As practice shows, the more time passes after the death of a well-known historical figure, the more myths her life acquires. This happened with the most iconic figure of the USSR - Joseph Stalin. In addition to disputes about whether he was a cruel executioner or savior of the nation, many are interested in his personal life. In this regard, periodicals are often full of stories about the women of Stalin.
Valentina Istomina is a housekeeper who worked for many years in the house of the head of the USSR and during perestroika became the heroine of numerous rumors. They talked about her, supposedly she was the secret mistress of the Leader and gave birth to a daughter, and then she cheated on with the chief of security. Is this information true or did an innocent woman simply fall victim to the slander of the yellow press? Let's find out about it.
Biography of Valentina Istomina in the early years
Before you deal with rumors about the secret novel of Istomina and Stalin, it is worth learning about the real biography of this woman.
Valentina Vasilyevna Istomina was born (her maiden name is Zhbychkina) on November 7, 1917 - just on the day when the revolution occurred that changed the lives of millions of people. However, the Zhbychkin family, who lived in the village of Donok (modern Oryol region, Korsakovsky district), was not up to political upheavals - they had to work in order to survive.
In addition to Vali, the Zhbychkins had 3 more sons - Pavel, Fedor and Vasily. Later, when Valentina Istomina became Stalin's housekeeper, she was able to attach to the work surrounded by her employer Pavel and Fedor.
Little is known about the girlās early years. According to official figures, at 18 she arrived in Moscow, where she got a job at a factory. However, some sources claim that, before conquering the capital, Valya received a medical education at the Oryol feldsher-obstetric school.
New career prospects
For most historians, it remains a mystery how Valentina Istomina managed to attract the attention of the Leaderās guard, Nikolai Sidorovich Vlasik, and get the job of a mistressās sister in a dacha in Zubalovo.
Most likely, an experienced state security officer was interested not only in the pretty appearance of the girl, but also in her intelligence and thrift. After all, without all these qualities, Istomina (then Zhbychkina) could not have been a housekeeper for so many years.
Moreover, according to the testimony of Stalinās daughter Svetlana Alliluyeva, 2 girls worked for Valentina Vasilyevna in Zubalovo - Klava and Zina, but not one of them managed to stay on this post for a long time.
As for the period when Valentina Istomina became the first-person housekeeper of the country, the same Alliluyeva claims that the woman first worked for 3 years in the cottage in Zubalovo and only then moved to the cottage in Kuntsevo. However, other sources claim that Valentina Vasilyevna immediately began working in Kuntsevo, from 1935 until the death of her master in 1953.
At the post of housekeeper of Stalin
According to the personal protection of the head of the USSR, Valentina Vasilyevna Istomina was always distinguished not only by her good appearance, but also by her complaisant disposition. In addition, she was a good cook and an excellent housewife, keeping the cottage in perfect cleanliness.
In addition to the above qualities, the girl was wise beyond her years. She knew how to listen, but not to chat too much. Not surprisingly, in just a couple of years, Istomina became almost the only person whom Stalin truly trusted. And not only clean up his home and monitor the tidiness of his clothes, but also take care of his health. According to eyewitnesses, the head of the country almost always did not trust doctors, but from the hands of Valyusha meekly took absolutely any medicine.
After the war, when Stalin's health became worse and worse, he spent most of his time in Kuntsevo, in the company of his housekeeper. And in the late forties, the Leader even began to take Valentina with him on trips around the country.
Closer to his death, Stalin and Valentina Istomina practically did not part. And after the death of Joseph Vissarionovich, it was she who prepared his body for the funeral ceremony.
Marriage
The fact that Valentina Istomina was the mistress of the head of the USSR was gossiped during the lifetime of Stalin. However, usually they spoke about this in a whisper and only those who knew about the existence of Valentina, and there were few of them.
Despite these rumors, Valentina Istomina was able to arrange her personal life without problems, however, only at thirty. Her chosen one was Ivan Arsenievich Istomin, who worked in military structures.
According to eyewitnesses, the whole life of the couple lived peacefully. Moreover, even loved ones spoke of them as a happy family.
At the same time, the Istomins did not have their own children. However, after the death of the brother of Valentina, Vasily, at the front, she took away his son Anatoly to her upbringing.
The death of the Leader and the reaction to it of his housekeeper
The date of March 5, 1953 became one of the key in the life of Valentina Istomina. On this day, her employer died, and part-time - the head of a huge country.
As mentioned above, it was the hostessās sister who was entrusted with the mournful burden of washing the body and preparing it for subsequent mummification, as was done with Lenin in the Mausoleum.
According to the memoirs of Svetlana Alliluyeva, during a farewell to her father, his housekeeper fell to her knees before the deceased and wept bitterly, like a wife who lost her husband.
The fate of Valentina Istomina after the death of Stalin
And there was something for Valentina Vasilyevna to weep for, because with the death of the Leader she lost her job, which provided her with all the benefits for almost 18 years.
Fortunately, Istominaās fate was much better than that of her colleagues from Stalinās personal guard. She received a personal pension and has never worked since she was 35.
Until the beginning of perestroika, Valentina Istomina, in addition to high pension payments exceeding the salary of her husband, also received a host of other benefits. So she and her husband had a separate apartment in Orlikovy Lane, a cottage in the suburbs and a Zaporozhets car. At the same time, Valentina Vasilyevna felt quite well-off and didnāt do any extra work, like needlework. In her free time, she read a lot and was fond of cooking.
Last years and death
With the beginning of perestroika, the prosperous life of the Istomins family was in jeopardy. The special pension was canceled. But thanks to the rank of state security officer and many incentive awards, Valentina Istomina continued to receive good money.
At the beginning of publicity, journalists became interested in the personal life of the former Leader. Having learned about the close relationship with Valentina Vasilievna, a young woman at that time was asked to give an interview. Despite the fact that Istomina promised good money for a story about her life with Stalin, she never agreed to these proposals.
Moreover, it turned out that even many of her relatives did not know who Valentina Istomina worked in the past.
She died of a stroke at the end of 1995 in a state security hospital in Moscow. They buried her in the Khovansky cemetery.
Valentinaās husband, Ivan Istomin, survived her for only 6 years.
"Stalin-live"
After the death of Valentina Istomina, rumors about her affair with Stalin began to spread even more intensely, because now she could not refute them.
In 2007, a television series about the life of the head of the USSR "Stalin-live" was shot. In this project, a version of the scriptwriters about the history of relations between Valentina Istomina and Stalin was presented. Moreover, with obvious hints of their intimate relationship.
The story of the betrayal of Istomina
Also, a documentary television movie āThe investigation was conducted with Leonid Kanevsky. The Secret Life of the Kremlin Celestials. " In it, the story of Joseph Vissarionovich and his housekeeper began to play with new colors.
The creators of the project claimed that the chief of protection of the Leader - Nikolai Sidorovich Vlasik (who helped Istomina to get a housekeeper's place) was in love with her. And once, when Stalin was seriously ill and many believed that he would die soon, he raped the unfortunate woman.
When the head of state recovered and found out about the incident, he dealt with Vlasik, putting him in prison for 10 years. Istomina also came under attack: she was arrested and sent to Magadan. Cooling down a bit, Stalin realized that the housekeeper was a victim of the situation, and brought her back.
There is another version of this story, according to which Valentina Vasilievna had an affair with the chief of security, and when her employer found out about this, she was forced to lie.
Most historians claim that this legend is a fiction of pure water. As evidence, they cite the testimonies of Stalin's personal guards. They argued that if Istomina had been exiled or arrested, they would have been ordered not to allow her to the guarded facility. But this has never happened.
Did Istomina and Stalin have a secret daughter?
In the same documentary television movie, the theory of the birth of a daughter by Valentina Istomina from her employer was put forward.
This assumption is denied by both the Leaderās circle and the housekeeperās relatives.
However, the same relatives of Istomina do not exclude the fact that she could have been pregnant by Stalin and had an abortion on his orders.
A novel or something else?
But was this novel really? After all, there is still not a single more or less serious evidence of this connection. All that the tabloids represent is only the speculations of those around them.
However, if there was no romance between Stalin and his housekeeper, why did the head of state value his servant so highly?
To begin with, it is worth recalling that in 1935 (when Valentina Istomina, under comrade Stalin, began to work as a housekeeper), the leader of the world proletariat was already 56 years old. His health, undermined during the years of revolutionary youth, was gradually deteriorating. Did he need a young lover who had just arrived from the village yesterday (despite the fact that he could have got any woman in the country)? Unlikely. But he badly needed a good nurse. After all, if you remember that Valentina had a medical education, then she perfectly suited this role. In addition, according to the same personal guard of Joseph Vissarionovich, Stalin's trusting relationship with Valechka began with the fact that she cured him of a cold.
So if you look at the connection between the head of the USSR and his housekeeper not as a love relationship, but as a nurse and a patient, it becomes clear why Stalin had the habit of taking her with him on many trips, and in recent years he did not leave her at all. It also becomes clear why, according to the guards, they often met Istomin leaving the Leaderās bedroom at night. A woman could simply give injections, give medicine, or measure the pressure and temperature of her famous patient at bedtime, as is done in many hospitals.
The same version can explain Valentina Vasilievnaās later marriage and absence of children. Each working woman will confirm that employers are negative about the presence of young children in their subordinates. Thus, not wanting to lose her place, Istomina could delay with marriage up to 30, and then also delay the appearance of her own children.
For the same reason, Valentina Vasilievna was so killed after the death of Stalin. She did not mourn her husband (as Alliluyev believed), but the employer. After all, to find such a well-paid place, near the first person of the state, for the second time was impossible.
The fact that Istomina was indifferent to Stalin as a person is also evidenced by the fact that she never went to his grave, although she regularly received her pension for the rest of her life.
By the way, it remains unclear why the housekeeper of the Leader, the only one among his entourage, retained a pension and benefits. Perhaps those who claim to have helped her employer die are right. Or maybe a woman over the years of work has managed to make friends not only with her boss, but also his associates.