On October 31, 1961, in an atmosphere of strict secrecy, the reburial of Joseph Stalin took place.
In communism - without Stalin
1961 became highest point in the career of Nikita Khrushchev. The party leader triumphed - the pace economic development The USSR were high, the Land of Soviets carried out a manned flight into outer space, citizens were gaining confidence in the future.
In October 1961, the XXII Congress of the CPSU was held at which Khrushchev announced new program party, which proclaimed the task of building the foundations of a communist society by 1980.
After Gagarin's flight, even such a plan did not seem unbelievable to Soviet citizens. In the wake of general euphoria, Nikita Khrushchev decided to put an end to the posthumous overthrow of his predecessor, Joseph Stalin.
The debunking of Stalin's "personality cult" was the basis of Khrushchev's political course in the 1950s. Now the new leader has decided to get rid of not only the legacy of Stalin, but also his body.
March 9, 1953 the sarcophagus with the body of Stalin was placed in the Mausoleum, which from that moment began to be called the "Mausoleum of V. I. Lenin and I. V. Stalin."
In March 1953, the Decree of the Central Committee of the CPSU and the Council of Ministers of the USSR was adopted on the creation of the Pantheon - "a monument to the eternal glory of the great people of the Soviet country", where all burial places from Red Square were to be transferred, but this project did not reach the stage of practical implementation. Stalin remained lying in the Mausoleum.
“Yesterday I consulted with Ilyich”
On October 30, 1961, after Khrushchev delivered a keynote speech on building communism, the first secretary of the Leningrad Regional Committee, Ivan Spiridonov, asked to speak on an extraordinary issue. He made a proposal to remove Stalin from the Mausoleum. The initiative was supported by an old underground worker, a member of the party since 1902, Dora Abramovna Lazurkina. A Bolshevik woman who passed through the Gulag said:
“Yesterday I consulted with Ilyich, as if he stood before me as if alive and said: it’s unpleasant for me to be next to Stalin, who brought so much trouble to the party.”
To thunderous applause, the congress approved the resolution, which said: “To recognize as inexpedient the further preservation of the sarcophagus with the coffin of I.V. Stalin, since Stalin's serious violations of Lenin's precepts, abuse of power, mass repression against honest Soviet people and other actions during the period of the cult of personality make it impossible to leave the coffin with his body in the Mausoleum of V.I. Lenin.
Of course, the "impromptu" was prepared by Nikita Khrushchev himself. As for the general approval, it was only formal - the leader knew that among the congress delegates there were a lot of those who did not approve of such a categorical assessment of Stalin's activities. And among the people, the figure of the leader remained revered. Therefore, Nikita Sergeevich decided not to delay the implementation of the decision of the congress and to carry out the reburial as soon as possible.
Mausoleum of Lenin and Stalin, 1957. Photo: Commons.wikimedia.org/Manfred&Barbara Aulbach
They wanted to “exile” the leader to Novodevichy
On October 31, Khrushchev was summoned by the head of the 9th Directorate of the KGB (security high officials of the state) General Nikolai Zakharov and Commandant of the Kremlin General Andrey Vedenin.
Khrushchev warned that on that day a decision would be made on the reburial of Stalin, which would need to be implemented immediately. The Plenum of the Central Committee had to finalize this operation. To carry out the procedure, a party commission of five people was organized, which was led by the head of the Party Control Committee Nikolai Shvernik.
The direct management of the operation was entrusted to Zakharov's deputy, Colonel Vladimir Chekalov. The commander of the Separate Regiment was summoned to him. special purpose commandant's office of the Moscow Kremlin Fedor Konev, who was ordered to prepare a company of soldiers for Stalin's funeral at the Novodevichy cemetery.
But while Konev was selecting his subordinates, Chekalov called him and said: the burial place is changing - everything will take place near the Kremlin wall.
At the last moment, party leaders faltered, fearing that the remains would be stolen from the Novodevichy cemetery. On Red Square, it was easier to control the grave of the "degraded" leader.
Brass instead of gold
The head of the economic department of the commandant's office of the Kremlin, Colonel Tarasov, was responsible for the disguise. The mausoleum was covered with plywood so that no work could be seen from either side. At the same time, in the workshop of the arsenal, the artist Savinov made a wide white ribbon with the letters "LENIN". She had to close the inscription "LENIN STALIN" on the Mausoleum until the marble letters were laid out.
At 18:00, the servicemen began to dig a grave for burial. By that time, a coffin had been made of good dry wood, which was covered with black and red crepe.
While the final preparations for the reburial were underway, a rehearsal of the military parade for the November 7 holiday began on Red Square. Rehearsal with military equipment was also part of the disguise of Stalin's re-burial.
At about 21:00, eight officers removed Stalin's sarcophagus from the pedestal and carried it to the Mausoleum's laboratory. In the presence of members of the commission and scientists of the Mausoleum, Stalin's body was transferred to a prepared coffin.
By order of Nikolai Shvernik, the Gold Star of the Hero of Socialist Labor was removed from Stalin's uniform and the gold buttons were cut off. The commandant of the Mausoleum placed the removed rarities in the Security Room, where the awards of all those buried in the Kremlin necropolis are kept.
The golden buttons of the uniform were replaced with brass ones. General Vedenin interrupted the pause that arose after that, noting: it's time to close the coffin and carry it to the grave.
At that moment, Nikolai Shvernik lost his nerve, and he sobbed. A bodyguard led him to the grave.
Reinforced concrete grave
At 22:15, all the same eight officers carried the coffin out of the Mausoleum and placed it on stands near the grave.
By this time, reinforced concrete slabs had been placed in the grave itself, which were supposed to close the burial from all sides. But at the last moment, the head of the economic department of the Mausoleum Colonel Tarasov convinced the members of the commission not to lay the slabs on top. “No matter how they broke,” the officer remarked. The faces of the audience stretched out - the idea that the coffin with the leader would be simply crushed was frankly frightening. We decided to do without it.
The coffin was carefully lowered into the grave. Some of the soldiers present threw a handful of earth, after which the soldiers began to bury the burial. When this was done, a granite slab was placed on top with the inscription "Stalin Joseph Vissarionovich 1879 - 1953". The slab was replaced in 1970 with a monument by sculptor Nikolai Tomsky.
Monument to Joseph Vissarionovich Stalin at the place of his burial. Necropolis near the Kremlin wall. Oleg Lastochkin/RIA Novosti
Relatives not notified
None of Stalin's relatives attended the funeral - they were not informed about the reburial. After the end of the ceremony in the Kremlin, an act was drawn up, which was signed by the participants in the operation.
The sarcophagus of Lenin was moved to the central place, where he stood until 1953.
Access to the Mausoleum for citizens was opened the very next day, November 1, 1961. The reburial of Stalin did not cause mass unrest, everything was limited only to conversations in the kitchens.
The triumph of Nikita Khrushchev was short-lived - three years later, in October 1964, he, having lost popularity among the people and authority among his comrades-in-arms, was removed from power.
After Khrushchev's death in 1971, he was buried at the Novodevichy cemetery - where the debunker of the "cult of personality" did not dare to send Joseph Stalin.
Late in the evening of October 31, 1961, when the entire Anglo-Saxon world celebrated Halloween, an event was held on Red Square in Moscow that absolutely fit into the context of the “foreign” holiday. Stalin's body was carried out of the mausoleum.
Why were they in such a hurry?
The decision to remove the body of the leader was made the day before, on October 30, at the closing of the Congress of the Communist Party. However, it remains a mystery why it was implemented in record time - in just a day? Formally, the workers of the Leningrad Kirov Machine-Building Plant acted as the initiators of the removal of the body, and a certain delegate I. Spiridonov, on behalf of the Leningrad Party organization, announced it to the congress.
The decision was taken unanimously. Already in the morning, the information was published in the Pravda newspaper. Probably, the authorities thus warned the negative public reaction, but there was no popular unrest, and it was decided to start reburial in the evening.
Perhaps Nikita Khrushchev, the then head of the party, bearing in mind that "the Russians take a long time to harness", decided to use the moment - until the citizens "went fast". But this is unlikely. Most likely, the decision to remove Stalin from the mausoleum and the exact date of reburial were determined long before the October Congress of the Central Committee of the CPSU
Why on the last day of October?
There may be several versions here. The most exotic is about the connection of the removal of Stalin's body with the Western holiday of Halloween. In 1960, the famous performance of Nikita Khrushchev “with a shoe” took place in the USA, the head of the USSR learned about the Halloween holiday. The inquisitive Nikita Sergeevich simply could not help but notice the pumpkin abundance in New York in mid-October and not take an interest in the nature of the phenomenon. Probably, having learned about the connection of Halloween with evil spirits, he decided to transfer it to Soviet soil - just for one day.
Another version looks more plausible. On October 30, 1961, on the eve of the removal of the leader's body from the mausoleum, the most powerful hydrogen bomb in history was tested in the USSR. Most likely the leaders Soviet Union decided to connect two events: in the explosion of the "Tsar Bomb" they saw an excellent symbolic ritual - farewell to the cult of Stalin.
Why were they reburied near the Kremlin wall?
The participants in the operation to remove Joseph Vissarionovich from the mausoleum later recalled that the cemetery of the Novodevichy Convent was originally chosen as the place of reburial. This idea was abandoned a few hours before the burial. Allegedly, the authorities were worried that Stalin's ardent admirers of the leader, who numbered millions in the USSR, could later be dug up. However, it is very hard to believe that the main officials of the country were guided by a careful attitude towards the body of the leader. Then what is the reason?
It must be said that the burial of Stalin at the Kremlin wall took place in extreme secrecy - about 30 people participated directly in the operation itself. Moreover, relatives were not invited to the farewell ceremony.
In other words, there is no one to confirm that Joseph Vissarionovich was buried near the Kremlin, except for "secret" soldiers and officers with high officials.
After the reburial, rumors spread around Moscow that Khrushchev buried not the body of the “great helmsman”, but someone else or even an empty coffin near the walls of the Kremlin. The body of Stalin, allegedly, was burned in the crematorium. Of course, it is no longer possible to verify these legends.
Why was the reburial accompanied by a parade?
On the evening of October 31, 1961, Red Square was blocked - a rehearsal of the parade scheduled for November 7 was supposed to take place there.
When the participants in the operation to remove Stalin's body were swarming in the mausoleum, brave Soviet soldiers were marching just a few tens of meters away from them, heavy military equipment was buzzing ...
At first glance, it seems that combining a parade rehearsal with a secret reburial operation looks quite logical. Allegedly, as the participants in the removal of the body recall, this was a good reason for the closure of Red Square. This looks a little naive, since Red Square could hardly be called a very busy place late at night - especially at a time when most people went to bed at nine or ten o'clock. And, of course, it is unlikely that people began to get nervous from blocking the main square of the country, even in the daytime. Most likely, the reason was different. Probably, the party bosses of the Soviet Union again resorted to their favorite language of symbolism. The parade became a demonstrative act of strength and power in front of a dead tyrant "expelled" from the pyramid.
Why was all the gold removed from Stalin?
A participant in the reburial operation, the commander of a separate regiment, Fyodor Konev, recalls in his memoirs that in preparation for the reburial, the golden shoulder straps of the Generalissimo, the star of the Hero of Socialist Labor were removed from Stalin and the golden buttons on his uniform were cut off, which were changed to brass. The nature of such a decision is not at all clear - it was not gold that was a pity for the highest officials of the USSR! If the removal of shoulder straps and the order could still be attributed to a kind of act of debunking, but what does the buttons have to do with it? Why create additional fuss with sewing on new, cheap ones? Here we are dealing either with some very strange ritual, understandable only to its participants, or with the fact that the golden buttons from Stalin's jacket were taken by the highest officials of the state as a trophy, a talisman.
Why was the mausoleum opened the next day?
This looks very strange. On the morning of November 1, a traditional queue lined up in front of the mausoleum. True, the inscription “Lenin-Stalin” that adorned the pyramid was covered with a fabric with the lonely name of Vladimir Ilyich.
Why did the country's top officials, accustomed to insuring themselves even in small things, decide to take the risk and let people into the mausoleum with the "lonely" Lenin? Moreover, according to eyewitnesses, Red Square was not even additionally reinforced with security.
Were the party bosses really so sure of the cold-blooded reaction of the people. The absence of Stalin did not actually cause a negative reaction or ferment among the visitors, but who could have predicted this at all then? It wasn’t the hydrogen bomb in the hands of the authorities that so humbled the hearts of Joseph Vissarionovich’s admirers? The motives of statesmen and the secret of the composure of the citizens of the USSR, the majority (and certainly those who were ready to defend the three-hour line to the mausoleum) who revered Stalin as the winner of the Great Patriotic War, we will never know for sure.
Why was the monument erected on Stalin's grave only 10 years later?
Immediately after the burial of Stalin's body, the grave was covered with a heavy marble slab with the years of the leader's life. In such a modest state, she stayed for exactly 10 years, until in 1970 the bust of Joseph Vissarionovich, the work of the sculptor Nikolai Tomsky, replaced the slab. Why then, not earlier and not later? After all, Nikita Khrushchev, the main crusher of the Stalin cult, was removed back in 1964. And here the answer must be sought in the once fraternal China. Since the late 1960s, the USSR and China have been on the brink of a grand war. Chinese dissatisfaction with suppression Soviet troops « Prague Spring”, after which the leaders of the Celestial Empire declared that the Soviet Union had embarked on the path of “socialist imperialism”, and three border conflicts between the two superpowers in 1969 forced Soviet authorities look for ways to normalize relations. And party leaders saw one of the methods of calming China in the "partial rehabilitation" of Stalin, whose figure in the PRC remained a cult. The head of the Council of Ministers of the USSR Alexei Kosygin even promised the head of the Chinese government to return the name to Stalingrad in exchange for loyalty, and to coincide with the 90th anniversary of Joseph Vissarionovich, but at the last moment the Soviet leadership played back. In the end, the authorities decided to limit themselves to opening a monument on Stalin's grave. True, such half-measures did not satisfy the Chinese, and in the same 1970, a crowd of Red Guards, the "hegemons" of the cultural revolution in China, blockaded the USSR Embassy in Beijing, without stopping chanting for several days: "Long live Comrade Stalin!".
Joseph Stalin died on March 5, 1953. On March 9 of the same year, he was buried in the Mausoleum on Red Square. Soon after the 20th Party Congress (1956), at the party production meetings that discussed the results of the congress, the opinion that the presence of Stalin's body in the tomb of Lenin "is incompatible with the lawlessness committed by Stalin" became more and more insistent. In the autumn of 1961, on the eve of the XXII Congress of the CPSU, the workers of the Kirov and Nevsky machine-building plants proposed to move Stalin's ashes to another place. The same proposal was put forward by the workers of the Moscow plant named after Vladimir Ilyich. On October 30, 1961, speaking at the XXII Congress of the CPSU, the first secretary of the Leningrad regional party committee, Ivan Spiridonov, on behalf of the Leningrad party delegation and the working people of the city, submitted a proposal from the workers for consideration by the congress. The proposal of the Leningraders was supported by the party delegations of Moscow, Georgia, Ukraine, Kazakhstan, Altai Territory, Saratov Region and others. The 22nd Congress decided: The mausoleum on Red Square, created to perpetuate the memory of Lenin, will henceforth be called the Mausoleum of Vladimir Ilyich Lenin. It was decided to rebury Stalin's ashes on Red Square behind the Mausoleum.
The leaders of the country, of course, were aware that the decision to remove Stalin's body from the Mausoleum could provoke unrest in the country. Therefore, the action was carried out secretly and carefully prepared for it. Late in the evening of October 31, 1961, in absolute secrecy, under the pretext of a parade rehearsal for November 7, Red Square was cordoned off. The entrance to the Mausoleum, as well as the dug grave, were covered with plywood shields. Only the funeral team, numerous guards and the commission for reburial were on site. According to the memoirs of the former commander of the Kremlin regiment Konev, in the Mausoleum the officers transferred Stalin's body to a wooden coffin covered with black and red crepe. The body was covered with a dark-colored veil, leaving the face and half of the chest open. Shanin, the head of the carpentry workshop, under whose leadership the coffin was made in the Arsenal, was given the command to close the coffin with a lid and nail it. Eight officers carried the coffin out of the Mausoleum, brought it to the grave, at the bottom of which a kind of sarcophagus was made of eight slabs, and placed it on wooden stands. After a short pause, the soldiers carefully, on ropes, lowered the coffin into the grave. According to Russian custom, some of those present threw a handful of earth, and the soldiers dug up the grave. Contrary to expectations, the country took the news about the removal of Stalin's body from the Mausoleum quite calmly. In 1970, a monument was erected on the grave of Stalin by the sculptor Nikolai Tomsky.
Stalin! One of the dominant historical figures in the history of the 20th century. For me, demonic, and for others with an angelic halo. Such people, even after death, excite the minds for decades, and their resting places become sights.
Stalin's death and funeral
At the time of his death (which they are trying to wrap in a halo of mystery), Stalin held two significant positions in the USSR at once. But for the people, he was a real genius who led the army in a deadly battle with fascism.
Achievements of the country during the reign of Stalin:
- victory over Nazi Germany;
- The USSR has achieved incredible prestige in the world;
- the country reached the status of a real empire.
Stalin died on March 5, 1953 at his dacha in Kuntsevo, which is located in the west of Moscow. It is not far from Poklonnaya Hill. I once wanted to get there, but it turned out that I needed permission from the Kremlin services.
The country was in mourning. No one doubted that the body would rest in the most famous tomb of the Soviet Union - in the Mausoleum.
Indeed, the embalmed body was placed next to Ilyich. And on the domestic ziggurat appeared the inscription "Lenin - Stalin." Thousands of people went to bow to the mummies.
Where is Stalin buried?
During the XX Congress of the CPSU in 1956, Khrushchev's famous speech was delivered. The overthrow of the cult of personality began. The name of Stalin was spoken less and less often, and was deleted from textbooks.
In 1961, at the XXII Congress of the CPSU, they decided to reburial the "relics" of the Generalissimo (he had such military rank). On the night of October 31st to November 1st (magic night!) Stalin's body was buried at Kremlin wall(I think no less honorable place than the Mausoleum).
You will see his grave, decorated with a bust, today. Access is open to the necropolis near the Kremlin wall. Gagarin, Gorky, Brezhnev, Andropov and others are buried here. You can see the mass graves of the Bolsheviks who died in 1917. In the USSR, it was the most honorable place of burial.
You can get here from 10.00 to 13.00, except Friday and Monday. Entrance near the Mausoleum.
Events at the turn of the 16th-17th centuries received the name Time of Troubles". The reasons for the unrest were the aggravation of social, estate, dynastic and international relations at the end of the reign of Ivan 4 and under his successors.
“The ruin of the 70-80s. 16th c." Heavy economic crisis. The most economically developed center (Moscow) and north-west (Novgorod and Pskov) of the country have become deserted. One part of the population fled, the other died during the years of the oprichnina and the Livonian War. More than 50% of arable land remained uncultivated. The tax burden increased sharply, prices rose 4 times. In 70-71. - an epidemic of plague. The peasant economy lost its stability, famine began in the country. Under these conditions, the landowners could not fulfill their obligations to the state, and the latter did not have the means to wage war and govern the state. At the end of the 16th century in Russia, a system of serfdom was actually established on a state scale ( highest form incomplete property of the feudal lord on the peasant, based on attaching him to the land of the feudal lord).
Sudebnik introduced Yuriev autumn day - the time of peasant transitions. By the end of the 16th century For the first time, “reserved summers” were introduced - years in which the transition of peasants was forbidden even on St. George's Day. The introduction of the state system of serfdom led to a sharp aggravation social contradictions in the country and created the basis for mass popular uprisings. The aggravation of social relations is 1 of the reasons for the troubled times.
another reason unrest became a dynastic crisis. Oprichnina did not completely resolve the differences within the ruling class. The contradictions escalated in connection with the termination of the legitimate dynasty that kept score from the legendary Rurik. After the death of Ivan 4, the middle son Fedor took the throne. But in fact, the brother-in-law of the tsar, the boyar Boris Godunov, became the ruler of the state (Fyodor was married to his sister).
With the death of the childless Fyodor Ioannovich in 98. the old dynasty ceased. On Zemsky Cathedral B.G. was elected tsar. He led a successful foreign policy, the advance to Siberia continued, the southern regions of the country were mastered, and positions in the Caucasus were strengthened. Under him, the patriarchate was established in Russia. Job, a supporter of Godunov, was elected the first Russian patriarch. However, at the same time, the country was weakened and did not have the strength to conduct large-scale military operations. This was taken advantage of by its neighbors - the Commonwealth, Sweden, Crimea and Turkey. The aggravation of international contradictions will become even more one cause that broke out during the Time of Troubles events. The peasants expressed their dissatisfaction more and more and blamed B.G. for everything. The situation in the country became even more aggravated due to crop failure. In the shortest possible time, prices rose more than 100 times. Mass epidemics began. In Moscow, cases of cannibalism were noted. Rumors spread that the country was punished for violating the order of succession to the throne, for the sins of Godunov. In the center of the country broke out serf uprising(1603-1604) led by Cotton Clubfoot. It was brutally suppressed, and Khlopok was executed in Moscow.
Historians explained the Time of Troubles of owls primarily by class conflicts. Therefore, in the events of those years, the Peasant War of the 17th century stood out primarily. At present, the events of the late 16-17 centuries. Har-yut as a civil war.
False Dmitry 1. In 1602. In Lithuania, a man appeared who pretended to be Tsarevich Dmitry. He told about his royal blood to the Polish magnate Adam Wisniewiecki. The patron of False Dmitry was the governor Yuri Mnishek. The Polish magnates needed False Dmitry in order to start aggression against Russia, disguising it with the appearance of a struggle for the return of the throne to the rightful heir. This was a covert intervention. In fact, the monk Grigory (in the world - a petty nobleman Yuri Otrepyev) in his youth was a servant of Fyodor Romanov, after whose exile he was tonsured a monk. In Moscow, he served under Patriarch Job. False Dmitry secretly converted to Catholicism and promised the Pope to distribute Catholicism in Russia. L.1 also promised to transfer the Commonwealth and his bride Marina Mnishek Seversky and Smolensk lands, Novgorod and Pskov. In 1604 the impostor undertook a campaign against Moscow. B.G. suddenly dies. Tsar Fyodor Borisovich and his mother, at the request of the impostor, were arrested and secretly killed. June 1605. False Dmitry was proclaimed king. However, the continuation of the feudal policy, new requisitions in order to obtain the funds promised to the Polish magnates, the discontent of the Russian nobility led to an org-tion of the boyar conspiracy against him. May 1606. an uprising broke out. L1. was killed. The boyar tsar Vasily Shuisky (1606-1610) came to the throne.
