained, as he blamed her for not helping him enough. She described her feelings about the arrest of Lev and the period of political repressions in Requiem.