Father Vladimir was born on May 26, 1885 in [[:w:Dukhovshchina|Dukhovshchina]], [[w:Smolensk OblastGovernorate|Smolensk Governorate]], to a family of doctors. His mother Varvara Karlovna (née Scheidemann), was the daughter of a Lieutenant-General who was a hero of the Crimean War, the artillery commander in the [[w:Battle of Eupatoria|Battle of Evpatoria]], descended from a [[w:History of Germans in Russia and the Soviet Union|Russified]] wealthy German family. She was one of the first women in Russia who received a medical degree; she studied Female medicine and graduated from the St. Nicholas Military Hospital. His father, who was of Polish descent, was a doctor in the [[w:Kirov Plant|Putilov Plant]].