Plevitskaya was born Nadezhda Vasilievna Vinnikova to a peasant family in the village of Vinnikovo, near Kursk. She loved to sing, and after two years in a religious chorus, she became a professional singer in Kiev, where she … See more

Plevitskya made concert tours throughout Europe (and, in 1926, to the United States, where she was accompanied by the composer, Sergei Rachmaninoff), while her husband, General Skoblin, took a leading role in a W… See more

In 1930, Plevitskaya and Skoblin were recruited by the GPU (later the NKVD), the Soviet secret police. For some time, they worked together with the group of Sergei Efron. By all accounts, they served as accomplish… See more