Stalin's mistresses: women whom the leader loved. Stalin's wives and muses: the secrets of the personal life of the merciless dictator Svanidze, Stalin's wife died from what

It was short, but apparently happy marriage. Because he was in love...

With her future husband, Joseph Dzhugashvili, Catherine was introduced by her brother Alexander, who, like Joseph, was passionate about religion - both studied at the seminary - and ... politics.

First of all, the enamored Joseph found it necessary to introduce the chosen one to his mother. Keke liked her son's bride and received a blessing for marriage.

Then such things were still important for the future Soviet dictator.

An amazing thing is that dozens of books have been written about Stalin and his personal life. But at the same time, almost nothing is known about his first woman.

I happened to meet the descendants of those who personally knew both Joseph himself and his Kato. At the beginning of the last century, this was the name given to the future ruler of one-sixth of the land and his greatest love.

From their stories and memoirs, I will try to recreate the story of the life and death of Ekaterina Svanidze.

She was unusual woman. Already because for the sake of her, the former seminarian Dzhugashvili went down the aisle.

On the night of July 16, 1906, in the monastery of St. David, located in Tiflis on Mount Mtatsminda, the wedding of the 19-year-old daughter of a Tiflis peasant and the 26-year-old son of a shoemaker from Gori took place. Dzhugashvili then just joined the Bolshevik Party and was not at all alien to the joys of family life.

At that time, Joseph was already in an illegal position.

And therefore the wedding took place secretly and at night. The only priest who agreed to perform the ceremony was Soso's classmate at the seminary.

The young Bolshevik had to get married under a false name. According to his passport, he was listed as Galiashvili.

A series of pseudonyms began ...

Only four months will pass, and Ekaterina Svanidze will be able to fully experience what it means to be the wife of a revolutionary.

On November 13, the police, who were looking for Joseph, will come to her apartment on Freilinskaya Street. He was at that time in Baku. Therefore, the gendarmes - not to leave empty-handed - arrested Kato.

The formal reason for the arrest was that Svanidze showed her maiden passport to the police, although her marriage was no longer a secret to anyone.

On the eve of the new, which became the last in her life, Svanidze was released. The petition was written by her relatives. The woman was in her fifth month of pregnancy, and the Tiflis police, perhaps, simply took pity on the unfortunate wife of Joseph Dzhugashvili. Who, to his credit, also signed the petition. True, he appeared in it as cousin arrested.

And three months later, the parents had to flee from Tiflis. The reason for the escape was a raid on a mail coach, which the young father organized on Erivan Square in Tiflis.

As a result of the attack, 250 thousand rubles were stolen - a huge amount for those times.

However, later it turns out that the tsarist police became the true organizer of the famous robbery. All stolen banknotes were marked, and when trying to exchange them abroad, many wanted revolutionaries were arrested.

Only Soso escaped detention, who at that moment was again hiding in Baku. Subsequently, such luck will give rise to talk that he was a secret police officer.

But such conversations will arise later. In the meantime, the spouses had a normal, if you do not take into account the need to hide, life.

Catherine was offended by her mother-in-law, whom she called "the old woman." The reason was familiar to any young family: Keke refused to look after Yakov while her daughter-in-law and son were in Baku.

Kato had to turn to relatives for help, whose house would later become home for Jacob.

The only way Catherine could help her son was with the money that she gave to her relatives. The woman was a popular dressmaker in Tiflis, who dressed the wife of the chief of police himself.

Maybe that's why in the end the relationship between Keke and Kato did not work out? Stalin's mother was just a simple laundress. And the son's wife sheathed the entire city nobility.

Who knows if female rivalry quarreled between the two main women of Joseph?

During her stay in Baku, Ekaterina Svanidze fell ill with transient consumption. Her husband brought her back to Tiflis and returned to Baku again.

He arrived in the capital of Georgia only a day before the death of his wife, on November 21, 1907. The next day Svanidze was gone.

The marriage of Soso and Kato, as friends called the young, lasted a little over a year. According to contemporaries, Joseph truly loved Catherine.

Perhaps because she began to behave correctly from the first day - she looked at her husband from the bottom up, not exposing his words to the slightest doubt and not even daring to think that her Soso, who was forced to hide from the police every now and then and leave his young wife in loneliness, maybe something is wrong.

Although, of course, there were people who said otherwise. So, a certain Peter Mozhnov, who knew the owner of the Baku refuge Soso and Keto, recalled that "Joseph, returning home drunk, scolded his wife last words and kicked...

At the funeral of Ekaterina Svanidze, held at the Kukiya cemetery in Tiflis, Joseph Dzhugashvili told a friend: "This creature softened my stony heart; she died, and my last warm feelings for people died with her."

When the coffin with the body of Catherine was lowered into the ground, Joseph threw himself into the grave. One of Dzhugashvili's friends, Gerontius Kikodze, who was present at the funeral, had to go down to the grave and pull out the inconsolable comrade almost by force.

A year after the death of his wife, Iosif Dzhugashivli took on a pseudonym, by which he went down in history, to this day forcing him to talk not only about himself, but also about his family members.

Soso Dzhugashvili became Joseph Stalin.

There are many assumptions about why Dzhugashvili chose this particular pseudonym. Personally, I am close to the version associated with the death of Ekaterina Svanidze.

Joseph's "heart of stone" was now beating in the steel man. Who thought only about power.

Ekaterina Svanidze's brother Alexander, the one who made Joseph's meeting with his first wife, became a fiery revolutionary. He was the Minister of Finance of Soviet Georgia, worked for several years in Geneva, returning from which he headed Vneshtorgbank in Moscow. He and his wife were among the most trusted people in Stalin's household.

In 1937, Svanidze was arrested and soon shot. His wife, having received the news of her husband's death, died of a broken heart.

All ties to the past were severed. No one even dared to mention the name Svanidze in Stalin's house.

The name of Catherine began to sound from the lips of Stalin only in last years life, when he loved to remember his youth, Georgia and his first love ...

Olga Trifonova, widow of the famous anti-Stalinist prose writer Yuri Trifonov, recently wrote a book about tragic fate Stalin's wife Nadezhda Alliluyeva. The book is called "The One". This is both a work of art and a documentary, which tells about Stalin's love and hatred for his only beloved woman. Here is what its author says about the book: "Of course, there is a flight of fantasy in it. Although it is carried out in the conditions of historical reality - from fact, as they say, to fact. The narrative is based on many documents."

ON THIS TOPIC

When asked why the novel was called "The Only One", Olga Trifonova answered this way: "Most likely, Alliluyeva is the only woman whom Stalin truly loved. And one of the few who did not succumb to him. Even with her departure from life, she protested. Stalin failed to "break" his wife, to make him a quiet and obedient slave. They began to live together in 1917, when Nadia was 16 years old. Iosif Dzhugashvili was then 39. Nadya's father Sergei Yakovlevich Alliluyev, outraged by such news, complained to his friend : "Joseph took his daughter away. Why does he need her? She is still quite a girl. "Nadya did not want to take her husband's surname. Alliluyeva remained until the end of her life. By the way, as it turned out, back in Kureisk, where Joseph was in exile, his mistress was a young 14-year-old girl - an orphan Lidia Pereprygina. She a son was born. There is nothing vicious in such a passion. It is, as it were, a desire to prolong one's life, a desire for renewal ... In the Urals, Stalin's grandson by the name of Davydov was recently discovered. A dearest man, I must admit. And with his Caucasian appearance he is very similar to his grandfather. According to the family According to legend, his father allegedly died at the front. The main thing is that everything coincides in dates! "

Trifonova's book contains information that Stalin's wife had an affair with Kirov, Express Gazeta writes. "Such assumptions were made by historians. Kirov really liked Nadezhda! She sometimes ran away to Leningrad, and Sergei Mironovich took care of her. Stalin, of course, followed his wife and was wildly jealous. My reasoning about them love affair are based on the stories of Sergei Mikhailovich Metallikov, whose father was the deputy head of the Main Medical Directorate of the Kremlin,” says Olga Trifonova.

Stalin was jealous of his wife even for his first son Yakov: “There is evidence from relatives. Nadezhda Sergeevna was very sorry for her adopted son, she took care of him in every possible way. whether from typhoid fever, or from tuberculosis.By the way, when Yakov tried to shoot himself, the only reaction of his father was: "Ha-ha! I couldn't even hit myself!"

Nadezhda Alliluyeva did not spoil her children and kept them in strictness: “In her youth, she seemed to be a very cheerful woman. And at the end of her life she was deeply unhappy. Because she was in deep depression. But she was very a good man, fair. A strict but loving mother. I was very afraid that in the atmosphere of unthinkable luxury at that time in which they lived, the children would be spoiled. So I kept them in check."

Stalin knew that he was responsible for the whole country, and did not consider it necessary to take care of his own wife. According to the novel by Olga Trifonova, Nadezhda Alliluyeva had ten abortions during her entire marriage. “This also has documentary evidence. I read extracts from her medical book. It is impossible to remain indifferent to such a blatant fact. Even the doctor who examined her during treatment abroad could not stand it: “Poor thing, you live with an animal!” Alas, and his own wife Stalin had no regrets," says Olga Trifonova.

The novel talks about Nadezhda Alliluyeva's addiction to drugs. It turns out that Stalin's wife did not use either morphine or cocaine. “By the then puritanical standards, caffeine, which is part of drugs, of course, was considered a potent drug. And Nadezhda Sergeevna could not do without it. before losing consciousness. Maybe only this medicine helped?" - suggests the author of the novel.

In her book, Olga Trifonova also spoke about how Stalin mocked his wife: “There is evidence from relatives that Stalin tried to humiliate his own wife. woman had colossal restraint.Even at the last meeting, when Stalin at the table threw her in the eye orange peel he achieved nothing. Although a public insult inflicted. In order not to emphasize her humiliation, Nadezhda Sergeevna did not even leave the table.

Nadezhda Alliluyeva lived an unhappy life, and her death was tragic: “The official version: Nadezhda Sergeevna shot herself from a small lady’s pistol. It hit right in the heart. What really happened is unlikely to ever become known. Only person who could know this, the nanny is Alexander Bychkova. But she died. The misfortune happened in the Kremlin apartment. Alliluyeva was found lying on the floor in the bedroom. The nanny came running, called Voroshilov and Molotov. At ten in the morning, Stalin came out of his room. The coffin with the body of the deceased was exhibited in Gunma. Saying goodbye to his wife, Stalin bent over so much that the coffin almost fell. His words "She left like an enemy", "Why did she do that? She disfigured me" say a lot. Then he turned to Abel Yenukidze: "You baptized her, you bury her!" And did not go to see off last way the only woman he loves."

The figure of the leader of the peoples, as Joseph Stalin is called, over the years since his death has been overgrown with many rumors, conjectures and legends. The personal life of the powerful leader of the USSR for a long time was strictly classified, people knew almost nothing about his spouses, what to say about mistresses? Meanwhile, both in the years of revolutionary youth and while at the helm of the country, Stalin showed attention to many girls and women. Let's find out what were the chosen ones of the leader?

official history

Iosif Vissarionovich Dzhugashvili (1878-1953) married for the first time at the age of 26. His wife was 16-year-old Kato (Ekaterina) Svanidze. Their son Yakov was born to this couple in 1907. Soon the young mother, who had never been in good health, fell ill with typhus and died.

According to the memoirs of contemporaries, Kato literally idolized her husband. She was a shy, modest girl who listened with delight to Joseph's stories about the struggle for social justice and universal equality. After her death, the revolutionary began to crack down on class enemies noticeably tougher.

The second wife of the leader was Nadezhda Alliluyeva. When they got married, she was 17 years old, and Joseph was already 40. Moreover, the romance began a year before the wedding. This fact gives some ill-wishers a reason to reproach Stalin for an unhealthy attraction to very young girls.

Son Vasily was born in 1921, and his beloved daughter Svetlana - in 1925. Yakov, who was brought from Georgia, lived with them, and until the age of 14 he was brought up in the family of Kato Svanidze's parents.

On the night of November 8-9, 1932, Nadezhda Alliluyeva committed suicide, the circumstances and causes of her death are still controversial.

Stalin never married again.

Matrena Kuzakova

In 1909-1911, the young revolutionary was serving a link in the city of Solvychegodsk, Vologda province. There he settled in the house of the daughter of the local deacon, Matrena Kuzakova, who was a widow and raised her children alone. The woman had a hard time, she was forced to chop wood herself, clear snow, repair the fence ...

Joseph saw that the young woman literally did not straighten her back for days on end. The man began to help Matryona with the housework. And soon replaced her husband. As a result of these relationships, a black-haired boy was born, sharply different from the bright brothers and sisters. True, Stalin never saw the child, the term of exile ended, and he continued his revolutionary activities. Matryona named her son Konstantin, and by patronymic - Stepanovich, writing down for her late husband, who died 2 years before the birth of the baby.

When a new editor of the literary drama with the surname Kuzakov appeared on Shabolovka, and this was in the early 70s, colleagues whispered that he was the son of Stalin himself. Shortly before his death, Konstantin Stepanovich personally confirmed these rumors: in his interview to the Arguments and Facts newspaper, published in 1996, Kuzakov said that he had learned the name of his real father from his mother as a child. True, he subsequently signed a non-disclosure agreement with representatives of state security.

According to rumors, only kinship with the leader of the peoples saved Konstantin from arrest in 1947. Then he worked in the propaganda department of the Central Committee of the CPSU and was on the list of those accused of "atomic espionage", the case was fabricated by Lavrenty Beria. But the trouble was over.

They say that having taken a high post in the Kremlin, Stalin gave Matryona Kuzakova a Moscow apartment.

Lydia Pereprygina

In 1913-1916, the future leader of the peoples was serving another exile, this time in the Turukhansk region. In the village of Kureika, he settled in the house of two orphans - Jonah and Lydia Pereprygina (brother and sister). With a 14-year-old mistress, Joseph began to cohabit.

This shocking information about the seduction of an orphan girl by an adult man was revealed in 1956, when Nikita Khrushchev began to collect dirt on Stalin, wanting to debunk the cult of his personality. State security officers found out all the ins and outs. It turned out that Lida Pereprygina gave birth to two children from Joseph. The first child died in infancy, and the second, son Alexander, was born after Stalin left Kureika.

Most Siberians indifferently looked at the seduction of a minor. But when her brother Jonah found out about Lida's pregnancy, he and local Pyotr Ivanov turned to the local gendarmerie. Stalin was saved from criminal prosecution only by the promise to marry the girl when she comes of age. But the man did not keep his word.

Subsequently, Lydia married fellow villager Yakov Davydov. And her son Alexander before the Great Patriotic War worked as a postman, was wounded twice at the front, rose to the rank of major. Then this man was the director of the dining room in Novokuznetsk.

Like Konstantin Kuzakov, in 1935, Alexander Davydov, at the request of the NKVD, signed a document on non-disclosure of the secret of his origin.

Yuri Davydov - one of the grandchildren of Lidia Pereprygina - told reporters that his grandmother was a serious woman with a strong character.

Vera Davydova

Being the de facto ruler of a huge superpower, Stalin could afford secret romances with famous artists. It was rumored that ballerinas Olga Lepeshinskaya and Marina Semenova were his mistresses, and among the singers he singled out Natalia Shpiller and Valeria Barsova.

But the longest relationship connected Joseph Vissarionovich with the soloist of the Bolshoi Theater Vera Davydova. This vivid novel described famous journalist Leonard Gendlin in his book Confessions of Stalin's mistress. Although the singer's relatives still refute the information contained in it.

According to L. Gendlin, when the relationship began, Joseph was already 54 years old, and Vera was 28 years old. For a long time they secretly met at the leader's dacha, because both were officially married. Allegedly, only proximity to Stalin can explain all the numerous titles, awards and prizes that the prima of the Bolshoi Theater was awarded in her life.

Vera Davydova was People's Artist RSFSR, People's Artist of the Georgian SSR, laureate of three Stalin Prizes of the 1st degree, owner of a luxurious three-room apartment in the center of Moscow.
Valentina Istomina

The last mistress of the leader of the peoples was Valentina Istomina ( maiden name- Zhbychkin). From 1935 to 1953, she acted as Stalin's housekeeper: she was engaged in housekeeping, set the table, and solved other issues related to the life of Joseph Vissarionovich. The widower needed female support.

Svetlana Alliluyeva wrote in her book “Twenty Letters to a Friend”: “New faces appeared, including a young snub-nosed Valechka, whose mouth did not close all day from a cheerful, sonorous laugh. After working in Zubalovo for three years, she was transferred to her father's dacha in Kuntsevo and remained there until his death, later becoming a housekeeper ... ".

Over the years of her work, Valentina became so close to Stalin that she was inseparably with him. He only trusted her to serve him food and medicine. Rumors that Istomina was the mistress of the leader, as they say, were confirmed in private conversations by Vyacheslav Molotov, who headed the USSR Foreign Ministry during the Great Patriotic War.

After Stalin's death, Valentina was sent to a personal pension. A childless woman raised her nephew, whose father died at the front. She died in 1995.
Of course, we have listed far from all the girls and women whom Stalin paid attention to, limiting ourselves to only the most famous, long-lasting and vibrant relationships. The personal life of the leader of the peoples was stormy and varied. He liked very young girls, whom he knew how to charm, and talented beautiful actresses, and homely sincere hostesses.

We all know Stalin as a cruel, vengeful, merciless tyrant. But hardly anyone tried to imagine him as a lover. Still revolutionary from lack female attention did not suffer. He charmed some of the fair sex, while others simply demanded. What are they, wives and mistresses of Comrade Stalin?

Kato Svanidze

They say that Stalin's first wife was so shy that she hid under the table if her husband unexpectedly returned home in the company of friends.

Joseph met Katerina through her brother Alexander - the future revolutionary met him at the Tiflis Theological Seminary, they studied together. Stalin, who at that time was 24 years old, fell head over heels in love with Kato, a simple Georgian woman from a poor family. By the way, the girl at that time was only 16.

His proposal to marry was accepted by the Svanidze family, but only on the condition that the couple play a church wedding, which happened in 1906. In the same year, Katerina gave birth to a son, Yakov. In 1907, a woman died either from tuberculosis or from typhoid fever. Stalin was so upset by the death of his wife that he jumped into the burial pit at her funeral.

But the ardent love for Kato did not save her relatives. In the 1930s, Katerina's brother and Stalin's friend fell victim to repression and died in custody. Alexander's wife died of a heart attack after hearing the news of her husband's death.

Maria Kuzakova

After Kato's death, Stalin was exiled to Siberia. In 1911, Maria Kuzakova, a young widow with children, let the revolutionary into the house as a tenant. Their relationship eventually became more intimate - the woman became pregnant. But in 1912, Stalin's exile ended, and he hastened to return to revolutionary activity, without waiting for the birth of his son, whom his mother named Kostya.

Lydia Pereprygina

During his exile in 1914, Stalin met another peasant girl, Lidia Pereprygina. For two years, an adult man lived in the same house with a 14-year-old girl, who during this time managed to give birth to two children. The first child died. But the second, born in April 1917, was registered as Alexander Dzhugashvili.

The villagers accused the revolutionary of seducing a minor - the situation could only be corrected by marriage. Nevertheless, Stalin left the village as soon as the opportunity arose.

Both Maria and Lida repeatedly turned to Joseph for help in writing, but to no avail. But in the 1930s, they were forced to sign a document that forbade the disclosure of information about who exactly was the father of their children.

Nadezhda Alliluyeva

This marriage lasted for 12 years. Stalin met Nadya when she was still a child - in those days he spent a lot of time with her mother, who, by the way, was married woman. Once a man saved a baby when she was drowning.

They met again when Stalin was 37 years old and he returned from Siberia - Nadia at that time was 16 years old and she fell in love with her savior without memory. Despite the fact that this marriage was concluded for love, everything ended tragically - Nadezhda committed suicide with a shot to the heart. The maid found the dead mistress on the floor next to the bed.

There are many theories about Nadia's suicide. Some people say that she could not stand the callousness and cruelty of her husband. There is information that Stalin forced a woman to have about 10 abortions. There is also a hypothesis that says that Nadia was actually the daughter of a tyrant, which he once told her about - a fragile girl could not survive this.

Olga Lepeshinskaya

Ballerinas and typists - such were the passions of men in Soviet times. Olga Lepeshinskaya never admitted whether she really shared a bed with the leader, but there were different rumors.

There are also obvious things: Stalin always visited the Bolshoi Theater in those days when Olya performed there. He gave her luxurious bouquets, invited her to keep company at various receptions. In 2004, Olga only said that all the ballerinas were fascinated by Joseph - everyone knew about his malice and revenge, but sometimes the dictator could dress in the skin of a lamb.

Vera Davydova

But about opera singer Vera Davydova doubts much less. In 1983, her memoirs were published in London under the title "Confessions of Stalin's mistress", which stated that the artist's relationship with the leader lasted 19 years. By the way, the Davydova family did not recognize the veracity of the publication.

In 1932, Vera, who at that time was a married woman, found a note in her coat pocket in which she was invited to a secret date. The driver, who was waiting for the singer outside, took her directly to Stalin's house, where he gave her coffee to drink and then turned off the lights for a more intimate conversation.

Subsequently, Vera was simply called and brought to the house, and Joseph ordered her to undress. Davydova says that she had no right to refuse, no one asked about her wishes. By the way, the revolutionary thanked the woman in his own way: during the relationship, the singer received a two-room apartment in Moscow, and was also awarded the Stalin Prize three times.

Valya Istomina

Perhaps the most difficult test fell on the lot of Valentina. She was Stalin's personal housewife and was originally intended for Nikolai Vlasik, the head of Stalin's personal guard. At one time, many men courted her, including the notorious head of the NKVD, Lavrenty Beria. But when the gaze of the leader himself fell on Valya, all the other applicants quickly retreated.

Valentina was immediately sent to a Moscow dacha in Kuntsevo, where she set the table and made a bed for Stalin alone. The tragedy happened later, 17 years later. Once the dictator fell ill, and his beloved woman did not come to take care of him - just at that moment she was attacked and raped by Beria and Vlasik.

Having learned about everything, Stalin ordered Valya to be sent to the Kolyma camp, where she was expected to die for "treason." Vlasik was also arrested and sent into exile, but Beria was spared. Fortunately, immediately upon arrival in Magadan, the woman found out that Stalin ordered her to be returned, since he could not live without her - Valya headed back to Moscow.

The daughter of a tyrant from a previous marriage, Svetlana Alliluyeva, once wrote in her diary that until the end of her days, Valentina considered Stalin to be the most best man on the ground.

Born on the day of the revolution, October 25 (November 7), 1917, Valya Istomina attracted attention from the very day of her arrival in the world. And when she turned 18, she, a simple village girl, snub-nosed laughter and just yesterday a factory worker, suddenly became such a significant lady in the capital, whom the first beauties of Moscow could envy.

Quite unexpectedly, she was offered a "job special purpose"- set the table for Stalin himself!

It began with the fact that they were entrusted with laying the table, and ended with the fact that the leader began only to ask her to make a bed for him. And soon, as the rumor goes, she made this bed not only for him, but also ... for herself too. Valya Istomina, of course, did not tell anyone about anything like that, she did not leave notes with memories. And no one would have known about it if it were not for the guards of the Stalinist dacha who have survived to this day.

"Like the night, so it is to Him"

This is what Alexander Mikhailovich Varentsev, one of the leader’s oldest bodyguards, told me: “All the guards of the dacha knew: like the night, so Valya Istomina - to Him ... I won’t say that she was beautiful, but ... not bad - I liked it. In general, we talked about her like this among ourselves: it’s good for Valya to live - and the work is what you need, and Stalin loves her!

Until Stalin's death, I served in his field guard, and Valya also worked for him all this time. Therefore, do not believe when they say or write that in 1952 (a year before his death) Stalin ordered Valya to be arrested and sent to Magadan because she allegedly cheated on him with the head of the Main Directorate of Security Vlasik. True, at the same time they add, they say, Stalin quickly forgave her and returned her back ... Yes, if she had been fired, let alone arrested, we would have known in the first place.

Another veteran of the guards, Konstantin Fedorovich Kozlov, recalls: “I traveled with Valya Istomina to work in Kuntsevo on a special bus more than once.

She was a very pretty lady. Attractive. Stalin loved her very much. She, like all of us, served Stalin until the last day. His daughter Svetlana Alliluyeva also writes about this in her book Twenty Letters to a Friend.

Out loud, those around her called her "sister-mistress" and only among themselves - "the hostess of the Boss." No one remembers that they called her "Stalin's mistress", although they did not consider her a wife either. It seemed to them that the most accurate definition of her role in the life of a leader lies precisely in this word - “mistress”.

“It was Valya Istomina who was the woman who was entrusted with washing Stalin’s body before being placed in the coffin,” he confirmed to me. former boss Special cuisine of the Kremlin Gennady Nikolaevich Kolomentsev.

Nephew of Valentina Istomina, now a 62-year-old pensioner, Boris Pavlovich Zhbychkin found out about everything only many years later. Nothing was told about those times to Boris by his father, Pavel Vasilyevich Zhbychkin, who also worked in Stalin's entourage.

With the Zhbychkin family of peasants from the village of Donok in the Oryol region, Stalin developed real family relations. Valya from a simple waiter in the Master's dining room turned into a real hostess, and the brothers (the younger Pasha and the elder Fedor) became earners for his table. It was she who brought them to work for Stalin (the middle brother Vasily died at the front).

“Pasha began to fish for the Boss, and Fedor served with me at the 501st government food base,” G. Kolomentsev told me. He liked to remember how Pasha could easily ask Stalin to pour cognac not into a glass, but into a 150-gram glass ... "yes, in a popular way, Comrade Stalin, to the very brim." And Stalin did not object, did not perceive such requests of his, so to speak, "secret relative" as familiarity.

State Security Sergeant

According to Boris Zhbychkin, after the death of Stalin, Valya Istomina continued to live with her ex-husband "soul to soul." However, maybe it only seemed that way from the outside. After all, “Uncle Vanya” couldn’t always walk with stuffed up ears so that various rumors would not reach him?

“Aunt Valya didn’t have her own children, and even more so some kind of“ daughter from Stalin ”! - says the nephew. - The deceased brother Vasily left two sons. And Aunt Valya adopted one of them. Uncle Vanya, who returned from the war as a colonel, agreed to this ... By the way, he had many awards for the war, but Aunt Valya joked: they say, I didn’t fight, but I have no less awards ...

After Stalin died, she no longer worked. She lived in abundance - after all, she had a special pension. True, after the restructuring it was canceled. But Uncle Vanya worked all the time, so we didn't go hungry. By the way, Istomina's husband never, contrary to speculation, worked as a driver at Stalin's dacha, although he drove and repaired the car himself. I remember, shortly before my aunt's death, I brought them a bag of potatoes, and Uncle Vanya and Aunt Valya were tinkering in their car. They bought "Zaporozhets" with aunt's money - it seems, when she was assigned a personal pension and compensation was given. After all, she had the title - a sergeant of state security. And she was a member of the party ... Although she did not seem to be interested in politics.

In confirmation that Stalin knew her well, she sometimes showed a book signed by him for her and a watch donated by Mao Zedong, whom she fed when he was visiting the Boss.

Until the end of her days, she was not sick with anything special. She died in 1995 from a stroke. When it happened, my aunt was taken to the state security hospital. They tried to save him for two days, but could not. She was buried at the Khovansky cemetery. None of the former colleagues were present at the funeral.”

"Crashed to my knees"

Why did Istomina keep silent about her past work until the end of her days? Maybe really because she was the wife of two husbands at once? Because she truly loved both? One is at home. The other - at work ... Everything happened as if she lived simultaneously in "two worlds".

One "world" was different from another, like earth and sky. It's one thing - a simple apartment somewhere in Orlikov Lane. And a completely different matter - the chambers of the Kremlin celestial. Nobody even from the mighty of the world did not have access to it. And she until his last days was the hostess there.

Istomina outlived her Master, her "heavenly husband" by as much as 42 years. And the “earthly husband” outlived her herself - for 6 years ...

Stalin's daughter, recalling her farewell to her father, wrote: “The servants and guards came to say goodbye. That's where the true feeling was, sincere sadness ... everyone was crying. They wiped away tears like children, with their hands, sleeves, handkerchiefs. Many wept uncontrollably ... Valentina Vasilievna Istomina came to say goodbye - Valechka, as everyone called her - the housekeeper who worked for her father at this dacha for eighteen years. She fell on her knees near the sofa, fell headlong on the dead man's chest, and wept aloud, as in a village. For a long time she could not stop, and no one interfered with her. ...Before last days of her own, she will be convinced that there was no better person in the world than my father.

So only a real wife could say goodbye forever ...