History is full of contradictory events, the attitude towards which is the subject of dispute among both researchers and scientists, and ordinary people. Such controversial moments include, of course, the life and death of the Generalissimo of the Soviet Union I. Stalin.
Nowadays, few young people know where Stalin is buried, and they don’t think at all about how people lived during the era of his rule. But once upon a time he occupied the thoughts of almost all citizens of the country.
Joseph Dzhugashvili was born into a working-class family. His mother was the daughter of a father who worked at a shoe factory in Tiflis. Stalin's Georgian accent remained with him throughout his life.
His mother dreamed of her son becoming a priest. It was because of this that he entered the theological seminary, where he first became interested in politics.
Over time, having taken the post of General Secretary of the USSR, Stalin became known in the world as one of the most controversial and mysterious personalities. Reviews from contemporaries about him are striking in their diversity. Someone called him very pleasant to talk to, for example, Herbert Wells wrote about him as a sincere, decent and honest person. Others characterize him as a cunning and ignorant trickster. Most of the flattering reviews came from famous foreigners, while his compatriots scolded him.
His name is shrouded in mystery. Now we cannot understand how it could have happened that he was hated and feared, but at the same time half the country came to Stalin’s funeral, and many were sincerely grieving.
The body was transferred secretly at night, Red Square was cordoned off under the pretext of preparing for the parade on November 7th.
It is precisely because the entire procedure was carried out in such a way as not to attract attention that many now doubt where Stalin is actually buried, and suggest that his body was even taken from Moscow.
Now we are left to make guesses and assumptions about what motivated the people who doomed themselves to death in the crowd out of a desire to look at the leader at least once in their lives. But in some ways their behavior is understandable. After all, the gloomy and mysterious figure of the Generalissimo still captures the imagination of both historians and ordinary people.
Joseph Stalin is the greatest personality of the 20th century. He is called the “father of nations” and a traitor, a great ruler and a man who committed genocide of his people. Contemporaries and historians still cannot give an unambiguous assessment of the activities of this person. It is known that he died only because his subordinates were afraid to approach him at the right moment and provide help. Where is Stalin buried? What were the last days of his life like? You will find answers to all questions in this article.
Disease
The first attack of the disease overtook the leader of the people on March 1, 1953. He was found unconscious at his official residence - at the Kuntsevskaya dacha, where Stalin settled in the post-war years. The personal physician of the Chairman of the Council of People's Commissars was so frightened that for a long time he could not admit that a high-ranking patient had suffered a stroke. However, the next day the doctor found the strength to make a diagnosis and determine the paralysis of the right side of the leader’s body. That day Stalin did not get up anymore. He only occasionally raised his active hand, as if asking for help. But she never came. Some historians believe that fear was not the only reason why the leader did not receive the necessary treatment on time. The fact is that the closest associates of the “father of nations” - Beria, Khrushchev, Malenkov - were interested in his speedy death. Many people are interested in where Stalin is buried. After all, the story of his burial could turn out to be no less strange than the fact of his sudden death.
Demise
According to official sources, the guards who discovered the leader's prostrate body on the floor in the dining room could not call a doctor without special orders from Beria. That night Lavrenty Pavlovich could not be found. Only ten hours later the necessary permission was received. Only after this the patient received medical care. And the next day he had another stroke. Beria knew from the evening that the “father of nations” was not well. Documentary sources testify to this. The story of Stalin is the fate of a man betrayed by his closest comrade at the most crucial moment. On March 5, 1953, the leader died. The entire huge country plunged into deep mourning. People came in an endless stream to say goodbye to the great leader and teacher. Everyone knows where Stalin was buried immediately after his death: on March 9, his body was placed in the Lenin Mausoleum. There it rested until 1961.
Anti-Stalinist sentiments
Soon the long-awaited “thaw” came to the country. Anti-Stalinist sentiments began to develop. At the XXII Congress of the Communist Party, which took place on October 17-31, 1961, several fateful decisions were made at once. Just a day before the closing of the event, a proposal was made to remove the body of the deceased leader from the Mausoleum and rebury him in an ordinary grave. The speaker expressed the opinion that staying in the Kremlin tomb next to Lenin is incompatible with the lawlessness that Stalin committed during his reign. It is interesting that this proposal came from the mouth of the unremarkable head of the Leningrad Regional Committee, Ivan Spiridonov. Prominent party figures like Anastas Mikoyan, Mikhail Suslov, Frol Kozlov chose to remain silent. However, they decided to support Comrade Spiridonov’s initiative. So where is Stalin buried? Read about it below.
Reburial
So, at the XXII Party Congress, a decision was made to rebury the leader on Red Square, near the walls of the Kremlin, behind the Mausoleum. The country's leadership was afraid of unrest in the country, so the removal of Stalin's body took place in the strictest secrecy. On October 31, late in the evening, under the pretext of another rehearsal for the solemn parade on November 7, Red Square was cordoned off. The dug grave and the entrance to the Mausoleum were covered with plywood shields. The only witnesses to the transfer of the body were numerous security guards, the reburial commission and the funeral team. At the tomb, the officers placed Stalin's body in a wooden coffin draped in red and black crepe. The leader's body was covered with a black veil, leaving only half of his chest and face exposed. The head of the carpentry workshop, Shanin, on command, closed the coffin with a lid and nailed it. With the help of eight officers, the leader's body was removed from the Mausoleum. The coffin was moved to the grave. At its bottom, a kind of sarcophagus of eight slabs was built. After a short pause, the coffin was carefully lowered into the grave. According to ancient Russian custom, those present threw a handful of earth onto the lid of the coffin. The soldiers then buried Stalin's body.
Consequences
Contrary to expectations, the citizens of the country received the news that the “father of nations” was taken out of the Mausoleum calmly. They soon found out where Stalin was buried. But no riots followed. In 1970, a monument created by the sculptor Tomsky was erected at the leader’s grave. It is known that reburial at the Kremlin wall was not the only solution proposed at the congress of party leaders. For example, Nikita Khrushchev wanted to bury Joseph Vissarionovich not far from his daughter and wife, at the Novodevichy cemetery. However, this idea was abandoned. For some reason, the party feared that the leader’s body might be stolen from the grave and taken to Georgia. As a result, everyone at the congress voted for the initiative of the leader of Uzbekistan Nuritdin Mukhitdinov. He proposed burying the leader near the Kremlin, next to other important Soviet military leaders, politicians, and other government figures. Many people now know where Stalin is buried. You can see photographs of his grave in our article.
New versions
History does not stand still; many decades have passed since the death of the leader. Over the years, the question of where Joseph Stalin is buried began to acquire fantastic details. The information that the great leader rests in the center of the capital began to be questioned. For example, Canadian historian of Ukrainian origin Sinko Grega believes that one of Stalin’s doubles rests in the grave on Red Square. And Joseph Vissarionovich himself allegedly secretly moved to the Himalayas. They say that in his youth he was fond of Buddhist literature, so he hoped that local miracle workers would help him find health and eternal immortality. In the press, under headlines like “Secrets of the 20th Century,” suggestions periodically appear that the “father of nations” died much earlier from a serious illness. And his role was played for a long time by talented doubles, “dolls”, who replaced each other more than once. It's hard to take such fantasies seriously. However, the reign of Stalin is fraught with a lot of sinister secrets, many of which most of us will never know.
Conclusion
Now you know where Joseph Vissarionovich Stalin is buried. His death shocked millions of his compatriots. And his life is the subject of interest to an unusual number of meticulous researchers. One thing is for sure. He was a great man who left an indelible mark on world history. And the death and mystery of the burial of such people is always surrounded by fantasies, secrets and riddles.
THE YEARS after the 20th Congress were a rather strange time. Criticism of the cult of personality still continued, but the activity of speakers was no longer as vibrant as several years ago. The fear of unexpectedly ending up behind bars has diminished, but has not disappeared even in the highest social circles. The country needed to overcome the fear of returning to the past.
And then N.S. Khrushchev decided to take Stalin out of the Mausoleum.
Coffin for the "Father of Nations"
The Kremlin commandant, Lieutenant General Vedenin, and I learned about the impending decision in advance. N.S. Khrushchev called us and said:
Please keep in mind that today a decision on Stalin’s reburial will probably take place. The place is marked. The commandant of the Mausoleum knows where to dig the grave,” added Nikita Sergeevich. - By the decision of the Presidium of the CPSU Central Committee, a commission of five people was created, headed by Shvernik: Mzhavanadze - first secretary of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of Georgia, Javakhishvili - chairman of the Council of Ministers of Georgia, Shelepin - chairman of the KGB, Demichev - first secretary of the Moscow City Party Committee and Dygai - chairman of the executive committee of the Moscow Soviet.
Next, N.M. Shvernik gathered us and suggested how to secretly organize the reburial. Since there was a parade on Red Square on November 7, under the pretext of a parade rehearsal, it had to be cordoned off so that no one could get there.
General control over the progress of work was entrusted to my deputy, General V. Ya. Chekalov. The commander of the Separate Special Purpose Regiment of the Moscow Kremlin Commandant's Office, Konev, was ordered to make a coffin from good dry wood in a carpentry workshop.
The coffin was made on the same day. The wood was covered with black and red crepe, so the coffin looked very good and even rich. The Kremlin commandant's office assigned six soldiers to dig the grave and eight officers to first remove the sarcophagus from the Mausoleum to the laboratory, and then lower the coffin with the body into the grave. Due to the special delicacy of the assignment, I asked General A. Ya. Vedenin to select reliable, proven and previously well-proven people.
Best of the day
The camouflage was provided by the head of the economic department of the Kremlin commandant's office, Colonel Tarasov. He had to cover the right and left sides behind the Mausoleum with plywood so that the place of work could not be seen from anywhere.
At the same time, in the workshop of the arsenal, the artist Savinov made a wide white ribbon with the letters “LENIN”. It had to be used to cover the inscription “LENIN STALIN” on the Mausoleum until the letters were laid out in marble.
At 18.00 the passages to Red Square were blocked, after which the soldiers began digging a hole for the burial...
“Accepted unanimously!”
The XXII CONGRESS OF THE CPSU was held in the Kremlin from October 17 to October 31, 1961. I was present at the Palace of Congresses when, on the last day of the party forum, the first secretary of the Leningrad regional party committee, Spiridonov, rose to the podium and, after a brief speech, made a proposal to remove Stalin’s body from the Mausoleum. N. S. Khrushchev presided:
There was silence in the congress hall, as if the delegates were waiting for something else. Khrushchev ended the prolonged pause and declared the work of the congress over.
But, as subsequent events showed, the unanimity of the delegates was illusory. Almost immediately after the vote, commission member Mzhavanadze left Moscow and hastily flew to Georgia. Therefore, he did not take part in the reburial.
This is how worldly glory passes
WHEN all the members of the commission, except Mzhavanadze, arrived at the Mausoleum at 21:00, Stalin, in the uniform of a generalissimo, was lying on a pedestal. Eight officers took the sarcophagus and carried it down to the basement where the laboratory is located. In addition to the members of the commission, there were also scientific workers who had previously monitored the condition of Stalin’s embalmed body. But in this situation, their knowledge and experience were already useless.
The glass was removed from the sarcophagus, and the officers carefully and even carefully transferred Stalin’s body to the coffin. It was clear that even on Stalin’s embalmed face, pockmarks were still visible.
Later, rumors circulated in Moscow that Stalin’s body was almost shaken out of his uniform. This is wrong. No one undressed Stalin. The only thing is that N.M. Shvernik ordered the Gold Star of the Hero of Socialist Labor to be removed from his uniform. Stalin never wore his other award - the Star of the Hero of the Soviet Union, and therefore it was not in the sarcophagus. After this, the chairman of the commission ordered to replace the gold buttons of the uniform with brass ones. All this was carried out by the commandant of the Mausoleum Mashkov. He transferred the removed award and buttons to a special Security Room, where the awards of all those buried near the Kremlin wall were kept.
The drama was approaching its denouement. When the coffin with Stalin's body was covered with a lid, Shvernik and Javakhishvili burst into tears. Then the coffin was lifted and everyone moved towards the exit. The emotional Shvernik was supported by a bodyguard, followed by Javakhishvili. Apart from these two, no one cried.
The officers carefully lowered the coffin into the plywood-lined grave. Someone threw a handful of earth, as expected, in a Christian way. The grave was buried. On top they placed a slab of white marble with a laconic inscription: “STALIN JOSEPH VISSARIONOVICH 1879 -1953.” Then it served as a tombstone for a long time, until relatively recently a bust was erected.
Having buried Stalin, the entire commission and I returned to the Kremlin, where Shvernik gave the act of Stalin’s reburial to be signed. Then I, along with the officers and scientists of the laboratory, returned to the Mausoleum. It was also necessary to place Lenin's sarcophagus in a central place, where it stood before Stalin's first funeral in 1953. By the time we arrived, the soldiers had already wiped the marble in the place where the sarcophagus had just stood. An hour later, not even a trace of the “leader of the nation” remained on the pedestal.
*My opinion:
*Mawlans: 19.01.2011 12:03:55
*Such people are born once every thousand years!
For the good of the people, he sacrificed everything.
For him, the interests of the people stood above the interests of his own family.
These traitors are like Khrushchev (a pig), Gorbachev (a traitor and enemy of the socialist system), Yeltsin (a drunk who carries out the will of the Americans, a krishaed), who with their bad, treacherous actions ruined such a powerful state, which it was Stalin who created, although the coup was led by Lenin. He managed to defeat fascism, armed to the teeth, and how he was able to do this, let him not torment those historians who were ordered to write various lies about the victors not of a family conflict, but of the Great Patriotic War. And those historians are corrupt skins who strive to please their customers, who They give them pennies for their inventions, distortions of history, they are those traitors to Russian statehood. They praise it as if Zhukov won the war, what the hell, if it weren’t for Stalin’s tough position, Zhukov would be sitting like other generals and eating canned food in the general headquarters. If he was so prudent, so foresighted, then he would not have nominated Khrushchev to power, who after a while threw him too.
If Stalin had survived now, such a new order would have united everyone and we would not have humiliated the peoples of the former union before the capitalists. I am surprised that the Russian people and the Russian state still do not execute traitors to the destruction and humiliation of statehood, like Gorbachev while he was alive, and after death will be too late. With respect to the history of Russia and the people of the USSR MAvlans..
Joseph Stalin ruled the Soviet Union for more than two decades, unleashing terror during Russia's modernization and helping defeat Nazism. As dictator of the Soviet Union, Stalin had complete state control over the Russian people. Nowadays, many people visit the monument at the Kremlin wall where is Stalin buried and remain grateful to the former leader for creating a great superpower.
The dictator was born on December 18, 1879, in the small town of Gori located in Georgia. Joseph Stalin rose to power as General Secretary of the Communist Party, becoming Soviet dictator after the death of Vladimir Lenin. In this position he was forced to carry out rapid industrialization and collectivization of agricultural land, leaving millions dying of starvation while others were sent to camps. His Red Army helped defeat Nazi Germany during World War II.
The early years of Joseph Stalin
On December 18, in the Russian peasant village of Gori, Joseph Vissarionovich Dzhugashvili (later known as Joseph Stalin) was born. His father was a shoemaker, and his mother worked as a laundress. Joseph was a frail child. At the age of 7, he contracted smallpox, which left scars on his face. A few years later, he was injured in an accident, leaving his left arm slightly deformed. The rest of the village children treated him harshly, instilling in him a feeling of inferiority. Because of this, young Joseph began to strive for greatness and respect.
Joseph's mother, a devout Russian Orthodox Christian, wanted him to become a priest. In 1888, she managed to register him in a church school in Gori. He did very well in school, and his efforts earned him a scholarship to the Tiflis Theological Seminary. A year later, he came into contact with a secret organization that supported Georgian independence from Russia. Some of the members were socialists, who introduced him to the writings of Karl Marx and Vladimir Lenin. Joseph joined the group in 1898.
Despite his success at the seminary, he left it in 1899. According to another version, he was unable to pay tuition and therefore left school. Joseph decided not to return home, but to stay in Tiflis, devoting his time to the revolutionary movement. For a time, he worked as a tutor and then as a clerk at the Tiflis Observatory. In 1901 he joined the Social Democratic Labor Party and worked full time for the revolutionary movement. In 1902, he was arrested for coordinating a labor strike and exiled to Siberia, the first of his many arrests and exiles during the early years of the Russian Revolution. It was during this time that Joseph changed his last name to "Stalin", which means steel in Russian.
In February 1917, the Russian Revolution began. By March, the Tsar abdicated the throne and was placed under house arrest. For a time, the revolutionaries supported the provisional government, believing that a smooth transition of power was possible. In April 1917, Bolshevik leader Vladimir Lenin condemned the provisional government, arguing that the people must rise up and take control of the lands and factories with industry. By October, the revolution was completed and the Bolsheviks won a resounding victory!
Leader of the Communist Party
The young Soviet government went through a process of violent revolution as many different people competed for power. In 1922, Stalin was appointed to the newly created position of General Secretary of the Communist Party. Although this was not a significant position at the time, he had the power to independently appoint party members, which allowed him to build his base. He placed people who were beneficial to him in the highest positions and strengthened his power. By then, after this, Lenin, seriously ill, was powerless and was unable to regain control with Stalin. After Lenin's death in 1924, Stalin intended to destroy the old party leadership and take full control into his own hands.
In the late 1920s and early 1930s, Stalin reversed the Bolshevik agrarian policy of seizing land previously granted to peasants and collective farm organizations. Stalin believed that collectivism would speed up food production, but the peasants were outraged at losing their land and did not want to work for the state. Millions were killed in forced labor or starved to death during hard times. Under Stalin, a process of rapid industrialization also began, which was initially a successful program, but over time claimed millions of lives and caused enormous damage to the environment. In those days, for any resistance a person was sent into exile or shot on the spot.
With Europe mired in war in 1939, Stalin made a seemingly brilliant move by signing a non-aggression pact with Adolf Hitler and Nazi Germany. Stalin was convinced of Hitler's honesty and ignored warnings from his military commanders that Germany was mobilizing troops on its eastern front. When the Nazi Blitzkrieg struck in June 1941, the Soviet army was completely unprepared and immediately suffered huge losses. Stalin was so shocked by Hitler's treachery that he hid in his office and did not come out for several days.
Interesting fact: Initially, the leader’s body was marked in the mausoleum next to Vladimir Lenin, but later they decided bury Joseph Stalin in the center of Moscow.
After the heroic efforts of the Russian people, the Germans turned back at Stalingrad in 1943. The following year, the Soviet Army liberated the countries of Eastern Europe, even before the Allies mounted a serious challenge against Hitler. Stalin had been suspicious of the West since the creation of the Soviet Union. Since then, the USSR entered the war, Stalin demanded that the allies open a second front against Germany. Both British Prime Minister Winston Churchill and US President Franklin D. Roosevelt argued that such an action would result in heavy casualties. This only deepened Stalin's suspicions about the West.
As the war initiative gradually passed into Allied hands, President Roosevelt and Prime Minister Churchill met with Joseph Stalin to discuss the postwar arrangement. At the first of these meetings, in Tehran and Iran, at the end of 1943, the recent victory at Stalingrad allowed Stalin to take a firm negotiating position. He demanded that the Allies open a second front against Germany and they were forced to give their consent in 1944.
This changed at the Potsdam Conference in July 1945, when Roosevelt died and was replaced by President Harry S. Truman. British parliamentary elections replaced Prime Minister Churchill with Clement Attlee as Britain's chief negotiator. At the time, the British and Americans were suspicious of Stalin's intentions and wanted to avoid Soviet involvement in the conflict with post-war Japan. The dropping of two atomic bombs in August 1945 forced Japan to surrender.
Death of Stalin and his legacy
At the beginning of 1950, Joseph Stalin's health began to rapidly deteriorate. After 3 years of suffering from illnesses, Stalin died on March 5, 1953 and left a legacy of death, terror and the transformation of backward Russia into a world superpower. Ultimately, the great leader of the USSR was criticized by Nikita Khrushchev in 1956. However, today his cult is gradually being revived and more and more young people are coming to the grave of Joseph Stalin to thank him for his great services to the fatherland!
Exactly half a century has passed since Stalin was taken out of the Mausoleum. And all this time, the event, significant for the whole country, was shrouded in a dark secret. The time has come not just to remember it, but to restore everything in detail. Down to the smallest detail. And finally find out why the embalmed remains of the Secretary General were reburied under the cover of darkness in an atmosphere of special secrecy? Who and how decided to touch the body of the tyrant, whom they never ceased to fear even after death? And most importantly, to what madness were those who bowed to the leader ready to reach? We have at our disposal grandiose projects to perpetuate the memory of the Secretary General. The projects are incredible, sometimes even absurd. Among them is the construction of the Stalin Pantheon in the Kremlin. With its height, the necropolis-memorial would have eclipsed the bell tower of Ivan the Great and the Spasskaya Tower. What it was supposed to become - today you can see it for the first time.
Why wasn't Stalin buried next to his wife?
Joseph Stalin was buried in the Mausoleum in March 1953. Before this, his body was embalmed using the same technology as Lenin’s body. The remains of the Secretary General were also placed next to Vladimir Ilyich. Both leaders lay on the same pedestal in the Mausoleum for almost 8 years. Stalin was reburied on October 31, 1961.
To be honest, throwing a bridge back half a century was not easy. None of the direct participants in the events of this day lived to this day. But there are archival documents, eyewitness accounts, including those preserved only on tape recordings and still not deciphered on paper. Now is the time to declassify them. But first, a little history.
The idea of Stalin’s reburial was born at the party congress, which took place from October 17 to October 31, 1961, says Doctor of Historical Sciences, Professor Sergei Devyatov. - But by this moment the ground, as they say, was already prepared. Even at the 20th Congress, Khrushchev voiced a document entitled “On overcoming the personality cult of Stalin and its consequences.” By the way, the reason for the tense relations between the Soviet Union and the Communist Parties of China and Albania was precisely the criticism of Stalin’s personality cult. And at that very congress, a certain Spiridonov, the first secretary of the Leningrad party organization, spoke. So he, in fact, voiced the idea of removing Stalin’s body from the Mausoleum. And an appropriate decision was immediately made.
A burial commission was created, which included the first secretary of the Central Committee of Georgia Vasily Mzhavanadze, the first secretary of the Moscow city committee of the CPSU (future minister of culture) Pyotr Demichev, the chairman of the KGB Alexander Shelepin (he was called “iron Shurik”). Nikolai Shvernik (head of party control) became the chairman of the commission. The Kremlin regiment was assigned to deal with all technical issues. The commandant of the Moscow Kremlin, General Vedenin, received a command “from above” to begin preparing the burial procedure without delay.
From the memoirs of the commander of a separate regiment, Fyodor Konev:
“At exactly noon on October 31, I was called to the government building and told to prepare a company for Stalin’s reburial at the Novodevichy cemetery. At first they were going to rebury it there, next to my wife.”
13.00. Within an hour, another decision was made - to bury Stalin near the walls of the Kremlin. Members of the Politburo seemed to be afraid that at the Novodevichy graveyard the General Secretary might... be dug up and stolen by admirers. After all, there is no proper security at the cemetery.
14.00–17.00. A grave two meters deep was dug right behind the Mausoleum. Its bottom and walls were laid with 10 reinforced concrete slabs, each measuring 1 meter by 80 cm. At the same time, the command was given to the commandant of the Mausoleum to prepare the body for removal from the sarcophagus.
The coffin was prepared in advance, says Devyatov. - The most common. High-quality, solid, but not made of valuable wood and without any inlay with precious metals. They covered him with red cloth.
17.30–21.00. Preparing the body for reburial. They decided not to change Stalin’s clothes, so he remained in the same uniform. True, the gold embroidered shoulder straps of the generalissimo were removed from the jacket and the Star of the Hero of the USSR was taken away. They are still preserved. The buttons on the uniform were also replaced. But the talk about a smoking pipe being placed in the coffin is just a tale. According to eyewitnesses, there was nothing there. Stalin was transferred from the sarcophagus to the coffin by four soldiers. Everything was done quickly, carefully and extremely correctly.
22.00. The coffin was closed with a lid. But then an incident arose - in the haste, they completely forgot about the nails and hammer. The military ran to get the instrument - and twenty minutes later they finally nailed the coffin shut.
22.30–23.00. 8 officers carried out the coffin with Stalin's body. A funeral procession of two dozen people proceeded to the dug grave. There were no relatives or friends of Stalin among those present. The coffin was lowered into the grave on ropes. According to Russian custom, some threw in a handful of earth. After a short pause, the military buried the grave - in silence, without volleys or music. Although they were preparing the body for reburial to the sound of drums, a parade rehearsal was taking place on Red Square. By the way, thanks to this we managed to avoid curious spectators (the entire area was blocked off).
23.00–23.50. A funeral table was prepared for the members of the burial commission. According to the unpublished recollections of one of the then members of the Politburo, it was in a small building behind the Mausoleum (there is a kind of passage room there). Immediately after the grave was buried, everyone was invited there. Cognac, vodka and jelly stood between various snacks. Not everyone touched the table. Someone left defiantly. Someone was crying in the corner.
1.00–2.00. The servicemen covered the grave with a white stone slab, where the name and year of birth were written - 1879. By the way, the year of birth was indicated incorrectly - and this error was not corrected. In reality, Joseph Vissarionovich was born in 1878.
We saw his metrics, where exactly the year 78 appears, say expert historians. - But there is no question of any mistake. Stalin deliberately wrote off a year and a month for himself. Interesting fact, isn't it? He alone can say a lot about a person.
Somewhere between 2.00 and 6.00. The inscription above the entrance to the Mausoleum is replaced by another. There was a whole story about her. Even on the first day of Stalin’s “movement” into the Mausoleum, it was decided to immediately paint over the letters “LENIN” with black (granite-like) paint. To make it more similar to natural stone, bluish “sparkles” were interspersed into the paint. And a new inscription “STALIN LENIN” was placed on top. But the first rains and cold weather did their job - the paint began to wear off, and the original letters treacherously appeared above the Mausoleum. Then they decided to completely replace the slab with the inscription. For your information, it weighs 40 tons. And this is not just a slab - it also served as a support for the railings of the stands located on top of the Mausoleum. The Kremlin commandant instructed the commandant of the Mausoleum, Mashkov, to take the old slab to the Golovinskoye cemetery and cut it... into monuments. But he took it and disobeyed. The stove was taken on his personal instructions not to the churchyard, but to the factory. There it lay untouched until the moment when Stalin was taken out of the Mausoleum. The factory workers said that the hand did not rise to break it. And who knows? And they turned out to be right. The old stove was returned to its original place, and the one with the inscription “STALIN LENIN” was taken to the same factory. It is still kept there. You never know...
On the morning of November 1, a huge line lined up at the Mausoleum. Many were surprised not to see Stalin inside. The military personnel standing at the entrance to the Mausoleum and in the premises were constantly approached and asked: where is Joseph Vissarionovich? The employees patiently and clearly explained what their superiors told them to do. Of course, there were visitors who were outraged when they learned that the body was interred. They say, how is it possible - why didn’t they ask the people? But the vast majority took the news completely calmly. One might even say indifferent...
How Georgia was almost renamed in honor of Stalin
The fact that the removal of the Secretary General's body from the Mausoleum did not cause a stir is, in principle, understandable and explainable. Unlike what happened immediately after his death. When Stalin first died, people seemed to go crazy, making proposals to perpetuate his name. I have unique documents in front of me. They have never been published anywhere. When you read them, it seems like this is some kind of joke. But scientists, ministers, architects and other intelligent people cannot offer SUCH!
It was planned to build an entire district in Moscow “In Memory of Comrade STALIN”. It was supposed to have a Stalin Museum, the Stalin Academy of Social Sciences, a sports center for 400 thousand people (that is, several times larger than Luzhniki) and a number of other buildings.
“Central Committee of the CPSU Central Committee to Comrade Malenkov. The area “In Memory of Comrade Stalin” should become a center for displaying the most advanced science and technology in the world, the best achievements of all types of arts, a meeting place at world congresses, meetings, conferences, competitions and festivals of the best people of our country with the working people of the whole world. Everything built in the area “In Memory of Comrade Stalin” must be built to last, according to the best designs, from the best materials, with the most advanced, perfect methods.”
And also, judging by the document, this should be a nationwide construction project - and the main contribution (20–25 billion rubles) would have to be collected by the country's workers. It was planned to hand over the area by December 21, 1959, on the eightieth birthday of the Secretary General. And, by the way, it would be located in the South-Western District, directly adjacent to Moscow State University. Moscow State University itself would bear the name not of Lomonosov, but of Stalin.
In general, there are about 40 items on the list. Just look at the proposal to rename the Leningradskoye Highway in honor of Stalin. They also wanted to call the Soviet Army “after Comrade Stalin.” Point 23 states that the Georgian SSR will be renamed into the Stalin SSR. If they had done this then, it would clearly be more difficult for Georgia today to seek support abroad. But seriously, the list of absurd projects can be supplemented with the idea of moving March 8th to another day (the Secretary General died on the 5th, and the whole week after this date would be considered mourning, and March 9th would be the day of remembrance of Stalin). Less ambitious proposals include the establishment of the Order of Stalin or the writing of an oath in honor of the leader, which every worker would take, the creation of the Stalin region in Uzbekistan (at the expense of certain districts of the Tashkent and Samarkand regions)... But this is already so, “little things”.
This is what Stalin's pantheon in the Kremlin might have looked like:
Necropolis of Stalin
If all these proposals were simply discussed (of course, in all seriousness), then the construction of Stalin’s pantheon was practically a resolved issue. If the idea had required less significant effort and Khrushchev had not come to power, I assure you, now there would be a Stalinist necropolis in the center of Moscow. The corresponding resolution of the Central Committee and the Council of Ministers of the USSR was even signed, after which the best architects of the country got to work.
Three versions of the pantheon project were developed. According to one of them, the building was supposed to be installed on the site of GUM, just opposite the Mausoleum.
“The size of the area enclosed by walls is 200x165 m, the walls are erected in two rows and are used for burials. In this case, the building is round with two rows of columns and a platform for the leaders of the Party and the Government. Under the stands there are two floors with an area of about 2000 square meters. meters for the museum. It will be necessary to move, move or dismantle the building of the Historical Museum, which crowds the site and does not allow a wide passage.”
The Pantheon would look like a huge rotunda with a dome. The entire building from the outside would be surrounded by two rows of slender granite columns.
I quote the architect Ionov: “In terms of its architectural and color expressiveness, the building must be kept in strict forms, the color of the walls and columns is dark, but cheerful, speaking of the victorious march of communism (dark red granites and marbles or dark gray with inlay decoration from different stones flowers and metal)".
It was also planned to decorate the pantheon with ceramics and bronze. The dome would be covered with durable scaly materials, and the spire... with pure gold. On the spire - of course - there would be a red ruby star!
"Approximate calculations of the total cost of construction of the Pantheon:
a) territory 90,000 sq. m for 200 rub. sq. meter
90,000 x 200 = 18 million rubles.
b) wall 400 x 15 = 6000 sq. m for 1500 rub. sq. meter
1500 x 6000 = 90 million rubles.
c) a building of about 150,000 cubic meters. m for 1000 rubles. for 1 cubic m
1000 x 150000 = 150 million rubles.
d) finishing work 22 million rubles.
Total 280 million rubles.”
For your information, Stalin’s body would be transferred to the pantheon, and in the future all famous personalities would be buried there. Moreover, the leaders and leaders of the party, members are in sarcophagi, and others of lower rank are in urns. By the way, the pantheon would have a volume of 250–300 thousand cubic meters.
Another version of the project (the Central Committee was more inclined towards it) involved the construction of a pantheon behind the “mergs” - in the Kremlin itself in the south-eastern part, on the left side at the entrance through the Spasskaya Tower. In this case, it would be much smaller in size (should not exceed 100 thousand cubic meters). Well, and, accordingly, only the leaders would rest there.
The pantheon project (fortunately or unfortunately, as you wish) remained on paper. And Stalin still rests at the Kremlin wall. There is talk among scientists that the body is still in good condition. However, not once in 50 years has it occurred to any of the state leaders to exhume the remains of the Secretary General. Some are even convinced that it is impossible to open Stalin’s grave without consequences for the entire country. And they draw an analogy with Tamerlane’s grave - according to legend, it was because it was opened that the Second World War began.
Loading...