His father, Ignat Benediktovich Shargei, studied physics and mathematics in Kyiv University at the time of his marriage.[3][4] Kondratyuk's mother, Lyudmila Lvovna Schlippenbach taught French at a Kyiv school, and must have already been pregnant when she married in January 1897. She is a direct descendant[5] of Wolmar Anton von Schlippenbach, a general who took part in Charles XII of Sweden's's failed invasion of Russia. Her grandfather Anton von Schlippenbach was lieutenant colonel of the Imperial Russian Army and participated in the Napoleonic Wars.