Yakov Stalin biography, personal life, wife, children. Yakov Dzhugashvili - biography, information, personal life

On April 14, 1943, a prisoner jumped out of the window of barracks No. 3 of special camp “A” at the Sachsenhausen concentration camp. Ignoring the sentry's shout, he rushed to the wire fence.

The current is ahead of the bullet

A high voltage electric current was passed through the barbed wire. The prisoner rushed at her a second before the guard's shot rang out.

According to the autopsy report, the bullet hit the head four centimeters from the right ear and crushed the skull. But the prisoner was already dead at that moment - he was killed by an electric shock.

Sachsenhausen camp commandant Anton Kaindl was in a bad mood. In a special camp “A” prisoners of war were kept, who, in the opinion of the German command, were of the greatest value. The deceased, perhaps, was the most important trophy of Germany on the Eastern Front. It was the eldest son Joseph Stalin Yakov Dzhugashvili.

German leaflet from 1941, using Yakov Dzhugashvili to promote captivity. Source: Public Domain

"Follow the example of Stalin's son"

“Do you know who this is?” asked a German leaflet from 1941. “This is Yakov Dzhugashvili, Stalin’s eldest son, battery commander of the 14th howitzer artillery. regiment, 14th armor tank division, who on July 16 surrendered near Vitebsk along with thousands of other commanders and soldiers.”

“Follow the example of Stalin’s son, he is alive, healthy and feeling great,” German propagandists assured.

The photo on the leaflet showed a captured Soviet soldier talking with German soldiers.

For some Red Army soldiers during the difficult period of 1941, such leaflets really became a reason to surrender. However, there were more skeptics. Some believed that the photo on the leaflet was fake, others believed that Stalin’s son really could have been captured, but his collaboration with the Nazis was definitely a fiction.

Be that as it may, the leaflet soon stopped working, and the Germans did not have any new convincing materials about Stalin’s son.

Documents are “sensational” and real

It was difficult for Yakov Iosifovich Dzhugashvili in life, and it’s not easy even after death. Five years ago, journalists from the German publication Der Spiegel released sensational material, claiming that Stalin’s son had actually surrendered voluntarily. Subsequently, according to German reporters, he did not die in the camp, but lived until the end of the war, refusing to return to the USSR. Allegedly, Stalin's son hated the Soviet regime, was an anti-Semite and shared the views of the leaders of the Third Reich.

Where is the evidence for this, you ask? “The Der Spiegel journalists had at their disposal a secret dossier of Yakov Dzhugashvili on 389 pages, discovered in Podolsk,” claimed the authors of the sensational material. Judging by the fact that no evidence was presented in subsequent years, no one except German journalists saw the “secret dossier” in person.

Meanwhile, all archival materials related to the fate of Yakov Dzhugashvili have long been declassified. In 2007, the Federal Security Service of the Russian Federation, through Head of the Department of Registration and Archival Funds of the FSB Vasily Khristoforov stated: “According to our archival documents, Yakov Dzhugashvili was indeed in captivity, for which there is numerous evidence... Stalin’s son behaved with dignity there.”

Difficult relationships

The first-born of revolutionary Joseph Dzhugashvili and his wife Ekaterina Svanidze born in the Georgian village of Badzi on March 18, 1907. The boy was only six months old when his mother died of tuberculosis. Joseph, who madly loved his Kato, rushed into the grave after the coffin at the funeral. For the future leader, the death of his wife was a great shock.

However revolutionary activity, associated with arrests and exiles, did not allow him to raise his son. Yakov Dzhugashvili grew up among his mother’s relatives.

Father got the opportunity to raise Yakov only in 1921, in Moscow, when the boy was already 14 years old.

The son took after his father in character, but they could not find mutual understanding. Yakov, who grew up virtually without a father and entered a time of youthful maximalism, often irritated his father, who was busy with government affairs, with his behavior.

A truly serious conflict between father and son occurred in 1925, when a graduate of the electrical engineering school, Yakov Dzhugashvili, announced his desire to marry a 16-year-old Zoya Gunina.

Stalin categorically did not approve of his son’s early marriage, and then the hot-tempered young man tried to shoot himself. Fortunately, Yakov survived, but he completely lost his father’s respect. Stalin ordered to tell his son that he was a “hooligan and a blackmailer”, while, however, allowing him to live as he himself saw fit.

“Go and fight!”

If Stalin himself did not show much affection for his eldest son, then his children from his second marriage, Basil And Svetlana, reached out to their brother. Svetlana felt even greater affection for Yakov than for Vasily.

Yakov Dzhugashvili's first marriage broke up quite quickly, and in 1936 he married a ballerina Julia Meltzer. In February 1938, Yulia and Yakov had a daughter, who was named Galina.

Stalin's son searched for his calling for a long time, changed jobs more than once, and at almost 30 years of age he entered the Artillery Academy of the Red Army.

In June 1941, for Yakov Dzhugashvili there was no question of what he should do. The artillery officer went to the front. The farewell to his father, as far as can be judged from the evidence that is known today, turned out to be quite dry. Stalin briefly said to Yakov: “Go and fight!”

The war for Senior Lieutenant Yakov Dzhugashvili, commander of the 6th artillery battery of the 14th howitzer regiment of the 14th tank division, turned out to be fleeting. He was at the front from June 24 and on July 7 distinguished himself in the battle near the Belarusian city of Senno.

But a few days later, units of the 20th Army, which included the 14th Tank Division, were surrounded. On July 16, 1941, while trying to escape from encirclement near the city of Liozno, Senior Lieutenant Dzhugashvili went missing.

The search for Yakov continued for more than a week, but did not bring any results.

Yakov Dzhugashvili, 1941 Source: Public Domain

I didn't become a traitor

Accurate information about the fate of Stalin’s son became available to the Soviet side only at the end of the war, when interrogation reports of senior lieutenant Yakov Dzhugashvili were found among captured German documents.

Captured on July 16 in the Lyasnovo region, Yakov behaved with dignity. He expressed disappointment with the failures of the Red Army, but did not doubt the justice of the cause for which he fought.

The Nazis, who initially hoped to persuade Yakov Iosifovich to cooperate, were puzzled. The son turned out to be just as hard a nut to crack as his father. When persuasion did not help, they tried to put pressure on him using intimidation methods. That didn't work either.

After ordeals in the camps, Yakov Dzhugashvili finally ended up in Sachsenhausen, where he was transferred in March 1943. According to the testimony of the guards and the camp administration, he was withdrawn, did not communicate with anyone and even treated the Germans with some contempt.

Everything suggests that his throwing himself onto the wire was a conscious step, a form of suicide. Why did Yakov do this? During interrogation by the Germans, he admitted that he was ashamed of his captivity in front of his father.

Senior Lieutenant Dzhugashvili behaved with dignity, but what moral and physical strength Such firmness cost him. Perhaps he understood that there was little chance of getting out of captivity alive, and at some point he decided to end everything at once.

Stalin himself rarely spoke about the fate of his eldest son during the war. Georgy Zhukov in his memoirs he wrote that once during the war he allowed himself to ask Stalin about the fate of Yakov. The leader hunched over and replied that Yakov was being kept in the camp isolated from others and most likely would not be released alive. Stalin's daughter Svetlana Alliluyeva mentioned that the Soviet leader received an offer to exchange his son for a German field marshal Friedrich Paulus, to which he refused.

The captivity of Yakov Dzhugashvili directly affected the fate of his wife, Yulia Meltzer, who was arrested and spent a year and a half in prison. However, when it became clear that Yakov was not collaborating with the Nazis, Yakov’s wife was released.

According to the memoirs of Yakov’s daughter, Galina Dzhugashvili, after the release of the mother, Stalin took care of them until his death, treating his granddaughter with special tenderness. The leader believed that Galya was very similar to Yakov.

After an investigation into the emergency in the camp, by order of the Sachsenhausen administration, the body of Yakov Dzhugashvili was cremated, and the urn with the ashes was sent to Berlin, where its traces were lost.

The Sachsenhausen camp where Stalin's son was held. Photo: www.globallookpress.com

Anton Kaindl was the main defendant in the trial of the leaders of the Sachsenhausen concentration camp, which took place in the Soviet occupation zone in 1947. Sentenced to life imprisonment, Kandl died in August 1948 in a camp near Vorkuta.

On October 27, 1977, by Decree of the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet of the USSR, Senior Lieutenant Yakov Iosifovich Dzhugashvili was posthumously awarded the Order for his steadfastness in the fight against the Nazi invaders and courageous behavior in captivity Patriotic War I degree.

Hello dears!
This is where we started talking about Yakov Dzhugashvili: today I propose to finish with him.
So...
Yakov went head over heels family problems to study. I had to learn a lot of new things, and then there was constant practice. First at the depot of the Kavkazskaya station, then at the locomotive repair plant in the city of Kozlov (Michurinsk), where he was able to pass the qualification exam and get the position of diesel engine driver. In the summer of 1932, Yakov received a long-awaited vacation and went to visit another Alliluyev relatives in Uryupinsk. There, in this very town on the Khoper River, Dzhugashvili met a girl who was able to win her heart. Her name was Olga Pavlovna Golysheva. The relationship somehow started immediately and continued (albeit remotely) even when Yakov left for Moscow. The following fall, Olga moved in with him and entered the aviation technical school. Things were heading towards the wedding and the newlyweds were even given an apartment, but..... the young people separated. After graduating from university, Yakov was hired as a diesel engineer at the thermal power plant of the Moscow Automobile Plant, and Olga returned to Uryupinsk. On January 10, 1936, her son Evgeniy was born. He received his last name only a few years later, in childhood he was identified as Evgeniy Golyshev. Olga claimed that this was the son of Yakov (most likely this was the case, although disputes about his origin are still going on). In any case, not Svetlana Alliluyeva, not Galina - official daughter Jacob, they never recognized him as such. Nothing is known about the reaction of the Leader of the Peoples himself.

Olga Golysheva

Yakov started drinking, and in some restaurant he picked up the former ballerina Yulia (Judith) Isaakovna Meltzer. Julia was, as they say, a “seasoned” woman, having been married either twice or three times, and besides, she was a little older than Yakov. But at the same time very pretty and pretty. In general, it didn’t cost her anything to charm and captivate him. Less than a week after they met, she moved into his apartment. And on December 11, 1935, their marriage was registered in the registry office of the Frunzensky district of Moscow. It must be said that the whole family was opposed to Yulia, and best case scenario she was simply ignored. The father, however, did not interfere, being true to his word not to pay attention, although he expressed his dissatisfaction with Yakov’s choice in a private conversation. On February 10, 1938, the couple had a daughter, who was named Galina

Julia Meltzer

The younger Dzhugashvili liked to work as an engineer, but the elder felt that he needed to master other areas. Yakov was instructed to prepare for exams for the evening department of the Artillery Academy. F. E. Dzerzhinsky. In the fall of 1937, he passed these exams and was enrolled first in the evening and then in the full-time department of the academy. He graduated from it just before the war - on May 9, 1941, and after receiving the rank of senior officer, he was assigned to Narofominsk, to the post of commander of the howitzer battery of the 14th tank division. It is easy to notice that I studied for only 2.5 years, and not 4 or 5, as was customary. On June 24, his unit was moved to the Vitebsk region, where it entered into battle with the enemy. More fully and correctly, in fact, Yakov’s position sounds like this: commander of the 6th artillery battery of the 14th howitzer regiment of the 14th tank division, 7th mechanized corps, 20th army. On July 4th, the unit was surrounded, but then things get interesting...

Yakov with his daughter Galina

It is officially believed that Yakov was captured in the Liozno area on July 16. At first they didn’t miss him, but then they started looking for him seriously. They found a witness, a certain Red Army soldier Lopuridze, who said that the two of them left the encirclement with Yakov, but Yakov fell behind, said that his boots were rubbing and ordered the soldier to move on, and he would catch up. Lopuridze never saw Yakov again.
And a few days later the Germans spread the news - Senior Lieutenant Dzhugashvili was in their captivity.
This is the official version. There is also an alternative truth, but more on that later.
After the first interrogations, Jacob was transferred to a camp in Hammelburg (Bavaria), from there in the spring of 1942 he was sent to a prisoner camp of the Polish army near Lubeck, and then in January 1943 he ended up in the famous Sachsenhausen, where different time Quite famous prisoners like Stepan Bandera, for example, were kept.


The most famous “captive” photograph of Yakov Dzhugashvili

Again, according to legend, Hitler offered to exchange him for Paulus, but Stalin noted: “ I’m not changing a soldier for a field marshal!"Although Svetlana Alliluyeva remembers it somewhat differently: " In the winter of 1942/1943, after Stalingrad, my father suddenly told me during one of our rare meetings: “The Germans offered me to exchange Yasha for one of their own. Will I bargain with them? In war it’s like in war!»
It is believed that Yakov died in the following way: on April 14, 1943, he did not obey the convoy’s demand to go to the barracks, but went out into no man’s land and threw himself onto the barbed wire, after which he was shot by a sentry. The bullet hit the head and caused instant death. Journalists from the German magazine Spigel even dug up the name of the alleged murderer of Stalin's son - this is a certain SS Rottenführer Konrad Hafrich. Although the Germans opened Yakov’s body and considered that death did not even come from a shot in the head, but earlier from an electric shock.

"Work liberates" inscription on the gates of Sachsenhausen

Jacob's body was burned in a local crematorium, and the ashes were scattered to the wind. After the war, Ivan Serov himself checked these facts and seemed to agree with this version, adding that the results of the investigation revealed that Yakov behaved with dignity, did not tarnish the rank of a Soviet officer and did not collaborate with the Nazis. It seems that we can put an end to this, but there is also an alternative version of the death of Yakov Dzhugashvili.
It was once defended by Artem Sergeev, about whom we will definitely talk in the following posts. So, Artem, who knew Yakov almost better than anyone, believes that he fell in battle in July 1941. And he would not surrender into captivity, under any circumstances. Plus, he emphasizes that the photographs of Yakov in captivity are of very poor quality and are always taken from some strange angle. Considering the successes of the Germans in the field of propaganda, and the quality of their photo and video equipment, this all looks very doubtful. Sergeev believes that instead of Stalin’s son, they used a person similar to him and until 1943 they tried to play a kind of game with the leadership of the USSR. But after the bluff was exposed, the false Yakov was eliminated.

Another photo of Senior Lieutenant Dzhugashvili in captivity

And I must say that I am rather ready to lean towards this version rather than towards the official one. Lots of inconsistencies. For example, the command of his corps began an active search for him too late. Well, of course it’s clear - the beginning of the war, encirclement, defeat. But, nevertheless, they knew who Senior Lieutenant Dzhugashvili was. Red Army soldier Lopuridze was constantly confused in his testimony, spoke Russian poorly, and generally did not know who was coming with him from the encirclement until the special officers informed him. Again, why and why did he leave Jacob alone? And whether it was Yakov or another officer of Georgian nationality is a big question. Here’s another point - the fighter said that they buried the documents and did not destroy them. This could have been verified, and then Yakov, during his first interrogation by the Germans, said that he had destroyed the documents. The interrogation is generally strange. So, for example, it says that Dzhugashvili spoke 3 languages ​​- German, English and French. I have not seen this anywhere, but on the contrary, I read that he had no inclination to study languages. And then - French??? Come on…
There are still many questions that arise during the interrogation...

Ivan Serov. 1943

Further through the camps - they transferred him from camp to camp and kept him away from everyone, practically isolated. He didn’t make contact with anyone. All this is suspicious...
You may ask, what about Serov’s investigation? Well...after reading a little about this man, I am sure that he was ready with any information management needed. Ivan Aleksandrovich was a very slippery man... very. And there was some confusion regarding the dates. Doesn't struggle with documents from the German side.
So for now, information about how Yakov Dzhugashvili really died is hidden in a veil of secrecy.
It remains to add that after Yakov disappeared, his wife Yulia Meltzer was taken into custody by the competent authorities and kept in prison until 1943. After prison, she was ill for a long time and died in 1968.
Daughter Galina Yakovlevna studied at Moscow State University, where they initially did not want to take her for health reasons (she had problems with blood pressure), became a candidate of philological sciences and a good Arabic scholar. She married Algerian citizen Hussein bin Saad, but the family was not allowed to reunite for 20 years - they saw each other in fits and starts in the USSR until the mid-80s. In 1970, their son Selim was born. Unfortunately, the child has been disabled since childhood, but is still alive. Lives in Ryazan, and he is an artist.

Galina Yakovlevna Dzhugashvili

Galina herself received help from a certain Chinese company until the end of her life (the Chinese still greatly respect Stalin) and died in 2007 from a heart attack.
Evgeny Dzhugashvili, whom his relatives themselves did not recognize as Yakov’s son, is still very active. Former Colonel In the Soviet army, he constantly appears on TV screens as the main defender of the personality of I.V. Stalin, always suing someone and generally promoting himself. Knowing this is the fate of a person. Although he may simply see this as his goal in life.

Evgeny Golyshev (Dzhugashvili) in his youth

Evgeniy has 2 sons Vissarion and Yakov. The first is a builder, lives in the USA and has 2 sons - Vasily and Joseph. The second is an artist, lives in Tbilisi.
Evgeniy’s mother Olga Golysheva worked as a financial collector in the Air Force (apparently not without the patronage of Vasily Stalin) and died at forty-eight years old in 1957.
That's all, dear ones, that I wanted to tell you about Yakov Stalin.
To be continued….
Have a nice day!

Sons of Stalin

There are thirteen years between the elder Yakov and the younger Vasily - Stalin's sons, but they belong to different generations. Each of them had the share of difficult fate woven from different threads of time.

Yakov was born in 1907. His mother Ekaterina Semyonovna Svanidze - Stalin's first wife - died early, when her son was only a few months old. She was struck down by typhoid fever. Alexandra Semyonovna Svanidze, Catherine’s sister, took the baby boy to her. Yasha first lived in Tiflis for a long time, and then, at the insistence of his uncle Alexander Semenovich Svanidze (known in the Bolshevik underground as “Alyosha”), he went to Moscow to study. He entered the Institute of Transport Engineers (MIIT). The Alliluyev family warmly received Yakov, loving him for his sincerity, kindness, calm and balanced character.

While still studying, Yakov decided to get married. His father did not approve of this marriage, but Yakov acted in his own way, which caused a quarrel between them. A. S. Svanidze did not approve of the hasty marriage either. He wrote to Yasha that you can build your family only when you become an independent person and you can provide for your family, but he has no moral right to marry based on his parents, although they occupy a high position.

Yakov and his wife leave for Leningrad, settling in the apartment of his grandfather, Sergei Yakovlevich Alliluyev. Decided to work at a thermal power plant. A daughter was born, but she lived only a short time and soon died. The marriage broke up. Yasha returned to Moscow, completed his studies at the institute and began working as an engineer at one of the Moscow factories.

In December 1935, he married for the second time and again against the will of his father, who did not approve of his son’s choice. It is clear that relations between them could only worsen. In 1938, Yakov’s daughter Galina was born.

During these years, the approaching breath of war was already felt. In one of his conversations with his son, Stalin said this directly and added - the Red Army needs good commanders. On the advice of his father, Yakov entered the Military Artillery Academy, which he graduated from just before the war in the summer of 1941. Academy graduate Senior Lieutenant Yakov Iosifovich Dzhugashvili was then 34 years old.

The last time father and son saw each other was June 22, 1941. “Go and fight,” Stalin said goodbye to Yakov. The very next day, Senior Lieutenant Y. Dzhugashvili, along with other academy graduates, was sent to the front, which turned out to be too short for him. On July 16, near Vitebsk, he was captured.

In his book “Memories and Reflections” G.K. Zhukov says that at the beginning of March 1945 he was at Stalin’s Blizhnaya dacha.

“During a walk, I.V. Stalin unexpectedly began to tell me about his childhood.

So at least an hour passed during the conversation. Then he said:

Let's go have some tea, we need to talk about something.

On the way back I asked:

Comrade Stalin, I have long wanted to know about your son Yakov. Is there any information about his fate?

He did not answer this question immediately. After walking a good hundred steps, he said in a somewhat muffled voice:

Yakov will not get out of captivity. The Nazis will shoot him. According to inquiries, they are keeping him isolated from other prisoners of war and are agitating for treason against the Motherland.

No, Yakov would prefer any death to betrayal of the Motherland. It was felt that he was deeply worried about his son. Sitting at the table, I.V. Stalin was silent for a long time, without touching his food. Then, as if continuing his thoughts, he said bitterly:

What a hard war! How many lives it took of our people. Apparently, there will be few families left whose loved ones have not died."

At that time, Stalin did not yet know that two years had already passed since his eldest son was dead. He learned about this soon after the war from V. Pick, who came to Moscow.

Now we know the name of this camp where he was shot - Sachsenhausen. There are other concentration camps that Yakov had to go through. “Case No. T-176” recorded everything with German pedantry, right down to the names of the killers. In 1978, in “Literary Georgia” in No. 4, in the essay “The Prisoner of Sachsenhausen,” I. Andronov spoke about the story of the death of Y. Dzhugashvili.

There is one interesting document in “Case No. T-176” - a telegram from Acting US Secretary of State Grew sent to the US Ambassador to the USSR Harriman dated June 30, 1945.

“Now in Germany, a joint group of experts from the State Department and the British Foreign Office is studying important German secret documents about how Stalin’s son was shot while allegedly trying to escape from a concentration camp. In this regard, a letter from Himmler to Ribbentrop in connection with this incident has been discovered, photographs, several pages of documentation. The British Foreign Office recommended that the British and American governments hand over the originals of these documents to Stalin, and to do this, instruct the British Ambassador to the USSR, Clark Kerr, to inform about the found Molotov documents and ask Molotov for advice on how best to give the documents to Stalin. Clark Kerr could have declared that this was a joint Anglo-American find and presented it on behalf of the British Ministry and the US Embassy. There is an opinion, however, that the transfer of documents should be carried out not on behalf of our embassy, ​​but on behalf of the State Department. The embassy's judgment on the method of delivering the documents to Stalin It would be desirable for the State Department to know. You can contact Molotov if you find it useful. Work together with Clark Kerr if he has similar instructions. Gru."

However, none of this happened. The ambassador soon received instructions with a completely different content, and the documents themselves were delivered from Frankfurt am Main to Washington on July 5, 1945 and were classified for many years in the archives of the US State Department. Only in 1968, when the statute of limitations for the secrecy of wartime documents expired, State Department archivists prepared a certificate with the following content to justify hiding “Case No. T-176” from the Soviet leadership:

"After careful examination of the matter and its nature, the British Foreign Office proposed to reject the original idea of ​​handing over documents which, by reason of their unpleasant contents, might upset Stalin. Soviet officials were not told anything, and the State Department informed Ambassador Harriman in a telegram dated August 23, 1945 "that an agreement has been reached not to give the documents to Stalin."

Of course, it was not the fear of “upsetting” Stalin, as Iona Andronov rightly notes, that forced the inner circle of Truman and Churchill to hide “Case No. T-176” in a secret archive. Most likely, they themselves were very upset, having learned from the case about Jacob’s courageous behavior in captivity. They, who stood at the origins of the Cold War, were much more satisfied with rumors discrediting the son of the commander-in-chief, launched by Goebbels propaganda.

It is no coincidence that after the war many versions appeared about the fate of Yakov Dzhugashvili, who was allegedly seen either in Italy or in Latin America. A host of “eyewitnesses” and clever impostors appeared to the world. Fantasies continue to walk through the pages of the press today, and new and domestic journalists do not hesitate to retell or create them. One of the “fresh” versions is the story that Jacob was naturalized in Iraq, and Saddam Hussein is his son.

However, the documents in Case No. T-176 leave no room for speculation. They record that Yakov was captured on July 16, 1941, did not reveal his name, and the Nazis found out about him on July 18 through some prisoner of war.

At first, Jacob was dealt with by German Army Intelligence Major Walter Holters from the headquarters of Field Marshal von Kluge. He recorded in his interrogation protocols that Yakov Dzhugashvili considered captivity a disgrace and if he had discovered in a timely manner that he had remained isolated from his own people, he would have shot himself. He is convinced that the new system in Soviet Russia is more in line with the interests of workers and peasants than in previous times, and advised the Abwehr officer to inquire about this from the Soviet people himself. Dzhugashvili said that he did not believe in the possibility of the Germans capturing Moscow. When asked to write to his family, Yakov refused. He also decisively rejected the offer to broadcast his appeal home by radio. When they hinted to him that they could build a propaganda leaflet here in his name and call on Soviet soldiers to surrender, he laughed mockingly. "Nobody will believe this!"

Realizing that cooperation with Y. Dzhugashvili would not take place, he was transferred to the headquarters of the group of forces of Field Marshal von Bock. Here he was interrogated by Captain V. Shtrik-Shtrikfeld, a professional intelligence officer who was fluent in Russian. His secret mission included recruiting captured military leaders to serve the occupation authorities. V. Strik-Strikfeld, who lived happily in Germany until his death in 1977, left memories of how he unsuccessfully tried to recruit Yakov to the position later occupied by General Vlasov. In particular, he talked about Jacob’s decisive rejection of his reasoning about the spiritual and racial superiority of the German nation. “You look at us as if we were primitive islanders of the southern seas,” Dzhugashvili retorted, “but I, being in your hands, have not found a single reason to look up to you.” Yakov never tired of repeating that he did not believe in Germany’s victory.

Now Y. Dzhugashvili is being transferred to the disposal of Goebbels’ department. To begin with, he is settled in the luxurious Adlon Hotel under the vigilant guard of the Gestapo and undergoes a new round of processing, but again they fail and he is transferred to the Lübeck officer concentration camp, and then to the Hammelburg concentration camp. Captain A.K. Uzhinsky, a Muscovite, was then in this camp. One day, before his eyes, a guard began to write the letters SU (Soviet Union) on Yakov’s clothes; he traced them all over, right down to his cap. While the “artist” was working, Yasha turned to the captured officers crowding nearby and shouted loudly: “Let him paint! “Soviet Union” - such an inscription does me honor. I’m proud of it!”

There are eyewitnesses to such words of General D.M. Karbyshev, what he said to Yakov (in April 1942, the general was taken to Hammelburg): “Yakov Iosifovich should be treated as an unshakable Soviet patriot. He is a very honest and modest comrade. He is laconic and keeps to himself because he is constantly being watched. He is afraid of letting down those who communicate with him."

And here is evidence from the camp of enemies. SS man I. Kaufmann, a former guard in Hammelburg, wrote in 1967 on the pages of the West German newspaper Wild am Esntag: “Stalin’s son spoke out in defense of his country whenever the opportunity presented itself. He was firmly convinced that the Russians would win the war.” .

As you know, Stalin rejected the Nazis' offer to exchange his son for Paulus. He answered succinctly to the Chairman of the Swedish Red Cross, Count Berndot: “I am not exchanging a soldier for a field marshal.” I think this phrase cost him a deep notch in his heart. Such wounds do not heal.

Having realized that they could not break Ya. Dzhugashvili, they cooled down to further psychological game and transferred him to Sachsenhausen, where he was kept in a special block under the protection of SS men from the Death's Head division.

“Case No. T-176” records that shortly before his death, the prisoner said: “Soon the German invaders will be dressed in our rags and each of them, capable of working, will go to Russia to restore, stone by stone, everything that they destroyed.”

He was shot in the head on April 14, 1943. Allegedly, when trying to escape - this formula was well worked out by the Nazis. Jacob was killed by SS guard Konrad Harfisch in the presence of SS guard chief Karl Jüngling.

When Jonah Andronov was preparing his documentary essay “The Prisoner of Sachsenhausen” for publication, these SS executioners were living quietly in Germany, and Harfish openly declared at a meeting with journalists: “It’s for sure that I shot at him.”

On April 22, 1943, Himmler sent an SS report and a personal dispatch to the Foreign Ministry addressed to Ribbentrop under the heading “Top Secret”: “Dear Ribbentrop! I am sending you a report on the circumstances under which prisoner of war Yakov Dzhugashvili, Stalin’s son, was shot while trying to escape from a special block "A" in Sachsenhausen near Oranienburg. Heil Hitler! Your Heinrich Himmler."

Thirty-four years later, by Decree of the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet of the USSR dated October 28, 1977, Ya.I. Dzhugashvili was posthumously awarded the Order of the Patriotic War, 1st degree; on February 1, 1985, the order was transferred to the custody of his daughter Galina Yakovlevna.

Nadezhda’s suicide hit her children twice: it deprived them of their mother early and made their father extremely bitter. This blow hit Vasily, who was 12 years old in 1932, the hardest. This is a difficult, fragile age, considering that Vasily was a “difficult child” from childhood. Such children especially urgently need a loved one, capable of understanding a teenager and directing his irrepressible energy in the right direction, preventing him from “blabbing”, gaining internal control over his actions, and preventing permissiveness.

But fate decreed otherwise; he grew up almost homeless. Nadezhda, whom Vasily loved dearly, was obliged to sacrifice even her “I” for the sake of her son. But. But she entrusted the upbringing of her son, and her daughter too, to a person who was not at all close to the children - Alexander Ivanovich Muravyov, although, perhaps, a very good one. In the end, this attitude towards children turned against herself; she did not find support and joy in them. In “Twenty Letters to a Friend,” one dialogue is reproduced, overheard by Alexandra Andreevna Bychkova (Svetlana’s nanny), which occurred between Nadezhda and her gymnasium friend shortly before her suicide. To a friend’s question: “Does nothing in life make you happy?” - she answered: “Nothing makes me happy. I’m tired of everything! I’m disgusted with everything!” - “Well, what about the children, children?” - “Everything, including the children.” Hearing this, the nanny realized that Nadezhda was really tired of life.

Vasily grew up as a hooligan, studied unevenly and often carelessly. In April 1991, the Teacher's Newspaper published a letter from Stalin to V.V. Martyshin, a history teacher at Moscow special school No. 2, where Vasily studied. Here is his text:

“I received your letter about the art of Vasily Stalin. I am answering very late due to overload with work. I apologize.

Vasily is a spoiled young man of average abilities, a savage (a Scythian type!), not always truthful, loves to blackmail weak “leaders”, often impudent, with a weak, or rather, disorganized will.

He was spoiled by all sorts of “godfathers” and “godmothers”, who constantly emphasized that he was “the son of Stalin.”

I am glad that in your person there was at least one self-respecting teacher who treats Vasily like everyone else and demands that the impudent man submit to the general regime at school. Vasily is spoiled by principals like the one you mentioned, rag people who have no place in school, and if the impudent Vasily did not manage to destroy himself, it is because there are some teachers in our country who do not give way to the capricious barchuk.

My advice: demand stricter demands from Vasily and not be afraid of the capricious man’s false, blackmailing threats about “suicide.”

You will have my support in this.

Unfortunately, I myself do not have the opportunity to tinker with Vasily. But I promise to grab him by the collar from time to time.

As we see, the father understood the character of his son, did not encourage him to “art” and demanded the same from his mentors, educators and commanders. This is confirmed by the following facts: for example, the head of the Kachin Red Banner Aviation School named after Myasnikov was removed from his post for creating privileged conditions for cadet Vasily Stalin, and from the leaders of the 16th Air Army, to which Vasily was sent during the war, Stalin demanded “not to do any -or exceptions for my son."

Of course, this eternal overload of work did not add attention to my son, but he needed it so much! His father raised him in fits and starts, suffered from this, but could not change anything. Time was lost; Vasily grew up as a pedagogically neglected child. Perhaps the guy was rendered a disservice by his compassionate relatives - his grandparents, my mother and Pavel, who transferred all their love for his mother to him. They spoiled Vasily, forgiving him a lot and protecting him from his father’s righteous anger.

Be that as it may, Vasily’s studies continued with little effort, finally he transferred to the Artillery School, and then in 1939 he entered the Kachin Aviation School, which he graduated from before the war.

Most of all, Vasily loved fast driving and company. He loved to ride everything - from horses to airplanes. He had an impeccable command of technology, rode a motorcycle well, drove a car of any brand perfectly, and was a great flyer. I preferred to travel with him in a car, which in his hands was light and submissive, like Living being. I also rode a motorcycle with him, but it was a little scary, he was too reckless on turns.

He was always surrounded by a bunch of friends. He played football with them, went fishing, and took a steam bath. These guys were cheerful and selfless. But, as they grew older, these companies increasingly attracted people who needed something from their “son.” By the way, my father could not stand this and always inspired Vasily and Svetlana to be more picky with their friends and not to welcome those who were not averse to using them for their own selfish interests. Unfortunately, these admonitions helped little.

While studying at the aviation school, Vasily married Galina Burdonskaya. This sweet, pretty girl easily entered our family and was loved.

At the beginning of the war, when Yakov was captured, the helpful entourage came up with some kind of inspector position for Vasily in order to keep him away from the front. Perhaps there was some political reason for this, but it did not benefit Vasily. He suffered from idleness and became addicted to alcohol. At the dacha in Zubalovo, where our family lived, noisy feasts began. Once Vasily brought here famous figure cinema A.Ya. Kapler, and he met Svetlana.

Rumors about these parties reached Stalin, and in the end a huge scandal occurred, Zubalovo was closed, everyone - my grandfather, my grandmother, and my mother - received a blow to the brain. And Vasily again “threw away the trick”; he decided to use a rocket to kill the fish. The fishing ended in tragedy, Vasily’s companion died, and he, severely wounded in the leg, was admitted to the hospital.

Of course, Stalin was informed about this, and he became furious. Vasily was kicked out from everywhere, and he, leaving the hospital with his leg still bandaged, lived with us for some time, often complaining to my mother that they didn’t want to send him to the front: “With these hands you can only strangle devils,” Vasily was indignant, “and I I’m sitting here in the rear!”

But he achieved his goal and went to the front, where he made twenty-seven combat missions and shot down one fascist plane.

The son made peace with his father only in 1945 during the Potsdam Conference. The certification written for Vasily, which was published in his book by A. Kolesnik, dates back to this time:

“V.I. Stalin has been serving as division commander since May 1944. Personally, Comrade Stalin has good organizational skills and strong-willed qualities. He is well tactically prepared, competently understands the operational situation, quickly and correctly navigates issues of combat work. At work He is energetic, very proactive, and always demands from his subordinates that given orders be carried out accurately. He can organize the combat work of a regiment and division.

Along with positive qualities personally Guard Colonel V.I. Stalin has a number of big disadvantages. By nature he is hot-tempered and quick-tempered, allows for intemperance, there have been cases of assault towards subordinates. An insufficiently deep study of people, as well as a not always serious approach to the selection of personnel, especially staff workers, led to frequent movements of officers in positions. This did not sufficiently contribute to the formation of headquarters.

In his personal life he commits actions that are incompatible with his position as a division commander, there were cases of tactless behavior at flight personnel evenings, rudeness towards individual officers, there was a case of frivolous behavior - leaving the airfield in Siauliai on a tractor with a conflict and a fight with a control post NKVD.

The state of health is poor, especially nervous system, extremely irritable: this had an impact on what Lately In flight work, he did little personal training, which leads to poor development of certain issues of flight training (orientation).

All of these listed shortcomings significantly reduce his authority as a commander and are incompatible with his position as division commander.

He can command a division subject to the obligatory condition of eliminating the indicated shortcomings."

This certification was written on December 25, 1945 by Aviation Lieutenant General Beletsky and approved by the commander of the 3rd air army Colonel General of Aviation Papivin.

A. Kolesnik admires the courage and courage of the people who compiled the certification. I think differently, the document is objective among many. Then there was a time of strict personal responsibility and deviations in any other direction could cost more than the truth. We have lost this sense of responsibility so long ago that few people can understand the people of those years.

I often communicated with Vasily, and in my memory he was and remains a decent person. He was much simpler and, I would say, softer than Svetlana. He was distinguished by exceptional kindness and selflessness; he could calmly give his last shirt to a comrade. Before my eyes, he gave a beautiful Tatra to one of his friends, who simply could not hide his admiration for the car. Knowing these qualities of his well, I will never believe that he could have appropriated some government money for himself and speculated on foreign clothes. He was very simple and democratic with people, but he could not stand lackeys and did not miss an opportunity to mock them.

His aviation service continued more or less successfully after the war, as evidenced by the certification given to him by Lieutenant General E.Ya. Savitsky, commander of the 3rd Aviation Corps in 1946.

The characteristic, as the reader will notice, echoes the one given earlier:

"Major General of Aviation Stalin flies the following aircraft: Po-2, Ut-1, Ut-2, I-15, I-153, MiG-3, LAGG-3, Yak-1, Yak-7, Yak-9, IL-2, Boston, Zibel, La-5, La-7, Hurricane - total flight time 3174 hours 15 minutes.

He has commanded the 286th Division since February 1945; under his leadership, units of the division carried out a total of 14,111 flights with a flight time of 8,376 hours and 12 minutes in 1946, including 5,091 flights on Po-2 during the day with a flight time of 2,996 hours and 27 minutes. at night 3392 flights with flight time 1357 hours 47 minutes. The flight personnel of the division's units practiced taking off in eights and landing in pairs and fours. The pilots became proficient in firing at air and ground targets. Much attention in the division is paid to shooting from photo-machine guns. A total of 7,635 firings were carried out using photo-machine guns. Training with the division's flight technical personnel is well organized and carried out systematically in the division's training room, which consists of 16 well-equipped classrooms. The technical and operational service of the division is well organized, as evidenced by the fact that during the certification period there were no cases of equipment failure due to fault technical staff. The division headquarters has been put together and is working well: during the mentioned period, the division conducted 3 bilateral flight-tactical regimental exercises covering the flight personnel of 4 regiments in interaction with bombers.

During the first half of 1946, 22 tactical flight exercises were carried out, all of them were organized and without incident. In general, the division ranks first in the corps in fulfilling the plan for all types of combat training. In the time since the war, the 286th Division has grown noticeably and become more organized. The flight crew is fully prepared to perform combat missions at medium altitudes. 40 percent of pilots can fly high altitudes and in difficult weather conditions. Aviation Major General Stalin himself has good organizational skills and good operational and tactical training. He skillfully passes on his combat experience to the flight crew. Energetic and proactive, he seeks these same qualities from his subordinates. In his work he pays great attention new technology, often gives innovative ideas and persistently puts them into practice. He organizes flight work boldly and methodically correctly.

The state of health is poor. He is quick-tempered and irritable, and does not always know how to restrain himself. When communicating with subordinates, he is rude and sometimes trusts subordinates too much, even at a time when they are not prepared and are not able to carry out the commander’s decision. These personal shortcomings reduce his authority as a commander-leader. Personally disciplined, ideologically consistent, morally stable.

Conclusion: it is quite suitable for the position held, can be appointed for promotion, it would be advisable to use it in the inspectorate apparatus of the Main Directorate Air Force Red Army".

The commander of the 16th Air Army, Colonel General of Aviation S.I., also agreed with the certification of the corps commander. Rudenko. At the same time, he noted that “the combat training division occupies a leading place in the army. It is worthy of promotion to the position of corps commander. To overcome the shortcomings indicated in the certification, although compared to the past, there is a sharp and noticeable improvement.”

The army is a specific institution, the next rank is assigned according to the position held. Well, if you are “quite suitable” and “worthy of promotion,” then the promotion period is reduced. Vasily finished the war with the rank of colonel, awarded to him in 1942 (he received it immediately after the rank of "major", which did him a disservice), now he is a major general.

However, Mrs. Vodka carried out her destructive work steadily. Vasily became more and more indiscriminate in people and connections, and felt less and less responsible to his family. He leaves his wife and two children and marries the daughter of Marshal S.K. Tymoshenko, a beautiful young woman with jet-black hair and blue eyes. From his second marriage he had a son and a daughter, but his father’s alcohol had a detrimental effect on the children’s health; today they are no longer alive, and his second wife also died. As for the children from his first marriage, his son Alexander became a theater director Soviet army, daughter Nadezhda (born in 1943) married the son of Moscow Art Theater actress A.I. Stepanova, lives in Moscow. Galina Burdonskaya herself died in 1990.

After the death of his father, Vasily’s life went downhill and turned out tragically. He ended up behind bars. It is interesting to note that after Vasily’s arrest, a Ministry of Defense commission was created to inspect the Moscow District Air Force, which he recently commanded.

According to Colonel I.P. Travnikov, which is cited by A. Kolesnik, “in combat and political training he received good mark, but nevertheless, everything bad was pinned on Vasily, and he was arrested. This begs a legitimate question - for what? We became aware of the alleged illegal use of Money not for its intended purpose (built a water pool, the first indoor one in Moscow, where thousands of children studied and are learning to swim, began construction of an indoor skating rink in Chapaevsky Lane: they quickly made a foundation, installed a metal frame brought from Konigsberg, ordered equipment from the GDR).”

The same Travnikov believes that “Vasily was removed due to the evil intent of Khrushchev. Vasily knew a lot about him and his entourage, about their shortcomings. When fighting, all means are good, even taken from ancient history, how to deal with undesirables.”

After some time, Vasily is released on the condition that he changes his lifestyle and behavior. Vasily promised, but soon broke down, his “friends” again attached themselves to him, there was drinking, threats, etc., etc. Again in prison, he had to serve out the eight years given to him by the sentence. In 1960, by order of N.S. Khrushchev releases him early. The same Travnikov believes that “Khrushchev was informed about the critical state of Vasily’s health, and if he dies in prison, this will take a political assessment. That’s why Khrushchev decided to release Vasily and invited him to a reception. At the meeting and conversation, Khrushchev, dishonestly, spoke positively about Vasily’s father, even said that a mistake had occurred during Vasily’s arrest (this is about the verdict of the Military Collegium Supreme Court USSR, which sentenced Vasily Stalin to 8 years). Vasily told this to his former deputy E.M. Gorbatyuk."

Everything will be returned to him - from his rank to his party card - on the condition that he will show the will and pull himself together. But it was already too late, the alcoholic illness had taken its roots so deeply into his body that there was no longer and could not be any will. Again in prison, from which Vasily was released for health reasons in the spring of 1961. He leaves for Kazan. On March 19, 1962, he died; shortly before that he registered his third marriage - with nurse Masha - Maria Nuzborg.

Our family asked N.S. Khrushchev to bury Vasily next to his mother, in the family grave, but did not find any understanding. Vasily Stalin is buried in Kazan. I am still convinced that this is unfair and Vasily’s ashes should lie not in Kazan, but in Moscow, on Novodevichy near his mother Nadezhda Sergeevna Alliluyeva-Stalina. The dead are not punished.

Sons On New Year's morning I get up late. I visit the Wang family estate, which looks even more impressive than the Chang family estate, and at the same time the Qiao family estate. Then I order myself a big dinner and go to bed. For the next two days the road takes me through a coal mine.

Daughters and sons "All happy families are similar to each other, each unhappy family is unhappy in its own way.” It would seem that there is a comprehensive formula that will suit any family. But in Tolstoy’s family everything was fantastically mixed up and “mixed up” - happy and

Sons and sons of Joseph Stalin Stalin was the father of nations for us. My generation thanked him for happy childhood- it was like thanking God for our daily bread. Then he was declared a tyrant, a murderer, a ghoul. For a long time it seemed to me that he did not foresee this

Chertkov and sons One can have different attitudes towards the complex personality of Chertkov. But here is a fact incomprehensible from a normal human point of view. Knowing the reaction he was causing in S.A., from the end of June 1910 he came to her house every day (sometimes twice a day), before her eyes

Father and sons However, it only seemed so. And even then for a very short time. This was not the end of the struggle - passions flared up and it was impossible to calm them down. The unfortunate father found adherents. True, many of them had to be bought, and the imperial treasury

Father and sons When the flurry of general rejoicing caused by the rescue of the Chelyuskinites passed, the rallies, meetings, banquets ended, the pilots - the first Heroes Soviet Union was given the opportunity to enroll in the Zhukovsky Air Force Academy.

Prologue: “Sons of the Sun” On July 10, 1873, in Brussels, Paul Verlaine shot twice at his friend Arthur Rimbaud, slightly wounding him in the arm. Both poets were thus connected by blood. But fate united Verlaine and Rimbaud not only in life: their names are inextricably intertwined in

[Sons] Adults love to ask little children: tell me, who do you love more, dad or mom? Children always frown at this question, sniffle and break free from the hands that are trying to hold them. The most lymphatic ones answer, frowning: “I don’t know!” And how would they know? But this one

16. Sons I have two. In childhood they were very similar to each other, and different in life. Andrey grew up relatively sickly. Our parental inexperience is to blame for this. Irina and I took him with us to the meadow to collect sorrel when he was still 3 months old. Wrapped in a light blanket, day

Sons Arkady and Nikita... In photographs, film and video chronicles of Vysotsky’s funeral, two young men with bowed heads stand next to the coffin. The taller one is the younger Nikita, next to him is Arkady. On that day, Arkady was almost 18 years old, Nikita was 16. Then it had not yet come to them

Sons And yet I was happy in my marriage. Almost from the first months. Because I have my boys, the two most beloved people in the world - William and Harry. My sons are the best thing I have in life. If I had even the slightest opportunity (except for the frank

Part IV. Father's Sons Chapter 1. The Turning Point Chapter 2. Raising Rich Chapter 3. An Offer He Could Refuse Chapter 4. The Question About Francesca Interview: Stanley Tucker - October 2 and 11, 2011; Carol Wells Doheny - March 8 and 12, June 15, 2012; Noreen Nash Seagle - April 3, 2012; Mark Young

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It is unlikely that any adult in Russia, or indeed in the world, needs to be told about Stalin the politician. Much less is known about Stalin as a person, but he was a husband, father and, as it turns out, a great lover of women, at least during his stormy revolutionary youth. True, the fates of those closest to him always turned out tragically. Dismissing fiction, myths and gossip, Anews talks about the wives and children of the leader.

Ekaterina (Kato) Svanidze

First wife

At the age of 27, Stalin married the 21-year-old daughter of a Georgian nobleman. Her brother, with whom he once studied at the theological seminary, was his close friend. They got married secretly, at night, in a mountain monastery in Tiflis, because Joseph was already hiding from the authorities as an underground Bolshevik.

Marriage concluded by Great love, lasted only 16 months: Kato gave birth to a son, Yakov, and at the age of 22 she died in her husband’s arms, either from transient consumption or from typhus. According to legend, the inconsolable widower allegedly told a friend at the funeral: “My last warm feelings for people died with her.”

Even if these words are fiction, then here real fact: Years later, Stalin’s repressions destroyed almost all of Catherine’s relatives. The same brother and his wife were shot, elder sister. And his brother’s son was kept in a psychiatric hospital until Stalin’s death.

Yakov Dzhugashvili

First son

Stalin's firstborn was raised by Kato's relatives. He first saw his father at the age of 14, when he already had new family. It is believed that Stalin never fell in love with the “wolf cub,” as he himself called him, and was even jealous of his wife, who was only five and a half years older than Yasha. He severely punished the teenager for the slightest offenses, sometimes he did not let him go home, forcing him to spend the night on the stairs. When, at the age of 18, the son married against the will of his father, the relationship completely deteriorated. In desperation, Yakov tried to shoot himself, but the bullet went right through, he was saved, and Stalin distanced himself even more from the “bully and blackmailer” and mocked him: “Ha, I didn’t hit!”

In June 1941, Yakov Dzhugashvili went to the front, and to the most difficult sector - near Vitebsk. His battery distinguished itself in one of the largest tank battles, and Stalin's son, along with other fighters, was nominated for an award.

But soon Yakov was captured. His portraits immediately appeared on fascist leaflets designed to demoralize Soviet soldiers. There is a myth that Stalin allegedly refused to exchange his son for the German military leader Paulus, saying: “I don’t exchange a soldier for a field marshal!” Historians doubt that the Germans even proposed such an exchange, and the phrase itself is heard in the Soviet film epic “Liberation” and, apparently, is an invention of the screenwriters.

German photo: Stalin's son in captivity

And the following photograph of the captive Yakov Dzhugashvili is published for the first time: only recently it was found in the photo archive of the military leader of the Third Reich, Wolfram von Richthofen.

Yakov spent two years in captivity and did not cooperate with the Germans under any pressure. He died in the camp in April 1943: he provoked a sentry to fire a fatal shot by rushing to the barbed wire fence. According to a common version, Yakov fell into despair after hearing Stalin’s words on the radio that “there are no prisoners of war in the Red Army, there are only traitors and traitors to the Motherland.” However, most likely, this “spectacular phrase” was attributed to Stalin later.

Meanwhile, Yakov Dzhugashvili’s relatives, in particular his daughter and half-brother Artem Sergeev, were convinced all their lives that he died in battle in June 1941, and his time in captivity, including photos and interrogation reports, was from beginning to end played out by the Germans for propaganda purposes. However, in 2007, the FSB confirmed the fact of his captivity.

Nadezhda Alliluyeva

Second and last wife

Stalin married for the second time at the age of 40, his wife was 23 years younger - a fresh graduate of the gymnasium, who looked with adoration at the seasoned revolutionary, who had just returned from yet another Siberian exile.

Nadezhda was the daughter of Stalin’s longtime associates, and he also had an affair with her mother Olga in his youth. Now, years later, she became his mother-in-law.

The marriage of Joseph and Nadezhda, initially happy, eventually became unbearable for both. Memories of their family are very contradictory: some said that Stalin was gentle at home, and she imposed strict discipline and easily flared up, others said that he was constantly rude, and she endured and accumulated grievances until tragedy struck...

In November 1932, after another public altercation with her husband while visiting Voroshilov, Nadezhda returned home, retired to the bedroom and shot herself in the heart. No one heard the shot, only the next morning she was found dead. She was 31 years old.

There were also different stories about Stalin's reaction. According to some, he was shocked and cried at the funeral. Others remember that he was furious and said over his wife’s coffin: “I didn’t know that you were my enemy.” One way or another, with family relations was forever over. Subsequently, numerous novels were attributed to Stalin, including with the first beauty of the Soviet screen, Lyubov Orlova, but these were mostly unconfirmed rumors and myths.

Vasily Dzhugashvili (Stalin)

Second son

Nadezhda gave birth to two children for Stalin. When she committed suicide, her 12-year-old son and 6-year-old daughter found themselves under the supervision of not only nannies and housekeepers, but also male guards led by General Vlasik. It was them that Vasily later blamed for the fact that from a young age he became addicted to smoking and alcohol.

Subsequently, being a military pilot and fighting bravely in the war, he more than once received penalties and demotions “in the name of Stalin” for hooligan actions. For example, he was removed from command of a regiment for fishing with the use of aircraft shells, as a result of which his weapons engineer was killed and one of the best pilots was wounded.

Or after the war, a year before Stalin’s death, he lost his position as commander of the Air Force of the Moscow Military District when he showed up drunk at a government holiday reception and was rude to the Air Force Commander-in-Chief.

Immediately after the death of the leader, the life of Aviation Lieutenant General Vasily Stalin went downhill. He began to spread left and right that his father had been poisoned, and when the Minister of Defense decided to appoint his troubled son to a position away from Moscow, he did not obey his order. He was transferred to the reserve without the right to wear a uniform, and then he did the irreparable - he conveyed his version of Stalin’s poisoning to foreigners, hoping to receive protection from them.

But instead of abroad younger son Stalin, a decorated participant in the Great Patriotic War, ended up in prison, where he spent 8 years, from April 1953 to April 1961. The angry Soviet leadership brought a lot of accusations on him, including frankly ridiculous ones, but Vasily admitted to everything without exception during interrogation. At the end of his sentence, he was “exiled” to Kazan, but he did not live even a year in freedom: he died in March ’62, just a couple of days before his 41st birthday. According to the official conclusion, from alcohol poisoning.

Svetlana Alliluyeva (Lana Peters)

Stalin's daughter

Naturally or not, the only one of the children whom Stalin doted on gave him nothing but trouble during his lifetime, and after his death she fled abroad and in the end completely abandoned her homeland, where she was threatened with the fate of suffering moral punishment for the rest of her days. father's sins.

From a young age, she started countless affairs, sometimes destructive for her chosen ones. When, at the age of 16, she fell in love with the 40-year-old screenwriter Alexei Kapler, Stalin arrested him and exiled him to Vorkuta, completely forgetting how he himself had seduced him at the same age. young Nadezhda, Svetlana's mother.

Svetlana only had five official husbands, including an Indian and an American. Having escaped to India in 1966, she became a “defector”, leaving her 20-year-old son and 16-year-old daughter behind in the USSR. They did not forgive such betrayal. The son is no longer in the world, and the daughter, who is now approaching 70, abruptly interrupts the inquisitive journalists: “You are mistaken, she is not my mother.”

In America, Svetlana, who became Lana Peters by marriage, had her third daughter, Olga. With her, she suddenly returned to the USSR in the mid-80s, but did not take root either in Moscow or in Georgia and eventually finally left for the USA, renouncing her native citizenship. Her personal life never worked out. She died in a nursing home in 2011, her burial place is unknown.

Svetlana Alliluyeva: “Wherever I go - to Switzerland, or India, even Australia, even some lonely island, I will always be a political prisoner in the name of my father.”

Stalin had three more sons - two illegitimate, born from his mistresses in exile, and one adopted. Surprisingly, their fates were not so tragic, on the contrary, as if distance from their father or lack of blood relationship saved them from evil fate.

Artem Sergeev

Stalin's adopted son

His own father was the legendary Bolshevik “Comrade Artem”, revolutionary comrade-in-arms and close friend Stalin. When his son was three months old, he died in a train accident, and Stalin took him into his family.

Artem was the same age as Vasily Stalin; the guys were inseparable from childhood. From the age of two and a half, both were raised in a boarding school for “Kremlin” children, however, in order not to raise a “children’s elite,” exactly the same number of real street children were placed with them. Everyone was taught to work equally. The children of party members returned home only on weekends, and were obliged to invite orphans to their home.

According to Vasily’s memoirs, Stalin “loved Artyom very much and set him as an example.” However, Stalin did not give any concessions to the diligent Artyom, who, unlike Vasily, studied well and with interest. So, after the war, he had a rather difficult time at the Artillery Academy due to excessive drilling and nagging teachers. Then it turned out that Stalin personally demanded that his adopted son be treated more strictly.

After Stalin's death, Artem Sergeev became a great military leader and retired with the rank of major general of artillery. He is considered one of the founders of the USSR anti-aircraft missile forces. He died in 2008 at the age of 86. Until the end of his life he remained a devoted communist.

Mistresses and illegitimate children

British specialist in Soviet history Simon Seabag Montefiori, who has many awards for documentary filmmaking, toured the territory in the 90s former USSR and found a lot of unpublished documents in the archives. It turned out that young Stalin was surprisingly amorous and was fond of women of different ages and estates, and after the death of his first wife, during the years of Siberian exile, he had big number mistresses

17-year-old high school graduate Onufrieva's field he sent passionate cards (one of them is pictured). Postscript: “I have your kiss, transmitted to me through Petka. I kiss you back, and not just kiss you, but passionately (you just shouldn’t kiss!). Joseph".

He had affairs with fellow party members - Vera Schweitzer And Lyudmila Steel.

And on a noblewoman from Odessa Stefania Petrovskaya he was even planning to get married.

However, Stalin married two sons with simple peasant women from the distant wilderness.

Konstantin Stepanovich Kuzakov

Illegitimate son from his cohabitant in Solvychegodsk, Maria Kuzakova

The son of a young widow who sheltered the exiled Stalin, he graduated from a university in Leningrad and made a dizzying career - from a non-partisan university teacher to the head of cinematography at the USSR Ministry of Culture and one of the leaders of the State Television and Radio Broadcasting Company. He recalled in 1995: “My origins were not a big secret, but I always managed to avoid answering when asked about it. But I guess my promotion is also related to my abilities.”

Only in mature age he saw Stalin closely for the first time, and it happened in the buffet of the Presidium of the Supreme Council. Kuzakov, as a member of the Central Committee apparatus responsible for propaganda, was involved in political editing of speeches. “I didn’t even have time to take a step towards Stalin. The bell rang and members of the Politburo went into the hall. Stalin stopped and looked at me. I felt that he wanted to tell me something. I wanted to rush towards him, but something stopped me. Probably, subconsciously, I understood that public recognition of my relationship would bring me nothing but big troubles. Stalin waved his phone and walked slowly..."

After this, Stalin, under the pretext of a work consultation, wanted to arrange a personal reception for Kuzakov, but he did not hear the phone call, having fallen fast asleep after a late meeting. Only the next morning they told him that he had missed it. Then Konstantin saw Stalin more than once, both close and from afar, but they never spoke to each other, and he never called again. “I think he didn’t want to make me a tool in the hands of intriguers.”

However, in 1947, Kuzakov almost came under repression due to Beria’s intrigues. He was expelled from the party for “loss of vigilance” and removed from all posts. Beria demanded his arrest at the Politburo. But Stalin saved his unrecognized son. As Zhdanov later told him, Stalin walked along the table for a long time, smoked and then said: “I see no reason for the arrest of Kuzakov.”

Kuzakov was reinstated in the party on the day of Beria’s arrest, and his career resumed. He retired under Gorbachev, in 1987, at the age of 75. Died in 1996.

Alexander Yakovlevich Davydov

Illegitimate son from his cohabitant in Kureika, Lidiya Pereprygina

And here there was almost a criminal story, because 34-year-old Stalin began living with Lydia when she was only 14. Under the threat of gendarmerie prosecution for seducing a minor, he promised to later marry her, but fled from exile earlier. At the time of his disappearance, she was pregnant and without him gave birth to a son, Alexander.

There is evidence that at first the runaway father corresponded with Lydia. Then, a rumor spread that Stalin had been killed at the front, and she married fisherman Yakov Davydov, who adopted her child.

There is documentary evidence that in 1946, 67-year-old Stalin suddenly wanted to find out about their fate and conveyed a laconic order to find bearers of such and such surnames. Based on the results of the search, Stalin was given a brief certificate - such and such lived there. And all the personal and juicy details that became clear in the process surfaced only 10 years later, already under Khrushchev, when the campaign to expose the cult of personality began.

Alexander Davydov lived simple life Soviet soldier and a hard worker. He took part in the Great Patriotic and Korean Wars, rising to the rank of major. After leaving the army, he lived with his family in Novokuznetsk, working in low-level positions - as a foreman, head of a factory canteen. Died in 1987.