My Russian great-great-grandmother was born in 1898 and died in 1998. She witnessed tsarist Russia, communist Russia and democratic Russia. That was quite an experience. I always was kind of jealous because she could compare the regimes first-hand.
>>kgeist+(OP)
That's quite a way to put it. Someone living through 1908 - 2008 would've also witnessed the start of Putin's autocratic Russia as he manoeuvred to keep power despite ending his second term.