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 legends surrounding them. An ideal example from the recent past is Joseph Vissarionovich Stalin. Many believe that he was an extremely insensitive and callous person. Even his son, Yakov Dzhugashvili, died in a German concentration camp. His father, according to many historians, did nothing to save him. Is it really so?
General information
More than 70 years ago, on April 14, 1943, Stalin's eldest son 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 struck the whole world then: “I don’t change soldiers for generals!” But after the war, foreign media circulated rumors with might and main that Stalin still saved his son and sent him to America. Among Western researchers and domestic liberals, there was a rumor that there was some kind of "diplomatic mission" of Yakov Dzhugashvili.
Allegedly, he was captured for a reason,but to establish contacts with the German commanders-in-chief. A sort of "Soviet Hess". However, this version does not withstand any criticism: in this case, it would be easier to throw Yakov directly into the German rear, and not engage in dubious manipulations with his captivity. In addition, what kind of agreements with the Germans in 1941? They irresistibly rushed to Moscow, and it seemed to everyone that the USSR would fall before winter. Why should they negotiate? So the veracity of such rumors is close to zero.
How did Jacob get captured?
Yakov Dzhugashvili, who at that time was 34 years old, was captured by the Germans at the very beginning of the war, on July 16, 1941. This happened during the confusion that reigned during the retreat from Vitebsk. At that time, Yakov was a senior lieutenant who had barely managed to graduate from the artillery academy, who received the only parting word from his father: "Go, fight." He served in the 14th tank regiment, commanded an artillery battery of anti-tank guns. He, like hundreds of other fighters, was not counted after the lost battle. He was listed as missing at the time.
But a few days later, the Nazis presented an extremely unpleasant surprise, scattering leaflets over the Soviet territory, which depicted Yakov Dzhugashvili in captivity. The Germans had excellent propagandists: “The son of Stalin, like thousands of your soldiers, surrendered to the troops of the Wehrmacht. That is why they feel great, they are fed, full.” It was an undisguised allusion to mass surrender: “Soviet soldiers, why should you die, even if the son of your supremethe bosses have already given up on their own…?”
Unknown pages of history
After he saw the ill-fated leaflet, Stalin said: "I have no son." What did he mean? Maybe he was suggesting disinformation? Or did he decide not to have anything to do with the traitor? Until now, nothing is known about this. But we have recorded documents of Yakov's interrogations. Contrary to the widespread "opinions of specialists" about the betrayal of Stalin's son, there is nothing compromising in them: the younger Dzhugashvili behaved quite decently during interrogations, did not give out any military secrets.
In general, at that time, Yakov Dzhugashvili really could not know any serious secrets, since his father did not tell anything like him … 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 especially 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 put. Hitler intended to play this "trump card" if one of his especially valuable generals was captured by the USSR.
Such an opportunity presented itself to them in the winter of 1942-43. After the grandiose 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 contact Stalin through the Red Cross. The refusal must have surprised him. howwhatever it was, Dzhugashvili Yakov Iosifovich remained in captivity.
Svetlana Alliluyeva, Stalin's daughter, later 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 their own. He was then angry: “I will not bargain! War is always hard work. 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?
Brief biography of Jacob
It must be said that there are certain grounds for such an opinion. So, Stalin, in fact, practically did not participate in the process of raising his eldest offspring. He was born in 1907, at only six months old he remained an orphan. Stalin's first wife, Kato Svanidze, died during a raging typhus epidemic, and therefore his grandmother was involved in raising Yakov.
Father was practically never at home, wandering all over the country, carrying out instructions for the party. Yasha moved to Moscow only in 1921, and at that time Stalin 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. No wonder it was very difficult for him to study. According to his contemporaries, the father was constantly dissatisfied with the results of his son's studies.
Difficulties in personal life
Jakov didn't like his personal life either. At the age of eighteen, he wanted to marry a girl of sixteen years old, but his father forbade him to do so. Yakov was in despair, he tried to shoot himself, but he was lucky - the bullet went right through. Stalin said that he was a "hooligan and blackmailer", after which he completely removed him from himself: "Live where you want, live with whom you want!" By that time, Yakov had a relationship with student Olga Golysheva. The 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 Yulia Meltzer. At that time, she was already married, and her husband was an NKVD officer. However, for obvious reasons, Jacob did not care. When Stalin's granddaughter Galya appeared, he thawed a little and gave the newlyweds a separate apartment on Granovsky Street. The further fate of Yulia was still difficult: 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 her until we figure it out completely. Let Yasha's daughter live with you for now … . The proceedings lasted less than two years, at the end Yulia was nevertheless released.
Did Stalin really love his first son?
Marshal Georgy Zhukov after the war in his memoirs said that in fact Stalin was deeply worried about the captivity of Yakov Dzhugashvili. He spoke of an informal conversation,which happened to him with the commander in chief.
"Comrade Stalin, I would like to know about Yakov. Is there any information about his fate?" Stalin paused, after which he said in a strangely muffled and hoarse voice: “It will not work to rescue Yakov from captivity. The Germans will definitely shoot him. There is evidence that the Nazis keep him isolated from other prisoners, campaigning for treason.” Zhukov noted that Joseph Vissarionovich was deeply worried and suffered 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!
Attempts to rescue from captivity
Currently, there is evidence that he repeatedly tried to free Jacob from German captivity. Several sabotage groups were sent directly to Germany, before which this task was set. Ivan Kotnev, who was in one of these teams, spoke about this after the war. His group flew to Germany late at night. The operation was prepared by the best analysts of the USSR, all the weather and other terrain features were taken into account, which allowed the aircraft to fly unnoticed into the German rear. And this is 1941, when the Germans felt they were the sole masters of the sky!
They landed very well in the rear, hid their parachutes and prepared to set out. Since the group jumped out over a large area, before dawngathered together. We left in a group, then there were two dozen kilometers to the concentration camp. And then the residency in Germany handed over a cipher, which spoke about the transfer of Yakov to another concentration camp: the saboteurs were literally a day late. As the front-line 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 about a similar group in her memoirs. 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 Yakov from the Sachsenhausen concentration camp. This time everything ended much sadder - all the abandoned saboteurs were captured and shot. There is information about the existence of several more similar groups, but there is no specific information about them. It is possible that this data is still stored in some secret archives.
The death of Stalin's son
So how did Yakov Dzhugashvili die? On April 14, 1943, he simply ran out of his barracks and ran to the camp fence with the words: “Shoot me!” Yakov rushed straight to the barbed wire. The sentry shot him, hitting him in the head … That's how Yakov Dzhugashvili died. The Sachsenhausen concentration camp, where he was kept, became his last refuge. Many "specialists" 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.
Content camp conditions
At first they really tried to get him to talk and persuade him to cooperate, but nothing came of it. Moreover, several "brood hens" (decoy "prisoners") managed to find out only 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 materials of the investigation contain information that Yakov tried to commit suicide twice. The captive captain Uzhinsky, who was in the same camp and was friends with Yakov, spent long hours after the war writing down his testimony. The military was interested in Stalin's son: how he behaved, how he looked, what he did. Here is an excerpt from his memoirs.
“When Yakov was brought to the camp, he looked terrible. Before the war, seeing 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 simply dangled from his shoulders. Everything was old and worn out. His food did not differ in frills, they ate from a common cauldron: a loaf of bread for six people a day, a little bit of soup from rutabaga and tea, the color of which resembled tinted water. The holidays were the days when we got some potatoes in their uniforms. Yakov suffered greatly from the lack of tobacco, often changing his portion of bread for shag. Unlike other prisoners, he was constantly searched, and several spies were placed 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, boxes, toys. If the camp authorities ordered a bone product, they had a holiday: for this purpose, the prisoners received boned bones, completely cleaned of meat. They were boiled for a long time, making "soup" for themselves. By the way, Yakov showed himself in the field of "artisan" just fine. Once he made a magnificent set of chess out of bone, which he exchanged for several kilograms of potatoes from the guard. On that day, all the inhabitants of the barracks had a good meal for the first time in their captivity. Later, some German officer bought the chess from the camp authorities. Surely this set now occupies an important place in some private collection.
But even this "resort" was soon shut down. Having not achieved anything from Yakov, the Germans again threw him into the Central Prison. Again torture, again many hours of interrogation and beatings… After that, prisoner Dzhugashvili is sent to the infamous Sachsenhausen concentration camp.
Isn't it hard to consider such conditions "royal"? Moreover, 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, until the end of the war, there were rumors about the miraculous salvation of Yakov … Stalin took care of his son's wife Yulia and their daughter Galina until the end of his life. Galina Dzhugashvili herself subsequently recalled that her grandfather loved her very much and constantly compared her with her dead son: “It looks likehow it is similar! So Yakov Dzhugashvili, the son of Stalin, showed himself to be a true patriot and son of his country, not betraying it and not agreeing to cooperate with the Germans, which could save his life.
Historians cannot understand just one thing. German archives claim that, at the time of his capture, Yakov immediately told the enemy soldiers about who he was. Such a stupid act is puzzling, if it ever took place. After all, he could not understand what the exposure would lead to? If an ordinary prisoner of war still had a chance to escape, then Stalin's son would be expected to be guarded "on the highest level"! One can only assume that Jacob was simply handed over. In a word, there are still enough questions in this story, but we obviously won’t be able to get all the answers.
