The Soviet Union - not wanting to miss the first important international event in the library world - sent two librarians to the first IFLA Congress: Ljubov' Borisovna Havkina (1871-1949) and Genrietta Karlovna Derman (1882-1954). Their biographies are remarkable both for the importance of their work for the development of Russian libraries and because of the biographical events that marked their lives. This paper tells their story. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]