Perhaps, in the history of our country there are so many great odious personalities that it can be difficult to understand the intricacies of the myths and traditions surrounding them. An ideal example from the recent past is Joseph Vissarionovich Stalin. Many believe that he was a man extremely insensitive and callous. Even his son, Yakov Dzhugashvili, died in a German concentration camp. Father, as many historians claim, did nothing to save him. Is it really?
General information
More than 70 years ago, on April 14, 1943, the eldest son of Stalin died in a concentration camp. It is known that shortly before that he refused to exchange his son for Field Marshal Paulus. The phrase of Joseph Vissarionovich is known, which then struck the whole world: “I don’t change soldiers for generals!” But after the war, foreign media outraged rumors that Stalin still saved his son and sent him to America. Among Western scholars and domestic liberals, the rumor was still circulating that there was some kind of “diplomatic mission” by Yakov Dzhugashvili.
Allegedly, he was captured not just like that, but to establish contacts with the German commanders. A sort of "Soviet Hess." However, this version does not stand up to criticism: in this case, it would be easier to throw Jacob directly into the German rear, and not engage in dubious manipulations with his captivity. In addition, what are the agreements with the Germans in 1941? They irresistibly rushed to Moscow, and it seemed to everyone that the USSR would fall before the winter. Why should they conduct any negotiations? So the veracity of such rumors is close to zero.
How was Jacob captured?
Yakov Dzhugashvili, who was 34 years old at that time, was captured at the very beginning of the war, July 16, 1941. This happened during the confusion that prevailed during the retreat from Vitebsk. At that time, Yakov was barely able to graduate from the artillery academy as a senior lieutenant, who received from his father the only parting word: "Go, fight." He served in the 14th tank regiment, commanded an artillery battery of anti-tank guns. He, like hundreds of other fighters, were not counted after a lost battle. At that time he was ranked among the missing.
But a few days later, the Nazis presented an extremely unpleasant surprise, scattering leaflets over Soviet territory, which depicted Yakov Dzhugashvili in captivity. The Germans had excellent propaganda: “The son of Stalin, like thousands of your soldiers, surrendered to the Wehrmacht troops. That is why they feel great, they are fed, well fed. ” It was a blatant hint of mass surrender: "Soviet soldiers, why should you die, even if the son of your high rule has already surrendered himself ...?"
Unknown History Pages
After he saw the ill-fated leaflet, Stalin said: "I have no son." What did he mean? Maybe he suggested misinformation? Or did he decide not to have anything to do with the traitor? So far, nothing is known about this. But we have recorded documents of interrogation of Jacob. Contrary to popular “expert opinions” about the betrayal of Stalin’s son, there is nothing compromising about them: the youngest Dzhugashvili behaved during interrogations with dignity and did not reveal any military secrets.
In general, at that time, Yakov Dzhugashvili could not really know any serious secrets, since his father didn’t tell him anything like that ... What could an ordinary lieutenant say about the plans for the global movement of our troops? It is known in which concentration camp Yakov Dzhugashvili was kept. First, he and several particularly valuable prisoners were kept in Hammelburg, then Lübeck, and only then transferred to Sachsenhausen. One can imagine how seriously the protection of such a “bird” was set. Hitler intended to play this "trump card" in the event that one of his especially valuable generals was captured by the USSR.
Such an incident presented themselves to them in the winter of 1942-43. After a grand defeat at Stalingrad, when not only Paulus, but also other high-ranking officers of the Wehrmacht fell into the hands of the Soviet command, Hitler decided to bargain. Now it is believed that he tried to appeal to Stalin through the Red Cross. Surely the rejection surprised him. Be that as it may, Dzhugashvili Yakov Iosifovich remained in captivity.
Svetlana Allilluyeva, the daughter of Stalin, subsequently recalled this time in her memoirs. Her book contains the following lines: “Father came home late at night and said that the Germans offered to exchange Yasha for one of his own. He was angry then: “I will not bargain! War is always a difficult affair. ” Just a couple of months after this conversation, Dzhugashvili Yakov Iosifovich died. There is an opinion that Stalin could not stand his eldest son, considered him a rare loser and neurotic. But is it really so?
Short biography of Jacob
I must say that there are certain grounds for such an opinion. So, Stalin actually did not participate in the process of educating his eldest offspring. He was born in 1907, only six months old he remained an orphan. Stalin's first wife, Kato Svanidze, died during the raging epidemic of typhoid, and therefore his grandmother was engaged in the education of Jacob.
My father was practically never at home, wandering around the country, fulfilling the instructions of the party. Yasha moved to Moscow only in 1921, and Stalin at that time was already a prominent person in the political life of the country. At this time, he already had two children from his second wife: Vasily and Svetlana. Yakov, who at that time was only 14 years old, grew up in a remote mountain village, spoke Russian very poorly. Not surprisingly, it was very difficult for him to study. As his contemporaries testify, the father was constantly dissatisfied with the results of his son's studies.
Difficulties in personal life
He also did not like Jacob's personal life. At the age of eighteen, he wanted to marry a girl sixteen years old, but his father forbade him to do this. Jacob was desperate, tried to shoot himself, but he was lucky - the bullet passed right through. Stalin said that he was a “bully and blackmailer,” after which he completely removed him from himself: “Live wherever you want, live with whoever you want!” By that time, Jacob had a relationship with student Olga Golysheva. Father took this story even more seriously, since the offspring himself became a dad, but did not recognize the child, refused to marry the girl.
In 1936, Yakov Dzhugashvili, whose photo is in the article, signs with the dancer Julia Meltzer. At that time she was already married, and her husband was an officer of the NKVD. However, for obvious reasons, Jacob did not care. When Stalin got a granddaughter of Galya, he thawed a little and allocated the newlyweds a separate apartment on Granovsky Street. Yulia’s fate was still not easy: when it turned out that Yakov Dzhugashvili was in captivity, she was arrested on suspicion of having links with German intelligence. Stalin wrote to his daughter Svetlana that: “Apparently, this woman is dishonest. We'll have to hold it until we completely figure it out. Let Yashin’s daughter live with you ... ” The proceedings did not last two years, but at the end, Yulia was still released.
So did Stalin love his first son?
Marshal Georgy Zhukov after the war, in his memoirs, said that in fact, Stalin deeply experienced the captivity of Jacob Dzhugashvili. He spoke about an unofficial conversation that took place with his commander in chief.
"Comrade Stalin, I would like to know about Jacob. Is there any information about his fate?" Stalin was silent for a moment, after which he said in an oddly hoarse and hoarse voice: “He will not be able to rescue Jacob from captivity. The Germans will definitely shoot him. There is evidence that the Nazis keep him in isolation from other prisoners, campaigning for treason. ” Zhukov noted that Joseph Vissarionovich was deeply worried and suffering from the inability to help at a time when his son was suffering. They really loved Yakov Dzhugashvili, but there was such a time ... What would all the citizens of a warring country think if their commander-in-chief entered into
separate negotiations with the enemy about the release of his son? Be sure that the same Goebbels certainly would not have missed such an opportunity!
Captive Rescue Attempts
Currently, there is evidence that he repeatedly tried to free Jacob from German captivity. Several sabotage groups were sent directly to Germany, to which this task was set. Ivan Kotnev, who was in one of these teams, already after the war talked about this. His group flew to Germany late at night. The operation was prepared by the best analysts of the USSR, all weather and other terrain features were taken into account, which allowed the aircraft to fly unnoticed to the German rear. And this is 1941, when the Germans felt they were the sole masters of the sky!
They landed very successfully in the deep rear, hid parachutes and prepared to perform. Since the group jumped out over a large area, they gathered together before dawn. We left as a group, and then there were two dozen kilometers to the concentration camp. And then the residency in Germany passed the cipher, which said about the transfer of Jacob to another concentration camp: saboteurs were late just a day. As the soldier recalled, they were immediately ordered to return. The return trip was difficult, the group lost several people.
The notorious Spanish communist Dolores Ibarruri also wrote in her memoirs about a similar group. To make it easier to penetrate the German rear, they obtained documents in the name of one of the officers of the Blue Division. These saboteurs were abandoned already in 1942 in order to try to save Jacob from the Sachsenhausen concentration camp. This time it ended much sadder - all abandoned saboteurs were captured and shot. There is evidence of the existence of several more such groups, but there is no specific information about them. It is possible that this data is still stored in some sort of classified archives.
The death of Stalin’s son
So how did Yakov Dzhugashvili die? On April 14, 1943, he simply ran out of his hut and ran to the camp fencing with the words: “Shoot me!” Jacob rushed straight at the barbed wire. The sentry shot him, hitting his head ... That's how Jacob Dzhugashvili died. The Sachsenhausen concentration camp in which he was held was his last refuge. Many "experts" say that he was kept there in "tsarist" conditions, which were "inaccessible to millions of Soviet prisoners of war." This is a blatant lie, which is refuted by the German archives.
Conditions of detention in a concentration camp
At first, they actually tried to talk and persuade him to cooperate, but nothing came of it. Moreover, several "hens" (decoy "prisoners") only managed to find out that "Dzhugashvili sincerely believes in the victory of the USSR and regrets that he will no longer see the triumph of his country." The Gestapo did not like the stubbornness of the prisoner so much that he was immediately transferred to the Central Prison. There he was not only interrogated, but also tortured. The investigation materials contain information that Yakov twice tried to commit suicide. The captive captain Uzhinsky, who was in the same camp and was friends with Jacob, spent many hours after the war recording his testimony. It was the son of Stalin who was interested in the military: how he behaved, how he looked, what he did. Here is an excerpt from his recollections.
“When Jacob was brought to the camp, he looked terrible. Before the war, if I saw him on the street, I would say that this man had just suffered a serious illness. He had a gray, earthy complexion, terribly sunken cheeks. The soldier's overcoat just hung on his shoulders. Everything was old and frayed. Eating his delicacies did not differ, they ate from a common cauldron: a loaf of bread for six people a day, a little balandka from rutabaga and tea, the color resembling tinted water. The holidays were the days when we were given a little potatoes in their uniforms. Jacob was tormented by the lack of tobacco, often changing his portion of bread to shag. Unlike other prisoners, he was constantly searched, and several spies were settled nearby. ”
Work, transfer to Sachsenhausen
Prisoner Yakov Dzhugashvili, whose biography is given on the pages of this article, worked in a local workshop along with other prisoners. They made mouthpieces, caskets, toys. If the camp authorities ordered a bone product, they had a holiday: for this purpose, prisoners received boneless bones, completely cleaned of meat. They cooked them for a long time, making themselves "soup." By the way, Jacob showed himself in the field of "artisan" just fine. Once he made a magnificent set of chess out of dice, which he replaced with a few kilograms of potatoes from a guard. On that day, all the inhabitants of the barracks ate well for the first time in their captivity. Later, a German officer bought chess from the camp authorities. Surely this set now occupies an important place in some private collection.
But even this "resort" was soon covered up. Having never achieved anything from Jacob, the Germans again threw him into the Central Prison. Again torture, again many hours of interrogation and beating ... After this prisoner, Dzhugashvili is sent to the notorious Sachsenhausen concentration camp.
Isn't it difficult to consider such conditions “royal”? Moreover, the Soviet historians learned about the true circumstances of his death much later, when the military managed to seize the necessary German archives, saving them from destruction. Surely for this reason, right up to the end of the war, rumors circulated about the miraculous salvation of Jacob ... Stalin took care of his son's wife Julia and their daughter Galina until the end of his life. Galina Dzhugashvili herself later recalled that her grandfather loved her very much and constantly compared her dead son: “It looks like it is!” So Yakov Dzhugashvili, the son of Stalin, showed himself to be a true patriot and the son of his country, not betraying her and not agreeing to cooperate with the Germans, which could save his life.
Historians cannot understand just one thing. The German archives claim that, at the time of his capture, Jacob immediately told the enemy soldiers who he was. Such a stupid act, if any, is puzzling. After all, could he not understand what the exposure would lead to? If the ordinary prisoner of war still had a chance to escape, then the son of Stalin would be expected to be guarded “on the highest level”! One can only assume that Jacob was simply surrendered. In a word, there are still enough questions in this story, but we obviously cannot get all the answers.