10. Servius Tullius became king thanks to Tanakvil, the wife of Tarquinius the Ancient After becoming king, Andronicus supposedly married Anna, the former wife of the young king Alexios Comnenus.

Stalin was and remains one of the most closed leaders of the party and state. He carefully ensured that his biography was canonical and that the true facts were hidden. "Komsomolskaya Pravda" publishes a large material by Olga Kuchkina "Stalin's Women", designed to eliminate gaps in our knowledge of the dictator's personal life.

When Stalin's wife Nadezhda Alliluyeva shot herself, his six-year-old daughter Svetlana remained his most beloved woman. He called her Mistress. And he had to obey the Mistress. "I order you to allow me to go with you to the theater or to the cinema." The signature is "Mistress Setanka". Address - “My 1st secretary comrade. Stalin." It was a game waiting for more psychoanalytic interpretations.

Housekeeper Karolina Vasilievna Til is the first to see Alliluyeva covered in blood on the floor by the bed. Next to the lifeless body lay a small pistol "Walter". The story of the suicide of the 30-year-old wife of 55-year-old Stalin on the night of November 9, 1932, the author of the article knows from family stories: Til is "relatives of my father-in-law, who was friends with Nadezhda Alliluyeva," the author writes. Reasons for suicide: psychological and ideological differences, but there was also a secret about which persistent rumors circulated: that Stalin, during another quarrel, had thrown to his wife: do you know that you are my daughter ?! Olga Kuchkina poses a new problem for biographers: "Did incest finish Nadya?"

Joseph had known Nadia's mother, Olga, since Baku times. The 23-year-old revolutionary and the 23-year-old married woman often spent time together. Her husband has come to terms with their encounters. Nadia was Stalin's second wife. The first, married, is Katya Svanidze, the sister of a friend of the underground Alyosha Svanidze. 16-year-old Keto made a condition that she would become a wife if they got married. The Georgian in no way contradicted the will of her husband. She was so shy that when his friends appeared, she hid under the table. Relatives said about her: “a child-wife, looking at her husband from the bottom up, accepting as a law his power over herself and being right in everything and always.” Keto died of typhoid fever, but managed to give birth to her son Yasha. Stalin will take her death hard, which will not prevent him from destroying his relative Alyosha Svanidze later, as he imprisons, shoots, drives to suicide - his relatives along the line of Alliluyeva.

Stalin will take the teenager Yasha to Moscow from Georgia only in 1921. "Relations between son and father will forever remain strained. Yasha will find joy in relations with her stepmother. Stalin mocks them, either jealous, or experiencing enduring irritation against both," writes Olga Kuchkina. Nadia is only 27, Yasha is 17. Things will come to Yasha's suicide attempt. This will cause only the famous mockery in the father: he could not even shoot himself properly.

Stalin also treated his son from Alliluyeva Vasya badly, despised him and soldered him. "Stalin always had a bottle of Georgian wine on the table, he teased his wife by pouring a glass to a one-year-old boy. It was said that Vasino's drinking began from childhood," the author writes.

The author of the article also reports less well-known data - about Stalin's illegitimate children. About the new editor-in-chief of the literary drama, Konstantin Kuzakov, who appeared on television in the early 70s, they immediately began to say that his father was Stalin. Kuzakov was silent about his origin. He spoke a year before his death. In an interview with "Arguments and Facts" in 1996, he admitted: "I was still very young when I found out that I was Stalin's son."

Kuzakov's mother - Matryona - was the daughter of a deacon. Her exiled Iosif Dzhugashvili lodged in Solvychegodsk, having got there in January 1911. There were frosts. Matryona was widowed for a year and worked alone. The exile replaced her husband. Nine months later, a black-haired boy was born to them. He was very different from the fair-haired brothers and sisters. Matryona called him Kostya, and wrote down his patronymic - Stepanovich, after the name of her husband, who died two years before Kostya was born.

Subsequently, Matryona will receive Moscow housing, a residence permit and a more euphonious name - Maria. Working in the propaganda department of the Central Committee, Kuzakov will be accused by Beria of involvement in "atomic espionage". In 1947 he was expelled from the party and removed from all posts. He is awaiting arrest. Stalin's short remark will cancel the repressions. Kuzakov will be reinstated in the party on the day of Beria's arrest.

Another romantic episode in Stalin's life will happen in the Turukhansk region, in the village of Kureika. 37-year-old Koba is in exile again. From 1914 to 1916, he lodges with a 14-year-old peasant woman, Lida Pereprygina, and cohabits with her. Two babies were born in Kureika. The first one died. The second, born in April 1917, was recorded as Alexander Dzhugashvili. He gave his word to the gendarme, who was persecuting the exile for molesting a minor, to marry, but when the term of punishment was over, he left Kureika. Alexander was adopted and given his last name by the peasant Yakov Davydov. After marrying him, Lida gave birth to eight more children. She wrote letters to Stalin, but Stalin did not answer.

These facts were contained in a particularly secret letter from the Chairman of the KGB, Serov, sent to Khrushchev on July 18, 1956. Alexander Davydov graduated from the College of Communications in Krasnoyarsk. There he was summoned to the NKVD and signed a non-disclosure agreement for "particularly mysterious state information." He ended his days as a foreman in the same Krasnoyarsk. Stalin never had personal contacts with either Alexander or Konstantin. The "Father of Nations" did not love his sons - neither illegitimate nor legitimate.

“He had a strong potency. Nadezhda Alliluyeva’s medical record stores information about ten abortions. The doctor who advised her abroad sympathized: “Poor thing, you live with an animal.” Why did he prefer those who are younger? It is easier to cope with an undeveloped consciousness. what you want, subjugate to yourself.I was attracted by the image of a rebel, a fighter for the poor against the rich.The hidden features of the ruler were originally in his nature, argues Olga Kuchkina.

Maria Svanidze writes enthusiastically about Stalin and angrily about his enemy Avel Yenukidze: “Being depraved and voluptuous himself, he tainted everything around him - he enjoyed pimping, family discord, seducing girls ... Women who had suitable daughters owned everything, girls, as unnecessary, were slipped on to other men ... The staff was recruited into the institution only on the basis of gender, which Abel liked. In order to justify his depravity, he was ready to encourage him in everything - he walked widely towards his husband, who left his family, ... or simply took her husband with an unnecessary ballerina, typist, etc. ... ".

The diary of Maria Svanidze allows us to judge the morals of the Kremlin elite: the leader was no stranger to “ballerinas and typists,” the author concludes. Among the ballerinas whom Stalin paid attention to were Marina Semenova and Olga Lepeshinskaya. The memoirist Gronsky writes, without giving his last name, that in the mid-1930s, Stalin often returned from a famous ballerina to the Kremlin at 2 or 3 in the morning. Of the singers, they talked about Valeria Barsova and Natalia Shpiller. But first of all, the rumor connected him with Vera Davydova. She had the nickname "king-woman". Gendlin's book "Confessions of Stalin's mistress" was published in the West, where their romance is described in detail.

Here is how Vera Alexandrovna Davydova describes one night with Stalin at his dacha: “After strong hot coffee, delicious grog, it became very good. Fear and confusion vanished. I followed him. It turned out that I.V. taller than me. We entered a room where there was a large low couch. Stalin asked permission to remove the service jacket. He threw an oriental robe over his shoulders, sat down next to him, asked: “Can I put out the light? It's easier to talk in the dark." Without waiting for an answer, he turned off the light. I.V. He hugged me, skillfully unbuttoned my blouse. My heart fluttered. "Comrade Stalin! Iosif Vissarionovich, dear, don't, I'm afraid! Let me go home!..” He did not pay any attention to my pathetic babble, only in the darkness his bestial eyes lit up with a bright flame. I tried to break free again, but it was all in vain.”

Stalin - 54, Davydova - 28. Their relationship lasted 19 years. A three-room apartment, titles and awards were awarded to the ballerina with ease. The singer's relatives declared the book a fake. A scandal broke out, but it quickly faded away.

Here is a testimony from Svetlana Alliluyeva’s book “Twenty Letters to a Friend”: “New faces appeared, including a young snub-nosed Valya, 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 ... ".

Valentina Istomina, a graduate of a medical school, was first intended for General Vlasik, but when the Boss liked her, he had no choice but to forget about her. Years later, Vlasik will be sent to the Magadan camp.

In the book “Just One Year”, published in the West in 1970, Svetlana Aliluyeva writes: “He gave his name to the system of bloody one-man dictatorship. He knew what he was doing, he was neither insane nor deluded. With cold prudence he asserted his power and, more than anything else, was afraid of losing it. Therefore, the first thing of his life was the elimination of opponents and rivals.

The name of Nadezhda Sergeevna Alliluyeva became known to the Soviet people only after her death. In those cold November days of 1932, people who knew this young woman intimately said goodbye to her. They did not want to make a circus out of the funeral, but Stalin ordered otherwise. The funeral procession, which passed through the central streets of Moscow, gathered a crowd of many thousands. Everyone wanted to see the wife of the “father of peoples” on her last journey. These funerals could only be compared with the mourning ceremonies that were held earlier on the occasion of the death of the Russian empresses.

The unexpected death of a thirty-year-old woman, and the first lady of the state, could not but cause a lot of questions. Since the foreign journalists who were in Moscow at that time failed to obtain the information of interest from the official authorities, the foreign press was full of reports about the most diverse reasons for the untimely death of Stalin's wife.

Citizens of the USSR, who also wanted to know what caused this sudden death, remained in the dark for a long time. Various rumors spread around Moscow, according to which Nadezhda Alliluyeva died in a car accident, died of an acute attack of appendicitis. A number of other suggestions have also been made.

The version of Joseph Vissarionovich Stalin turned out to be completely different. He officially stated that his wife, who had been ill for several weeks, got out of bed too early, this caused serious complications, resulting in death.

Stalin could not say that Nadezhda Sergeevna was seriously ill, because a few hours before her death she was seen alive and well at a concert in the Kremlin dedicated to the fifteenth anniversary of the Great October Revolution. Alliluyeva cheerfully communicated with high-ranking state and party officials and their wives.

What was the true cause of such an early death of this young woman?

There are three versions: according to the first of them, Nadezhda Alliluyeva committed suicide; supporters of the second version (they were mostly OGPU employees) claimed that Stalin himself killed the first lady of the state; according to the third version, Nadezhda Sergeevna was shot dead on the orders of her husband. To understand this confusing matter, it is necessary to recall the entire history of the relationship between the Secretary General and his wife.

They got married in 1919, Stalin was then 40 years old, and his young wife was only 17 with a little. An experienced man who knew the taste of family life (Alliluyeva was his second wife), and a young girl, almost a child ... Could their marriage be happy?

Nadezhda Sergeevna was, so to speak, a hereditary revolutionary. Her father, Sergei Yakovlevich, was one of the first Russian workers to join the Russian Social Democratic Party, he took an active part in three Russian revolutions and in the Civil War. Nadezhda's mother also participated in the revolutionary uprisings of Russian workers.

The girl was born in 1901 in Baku, her childhood fell on the Caucasian period of the life of the Alliluyev family. Here, in 1903, Sergei Yakovlevich met Iosif Dzhugashvili.

According to family tradition, the future dictator saved two-year-old Nadya when she fell into the water while playing on the Baku embankment.

After 14 years, Joseph Stalin and Nadezhda Alliluyeva met again, this time in St. Petersburg. Nadia was studying at the gymnasium at that time, and thirty-eight-year-old Iosif Vissarionovich had recently returned from Siberia.

The sixteen-year-old girl was very far from politics. She was more interested in the pressing questions of food and shelter than in the global problems of the world revolution.

In her diary of those years, Nadezhda noted: “We are not going to leave St. Petersburg. Provision is good so far. Eggs, milk, bread, meat can be obtained, although expensive. In general, you can live, although our mood (and everyone in general) is terrible ... it’s boring, you won’t go anywhere.

Rumors about the performance of the Bolsheviks in the last days of October 1917, Nadezhda Sergeevna rejected as absolutely groundless. But the revolution has happened.

In January 1918, together with other schoolgirls, Nadia attended the All-Russian Congress of Soviets of Workers', Soldiers' and Peasants' Deputies several times. “Quite interesting,” she wrote in her diary of the impressions of those days. “Especially when Trotsky or Lenin speak, the rest speak very languidly and without content.”

Nevertheless, Nadezhda, who considered all other politicians uninteresting, agreed to marry Joseph Stalin. The newlyweds settled in Moscow, Alliluyeva went to work in Lenin's secretariat to Fotiyeva (a few months earlier she became a member of the RCP (b)).

In 1921, the first-born appeared in the family, who was named Vasily. Nadezhda Sergeevna, who gave all her strength to social work, could not pay due attention to the child. Iosif Vissarionovich was also very busy. Alliluyeva's parents took care of the upbringing of little Vasily, and the servants also provided all possible assistance.

In 1926 the second child was born. The girl was named Svetlana. This time, Nadezhda decided to raise the child on her own.

Together with a nanny who helped take care of her daughter, she lived for some time in a dacha near Moscow.

However, the cases required the presence of Alliluyeva in Moscow. Around the same time, she began to collaborate with the Revolution and Culture magazine, and often had to go on business trips.

Nadezhda Sergeevna tried not to forget about her beloved daughter: the girl had all the best - clothes, toys, food. Son Vasya also did not go unnoticed.

Nadezhda Alliluyeva was a good friend to her daughter. Even without being close to Svetlana, she gave her good advice.

Unfortunately, only one letter from Nadezhda Sergeevna to her daughter has been preserved with a request to be smart and reasonable: “Vasya wrote to me, a girl is playing pranks on something. Terribly boring to receive such letters about a girl.

I thought that I left her big and reasonable, but it turns out that she is very small and does not know how to live like an adult ... Be sure to tell me how you decided to live on, in a serious way or somehow ... "

In the memory of Svetlana, who lost her dearest person early, her mother remained "very beautiful, smooth, smelling of perfume."

Later, Stalin's daughter said that the first years of her life were the happiest.

This cannot be said about the marriage of Alliluyeva and Stalin. Relations between them became more and more cool every year.

Iosif Vissarionovich often went with an overnight stay to the dacha in Zubalovo. Sometimes alone, sometimes with friends, but most often accompanied by actresses, who were very fond of all high-ranking Kremlin figures.

Some contemporaries claimed that even during the life of Alliluyeva, Stalin began to meet with the sister of Lazar Kaganovich Rosa. The woman often visited the Kremlin's chambers of the leader, as well as at the Stalin's dacha.

Nadezhda Sergeevna knew perfectly well about her husband's love affairs and was very jealous of him. Apparently, she really loved this man, who could not find any other words for her, except for "fool" and other rudeness.

Stalin showed his discontent and contempt in the most offensive way, but Nadezhda endured all this. Repeatedly she made attempts to leave her husband with her children, but each time she was forced to return back.

According to some eyewitnesses, a few days before her death, Alliluyeva made an important decision - to finally move in with relatives and stop all relations with her husband.

It is worth noting that Joseph Vissarionovich was a despot not only in relation to the people of his country. Members of his family also experienced a lot of pressure, perhaps even more than everyone else.

Stalin liked his decisions not to be discussed and executed unquestioningly, but Nadezhda Sergeevna was an intelligent woman with a strong character, she knew how to defend her opinion. This is evidenced by the following fact.

In 1929, Alliluyeva expressed a desire to start her studies at the institute. Stalin opposed this for a long time, he rejected all arguments as insignificant. Abel Yenukidze and Sergo Ordzhonikidze came to the aid of the woman, together they managed to convince the leader of the need for Nadezhda to receive an education.

Soon she became a student of one of the Moscow universities. Only one director knew that Stalin's wife was studying at the institute.

With his consent, two secret agents of the OGPU were admitted to the faculty under the guise of students, whose duty it was to ensure the safety of Nadezhda Alliluyeva.

The Secretary General's wife came to the institute by car. The driver who took her to classes stopped a few blocks before the institute, Nadezhda covered the remaining distance on foot. Later, when she was given a new gas, she learned to drive a car on her own.

Stalin made a big mistake by allowing his wife to enter the world of ordinary citizens. Communication with fellow students opened Nadezhda's eyes to what is happening in the country. Previously, she knew about state policy only from newspapers and official speeches that reported that everything was fine in the Land of Soviets.

In reality, everything turned out to be completely different: the beautiful pictures of the life of the Soviet people were overshadowed by forced collectivization and unjust deportations of peasants, mass repressions and famine in Ukraine and the Volga region.

Naively believing that her husband did not know what was happening in the state, Alliluyeva told him and Yenukidze about the institute conversations. Stalin tried to get away from this topic, accusing his wife of collecting gossip spread by the Trotskyists everywhere. However, left alone, he cursed Nadezhda with the most bad words and threatened with a ban on attending classes at the institute.

Soon after that, ferocious purges began in all universities and technical schools. Employees of the OGPU and members of the Party Control Commission carefully checked the reliability of the students.

Stalin carried out his threat, and two months of student life fell out of the life of Nadezhda Alliluyeva. Thanks to the support of Yenukidze, who convinced the "father of peoples" that his decision was wrong, she was able to graduate from the institute.

Studying at the university contributed to the expansion of not only the range of interests, but also the circle of communication. Nadezhda made many friends and acquaintances. One of her closest comrades in those years was Nikolai Ivanovich Bukharin.

Under the influence of communication with this person and fellow students, Alliluyeva soon developed independent judgments, which she openly expressed to her power-hungry husband.

Stalin's dissatisfaction grew every day, he needed an obedient like-minded person, and Nadezhda Sergeevna began to allow herself critical remarks about party and state leaders who carried out party policy under the strict guidance of the Secretary General. The desire to learn as much as possible about the life of the native people at this stage of its history made Nadezhda Sergeevna pay special attention to such problems of national importance as the famine in the Volga region and Ukraine, the repressive policy of the authorities. The case of Ryutin, who dared to speak out against Stalin, did not hide from her either.

The policy pursued by her husband no longer seemed right to Alliluyeva. Differences between her and Stalin gradually intensified, in the end they grew into severe contradictions.

"Betrayal" - this is how Joseph Vissarionovich described the behavior of his wife.

It seemed to him that Nadezhda Sergeevna's communication with Bukharin was to blame, but he could not openly object to their relationship.

Only once, inaudibly approaching Nadia and Nikolai Ivanovich, who were walking along the paths of the park, Stalin dropped the terrible word “I will kill”. Bukharin took these words as a joke, but Nadezhda Sergeevna, who knew the character of her husband perfectly, was frightened. The tragedy occurred shortly after this incident.

On November 7, 1932, extensive celebrations of the fifteenth anniversary of the Great October Revolution were planned. After the parade, which took place on Red Square, all high-ranking party and government officials with their wives went to a reception at the Bolshoi Theater.

However, one day was not enough to celebrate such a significant date. The next day, November 8, another reception was held in a huge banquet hall, attended by Stalin and Alliluyeva.

According to eyewitnesses, the general secretary sat opposite his wife and threw balls rolled from bread pulp at her. According to another version, he threw tangerine peels at Alliluyeva.

For Nadezhda Sergeevna, who experienced such humiliation in front of several hundred people, the holiday was hopelessly ruined. Leaving the banquet hall, she headed home. Polina Zhemchuzhina, Molotov's wife, also left with her.

Some argue that the wife of Ordzhonikidze Zinaida, with whom the first lady had friendly relations, acted as a comforter. However, Alliluyeva had practically no real friends, except for Alexandra Yulianovna Kanel, the head physician of the Kremlin hospital.

On the night of the same day, Nadezhda Sergeevna was gone. Karolina Vasilievna Til, who worked as a housekeeper in the house of the Secretary General, found her lifeless body on the floor in a pool of blood.

Svetlana Alliluyeva later recalled: “Shaking with fear, she ran to our nursery and called the nanny with her, she could not say anything. They went together. Mom lay covered in blood near her bed, in her hand was a small Walter pistol. Two years before the terrible tragedy, this lady's weapon was presented to Nadezhda by her brother Pavel, who worked in the 1930s in the Soviet trade mission in Germany.

There is no exact information about whether Stalin was at home on the night of November 8-9, 1932. According to one version, he went to the country, Alliluyeva called him there several times, but he left her calls unanswered.

According to supporters of the second version, Iosif Vissarionovich was at home, his bedroom was located opposite his wife's room, so he could not hear the shots.

Molotov claimed that on that terrible night, Stalin, who had fairly refreshed himself with alcohol at a banquet, was fast asleep in his bedroom. He was allegedly upset by the news of his wife's death, he even cried. In addition, Molotov added that Alliluyeva "was a bit of a psychopath at that time."

Fearing a leak of information, Stalin personally controlled all the reports that came to the press. It was important to demonstrate the non-involvement of the head of the Soviet state in what happened, hence the talk that he was in the country and did not see anything.

However, the opposite follows from the testimony of one of the guards. He was at work that night and dozed off when his sleep was interrupted by the sound of a door closing.

Opening his eyes, the man saw Stalin leaving his wife's room. Thus, the guard could hear both the sound of a slamming door and a pistol shot.

People involved in the study of data on the Alliluyeva case argue that Stalin did not necessarily shoot himself. He could provoke his wife, and she committed suicide in his presence.

It is known that Nadezhda Alliluyeva left a suicide letter, but Stalin destroyed it immediately after reading it. The Secretary General could not allow anyone else to know the content of this message.

The fact that Alliluyeva did not commit suicide, but was killed, is evidenced by other facts. So, on duty at the Kremlin hospital on the night of November 8-9, 1932, Dr. Kazakov, invited to witness the death of the first lady, refused to sign the suicide act drawn up earlier.

According to the doctor, the shot was fired from a distance of 3-4 m, and the deceased could not shoot herself in the left temple on her own, since she was not left-handed.

Alexandra Kanel, invited to the Kremlin apartment of Alliluyeva and Stalin on November 9, also refused to sign a medical report, according to which the Secretary General's wife died suddenly from an acute attack of appendicitis.

Other doctors of the Kremlin hospital, including Dr. Levin and Professor Pletnev, did not put their signatures under this document either. The latter were arrested during the purges of 1937 and shot.

Alexandra Kanel was removed from office a little earlier, in 1935. She soon died, allegedly from meningitis. So Stalin dealt with people who opposed his will.

Stalin's wife was an outstanding woman with a difficult fate and personal life, his wife knew everything about his character and the dark side of his soul. Many people know about Joseph Stalin, as a politician and leader of the USSR, much less is known about the other side of Stalin's biography: his wife and. In fact, Joseph Vissarionovich was a terrible womanizer, albeit in his youth. It is noteworthy that all close people of the Soviet leader had a sad fate. Until now, their life is shrouded in myths and conjectures of historians.

When Joseph was 27 years old, he married a Georgian 21-year-old girl Ekaterina Kato. The personal life of Stalin's wife was filled with real feelings and romance, then still a kind and carefree future revolutionary. They were in love with each other. Catherine's brother was one of Stalin's best friends, with whom they attended the seminary at the church together. At the time of the wedding, Stalin was hiding from the Soviet authorities, so the couple had to perform a mysterious wedding in the Tiflis monastery. This marriage was based on mutual love and respect, but according to the law of fate, it turned out to be very short. Catherine managed to give birth to Joseph's son Jacob, and at the age of 22 she died of typhus in the arms of Joseph. Rumor has it that the heartbroken Stalin said at the funeral that his love for all mankind died along with Catherine. The authenticity of these words remains in question. But during the time of repression, he dealt with all of Catherine's relatives.

Stalin's first son Yakov Dzhugashvili

The son of Ekaterina Kato and Joseph Stalin was raised by close relatives of Ekaterina. At the age of 14, when Stalin was already married for the second time, father and son met. Stalin did not have warm feelings for Yakov, he called him a "wolf cub." Rumor has it that he was even jealous of his second wife. Their age difference was only 5 years. Jacob was brought up in severity, his father punished him for any trifle. It even happened that Joseph did not let the “wolf cub” home. At the age of 18, Jacob went against the will of his father and got married. After that, family relations in the end deteriorated. Yakov even tried to shoot himself, but survived. At the beginning of the summer of 1941, Yakov left for the front, later fell into German captivity and died in captivity in 1943.

Stalin's second wife - Nadezhda Alliluyeva

The second and last time the "Soviet leader" married at the age of 40. His wife was Nadezhda Alliluyeva, who was 23 years younger than Joseph. At that time, Nadezhda had just graduated from high school, she was madly in love with a revolutionary. In his younger years, Joseph Stalin had a warm relationship with his mother, Nadezhda, who later became his mother-in-law. The personal life of Stalin's wife Nadezhda Alliluyeva was not as happy as expected. Over time, their relationship became simply unbearable. According to some sources, Joseph was gentle at home, and Nadezhda tried to introduce strict discipline in the family. According to others, Stalin was a boor, and Nadezhda endured his humiliation. In the fall of 1932, the couple went to dinner with Voroshilov, where Joseph and Nadezhda had a fight. Nadezhda returned home alone, where she committed suicide by shooting herself in the chest. At the time of her death, Nadezhda Alliluyeva was 31 years old.

Stalin's second son Vasily Dzhugashvili

Nadezhda Alliluyeva gave birth to the "Soviet leader" of two heirs: Vasily and Svetlana. At the time of her death, the children were 12 and 6 years old. The upbringing of children was carried out by nannies and Stalin's guards. It is reported that it was precisely because of the influence of the guards that Vasily began to smoke and drink alcohol early. Four official wives of Vasily Stalin are known:

• Galina Burdonskaya;
• Ekaterina Timoshenko;
• Kapitolina Vasiliev;
• Maria Nusberg.

Vasily Stalin received disciplinary punishment more than once during his service in the Soviet army. He died in the spring of 1962 from alcohol poisoning.

Joseph Stalin's daughter Svetlana Alliluyeva

The only daughter of the "Soviet leader" was his favorite. But it was she who was the most problematic. After the death of Joseph Vissarionovich, Svetlana fled to the United States, where until the last days of her life she suffered moral humiliation for the name of her father. In Russia, she left two children who at the time of the flight were 16 and 20 years old. However, they told reporters that they did not consider her a mother. In the USA, Svetlana got married and became Lana Peters, she had another daughter, Olga. Svetlana Alliluyeva died in 2011 in a nursing home. In addition to children born in an official marriage, Joseph Stalin had another adopted son and two illegitimate ones. Distance from the famous father allowed them to build a happier life.

Adopted son of Joseph Stalin Artem Sergeev

Artem's father was the famous Bolshevik and friend of Joseph Stalin "Comrade Artem". He died when Artem was only 3 months old. Stalin took the boy to him. Artem became good friends with Stalin's son Vasily. But they were complete opposites: Artem was obedient and studied well, Vasily was distinguished by bad behavior from childhood. At the request of Joseph Stalin himself, there was a strict attitude towards Artyom at the Artillery Academy. Artem rose to the rank of a great military commander, retired as a major general. Artem Sergeev died in 2008.

In 1953, but his children continued to live. Their fate has always been twisted by him and his character.

During perestroika, at a time when the disclosure of the secrets of the Soviet era was put on stream, one of the most popular historical characters was Nadezhda Alliluyeva, spouse Joseph Stalin.

From article to article, from book to book, the same plot began to roam - the leader's wife, one of the first to realize the disastrous policy of her husband, throws harsh accusations in his face, after which she dies. The cause of death, depending on the author, varied - from suicide - to murder by Stalin's henchmen on his orders.

In fact, Nadezhda Alliluyeva remains a woman of mystery even today. Much is known about her, and almost nothing is known. Exactly the same can be said about her relationship with Joseph Stalin.

Nadezhda was born in September 1901 in Baku, in the family of a revolutionary worker. Sergei Alliluev. The girl grew up surrounded by revolutionaries, although at first she herself was not interested in politics.

The Alliluyev family legend says that at the age of two, Nadezhda, playing on the Baku embankment, fell into the sea. The brave 23-year-old young man Iosif Dzhugashvili saved the girl from death.

A few years later, the Alliluyevs moved to St. Petersburg. Nadezhda grew up as a temperamental and determined girl. She was 16 years old when Joseph Stalin, who returned from Siberian exile, appeared in their house. A young girl fell in love with a revolutionary who was 21 years older than her.

Conflict of two characters

Stalin had behind him not only the years of the revolutionary struggle, but also his first marriage to Ekaterina Svanidze, which turned out to be short - the wife died, leaving her husband a six-month-old son Jacob. Stalin's heir was brought up by relatives - the father himself, immersed in the revolution, did not have time for this.

The relationship between Nadezhda and Joseph worried Sergei Alliluyev. The girl's father was not at all worried about the age difference - the hot-tempered and stubborn character of his daughter, in his opinion, was not very suitable for the companion of a prominent figure in the Bolshevik Party.

The doubts of Sergei Alliluyev did not affect anything - together with Stalin, the girl went to the front. The marriage was officially registered in the spring of 1919.

The memoirs of contemporaries testify that in this marriage there really was love and strong feelings. And besides, there was a conflict of two characters. Nadezhda's father's fears were justified - Stalin, immersed in work, wanted to see a person next to him who would take care of the family hearth. Nadezhda strove for self-realization, and the role of a housewife did not suit her.

She worked in the People's Commissariat for Nationalities Affairs, in the secretariat Lenin, collaborated in the editorial office of the journal "Revolution and Culture" and in the newspaper "Pravda".

Nadezhda Alliluyeva. Source: Public Domain

Loving mother and caring wife

It can be said with certainty that the conflicts between Joseph and Nadezhda in the early 1920s had nothing to do with politics. Stalin behaved like an ordinary man who spent a lot of time at work - he came late, tired, twitchy, irritated over trifles. Young Nadezhda, on the other hand, sometimes lacked worldly experience to smooth the corners.

Witnesses describe the following incident: Stalin suddenly stopped talking to his wife. Nadezhda understood that her husband was very unhappy with something, but she could not figure out what the reason was. Finally, the situation cleared up - Joseph believed that spouses in marriage should call each other “you”, but Nadezhda, even after several requests, continued to address her husband as “you”.

In 1921, Nadezhda and Joseph had a son, who was named Vasily. Then they took a little one into the family to raise Artem Sergeev, the son of a deceased revolutionary. Then relatives brought Stalin's eldest son Yakov to his father in Moscow. So Nadezhda became the mother of a large family.

In fairness, it must be said that the hardships of family life helped Nadezhda to bear the servants. But the woman coped with the upbringing of children, having managed to establish relations with her stepson Jacob.

According to the stories of those who were close to the Stalin family at that time, Joseph liked to relax with his loved ones, distancing himself from problems. But at the same time, it was felt that he was unusual in this role. He did not know how to behave with children, sometimes he was rude to his wife in cases where there was no reason for this.

Joseph Stalin (first from left) with his wife Nadezhda Alliluyeva (first from right) and friends on vacation. Photo: RIA Novosti / Photo from the archive of Elena Kovalenko.

Passion and jealousy

If we talk about jealousy, then Nadezhda, who was in love with her husband, did not give Joseph a reason to suspect herself of something unseemly. But she herself was jealous of her husband quite strongly.

There is evidence of this in the surviving correspondence of a later time. Here, for example, is an excerpt from one of the letters that Nadezhda sent to her husband, who was vacationing in Sochi: “Something no news from you ... Probably, the trip to the quail carried away or just too lazy to write. ...I heard about you from an interesting young woman that you look great.” “I live well, I expect better,” Stalin answered, “You are hinting at some of my trips. I inform you that I have not gone anywhere and do not intend to go. I kiss a very, very capped leg. Your Joseph.

The correspondence between Nadezhda and Joseph suggests that, despite all the problems, feelings remained between them. “As soon as you find yourself 6-7 free days, roll straight to Sochi,” Stalin writes, “I kiss my Tatka. Your Joseph. During one of Stalin's vacations, Nadezhda found out that her husband was sick. Leaving the children in the care of servants, Alliluyeva went to her husband.

In 1926, a daughter was born in the family, who was named Svetlana. The girl became her father's favorite. And if Stalin tried to keep his sons in strictness, then literally everything was allowed to his daughter.

In 1929, conflicts in the family escalated again. Nadezhda, when her daughter was three years old, decided to resume an active social life and announced to her husband that she wanted to go to college. Stalin did not like this idea, but, in the end, he relented. Nadezhda Alliluyeva became a student of the Faculty of Textile Industry of the Industrial Academy.

“I read in the white press that this is the most interesting material about you.”

In the 1980s, such a version was popular - while studying at the Industrial Academy, Nadezhda learned a lot from classmates about the perniciousness of the Stalinist course, which led her to a fatal conflict with her husband.

In fact, there is no solid evidence for this version. No one has ever seen or read the accusatory letter that Nadezhda supposedly left her husband before her death. Replicas in quarrels like “You tortured me and tortured all the people!” they look like a political protest only with a very big stretch.

The already mentioned correspondence of 1929-1931 testifies that the relationship between Nadezhda and Joseph was not hostile. Here, for example, is a letter from Nadezhda, dated September 26, 1931: “In Moscow it rains endlessly. Damp and uncomfortable. The guys, of course, already had the flu, I obviously save myself by wrapping myself in everything warm. With the next mail ... I will send the book Dmitrievsky“About Stalin and Lenin” (this defector) ... I read about her in the white press, where they write that this is the most interesting material about you. Curious? That's why I asked to get it."

It is hard to imagine that a wife who is in political conflict with her husband would send him such literature. In Stalin's response letter there is not even a hint of irritation on this issue, he generally devotes it to the weather, and not to politics: “Hello, Tatka! There was an unprecedented storm here. For two days the storm blew with the fury of an angry beast. At our dacha, 18 large oak trees were uprooted. I kiss the cap, Joseph.

There is no real evidence of a major conflict between Stalin and Alliluyeva during 1932 either.

Joseph Stalin with his wife Nadezhda Alliluyeva and Kliment Voroshilov and his wife Ekaterina. Source: Public Domain

Last quarrel

November 7, 1932 at the apartment Voroshilov After the parade, a revolutionary holiday was celebrated. The scene that took place there was described by many, and, as a rule, from other people's words. Wife Nikolai Bukharin, referring to the words of her husband, in the book “Unforgettable”, she wrote as follows: “Half-drunk Stalin threw cigarette butts and orange peels in the face of Nadezhda Sergeevna. She, unable to bear such rudeness, got up and left before the end of the banquet.

Stalin's granddaughter Galina Dzhugashvili, referring to the words of relatives, left the following description: “Grandfather was talking to a lady who was sitting next to me. Nadezhda was sitting opposite and also talking animatedly, apparently paying no attention to them. Then suddenly, looking point-blank, loudly, at the whole table, she said some kind of causticity. Grandfather, without raising his eyes, answered just as loudly: “Fool!” She ran out of the room, went to an apartment in the Kremlin.”

Svetlana Alliluyeva, Stalin's daughter, claimed that her father returned home that day and spent the night in his office.

attending the banquet Vyacheslav Molotov told the following: “We had a big company after November 7, 1932 at Voroshilov’s apartment. Stalin rolled up a ball of bread and in front of everyone threw this ball at his wife Egorova. I saw it, but did not pay attention. It seems to play a role. Alliluyeva was, in my opinion, a little psychopath at that time. All this affected her in such a way that she could no longer control herself. From that evening she left with my wife, Polina Semyonovna. They walked around the Kremlin. It was late at night, and she complained to my wife that she didn’t like this, she didn’t like this. About this hairdresser ... Why did he flirt like that in the evening ... But it was just like that, he drank a little, it was a joke. Nothing special, but it worked for her. She was very jealous of him. Gypsy blood.

Jealousy, disease or politics?

Thus, it can be stated that there really was a quarrel between the spouses, but neither Stalin himself nor the others attached much importance to the incident.

But on the night of November 9, 1932, Nadezhda Alliluyeva committed suicide by shooting herself in the heart with a Walter pistol. This pistol was given to her by her brother, Pavel Alliluev, Soviet military leader, one of the founders of the Main Armored Directorate of the Red Army.

After the tragedy, Stalin, raising his pistol, said: “And a toy pistol, I shot it once a year.”

The main question is: why did Stalin's wife commit suicide?

Stalin's daughter Svetlana Alliluyeva wrote that an internal conflict over politics led to this: “This self-restraint, this terrible internal self-discipline and tension, this discontent and irritation, driven inside, compressed inside more and more like a spring, should have, in the end in the end, inevitably end in an explosion; the spring had to straighten with terrible force ... ".

However, it must be remembered that Svetlana was 6 years old at the time of her mother's death, and this opinion, by her own admission, was gleaned from subsequent communication with relatives and friends.

Stalin's adopted son Artem Sergeev, in an interview with Rossiyskaya Gazeta, expressed a different version: “I was 11 years old when she died. She had wild headaches. On November 7, she brought Vasily and me to the parade. Twenty minutes later she left - she could not stand it. She seems to have had a malalignment of the cranial bones, and in such cases, suicide is not uncommon.

The nephew of Nadezhda agreed with the same version, Vladimir Alliluev: “My mother (Anna Sergeevna) got the impression that she was brought down by headaches. The point is this. When Alliluyeva was only 24 years old, she wrote in letters to my mother: “I have a hell of a headache, but I hope it will pass.” In fact, the pain didn't go away. What she just did not do, as soon as she was not treated. Stalin sent his wife for treatment to Germany to the best professors. Useless. I even have a memory from my childhood: if the door to Nadezhda Sergeevna's room is closed, it means that she has a headache and is resting. So we have one version: she could no longer cope with the wild, excruciating pain.

Monument at the grave of his wife Nadezhda Alliluyeva. Photo: RIA Novosti / Ramil Sitdikov

"She crippled me for life"

The fact that Nadezhda Alliluyeva was often sick in the last years of her life is confirmed by medical data. And it was not only about headaches, but also diseases of the gastrointestinal tract. Could health problems be the real cause of suicide? The answer to this question remains open.

Supporters of various versions agree that the death of his wife was a shock for Stalin, and greatly influenced him in the future. Even here, however, there are serious discrepancies.

Here is what Svetlana Alliluyeva writes in the book “Twenty Letters to a Friend”: “When (Stalin) came to say goodbye to the civil memorial service, then, going up to the coffin for a minute, he suddenly pushed him away from himself with his hands and, turning, walked away. And he didn't go to the funeral.

And here is the version of Artem Sergeev: “The coffin with the body was in one of the premises of GUM. Stalin sobbed. Vasily hung on his neck and repeated: "Daddy, don't cry." When the coffin was carried out, Stalin went for the hearse, which headed for the Novodevichy Convent. At the cemetery, we were ordered to pick up the earth and throw it on the coffin. We did just that."

Depending on their adherence to one or another political assessment of Stalin, some prefer to believe his own daughter, others prefer his adopted son.

Nadezhda Alliluyeva was buried at the Novodevichy cemetery. The widowed Stalin often came to the grave, sat on the bench and was silent.

Three years later, during one of the confidential conversations with relatives, Stalin burst out: “What children, they forgot her in a few days, and she crippled me for life.” After that, the leader said: "Let's drink to Nadia!"