March 5, 1953 - a date that all the inhabitants of the Soviet Union knew well. On this day, Soviet Generalissimo Joseph Vissarionovich Stalin died. After that, a fundamentally new history began in the country, the political repressions that had been in place for many years were stopped, and soon a large-scale campaign began to debunk the personality cult of the head of state.
Development of disease
March 5, 1953, the Generalissimo passed away. A few days earlier, Stalin was found unconscious on the floor in a small dining room in the Middle Dacha. It was one of the residences of the head of state. On March 1, he was found by a security guard named Lozgachev.
The next day, doctors arrived at the residence, who diagnosed the ruler with complete paralysis of the right side of the body. It was only on March 4 that Stalin's illness was announced publicly. Corresponding messages were broadcast by radio. They mentioned that the Secretary General was in serious condition, he was losing consciousness, he was diagnosed with a stroke, paralysis of the body, the so-called agonalbreath.
March 5, 1953 Stalin died. It happened at 21:50. The next day at 6 am, the death of the Generalissimo was announced on the radio.
Doctors' diagnosis
Doctors came to the conclusion that Stalin's death on March 5, 1953 was the result of a cerebral hemorrhage. Later, more detailed details about the leader's illness, the course of its treatment, as well as the official results of the autopsy became known from the book of Academician of Medical Sciences Myasnikov.
Farewell to Stalin was scheduled for several days. It lasted from 6 to 9 March. March 5, 1953 remained in the memory of many Soviet people for a long time. Due to his death, official mourning was declared throughout the country. The coffin with the body of the deceased was installed in the House of the Unions. The funeral took place on March 9th. Now you know who died on March 5, 1953.
The mystery of the death of the leader
The he alth of the Generalissimo has been of interest to many historians and researchers for many years. They tried to understand what led to the tragic events of March 5, 1953
The well-known historian Zhores Medvedev in his essay "The Mystery of Stalin's Death" cites previously unknown to a wide range of people information about the he alth of the head of the Soviet state. They belong to the period from 1923 to 1940. At the same time, it is alleged that the first symptoms of a really serious illness appeared in Stalin in October 1945.
In 1952, people in his inner circle knew that Stalin's he althworsened significantly. The doctors did everything in their power to stabilize the patient. But according to the recollections of many of his contemporaries, Stalin was very dismissive of medicine. In all likelihood, this also played a role in the stroke that occurred, which led to the death of Stalin on March 5, 1953.
Was there a conspiracy?
Recovering the events of March 5, 1953, many are wondering if this was a conspiracy. These thoughts are suggested by the fact that Stalin lay unconscious for several hours on the floor in his residence, and the doctors did not come to his aid.
Malenkov, Beria and Khrushchev, who knew about what had happened, were simply in no hurry to call the doctors. All this leads many researchers to believe that what happened was a conspiracy against the Generalissimo, who actually usurped power in the country.
Avtorkhanov's hypothesis
The version that Stalin's death was violent was first publicized in 1976. This version was put forward by the historian Avtorkhanov in his book The Mystery of Stalin's Death: Beria's Conspiracy. The author had little doubt that the leaders of the Politburo were behind the assassination of the leader.
All versions of what happened in one book were collected by Rafael Grugman. It is called "Stalin's Death: All Versions and One More". Among them are those that Avtorkhanov cited, as well as the hypotheses put forward by Glebov, Radzinsky, Kamenev. Among them there is a version of natural death, which was provoked by a third stroke, as well as a version of a conflict with a daughter that could have played a fatal role.
Other versions
When discussing what happened on March 5, 1953, various versions are put forward. They suggest that the death itself was not natural, and that the leader's entourage was involved in it.
So, Radzinsky believes that Khrushchev, Beria and Malenkov contributed to the death of the Generalissimo, who played a fatal role by not providing the patient with timely medical care.
There are many dubious and even provocative versions. So, in 1987, a book by Stuart Kagan in English was published in New York. In it, the author claimed that he was Kaganovich's nephew.
In fact, Kagan repeated the main provisions that were set out in the "Protocols of the Elders of Zion". He claimed that he secretly visited his uncle Lazar Kaganovich in Moscow, who told him that he was among the organizers of the conspiracy against Stalin, which also involved Molotov, Mikoyan and Bulganin.
American publishers, after some time, came to the conclusion that it was a fake. However, in Russia the book was still published in 1991. Today, a detailed summary of this version can be found in the English "Wikipedia".
Reaction to the leader's death
The event of March 5, 1953 was a real shock and shock for many. Many representatives of creative professions responded with poems to the death of the Generalissimo. Among them were Bergholz, Tvardovsky, Simonov.
Representatives of the world communist movement also expressed deep sorrow and sympathy for the death of Stalin. For example, a representative of the BritishCommunist Party Palm Dutt wrote that for many years this man had steered the symbolic ship of human hopes and aspirations, acting with unshakable fortitude, with the utmost confidence in himself and his cause.
Some poets, in connection with the death of Stalin, launched into completely phantasmagoric metaphors. For example, the poet Iosif Noneshvili wrote that if the Sun had gone out, then even then people would not have grieved as much as now, after the death of the leader. He even had a rationale for this assertion. Noneshvili wrote that the sun shines on both bad and good people, and Stalin spread his light only on good people, so this loss is irreparable.
But for the prisoners of the Gulag, who learned that Stalin died on March 5, 1953, the news was joyful. One of them recalled that, having heard about the diagnosis of Cheyne-Stokes breathing, they immediately rushed to the medical unit, where they demanded from the doctor that, based on the information that became known, the doctors would answer them what the outcome might be.
Farewell to the leader
For parting, Stalin's body was exhibited on March 6 in the columned hall of the House of Soviets. The first people began to stay around 16 hours. Stalin was in a coffin on a high pedestal, around him there were a large number of roses, red banners and green branches. He was dressed in his favorite everyday uniform, as he did not like to stand out in full dress. General's buttonholes were sewn on it.
Crystal chandeliers were covered with black crepe as a sign of mourning. And on the white marble columns16 scarlet velvet panels were fixed. All of them were bordered with black silk and the coats of arms of the Union republics. At the head of the leader was a huge banner of the Soviet Union. During the farewell, farewell melodies by Beethoven, Tchaikovsky and Mozart were played.
Muscovites and residents of other cities alternately approached the coffin, members of the government stood in the guard of honor. On the streets, powerful searchlights were turned on, which were installed on trucks. They illuminated the columns of thousands of people who were moving towards the House of Unions. In addition to the inhabitants of the country of the Soviets, many foreigners also took part in the farewell ceremony.
The farewell lasted three days and three nights. It wasn't until midnight on March 8 that the ceremony officially ended.
Funeral ceremony
The funeral of the leader took place on March 9 on Red Square. At about 10 o'clock in the morning, the funeral procession began to line up. Beria, Malenkov, Molotov, Khrushchev, Kaganovich, Mikoyan, Bulganin and Voroshilov lifted Stalin's coffin and carried it to the exit. After that, the procession moved to the mausoleum.
At 10.45 the coffin was placed on a pedestal near the mausoleum. A huge number of people gathered on Red Square. Among them were representatives of workers, leaders of republics, regions and territories, delegations of foreign states, who were also considered adherents of socialism.
Fireworks and minutes of silence
At 11.45 the funeral meeting was declared closed. At noon, artillery fireworks thundered over the Kremlin. Then there were beepsmetropolitan industrial enterprises, and then throughout the country announced 5 minutes of silence. When they ended, the anthem of the Soviet Union was played.
Troops passed through Red Square, and planes flew in a solemn formation in the sky. Many solemn speeches were made at the funeral rally, which later formed the basis of the film "The Great Farewell".
Stalin's body was embalmed and displayed in the mausoleum. Until 1961, the mausoleum was officially named after Vladimir Lenin and Joseph Stalin.
Died on the same day as Stalin
It is widely known that another famous person died on the same day as Stalin. Composer and conductor, People's Artist of the RSFSR Sergei Prokofiev has died. He was 61 years old.
On March 5, 1953, he had a hypertensive crisis in his communal apartment in Moscow, which was located in Kamergersky Lane. Due to the fact that this death coincided with the death of the head of state, the death of Prokofiev remained practically unnoticed. During the organization of the farewell ceremony and funeral, the relatives and friends of the composer faced a lot of difficulties.
As a result, the popular Soviet artist was buried at the Novodevichy Cemetery.
The death of Czechoslovak President Klement Gottwald is indirectly connected with Stalin's death. He was 56 years old, he was known as a consistent Stalinist, who was very upset by the death of the Soviet generalissimo. Returning from the USSR from Stalin's funeral, he died a few days later from a ruptured aorta.
It is noteworthy that his body was also embalmed and put on public display on Prague's Vitkov Hill. But the embalming did not last long, which led to the emergence of a conspiracy theory that Gottwald was actually poisoned, because, having seen Stalin in a coffin, he doubted the naturalness of his death. The fact is that the corpse of a poisoned person cannot be embalmed with high quality.
In the early 60s, it became apparent that the body of the Czechoslovak president was decomposing. At the same time, the discrediting of the cult of personality began in the USSR. As a result, the mausoleum was closed and Gottwald's remains were cremated.
