Few people know that the leader of the Soviet Union, Joseph Vissarionovich Stalin, had three wives, and two of them tragically left this world. The saddest story was connected with the last wife - Nadezhda Alliluyeva. What did the woman have to go through "in the arms of the devil", what would be her fate if she did not meet Joseph Stalin?

Joseph Dzhugashvili

Soso Dzhugashvili was born into a poor family in the small town of Gori in 1878. His father Vissarion was a shoemaker (as was Keke's mother). The parents of the future leader were born in the families of serfs. Little Soso had a difficult childhood, his father drank and constantly beat him and his mother. At the age of 10, Joseph (to the great joy of his mother) enters a religious school. In 1894, Dzhugashvili graduated from college with honors and entered the seminary. At the age of 15, the future revolutionary is fond of the Marxist movement. He actively participates in the underground life of the revolutionaries. As a result, he was expelled from the seminary for promoting Marxism in 1899.

Iosif Dzhugashvili takes the nickname Koba and begins to actively participate in revolutionary movements, strikes, demonstrations. As a result, violent activity leads to the first link. In constant arrest, he will spend the next 17 years of his life.

Stalin's wives

With his first wife, Ekaterina, Koba met in Tiflis. Revolutionary Alexander Svanidze introduced him to his sister. Katya was very beautiful, modest and submissive, and the sister of a revolutionary! They secretly got married. Despite Dzhugashvili's poverty, constant arrests, lack of work and a completely unpretentious appearance, Katya saw in him a loving man. Indeed, in those years, young Soso dreamed of a real family, which he never had. Katya did everything that depended on her, they rented a small room in the fields. Soon the son Jacob is born in the family. But there is still no money, the husband sends all the money he has got to Lenin. He was fanatical in his belief in the revolution. Soon Katya will fall ill and die, the family did not have money for her treatment. The newborn baby remains with his sister Katerina, his father will take him to Moscow only in 1921.

In 1910, Koba was sent into exile for the third time in the same city of Salvychegorsk, where he lived with the widow Matrena Prokopyevna Kuzakova. This woman can be called the common-law wife of Stalin, because during their cohabitation, their son Konstantin is born. Later, this fact will be proven by DNA analysis on the federal channel.

After the exile ended, Stalin settled in Vologda. And then he will go to St. Petersburg to prepare a coup, he will do it in the direction of Lenin himself. In St. Petersburg, Stalin meets his last wife, Nadezhda Alliluyeva. The following is the story of Stalin's wife, biography and personal life.

Nadezhda Alliluyeva

Nadezhda Sergeevna Alliluyeva was born in Baku. The life of Stalin's wife was surrounded by revolutionaries. Her father Sergei Yakovlevich and mother Olga Evgenievna were ardent communists. For this reason, they move to St. Petersburg with the whole family. Nadia had a sister Anna and brothers Pavel and Fedor.

Nadezhda grew up as a determined and courageous child. She was interested in everything, she became interested in politics early, sharing the interests of her parents, the revolutionaries. Nadya was quick-tempered and stubborn, with such a fighting character, it is not surprising that she was carried away by the old revolutionary Koba.

She was 16 years old when the not so young Stalin appears in their house. 23 years older than the girl, he became an idol for her. Further, the biography of Stalin's future wife and her personal life will look like a complete nightmare.

Married to the leader

Hope has always been very active. After graduating from the gymnasium, she began working in the People's Commissariat for Nationalities, in the secretariat of V.I. Lenin. She was involved in the magazines "Revolution and Culture" and in the newspaper "Pravda". Having given birth to Stalin's two children, Vasily and Svetlana, she longed to return to public life. But her husband did not like it, as a result, frequent quarrels arose in the family. Alliluyeva, Stalin's wife, often argued with her husband.

Quarrels generally accompanied them throughout their life together. The struggle of characters, and later an open misunderstanding of Stalin's actions. When eight of her classmates were arrested at Nadezhda, it was already too late to do something, they all died. Later, she repeatedly faced injustice, which she tried in every possible way to correct, but it was all in vain. People were dying all around, it was impossible to calmly worry about it. In addition, Stalin was often rude, he could publicly insult his wife. This is remembered by eyewitnesses of those years.

In one of the next quarrels, on November 9, 1932, she ran away from a banquet on the occasion of the celebration for the revolution, and then shot herself in the heart. Thus ends the biography of Stalin's wife.

The mystery of death, the fate of the family

Until now, the question of the reasons for the suicide of Stalin's wife remains open. There are two main versions. The first is political. Nadezhda could not come to terms with her husband's aggressive policy. The remark allegedly thrown by Nadezhda in a quarrel: "You tortured me and tortured all the people," was the basis for thinking so.

Another reason, according to historians, is illness. Hope was sick for a long time. From the memoirs of compatriots and letters from the mother, we know that she constantly suffered from headaches. These pains drove her crazy, perhaps they caused her to commit suicide. In addition, she had an intestinal disease, her husband even sent her to Germany for treatment. Vasily, who was 11 years old at the time of her death, recalls these physical sufferings of his mother.

Nadezhda Alliluyeva was buried at the Novodevichy cemetery.

After the death of Nadezhda, a series of repressions began against her family. In 1938 Pavel, brother, died of a broken heart. There are a lot of rumors that it was poisoning. On the day of Pavel's funeral, the husband of Nadia's sister is arrested. He will be shot in 2 years. Anna is also waiting for arrest, but much later. She will be arrested for (supposedly) anti-Soviet propaganda. Anna will be released only after Stalin's death, in 1954.

Conclusion

Today, many memoirs, books, autobiographical works have been written about the life of Stalin's wife Nadezhda, but what was going on in the soul of a young girl, mother of two children, is not given to know for sure.

Fate released Nadezhda Alliluyeva for 31 years, thirteen of which she was married to someone whom many consider the embodiment of evil

None of those with whom she studied and worked, with whom she communicated daily, did not even guess who she really was. Only relatives and the closest of her entourage knew that Nadezhda Alliluyeva- the wife of the most powerful man in the country. They started talking about her when she was gone, and her death, without revealing the secrets of her life, became a new mystery for everyone.

I can't bear to get married

She was very small when she met Soso(short for Joseph) Dzhugashvili. Or rather, he met her: he saved her, two years old, who accidentally fell off the embankment into the sea. It was in Baku, where Nadia was born on September 22 (September 9 according to the old style), 1901. Her family was closely connected with the revolutionary movement, her father Sergei Yakovlevich Alliluev was one of the first workers of the Social Democrats, and the young Georgian Dzhugashvili was his close friend. So close that it was with the Alliluyevs that he settled in 1917, returning from exile.

According to Stalin's daughter Svetlana Alliluyeva, grandfather was half gypsy, and grandmother, Olga Evgenievna Fedorenko, - German. The youngest in the family, Nadenka had a pronounced independent and quick-tempered character. She did not listen to her parents when, at the age of 17, having joined the Bolshevik Party, she decided to link her fate with Joseph. Her mother warned her to marry with an age difference of 22 years, her father was against marriage, because he believed that such an immature wife with an uneven character was clearly not suitable for an active revolutionary. But in 1919, they nevertheless got married and at first lived, as they say, soul to soul.

Kremlin orphanage

The family moved to Moscow. Nadezhda, after completing typist courses, began working in the secretariat V. I. Lenin. In 1921, the first-born son was born Vasiliy. Her husband insisted that she quit her job and take care of the house and the child. Moreover, at the suggestion of Nadezhda, he moved to them and Jacob- Stalin's son from his first marriage with Ekaterina Svanidze who died of typhus in 1907. Yakov was only seven years younger than his stepmother, and they talked for a long time, which irritated her husband very much.

However, Nadia did not want to leave work, and here Vladimir Ilyich helped her: he himself settled this issue with Stalin. It is curious that in 1923 an orphanage was specially opened for the children of senior government officials on Malaya Nikitskaya, since their parents were too busy in the service. There were 25 kids from the Kremlin elite and exactly the same number of real homeless children.

Raised them together without making any distinctions. This was told by the adopted son of Stalin, the same age as Vasily, Major General of Artillery Artem Sergeev, who fell into the family of the leader after the death of his father, a famous Bolshevik Fyodor Sergeev who had been friends with Stalin for many years. In this orphanage, he and Vasya Stalin were from 1923 to 1927. And the co-directors of this house were Nadezhda Alliluyeva and Artem's mother Elizabeth Lvovna.

Love on "you"

Year after year, disagreements became more and more noticeable. The husband and his young wife were often as harsh, and sometimes rude, as with his associates. Once, Stalin did not speak to his wife for almost a month. She didn’t know what to think, but it turned out that he was dissatisfied: his wife calls him “you” and by his first name and patronymic. Did Stalin love her? Obviously loved, at least in his letters from holiday destinations called her Tatka and called to come to his place if he could find a few free days.

Nadezhda tried to be a caring mother and wife, but she did not like life in domestic captivity. Young, energetic, she loved freedom, the feeling of being useful, and she was offered to sit almost locked up, where every step was controlled by security, where she could communicate only with a narrow circle of trusted persons, by the way, almost always older than her.

The husband has his own worries: after the death of Lenin, there is a fierce inner-party struggle for power, sometimes Trotskyists, sometimes a “right deviation”. Nadezhda did not delve into the vicissitudes of the political struggle. I just felt that the more power in the country Stalin took into his own hands, the stronger the domestic fetters became. That's why she so cherished every opportunity to escape from home, into a big world filled with events. Her education was minimal: six grades of the gymnasium and secretarial courses, but she went to work in the journal Revolution and Culture and began to master the editorial business. Even the birth of her daughter Svetlana in 1926 could not firmly tie her to the house.

Not friends with those

All around, people poured into the workers' schools, everyone studied, received working specialties, graduated from institutes. Hope also went to school. The husband stubbornly objected to this step, did not want her to leave the children for nannies. But nevertheless, he was persuaded, and in 1929 Alliluyeva became a student at the Industrial Academy in order to receive the specialty of a chemical engineer. Who this student was, only the rector knew. She was not brought to the doors of the academy: she got out of the Kremlin car for a quarter, dressed discreetly, behaved modestly.

It was interesting to study. Moreover, the home environment was not pleasing. Nadezhda was jealous of her husband for other women to whom he paid attention, sometimes not embarrassed by her presence. She tried to avoid the feasts that were arranged at home: she did not tolerate drunk people and did not drink herself, because she suffered from terrible headaches.

And it so happened that she was friends mainly with those who did not favor her husband. She was impressed by polite, intelligent people, such as Lev Kamenev and Nikolai Bukharin. Several times Nadezhda even left her husband for her parents. But then she returned: either he asked, or she decided so herself, and where could one run away from Stalin?

Tortured her and all the people

At the end of 1930, there was a trial of the Industrial Party. Many engineers and scientists were arrested, who were accused of counteracting the course of industrialization. Those who criticized the pace and forms of collectivization also paid the price. All this became known to Nadezhda Alliluyeva. Indeed, even at the academy where she studied, many teachers and students were arrested.

Nadezhda argued with her husband, sometimes provoking him into a scandal in the presence of others, accusing him of having tortured her and "all the people." Stalin was angry - why is he interfering in state affairs, called names, rudely interrupted her tantrums.

Where did the girl go that unconditionally went with him to the revolution and was a real fighting girlfriend? It seemed to him that she had completely abandoned the children; instead of an understanding and sympathetic woman, he sometimes saw in her a supporter of his enemies.

... November 7, 1932, when in the house Kliment Voroshilov gathered to celebrate the 15th anniversary of October, there was a breakdown. Everyone drank, except for Nadezhda, and Stalin, having rolled up a bread ball, threw it to the side of his wife with the words: “Hey, you, drink!” Indignant, she got up from the table and answered him: “I don’t hey to you!”, Left the feast. With Polina Zhemchuzhina, wife Molotov, they walked around the Kremlin, and Nadezhda complained about her life and about her husband, and in the morning she was found in a pool of blood, a Walter, a gift from her brother, was lying nearby.

Who was shooting?

75 years have passed since the death of Nadezhda Sergeevna Alliluyeva, and the debate about how she passed away still does not subside. Killed by someone or killed herself? If she was killed, then, perhaps, by Stalin himself - out of jealousy (supposedly for an affair with her stepson Yakov) or for having contacted his political opponents. Maybe she was killed not by Stalin himself, but by his order - by the guards as an "enemy of the people."

Shot yourself? Probably out of jealousy. Or maybe she wanted to avenge him for rudeness, drunkenness and betrayal?

But here is another - medical - version that appeared after the autopsy. Nadezhda Alliluyeva suffered from an incurable disease: a pathology of the structure of the cranial bones. That is why she suffered so much from headaches, from which even the best doctors in Germany, where she went for treatment, could not save her. Probably, stress caused a severe attack and Alliluyeva could not stand it - she committed suicide, which, by the way, often happens with such an ailment. No wonder it is called the "suicide skull".

And how did Stalin react to the death of his wife? Everyone agrees on one thing - he was in shock. Relatives testify that his wife left a note for him, which he read but did not share with anyone. However, it was clear that she made a strong impression on him.

Svetlana, Alliluyeva's daughter, reported in her book that at the civil memorial service, Stalin approached his wife's coffin and suddenly pushed him away with his hands, turned away and left. I didn't even go to the funeral. But Artem Sergeev, who was present at the funeral, reported that the coffin was placed in one of the premises of GUM, and Stalin stood in tears near the body of his wife, and his son Vasily kept repeating: “Daddy, don’t cry!” Then, at the Novodevichy cemetery, where Nadezhda Alliluyeva was buried, Stalin followed the hearse and threw a handful of earth into her grave.

Stalin did not marry again, and witnesses say that during the war he came to the cemetery at night and sat alone for a long time on a bench near his wife's grave.

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, the wife of 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 revolutionary worker Sergei Alliluyev. 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 not only years of revolutionary struggle behind him, but also his first marriage with Ekaterina Svanidze, which turned out to be short - his wife died, leaving her husband a six-month-old son Yakov. 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 Lenin's secretariat, collaborated in the editorial office of the Revolution and Culture magazine and in the Pravda newspaper.

Nadezhda Alliluyeva

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 little Artyom Sergeev, the son of a deceased revolutionary, was taken into the family to be brought up. 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

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 you a lot, a lot. 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 post... I will send Dmitrievsky's book "On Stalin and Lenin" (this defector)... I read about it 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

Last quarrel

On November 7, 1932, a revolutionary holiday was celebrated at the Voroshilovs' apartment after the parade. The scene that took place there was described by many, and, as a rule, from other people's words. The wife of Nikolai Bukharin, referring to the words of her husband, in the book Unforgettable, 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 her 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.

Vyacheslav Molotov, who was present at the banquet, said 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 Yegorov's wife. 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 Alliluyev, a Soviet military figure, 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.

Nadezhda's nephew, Vladimir Alliluyev, agreed with the same version: “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

"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, went 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!"

"Encyclopedia of Death. Chronicles of Charon»

The ability to live well and die well is one and the same science.

Epicurus

ALLILUEVA Nadezhda Sergeevna (1901 - 1932) - Stalin's second wife

The leader's first wife, Ekaterina Svanidze, died of natural causes (from tuberculosis or pneumonia), while Alliluyeva shot herself. Nadezhda Sergeevna was 22 years younger than her husband.

Already a mother of two children, she tried to actively participate in public life, entered the industrial academy. But the last years of her family life were constantly overshadowed by Stalin's rudeness and inattention.

“The evidence that I have,” writes Stalin’s biographer D. Volkogonov, “suggests that here, too, Stalin became an indirect (but, by the way, indirect?) Cause of her death. On the night of November 8-9, 1932, Alliluyeva-Stalin committed suicide. The immediate cause of her tragic act was a quarrel, barely noticeable to others, which took place at a small, festive evening, where Molotov, Voroshilov and their wives were, some other persons from the environment of the General Secretary. The fragile nature of his wife could not endure another rude trick of Stalin. The 15th anniversary of October was overshadowed. Alliluyeva went to her room and shot herself. Karolina Vasilievna Til, the housekeeper of the family, came in the morning to wake Alliluyeva and found her dead. Walter was lying on the floor. Stalin, Molotov and Voroshilov were called.

There is reason to believe that the deceased left a suicide letter. One can only speculate about this. There are always big and small mysteries in the world that will never be solved. The death of Nadezhda Sergeevna, I think, was not accidental. Perhaps the last thing that dies in a person is hope. When there is no hope, there is no longer a person. Faith and hope always double strength. Stalin's wife no longer had them"

Leon Trotsky gives a different date and gives a different interpretation of the reason for the suicide of Nadezhda Alliluyeva: “On November 9, 1932, Alliluyeva died suddenly. She was only 30 years old. As for the reasons for her unexpected death, the Soviet newspapers were silent. In Moscow, they whispered that she shot herself, and talked about the reason. At the evening at Voroshilov's, in the presence of all the nobles, she allowed herself a critical remark about the peasant policy that led to famine in the countryside. Stalin loudly responded to her with the most rude abuse that exists in the Russian language. The Kremlin servants drew attention to the excited state of Alliluyeva when she returned to her apartment. After a while, a shot rang out from her room. Stalin received many expressions of sympathy and moved on to the agenda.

Finally, the third version of the reason for the suicide of Nadezhda Alliluyeva is found in the memoirs of Nikita Khrushchev:

“I saw Stalin's wife,” says the former leader, “shortly before her death in 1932. It was, in my opinion, at the celebration of the anniversary of the October Revolution (that is, November 7. - A.L.). There was a parade on Red Square. Alliluyeva and I stood side by side on the podium of the Lenin Mausoleum and talked. It was a cold, windy day. As usual, Stalin was in his military overcoat. The top button is not fastened. Alliluyeva looked at him and said: “My husband is again without a scarf. He will catch a cold and get sick." From the way she said it, I could tell that she was in her usual good mood.

The next day, Lazar Kaganovich, one of Stalin's close associates, gathered the secretaries of the party and announced that Nadezhda Sergeevna had died suddenly. I thought: “How can this be? I just talked to her. Such a beautiful woman." But what to do, it happens that people die suddenly.

A day or two later, Kaganovich again gathered the same people and declared:

I am speaking on behalf of Stalin. He asked me to gather you and tell you what really happened. It was not a natural death. She committed suicide.

He didn't give any details and we didn't ask any questions.

We buried Alliluyeva. Stalin looked sad as he stood at her grave. I do not know what was in his soul, but outwardly he mourned.

After Stalin's death, I learned the story of Alliluyeva's death. Of course, this story is not documented in any way. Vlasik, Stalin's head of security, said that after the parade everyone went to dine with the military commissar Kliment Voroshilov in his large apartment. After parades and other similar events, everyone usually went to Voroshilov for dinner.

The parade commander and some members of the Politburo went there directly from Red Square. Everyone drank, as usual on such occasions. Finally everyone dispersed. Stalin also left. But he didn't go home.

“It was already late. Who knows what time it was. Nadezhda Sergeevna began to worry. She began to look for him, call one of the dachas. And she asked the officer on duty if Stalin was there.

Yes, he replied, Comrade Stalin is here.

He said that a woman was with him, he called her name. It was the wife of a military man, Gusev, who was also at that dinner. When Stalin left, he took her with him. I was told that she is very beautiful. And Stalin slept with her at this dacha, and Alliluyeva learned about it from the officer on duty.

In the morning - when, I don’t know for sure - Stalin came home, but Nadezhda Sergeevna was no longer alive. She didn't leave any note, and if there was a note, we were never told about it.

Vlasik later said:

That officer is an inexperienced fool. She asked him, and he took it and told her everything.

Then there were rumors that perhaps Stalin killed her. This version is not very clear, the first one seems more plausible. After all, Vlasik was his bodyguard.”

Perhaps all three versions are true - for example, there could have been a quarrel at a party, and then, when Alliluyeva found out that another woman was with Stalin, the insults combined, and the measure of suffering exceeded the instinct of self-preservation.

However, one cannot discount the likelihood of Alliluyeva's murder. In any case, many contemporaries were convinced of this. Y. Semenov’s book “Unwritten Novels” contains a transcript of his conversation with Galina Semyonovna Kameneva-Kravchenko, where she says: “I was arrested in 1932, immediately after Nadya Alliluyeva died ... By the way, she was not left-handed, but it was her left temple that was shattered. At ten o'clock in the evening, the doctor of the Kremlin hospital Alexandra Yulianovna Kapel, a close friend of the outstanding therapist Pletnev, ran to Olga Davydovna. I asked Lyutik - that was the name of the son of Lev Borisovich [Trotsky] and Olga Davydovna, my husband Alexander : "What happened?" He replied: “Nadya Alliluyeva died”; I went to Olga Davydovna, and she silently looks at Dr. Kapel ... “There was an acute appendicitis,” Alexandra Yulianovna said quietly, “we could not save her ...” It was the official version ... I returned to Lutik, and he shook his head: "Lie. She was killed. From the same pistol that dad gave you (that is, Trotsky.)

Despite such evidence, serious historians adhere to the version of suicide. Stalin had no obvious reasons for the destruction of his wife, and it is unlikely that he would have chosen the days of the main revolutionary holiday for such an “act”. Let us also take into account the fact that suicide (genuine or imaginary) inevitably cast a shadow on Stalin himself. Think the leader of the murder, he probably would have picked up a more "natural" version of death.

According to eyewitnesses, on November 7, 1932, another quarrel took place between Alliluyeva and Stalin in Voroshilov's apartment on the eve of his death.

On the night of November 8-9, 1932, Nadezhda Sergeevna shot herself in the heart with a Walter pistol, locking herself in her room.

This restraint of oneself, this terrible internal self-discipline and tension, this discontent and irritation, driven inside, compressed inside more and more like a spring, should, in the end, inevitably end in an explosion; the spring had to straighten with terrible force ...

And so it happened. And the reason was not so significant in itself and did not make a special impression on anyone, like "there was no reason." Just a small quarrel at a festive banquet in honor of the fifteenth anniversary of October. "Just," her father told her, "Hey, you, drink!" And she "only" suddenly screamed: "I don't - HEY!" - and got up, and with everyone left the table ...

... I was told later, when I was already an adult, that my father was shocked by what had happened. He was shocked because he did not understand: why? Why was he given such a terrible blow to the back? He was too smart not to understand that a suicide always thinks of "punishing" someone - "here, they say", "on, here you are", "you will know!" This he understood, but he could not understand - why? Why was he so punished?

And he asked those around him: was he inattentive? Didn't he love and respect her as a wife, as a person? Is it really so important that he could not go to the theater with her once again? Does it really matter?

The first days he was shocked. He said that he himself did not want to live anymore. (This was told to me by the widow of Uncle Pavlusha, who, together with Anna Sergeevna, remained in our house for the first few days day and night). They were afraid to leave their father alone, in such a state he was. From time to time, some kind of anger, rage found on him. This was due to the fact that his mother left him a letter.

Apparently she wrote it at night. I never saw him, of course. It was probably immediately destroyed, but it was, those who saw it told me about it. It was terrible. It was full of accusations and reproaches. This was not just a personal letter; it was partly a political letter. And, after reading it, my father could think that my mother was next to him only for appearances, but in fact she was walking somewhere near the opposition of those years.

He was shocked and angry at this, and when he came to say goodbye to the civil memorial service, then, going up to the coffin for a minute, he suddenly pushed it away from him with his hands and, turning, walked away. And he didn't go to the funeral.

Svetlana Alliluyeva "Twenty Letters to a Friend"

The housekeeper Karolina Vasilievna Til always woke up Nadezhda in the morning, who was sleeping in her room. I.V. Stalin went to bed in his office or in a small room with a telephone, near the dining room. He slept there that night too, returning late from the same celebratory banquet from which Nadezhda had returned earlier. Early in the morning Karolina Vasilievna, as always, prepared breakfast in the kitchen and went to wake Nadezhda Sergeevna. Seeing that Alliluyeva was lying covered in blood near the bed itself, and that in her hand she had a small, almost silent Walther pistol, which her brother had once brought from Berlin, shaking with fear and unable to utter a word, she ran to the nursery and called the nanny. Decided I.V. Stalin did not wake up and went together to the bedroom. Both women put the body on the bed, put it in order.

Then they ran to call those who were closer to them - the head of security, Yenukidze, Polina Molotova, a close friend of Nadezhda. Soon everyone came running. Molotov and Voroshilov also came. Nobody could believe it. Finally, I.V. Stalin went into the dining room. “Joseph, Nadia is no longer with us,” they told him. This happened on the night of November 8-9, 1932. Stalin was shocked.
He said that he himself did not want to live anymore.

On November 9, 1932, Professor Alexander Solovyov wrote in his diary: “Today is a hard day. When I came to the Industrial Academy to give a lecture, I found myself in great confusion. At night, the wife of Comrade Stalin, N.S., tragically died at home. Alliluyeva. She is much younger than him, in her thirties or so. She became a wife after the revolution, working as a young employee of the Central Committee. Now she studied for the last year at the Industrial Academy at the Faculty of Chemistry. She attended my lectures. At the same time she graduated from the Mendeleev Institute at the Faculty of Artificial Fiber. And this mysterious death.

There are a lot of talks and assumptions among the Promacademians. Some say that Comrade Stalin shot her. Long after midnight, he sat alone in his office writing papers. He heard a rustle behind him at the door, grabbed a revolver and fired. He became very suspicious, everything seems to be an attempt on him. And this is the wife. Immediately on the spot.

Others say they had big political differences. Alliluyeva accused him of cruelty to the opposition and dispossession. During the argument and passion, Comrade Stalin shot at her.

Still others claim that the misfortune was due to a family quarrel. Alliluyeva stood up for her father, an old Leninist, and for her older sister, a party member. She accused her husband of inadmissible heartless persecution of them for some disagreement with him. Tov. Stalin could not stand the reproaches and fired.

I found many other rumors and gossip.

They called from the Central Committee: to stop all conjectures and fabrications. Do what you have to do - study. (Quoted from the book by L. Mlechin "The Death of Stalin". M. 2003. S. 264 - 265).

Stalin's granddaughter Galina Dzhugashvili, referring to the words of her 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.”

Vyacheslav Molotov, who was present at the banquet, said 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 Yegorov's wife. 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.

“After the death of Nadia, of course, my personal life is difficult. But, nothing, a courageous person must always remain courageous.

But here Leon Trotsky gives his interpretation of the reason for the suicide of Nadezhda Alliluyeva: “On November 9, 1932, Alliluyeva died suddenly. She was only 30 years old. As for the reasons for her unexpected death, the Soviet newspapers were silent. In Moscow, they whispered that she shot herself, and talked about the reason. At the evening at Voroshilov's, in the presence of all the nobles, she allowed herself a critical remark about the peasant policy that led to famine in the countryside. Stalin loudly responded to her with the most rude abuse that exists in the Russian language. The Kremlin servant drew attention to the excited state of Alliluyeva when she returned to her apartment. After a while, a shot rang out from her room. Stalin received many expressions of sympathy and moved on to the agenda.

It is known that Joseph Vissarionovich Stalin often visited his wife's grave and sat for a long time on the marble bench opposite.

Interestingly, in the official biography of Alliluyeva there is information about 10 abortions. Specialists found the relevant data in Nadezhda's medical record.

The funeral of Nadezhda Sergeevna Alliluyeva was held at the Novodevichy Cemetery. Stalin was absent from the funeral ceremony. Although some argue that Joseph Vissarionovich is present in the photo.

Shortly before her death, there is a mention of depression in Stalin's wife in the memoirs of Alexander Barmin, a Soviet defector diplomat who saw her with her brother Pavel Alliluyev on Red Square on November 7, 1932: "She was pale, looked tired, it seemed that everything that happened was not enough of her It was evident that her brother was deeply saddened and preoccupied with something.

In one of the old monographs, Yuri Alexandrov found evidence of Molotov. When asked whether jealousy was the cause of Alliluyeva's death, Molotov replies: “Jealousy, of course. In my opinion, completely unfounded ... Alliluyeva was, in my opinion, a little psychopath at that time ... ”There is also a version of jealousy in Khrushchev’s memoirs. Nikita Sergeevich said: during the celebration of the 15th anniversary of the October Revolution, Stalin did not come home to spend the night. Nadezhda Sergeevna began calling the dacha in Zubalovo. She was told that Stalin was in the company of a beautiful woman ... Hearing this, Alliluyeva committed suicide. “According to eyewitnesses,” says Yuri Alexandrov, “Alliluyeva was jealous of Stalin for the wives of his close associates and even for the hairdresser with whom Stalin shaved. - And to the opera singer Vera Davydova, the heroine of the book "Confessions of Stalin's mistress", with whom he allegedly often visited Sochi? “It can be assumed that Alliluyeva knew about their relationship,” says Alexandrov. - Stalin met Davydova in the spring of 1932, and judging by the active participation he took in her move from Leningrad to Moscow, Davydova made a great impression on Stalin. When I talked with the old workers of Stalin's Sochi dacha, none of them could remember Davydov. But the sister-hostess and librarian Elizaveta Popkova (mother of the pilot, Hero of the Soviet Union Vitaly Popkov, friend of Stalin's son Vasily) told me that his second cousin, an opera singer named Mchedlidze, often came to Stalin. I searched for information about Mchedlidze for a long time and found in ... the Soviet Encyclopedia: "Vera Davydova (Mchedlidze), opera singer, People's Artist of the USSR." By the way, according to Yuri Alexandrov, the famous Sochi Winter Theater was built by Stalin specifically for Vera Davydova.

Finally, the third version of the reason for the suicide of Nadezhda Alliluyeva is found in the memoirs of Nikita Khrushchev. “I saw Stalin’s wife,” says the former leader, “shortly before her death in 1932. It was, in my opinion, at the celebration of the anniversary of the October Revolution (that is, November 7). There was a parade on Red Square. Alliluyeva and I stood side by side they were talking on the podium of the Lenin Mausoleum. It was a cold, windy day. As usual. Stalin was in his military overcoat. The top button was not fastened. Alliluyeva looked at him and said: "My husband is again without a scarf. He will catch a cold and get sick.” From the way she said this, I could conclude that she was in her usual good mood.

The next day, Lazar Kaganovich, one of Stalin's close associates, gathered the secretaries of the party and announced that Nadezhda Sergeevna had died suddenly. I thought, "How can that be? I just talked to her. Such a beautiful woman." But what to do, it happens that people die suddenly.

A day or two later, Kaganovich again gathered the same people and declared:

I am speaking on behalf of Stalin. He asked me to gather you and tell you what really happened. It was not a natural death. She committed suicide.

He didn't give any details and we didn't ask any questions.

We buried Alliluyeva. Stalin looked sad as he stood at her grave. I do not know what was in his soul, but outwardly he mourned.

Another version is that Stalin himself shot his wife because of jealousy. Alliluyeva seemed to have a close relationship with Yakov, Stalin's son from his first marriage, and this is what prompted the leader to kill. However, historians consider it absurd.

Iosif Dzhugashvili allegedly had a love affair with Alliluyeva's mother, and Nadezhda was in fact Stalin's daughter. When she asked Stalin if he had an affair with her mother, he replied that he had many affairs, possibly with her mother as well. After this conversation, Alliluyeva shot herself.

Nadezhda Alliluyeva was only 31 years old.