German psychologist Gunter Kruse, who in recent years has been engaged in drawing up Lenin's family tree, maintains that one of the world proletariat leader's great-grandmothers was burnt at the stake as a witch.

"I went as far back as the middle ages and discovered one of Lenin's ancestor who lived in the 13th century", Kruse reported after spending several years in archives, drawing up the Western European branch of Lenin's family tree.

According to Kruse, the witch who was burnt at the stake by the Inquisition is the most intriguing member of the Ulyanovs family, though almost no information about her has survived.