Early Life
Zyuganov was born in Mymrino, a farming village in Oryol Oblast, south of Moscow. The son and grandson of schoolteachers, he followed in their footsteps: after graduating from a secondary school, his first job was working there for one year as a physics teacher in 1961.
In 1962, he enrolled into the Department of Physics and Mathematics of Oryol Pedagogical Institute. From 1963 to 1966, he served in a Radiation, Chemical, and Biological Intelligence unit of the Group of Soviet Forces in Germany. Zyuganov joined the Communist Party in 1966.
He returned to the teachers' college in 1966. Three years older than most members of the sophomore class, he was already a party member; a position of prestige, and a popular college athlete. On his return, he also married his wife, Nadezhda. He completed his degree in 1969.
Read more about this topic: Gennady Zyuganov
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