N. S. Khrushchev. Having received an excellent upbringing and education, she worked for the publication “Science and Life” for more than half a century. Today Rada Nikitichna is on a well-deserved rest. Despite her advanced age, the 87-year-old woman willingly shares memories of her life with journalists.
Rada's parents
Adzhubey Rada Nikitichna (nee Khrushchev) was born in 1929 into a nomenklatura family. Her father was who at that time served as secretary of the party committee at the Industrial Academy in Moscow. Subsequently, he worked as First Secretary of the Kyiv Regional Committee of the All-Union Communist Party of Bolsheviks, First Secretary of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of Ukraine, First Secretary of the Moscow Regional Committee of the All-Union Communist Party of Bolsheviks. In 1953-1964, Rada’s father was the First Secretary of the CPSU Central Committee, and essentially the main person in the state. The girl’s mother, Nina Petrovna Kukharchuk, at the time she met Khrushchev, worked as a political economy teacher at a party school in the city of Yuzovka (now Donetsk). Rada Nikitichna's parents had a family wedding in 1924, but they officially registered their marriage only in 1965.
Brothers and sisters
In addition to Rada, Nina Petrovna and Nikita Sergeevich had two more children. In 1935, the couple had a son, Sergei, and in 1937, a daughter, Elena. Before Kukharchuk, Khrushchev was married to Efrosinya Pisareva, who died in 1920 from typhus. From his marriage to her he had a son, Leonid, and a daughter, Julia. Thus, Rada had 2 brothers and 2 sisters. became an engineer, studied cybernetics and rocket science, and after the collapse of the Union emigrated to the USA, where he received the title of professor
Rada Nikitichna's younger sister Lena chose the profession of lawyer, worked in the Moscow Criminal Investigation Department, and died at the age of 37. Half-brother Leonid was a military pilot, died in an air battle near Kaluga in 1943. Rada’s elder sister on her father’s side, Yulia, chose journalism as her occupation, but, disillusioned with the profession, began working as the head of the literary department at the Ermolova Theater.
Childhood years, schooling
What was the fate of Khrushchev’s middle daughter? Rada Adzhubey, whose biography will be described in this publication, was born at a time when her father began to make a rapid political career. Despite being constantly busy at work, Nikita Sergeevich found time to communicate with his family. Soon after the birth of Rada, Khrushchev was transferred to Moscow. The family of the future Secretary General of the USSR settled first in a hostel on Pokrovka, and then in a separate apartment in a government building on Naberezhnaya Street. The Rada often spent weekends with her parents at the recreation center in Ogarevo, where the families of many party workers gathered. Her best childhood friends were the daughters of Bulganin and Malenkov, Vera and Volya.
Khrushchev's daughter Rada Adzhubey grew up as an independent girl. Her mother held the position of head of the party office at the Moscow Radio Tube Plant and was often at the workplace from early morning until late evening. She continued to work even after the birth of her son Sergei. Nina Petrovna left work only in 1937, having given birth to her youngest daughter Lena. The girl was born very weak and required increased attention. Taking care of her, I could not devote enough time to the other children. While Rada was little, her Julia looked after her. As she grew older, she found herself completely on her own. Rada went to the nomenklatura school located in Arbatsky lanes. The youngest son of Anastas Mikoyan, a member of the Politburo of the CPSU Central Committee, Sergo, studied in the same class with her. The girl really liked the educational institution, she attended it with pleasure, and studied well. After Nikita Sergeevich was appointed First Secretary of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of Ukraine, the Rada transferred to a Kyiv school, from which she subsequently graduated with a gold medal.
Rada was not surrounded by luxury as a child. Despite Khrushchev's high position, his household lived quite modestly. They did not eat delicacies, did not drive expensive cars, and all the furniture in the apartment occupied by Nikita Sergeevich’s family was official and had tags with inventory numbers. Nina Petrovna preferred to get to work by tram, and many of her colleagues did not even realize that she was Khrushchev’s wife. She was helped to run the household by a housekeeper who had fled the village and, not having her own home, slept with her owners in the corridor on a chest.
Admission to Moscow State University
After graduating from school in 1947, Rada Nikitichna Adzhubey came to Moscow to enter Moscow State University. Her biography contains facts proving that her influential father did not provide her with any assistance in entering the university. Rada was distinguished by independence unusual for her age and decided to choose her future profession without the instructions of her parents. She dreamed of becoming a journalist, but Moscow State University did not have a faculty that trained such specialists. Then the girl, who had a weakness for literature since childhood, chose the Faculty of Philology. However, Rada Nikitichna was incredibly lucky: upon entering the philological department, she learned that a new journalism department had opened at its base. Without thinking twice, Khrushchev’s daughter transferred to him and began to master the profession of a correspondent. The girl graduated from Moscow State University in 1952.
Marriage, birth of children
In 1949, immediately after her second year, Rada married her classmate Alexei Ivanovich Adzhubey. Nikita Sergeevich and Nina Petrovna believed that it was too early for their daughter to start a family, but they did not resist her desire. The wedding of Khrushchev’s daughter was purely student: instead of a restaurant, the young people walked at the dacha of a friend of the groom, and the tables were set right in the yard. In 1952, Rada Adzhubey gave her husband their first child, Nikita. In 1954, the couple had a son, Alexey, and in 1959, Ivan.
Adzhubey's relationship with his influential father-in-law was going well. In 1950, Nikita Sergeevich helped his son-in-law get a job as an intern in the sports department of the all-Union newspaper Komsomolskaya Pravda, and a few years later Alexey Ivanovich was appointed its editor-in-chief. In 1959, the husband of Rada Nikitichna headed the editorial office of the newspaper Izvestia, and in 1961 he became a member of the CPSU Central Committee. After Khrushchev was removed from power in 1964, Adzhubey lost all high posts. His place of work was the journalism department in the magazine “Soviet Union”.
Career
After graduating from Moscow State University and giving birth to her first son, Rada Nikitichna Khrushcheva-Adzhubey came to work for the Science and Life magazine as head of the department of medicine and biology. In 1956, she was appointed deputy editor-in-chief of this publication. She worked in her post until her retirement in 2004. After Khrushchev was removed from his post, Rada Nikitichna was able to remain a deputy editor. She enjoyed great authority among her colleagues and was the de facto leader at work. Under her, “Science and Life” turned from a boring second-rate publication into one of the most interesting and read magazines in Soviet Union.
Travel abroad
During the reign of Khrushchev, Rada Adzhubey was repeatedly able to travel outside the Soviet Union. Nikita Sergeevich was the first in the history of the USSR to take his wife and children on his business trips abroad. The most memorable was the trip to Washington and New York, where her father was on a long working visit. Rada also visited the USA with her husband, who also went on business trips abroad. During one of these visits, the Adzhubey couple was invited to The White house, where Khrushchev’s daughter personally met John Kennedy and his wife Jacqueline.
Life of Rada Nikitichna today
Rada Adzhubey, whose photo is presented in this article, lived with Alexei Ivanovich until his death in 1993. Their family union, which many considered a marriage of convenience and predicted its rapid disintegration, turned out to be surprisingly strong. The couple managed to live in perfect harmony for 44 years and raise three sons. Today Rada Nikitichna is retired. Because of this, she rarely appears in public. Khrushchev’s daughter devotes most of her time to putting in order the family archives, which contain many interesting documents and photographs. She is not at all interested in politics and tries not to lose touch with her younger brother Sergei, who permanently lives in the USA.
August 27, 2016, 10:26 pm 
We all remember the famous photograph of Nina Khrushcheva, wife of Nikita Khrushchev, with Jacqueline Kennedy.
Looking at this photo, only the lazy one didn’t kick Khrushchev’s wife. Of course, external comparison was far from being in her favor. Especially in comparison with fashion trendsetter Jacqueline Kennedy, who had all the leading designers of that time at her service. But, by the way, Nina Khrushcheva is wearing the same dress or suit. And here it looks more solid. It is clear that the fabric is not cheap, but the colors are disappointing.
We all know the sad fate of Jacqueline, her husbands, and her children. But we know practically nothing about Nina Khrushcheva, who remained in the shadow of her husband all her life, quietly and calmly taking care of the house and raising her children. Having accidentally stumbled upon an article in Ogonyok about the fate of the children of the first leaders of the USSR, I decided to trace the life and fate of Nina Khrushcheva and her children with Nikita Khrushchev.
Khrushchev - a rarity among members of the Politburo - was a father of many children, raising five children. As a very young man in Yuzovka (now Donetsk), he married Efrosinya Ivanovna Pisareva, a beautiful red-haired woman. She died in 1919 from typhus, leaving Nikita Sergeevich with two children - Yulia and Leonid. He married again to Nina Petrovna Kukharchuk, a calm woman with a strong character, who gave birth to three children - Rada, Sergei and Elena.
Elena was in poor health and died at the age of 35.
Leonid Khrushchev, a military pilot, died at the front.
Yulia Khrushcheva (1916-1981) - was married to the director of the Kyiv Opera, and was a chemist by profession.
Information about Rada and Sergei will be below.
A little about Nina Petrovna Khrushcheva, née Kukharchuk.
Nina Kukharchuk was born into a Ukrainian family in the village of Vasilev in the Kholm region, which at that time was part of the Russian Empire. Her father, Pyotr Vasilyevich, was an ordinary peasant. Mother - Ekaterina Grigorievna Bondarchuk - also came from a simple peasant family.
Nina Kukharchuk met Nikita Khrushchev in 1922 in Yuzovka. There she worked as a teacher at the district party school. There they began to live virtually as a family. And they would register their marriage only after Khrushchev retired, in 1965.
When Nina Khrushcheva became the “first lady” of the state, she participated in Khrushchev’s foreign trips, met with top officials of other states and their wives, which was not accepted in the USSR before her. Nina Khrushcheva was fluent in Russian, Ukrainian, Polish and French languages. Wikipedia says she also studied English language, but the degree of proficiency in it is not indicated. But I found a photo in which John Kennedy says something to Nina Khrushcheva, and she smiles knowingly. So, it is possible that she spoke English quite well after all.
Nikita Sergeevich and Nina Petrovna were good parents, and they had a happy family. Nina Petrovna survived Nikita Sergeevich (died in 1971) and daughter Elena. She lived at a state dacha in Zhukovka and had a pension of 200 rubles.
In the photo - Nina Khrushcheva with US President Dwight Eisenhower and his wife in the USA, 1959.
Photos from other events. In my opinion, she looks quite decent on them. No worse than others.
In the photo: The Khrushchev family in 1959, during a visit to the USA. From left to right - N. P. Khrushcheva, USSR Ambassador to the USA Mikhail Menshikov, Nelson Rockefeller, N. S. Khrushchev, Rada Khrushchev and Sergei Khrushchev.
Now a little about the two most famous children of the Khrushchevs: Rada and Sergei. They have achieved a lot in this life. There is no doubt that their parents gave them a good start. But, as we know, no parental status will help if the parents did not care for the child and if he does not have the abilities. And Nina Khrushcheva, that same woman in a simple cotton dress, was able to raise worthy and good children.
Rada Khrushcheva(pictured right).
I listened to interviews with her several times. She was an intelligent and educated woman. She lived a decent life. She died this year at the age of 87.
Rada graduated from school with a gold medal in Kyiv. After graduating from school, she entered the Faculty of Philology of Moscow State University, and subsequently transferred to the established Faculty of Journalism, which she graduated in 1952. While studying, she met Alexei Adzhubey, whom she married in 1949. In this marriage she gave birth to three sons (Nikita, Alexei and Ivan). She and her husband maintained an excellent relationship while they were together. Alexey Ivanovich treated his wife kindly and tenderly.
Khrushchev's Rada always behaved modestly. No one would have thought that she was the daughter of the owner of the country. All her life she worked at the journal Science and Life, headed the department of biology and medicine, then became deputy editor-in-chief. Deciding that a journalistic education was not enough, she graduated from the Faculty of Biology of Moscow University.
In 1956, she was appointed deputy editor-in-chief of the magazine. During her work, the magazine became one of the best popular science magazines in the Soviet Union. After Khrushchev was removed from his post, her husband fell into disgrace and began working as a department editor in the magazine “Soviet Union”, as well as publishing in various publications under a pseudonym, Rada Adzhubey continued to work in the editorial office of the magazine until 2004.
True, for more than twenty years her name was not mentioned in the list of the magazine's editorial board...
Sergei Khrushchev
Second child of Nina and Nikita Khrushchev A Soviet and Russian scientist, publicist, Doctor of Technical Sciences, professor, Hero of Socialist Labor.
In 1952 he graduated from Moscow school No. 110 with a gold medal, graduated from the Faculty of Electrical Vacuum Engineering and Special Instrumentation of the Moscow Power Engineering Institute with a degree in Automatic Control Systems. He worked at the Chelomey Design Bureau as deputy head of department, deputy director of the Institute of Electronic Control Machines (INEUM), deputy general director NPO "Electronmash"
When his father was fired, Sergei Nikitich Khrushchev also lost his favorite job. He did a great job - he persuaded his father to dictate his memoirs. Nikita Sergeevich's four-volume notes are an invaluable source on the history of the Fatherland.
In 1991, S. N. Khrushchev was invited to Brown University (USA) to lecture on the history of the Cold War, in which he now specializes. Remained a permanent resident in the United States, currently lives in Providence, Rhode Island, and has Russian and American (since 1999) citizenship. He is a professor at the Thomas Watson Institute of International Studies at Brown University.
Released a series own books with memories of historical events that he witnessed, and with his own balanced assessment of what was happening: “Pensioner of Union significance”, “Birth of a superpower”. In his works he adheres to a clear anti-Stalinist position. Currently working on books about “Khrushchev’s reforms.” Books translated to 12 foreign languages. One of the screenwriters of the film "Gray Wolves" (Mosfilm, 1993).
He is divorced from his first wife, Galina Shumova. The second wife, Valentina Nikolaevna Golenko, lives with Sergei Nikitich in the USA. The eldest son Nikita, a journalist and editor of Moscow News, died on February 22, 2007 in Moscow. Younger son Sergey lives in Moscow.
Nikita Sergeevich Khrushchev at the time of his election to office Secretary General was in his third marriage. In total, the family raised five children and his adopted granddaughter, Yulia. There were all sorts of rumors about the children. Even historians have still not come to a consensus about the fate of his eldest son. In fact, the life of each of Nikita Khrushchev’s descendants developed according to a special scenario.
For the first time, Nikita Khrushchev married at the age of 20 to the beautiful Efrosinya Pisareva, who gave her husband two children of the same age, Yulia and Leonid. The son was only three years old when Nikita Sergeevich’s first wife died of typhus. Yulia and Leonid were initially raised by their grandmother, and after their father’s marriage to Nina Kukharchuk they began to live with his new family. Later, Khrushchev's family was replenished with three more children.
Yulia Khrushcheva
Nikita Khrushchev's eldest daughter, Yulia, immediately accepted her stepmother. She never called her mom, only Nina Petrovna, but the relationship between them was very warm. Julia dreamed of becoming an architect and even entered a specialized institute, but her health did not allow her to graduate. Julia fell ill with tuberculosis, she had to undergo treatment for a long time, but she had to forget about her studies. On the eve of the Great Patriotic War, the young woman underwent a complex lung operation, which allowed her to live another 40 years.
Yulia worked as a chemical laboratory assistant and was married to Viktor Petrovich Gontar, who worked as the director of the Kyiv Opera House. They lived together happy life, but the couple had no children. Julia passed away at the age of 65, outliving her father by only 10 years.
Leonid Khrushchev
Unlike his older sister, Leonid was never able to establish a normal relationship with his stepmother. They were very different: calm and conflict-free Nina Petrovna and explosive emotional Leonid. He was capable of any pranks and hooliganism. Perhaps it was because of this that rumors and speculation constantly arose around him.
After graduating from school, the young man entered the college and began working as a mechanic at a factory. However, after Nikita Khrushchev was transferred to Moscow, Leonid entered the Balashov School of Civil Aviation. The young cadet was very attractive, which allowed him to enjoy success with women. His first wife was Rosa Treivas, but his daughter-in-law did not come to the court of her influential father and the marriage was immediately dissolved.
At the same time, Nikita Khrushchev demanded that his son recognize the child born to Esther Etinger. The son of Leonid and Esther, Yuri, later became a test pilot, but died in 2003 after an accident.
Leonid's second legal wife in 1939 was Lyubov Sizykh. She was amazingly suited to her husband, jumped with a parachute, and masterfully drove a motorcycle. But at the same time, Lyubov had a more rational approach to life and managed to slightly curb the violent temper of her husband. Her son from her first marriage was already growing up, and soon after the marriage their joint daughter, Julia, was born. At this time, Nikita Sergeevich was already the first secretary of the Central Committee of the Communist Party (Bolsheviks) of Ukraine.
Rumors about Leonid’s involvement in gangster groups involved in robberies are associated with this period. Some historians insist that Leonid Khrushchev was subject to criminal prosecution for this. Others argue that nothing of the kind happened, since not a single document was found according to which Leonid Khrushchev was prosecuted for criminal or any other crimes. The only mention of this is only in Sergo Beria’s book “My Father - Lavrenty Beria”. Khrushchev’s relatives all unanimously claim that Leonid’s connection with dubious individuals and his participation in crimes is an outright lie. Historians have never reached a consensus on this matter.
Be that as it may, Leonid Nikitovich began his military service back in the Finnish War, and from the first days of the Great Patriotic War he was already at the front, sitting at the helm of a bomber. He fought heroically and was awarded the Order of the Red Banner. After being wounded, he was sent for treatment to Kuibyshev, where Nikita Khrushchev’s entire family was located at that time. In the fall of 1942, Leonid Khrushchev accidentally killed a sailor, shooting on a dare at a bottle standing on the latter’s head.
He was sentenced to 8 years to serve his sentence at the front, then a similar practice was used. Returning to the front, Leonid Nikitovich switched to a fighter and fought bravely again. In March 1943, upon returning from a combat mission, Leonid Khrushchev's plane was shot down. The area where the fighter fell was forested and swampy. Attempts to find the crash site were unsuccessful, and a month and a half later, Leonid Khrushchev was declared missing.
The fact that Leonid’s body was not found also became the basis for speculation and provocations. They even claimed that Leonid Nikitovich surrendered and then began to collaborate with the Germans. However, a witness to the crash of Khrushchev’s plane, pilot I. A. Zamorin, claims that Nikita Sergeevich’s son saved his life by exposing his car to the armor-piercing strike of the Fokker, which crumbled right in front of the rescued man’s eyes.
Yulia Khrushcheva, granddaughter
Leonid's wife Lyubov Sizykh was arrested shortly after his death on charges of espionage. Among her acquaintances were numerous wives of foreign diplomats, and she herself allowed herself to go to a restaurant in the company of the French consul. After the arrest of his daughter-in-law, Nikita Khrushchev adopted his granddaughter Yulia, but the girl’s half-brother was sent to an orphanage. And even when he ran away and appeared on the threshold of the apartment where Nina Kukharchuk and her children lived in Kuibyshev, Anatoly was still returned to the shelter.
Until the age of 17, Yulia considered Nikita Sergeevich and Nina Petrovna her parents. She graduated from the Faculty of Journalism of Moscow State University, worked at the Press Agency, and later headed the literary department of the Ermolova Theater. She defended the honor and dignity of her grandfather at all levels, when, already in the post-perestroika period, hard-hitting programs and articles about him began to appear. She died in 2017 after being hit by a train.
Rada Khrushcheva (Married Adzhubey)
The daughter of Nikita Khrushchev and Nina Kukharchuk, Rada, was born two years after their first girl, Nadezhda, died. Rada graduated from the Faculty of Journalism of Moscow State University, and while still a student she married her classmate Alexei Adzhubey, who later became editor-in-chief of the Izvestia newspaper. Having come to work for the magazine “Science and Life”, I decided to get a second higher education and graduated from the Faculty of Biology of Moscow State University. Having gone through all the steps career ladder, became deputy editor-in-chief and worked at Science and Life until 2004.
Sergei Khrushchev
The second son of Nikita Sergeevich at one time graduated from the Moscow Energy Institute, became a rocketry designer, defended his doctoral dissertation and received the title of Hero of Socialist Labor. In 1991, he was invited to the United States to give a course of lectures on the history of the Cold War. There, Sergei Nikitovich was offered favorable conditions for work and life. He decided to stay in America forever.
True, after emigrating, he no longer studied science, but became a political scientist. Nowadays he is a professor at the Institute of International Studies and lives in Providence.
Elena Khrushcheva
Youngest daughter Nikita Sergeevich was very ill almost from childhood. At that time, they did not yet know how to treat systemic lupus, but Elena desperately fought her disease. Worked at the Institute of World Economy and international relations, was married. She died at 35, a year after her father's death.
Controversy continues today about the daughter of another Soviet leader, Svetlana Alliluyeva. She changed men like gloves, fled to America, leaving her children in the Soviet Union, and in later interviews admitted hostile feelings towards the country in which she was born. It seemed that the woman lived her whole life for her own pleasure. What did the Kremlin princess lack and why did she stubbornly strive to violate the boundaries of what was permitted?
Khrushchev's reign (1953-1964) is the only period in Soviet history that people remember kind words. The hero of the article is Khrushchev’s son Leonid, whose biography is still the subject of dispute among historians who have not come to a consensus.
Parents
It is known for certain that the young man was born on the territory of modern Donbass - in the village of metallurgists Yuzovka, three days after the October Revolution. Date of birth - 11/10/1917. He was the youngest son of Nikita Sergeevich and Efrosinya Ivanovna Khrushchev (nee Pisarev). On February 7, 1914, in the documents of the St. Nicholas Church of Bakhmut district (Rutchenkovsky mine) there is a record of their official registration of marriage. Until Nikita Sergeevich retires, this union will be the only one documented.
Efrosinya was one of the five daughters of the owner of the house, with whom Khrushchev was “dining” at that time. Leonid barely remembered his father as a child. In 1918, he went to the Civil War to fight for the Bolsheviks, and his wife went to the Kursk province, to his parents. In 1920, she died of typhus, leaving her daughter Yulia, born in 1915, to her husband. and son. A photo of the woman can be seen in the article below. For Nikita Sergeevich, this was a heavy blow, from which he would recover only after 4 years, having created a new family.
Childhood
The children were left with their grandparents until their father took them in with him. His party career took off, and in 1931 Khrushchev moved to Moscow. Yulia and Nikita Sergeevich’s new wife, Nina Kukharchuk, have a good relationship, which cannot be said about Leonid. He actually grew up on the street, left to his own devices. After graduating from seven classes, he entered the Federal Educational Institution, and at 17 he began working at a factory.
Leonid Khrushchev enjoyed great success with women. By the age of twenty, he had already left two cohabitants, one with a child in her arms. Both were Jewish. He even signed with Rosalia Treivas, an actress, but his father pointedly tore up the marriage certificate. Esther Etinger, the daughter of an aircraft designer, in 1935 gave birth to his son Yuri, who all his life bore the patronymic and surname of Leonid Khrushchev. A year earlier, his father had been appointed First Secretary of the IGC, which provided his son with new opportunities.
"Youth - to the sky!"
Stalin's call to aviation had an effect on the “golden youth” of his time. The sons of the top officials studied at the VVA named after. Zhukovsky. It was very honorable, they were looked up to. With his education, Leonid Khrushchev could not apply for Zhukovka, but went to the Civil Air Fleet pilot school (Balashov). After graduating in 1937, he was enrolled in the academy, but did not sit down at his desk. In 1939, he voluntarily joined the Red Army, continuing his studies at EVASH (Engels Aviation School).
During the Soviet-Finnish War, he volunteered to go to the front, flying Ar-2 bombers. The air division commander gave an excellent description of the lieutenant who took part in the bombing
Myth one - first conviction
In 1938, my father (N.S. Khrushchev) was transferred to Ukraine, where he went with a promotion. A year later, Leonid married Lyubov Sizykh, a pilot of the Moscow flying club, and in January 1940, their daughter Yulia was born. The wife was reminiscent of her own husband in character: a fearless parachutist, dashingly handling a motorcycle. He was also known as brave and even reckless. He could cross the bridge supports in his arms from one bank of the Dnieper to the other. The young woman already had a child, but this did not stop Nikita Sergeevich from accepting his son’s choice.
It was during these years, according to the memoirs of Sergo Beria, that Leonid Khrushchev - the son of Nikita Khrushchev - got involved with criminals. The gang was engaged in robbery and was exposed on the eve of the war. Many were shot, and the son of the First Secretary of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of Ukraine allegedly received 10 years in prison. Thus was born the first myth, which does not find any documentary evidence. In the personal file of L. Khrushchev, stored in the archives of the Ministry of Defense of the Russian Federation (Podolsk), there is no mention of a criminal record in the original autobiography.
Beginning of the war
From the first day of the war, like other “Kremlin lieutenants” - the Mikoyan brothers, Timur Frunze, Vasily Stalin, the son of Nikita Sergeevich went to the front. The first two months the regiment flew without cover, having lost most their pilots. The German aces, who had completed flight practice in Europe, were opposed by yesterday's college graduates, who sat at the controls for the first time.
Among them, the already experienced and fearless Khrushchev stood out. Leonid fought in the 134th Air Regiment (46th Division), completing 27 combat missions in July alone. Having completed the task of destroying the bridge across the river, he was presented with a military award. To receive the Order of the Red Banner at the beginning of the war was a real rarity. On January 9, 1942, his plane was shot down and landed in neutral territory. The crew was rescued, but the pilot was seriously injured. As a result open fracture the bone broke through the boot, and the hospital was preparing for an operation to amputate the leg.
Treatment in Kuibyshev
For the young man, life without heaven was impossible. Eyewitnesses say that he, threatening the doctors with a pistol, demanded that they refuse the operation. I spent two months in bed, but the young body coped. The lameness due to the fact that one leg has become slightly shorter than the other will remain with him until the end of his days. The pilot was sent to Kuibyshev, where the best luminaries of medicine were evacuated. The family also lived here. Nikita Sergeevich personally came from the front to visit his wounded son, whom he treated with special tenderness.
Leonid Khrushchev ended up in the same room with Ruben Ibarruri. In the hospital I met Stepan Mikoyan, who became the main eyewitness of his Kuibyshev period of life. According to Mikoyan, the wounded pilots often drank and made friends with the dancers of the Bolshoi Theater, which was evacuated to the city. At the end of rehabilitation, they found themselves involved in a drunken story with a tragic ending.
Myth two: second conviction
At one of the parties, young people staged a real game of Russian roulette. A naval officer, who learned that Leonid Khrushchev was a great shooter, suggested that he shoot a bottle on his head with a pistol. The shooter pierced the neck. The sailor was not satisfied with this, and he forced the pilot to repeat the attraction. The second shot hit Khrushchev directly in the forehead, killing the officer. tells this story from hearsay, without being an eyewitness to what is happening. His sister also spoke about the fact that his brother had some kind of dubious story
In the memoirs of N.S. Khrushchev’s opponents (all of them appeared after his death), it is said that Nikita Sergeevich personally begged Stalin for forgiveness for his son. But he was still sentenced to 8 years to serve his sentence at the front.
Was it or wasn't it?
Not a single journalistic investigation this fact was not successful. There is no documentary evidence either. Rumors about the incident vary so much that it is impossible to draw any conclusions. All subsequent events violate the logic of imposing any punishment on the pilot, because in the fall of 1942 he was sent not to a penal battalion, but for retraining, retraining to become a fighter pilot. In November he passes the exam with a grade of “good” and receives command of a flight and shoulder straps of a senior lieutenant. Moreover, he arrives in the army with weapons, which would be confiscated if convicted.
Leonid Khrushchev, whose biography is the subject of close study today, continued to fight in the 18th air regiment, switching to the maneuverable Yak-7. He got practice by ferrying planes from a military plant to the front. Experts say that to master new technology, a pilot needs time, and during the war he did not have it.
Events of March 11, 1943
There is information that Khrushchev was transferred to Army Headquarters, but he refused. Heaven was his calling. During his service, he made 172 missions, but only 32 in a fighter (the flight time was only 4 hours 27 minutes). On March 11, 1943, two planes flew to the Zhizdra area to reconnaissance troops. In a pair he was the wingman. In the place of the leader - Art. Lieutenant Zamorin, who became the main witness to the events of the historical battle, from which the son of a prominent party leader was not destined to return.
The fighters met four Fokkers, attacking the Soviet pilots in pairs. Only the flight commander returned from a combat mission in a damaged fighter. The mystery of the death of Leonid Khrushchev is connected with two circumstances: changes in the testimony of I. Zamorin and the inability to find the remains of the Yak-7 aircraft due to swampy terrain and air combat over enemy territory.
Testimony of Ivan Zamorin
The first report was written by the senior lieutenant after visiting the regimental headquarters. In it, he indicated: while pursuing the Fokker, he let L. Khrushchev’s plane out of sight. I only saw how he went into a tailspin, rushing towards the ground. Later, the partisans organized a search for the remains of the aircraft, which were unsuccessful. First, the father was informed that his eldest son was missing. A month later, on the night of April 12, Stalin personally expressed his condolences to his comrade, informing him that there was no more hope. In June, the father received an order for his son Patriotic War I degree (posthumous).
In the 80s, rumors began to spread about how Leonid Khrushchev came to the Germans. Allegedly, he survived and was captured, becoming a traitor. Rumors had appeared before, so after that an investigation was carried out into the death of the pilot (investigator S.I. Tokarev), during which no evidence of his betrayal was found. Zamorin changed his testimony, saying that his wingman saved him by throwing his Yak-7 across the fire attack of the Fokker. The plane actually disintegrated in the air. He explained his previous report: the regiment command was afraid of responsibility for not saving the son of a high-ranking official, so they preferred to present him as missing.
Version of betrayal
Military journalist I. Stadnyuk, historians G. Kumanev, N. Dobryukha, writer F. Chuev and some others adhere to the version that Leonid Khrushchev was shot. They refer to the fact that N. Khrushchev, during his reign, destroyed documents incriminating his son. Referring to the testimony of NKVD generals (V. Udilov), Molotov, the son of Beria, they describe how the pilot managed to eject after being captured by the enemy. There he began to give testimony that undermined the security of the country. Stalin ordered the SMERSH special group to kidnap the traitor. The operation was successful, and Khrushchev's son was taken to Moscow.
The father begged for forgiveness on his knees, but Stalin relied on the decision of the Politburo members, who sentenced the traitor to death. It was carried out. This explains N.S. Khrushchev’s hatred of members of the Central Committee: Beria is shot, the Shcherbakovsky district of Moscow is renamed, and Kaganovich, Molotov and Malenkov are sent into exile. An indirect confirmation of this version can be the arrest of Lyubov Sizykh in 1943 and her sending to camps on charges of espionage. It later became clear that these two events were in no way connected with each other.
Official version
Self-confident, persistent and cheerful, the 25-year-old young man became a hostage in the confrontation between Nikita Khrushchev, the main author of the “thaw” of the 60s, and the NKVD generals, who did everything to tarnish his name former First secretary Drawing an analogy with the fate of Yakov Dzhugashvili, who was captured by the Germans, after the capture of the son of a high-ranking politician, one could expect a reaction from the fascists: propaganda leaflets, radio messages, any kind of hype. But there are no sources from the German side confirming that the pilot was in captivity.
The stories of how Leonid Khrushchev was killed also differ. His execution is described in different ways by “eyewitnesses,” while Metrostroy employees found the wreckage of a Yak-7 aircraft, the number matching the Art. fighter. Lieutenant Data about this is stored in the archives of the city of Podolsk. On the mass grave in the city of Zhizdra, the name of Khrushchev is mentioned, which gives reason to talk about his burial in the area of his death.
Afterword
His relatives and those who knew him personally do not believe in the betrayal of the young pilot. Son Yuri and granddaughter Nina demanded a public refutation of the information that is given in many publications without reference to any documents. Direct command, comrades in arms, including the technicians of the Yak-7 aircraft, give the most flattering characteristics to the pilot: Leonid Nikitovich Khrushchev was a brave and fearless man. He was eager to fight, without hiding behind the backs of his comrades, and I. Zamorin’s report is further confirmation of this. The hero's reputation is more important than the pursuit of cheap sensations. Carrying out additional research is a matter of honor for historians, who must put an end to the spread of speculation and rumors.
The name of Nikita Khrushchev is strongly associated with Ukraine and Kiev. Some recall his ignorance and lack of education, coupled with rudeness and authoritarianism. Others, on the contrary, say that only with him they truly felt like a Soviet person. The first ones attribute to him the destruction of the creative thought of the intelligentsia. Others talk about the significant development of science during his reign.
It is impossible to assess his activities within the framework of one article, but it is possible to find one of the reasons for his “versatility”. Moreover, as always, a woman is involved in this. And not just a woman, but a mother named Ksenia.
History shows that on April 17, 1894, a son was born into the Khrushchev family living in the village of Kalinovka, Kursk province, who received the name Nikita. Poor, landless young parents, in search of a more or less tolerable life, moved to Yuzovka (now Donetsk) to feed themselves in the industrial Donbass. Poverty was such that they didn’t even think about a brother or sister for Nikitushka.
Only two years later, sister Ira appeared, after which Ksenia Ivanovna “put an end to this issue.” According to the memoirs of the last daughter-in-law, Khrushchev’s mother considered her husband a loser and mediocrity all her life.
“His mother was a woman with a strong will, a woman fighter. – Nina Petrovna Kukharchuk recalled. - Brave, she was not afraid of anyone. Her father was much softer and kinder, but she didn’t let anyone down. He is soft and weak, and she kept him under her heel.”
It was the mother who insisted that her son go into the mine, not only to earn money, but also to find himself in society. She herself sent her son to the mine for dangerous work also so that he would become big man, and not worthless like his father. Khrushchev owed everything to his mother's upbringing. As Nikita Sergeevich himself recalled: “Mother did everything so that I would not become addicted to tobacco or vodka.” Only during his work in Moscow, at “Stalin’s gatherings,” he was forced to drink along with everyone else, otherwise...
It's worth bringing one interesting fact from his biography. Khrushchev’s son-in-law Alexei Adzhubey in his memoirs cited the following conversation with his father-in-law: “When I was little,” Nikita Sergeevich said in an unusually thoughtful manner, “and was tending cows in a clearing in the forest, an old woman came up to me. I looked into my eyes for a long time, I was even dumbfounded. And I heard strange words from her: Boy, a great future awaits you.” Nikitushka then told this story to his mother. Subsequently, this fact was confirmed when Lyubov Sizykh (the last, third wife of Nikita Sergeevich’s son from his first marriage, Leonid) spoke about a conversation with his mother-grandmother, as Ksenia Ivanovna was called in the family: “Ksenia idolized her son, called him the king and boasted that she had always I knew Nikita would become a great man.”
In 1932, Khrushchev took his parents to Moscow. And if Sergei Nikanorovich could not find himself in the capital, as in “The House on the Embankment,” then his mother found herself “in her element.” Almost all days she, together with her neighbors, mothers of the same party functionaries, sat on a bench near the entrance and talked about her son, about his first children. History does not like subjunctive moods and assumptions, but I do not exclude the possibility that these conversations about the son whom she loved and who loved Stalin reached the addressee...
The mother loved her son not only as her child, but also as a “big man.” At the same time, as everyone else in the household recalls, she immediately disliked Nina Petrovna, because she believed that she herself best wife Nikita was Efrosinya Ivanovna - Frosya, mother of Leni and Yulia (the first wife died of typhus in 1919). The second wife, Marusya, again, according to recollections, she simply lived out of the house. Both the last daughter-in-law and the second grandchildren gave the following description of Ksenia Ivanovna: “Khrushchev’s mother, broad-faced, stern-looking, with smoothly combed back hair, was a strong woman. Ksenia was not just smart, but truly wise woman. If she had any education, oh, that would be something.”
In 1938, Sergei Nikanorovich died of tuberculosis, and was buried not in the prestigious Moscow cemetery, but in the one closest to his home (most likely, Vagankovsky). After his father’s funeral, neither his son nor his wife ever visited his grave, which has not been found to date... And then came 1939, the year of the beginning of the Ukrainian stage in the life of Nikita Sergeevich and his large family. He could not live alone, without his wife, all his children and, of course, his mother. With the beginning of the Great Patriotic War, the entire Khrushchev family, with the exception of Leonid Khrushchev and Nikita Sergeevich himself, was sent for evacuation to Kuibyshev, under the leadership, of course, of “mother-grandmother”.
Having again become the first secretary of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of Ukraine (Bolsheviks), already in September 1944 he returned his family to his native Kyiv. Khrushchev is again in the orbit of power, the country and the republic, which have not yet been completely liberated from the German-Romanian occupiers, are proud of him. A glorious date in the life of any politician is approaching - the 50th anniversary. There was already hope that the leader’s “favor” would appear by the big date. But. This notorious but always makes its own adjustments, and even changes the way of life.
On February 29, 1944, General Nikolai Vatutin was seriously but not fatally wounded. True to his adventurism, or rather, self-confidence, Nikita Sergeevich convinces Moscow that Kyiv doctors will not only save the legendary commander, but will also put him back on his feet.
Alas, in such cases, delay is like death. On April 15, the heart of a talented commander, a favorite of the troops and people, stopped. And on April 17, on the day of his half-century anniversary, instead of a holiday in his honor, Nikita Khrushchev saw off General Vatutin on his last journey. Ksenia Ivanovna, true to her mother’s instincts, was very worried that the death of one of Stalin’s favorite generals could “put an end to” her son’s future career. But, again but. Here, so to speak, Khrushchev was played along by Zhukov, who after the death of Vatutin became the commander of the 1st Ukrainian, at the head of which he took Berlin.
Through the efforts of Zhukov-Khrushchev, a version was spread that Vatutin’s wound was initially fatal. However, her mother’s experiences, and even at that age, affected her health. Literally six months after moving to Kyiv, she died. Unlike her father, her mother was buried in the central alley of the Lukyanovsky cemetery. Being already the head of state, Nikita Sergeevich very often visited his native grave. Remembering his proletarian origin, he forbade erecting a monument on her grave.
Today, the grave of Khrushchev’s mother is included in the register of historical monuments of Kyiv. It should also be noted that two people are buried in one grave: a mother-in-law and a son-in-law, i.e. Gontar Viktor Petrovich, husband of Yulia’s eldest daughter, former director of the Kyiv Opera, whom she loved so much.
We don’t know how and in what way the “Khrushchevites” of Ukraine will remember the name of Nikita Sergeevich on April 17, but if we talk about him and his deeds, then it’s probably worth saying a word about his mother... But not a word is said about her... It’s a pity, that was not previously said about the mother of the man who entered world history. What do we know about her? We know that she was born on February 6 (January 24), 1872, and died on March 23, 1945. But from April 17, 1894 until her death, she was also her son’s guardian angel, his connoisseur and his only judge... http://www.bagnet.org/news/politics/41837
Nikita Khrushchev's family
Khrushchev - a rarity among members of the Politburo - was a father of many children, raising five children. As a very young man in Yuzovka (now Donetsk), he married Efrosinya Ivanovna Pisareva, a beautiful red-haired woman. She died in 1919 from typhus, leaving Nikita Sergeevich with two children - Yulia and Leonid. He married again to Nina Petrovna Kukharchuk, a calm woman with a strong character, who gave birth to three children - Rada, Sergei and Elena.
Elena was in poor health and died at the age of 35. Leonid Khrushchev, a military pilot, died at the front.
Yulia Khrushcheva (1916-1981) was married to the director of the Kyiv Opera and was a chemist by profession.
Nina Kukharchuk was born into a Ukrainian family in the village of Vasilev in the Kholm region, which at that time was part of the Russian Empire. Her father, Pyotr Vasilyevich, was an ordinary peasant. Mother - Ekaterina Grigorievna Bondarchuk - also came from a simple peasant family.
Nina Kukharchuk met Nikita Khrushchev in 1922 in Yuzovka. There she worked as a teacher at the district party school. There they began to live virtually as a family. And they would register their marriage only after Khrushchev retired, in 1965.
When Nina Khrushcheva became the “first lady” of the state, she participated in Khrushchev’s foreign trips, met with top officials of other states and their wives, which was not accepted in the USSR before her. Nina Khrushcheva was fluent in Russian, Ukrainian, Polish and French. Wikipedia says that she also studied English, but does not indicate the degree of proficiency in it.
Nikita Sergeevich and Nina Petrovna were good parents, and they had a happy family. Nina Petrovna survived Nikita Sergeevich (died in 1971) and daughter Elena. She lived at a state dacha in Zhukovka and had a pension of 200 rubles.
Now a little about the two most famous children of the Khrushchevs: Rada and Sergei. They have achieved a lot in this life. There is no doubt that their parents gave them a good start. But, as we know, no parental status will help if the parents did not care for the child and if he does not have the abilities. And Nina Khrushcheva, that same woman in a simple cotton dress, was able to raise worthy and good children.
Rada graduated from school with a gold medal in Kyiv. After graduating from school, she entered the Faculty of Philology of Moscow State University, and subsequently transferred to the established Faculty of Journalism, which she graduated in 1952. While studying, she met Alexei Adzhubey, whom she married in 1949. In this marriage she gave birth to three sons (Nikita, Alexei and Ivan). She and her husband maintained an excellent relationship while they were together. Alexey Ivanovich treated his wife kindly and tenderly.
Khrushchev's Rada always behaved modestly. No one would have thought that she was the daughter of the owner of the country. All her life she worked at the journal Science and Life, headed the department of biology and medicine, then became deputy editor-in-chief. Deciding that a journalistic education was not enough, she graduated from the Faculty of Biology of Moscow University.
In 1956, she was appointed deputy editor-in-chief of the magazine. During her work, the magazine became one of the best popular science magazines in the Soviet Union. After Khrushchev was removed from his post, her husband fell into disgrace and began working as a department editor in the magazine “Soviet Union”, as well as publishing in various publications under a pseudonym, Rada Adzhubey continued to work in the editorial office of the magazine until 2004.
True, for more than twenty years her name was not mentioned in the list of the magazine's editorial board... She was an intelligent and educated woman. She lived a decent life. She died at the age of 87.
The second child of Nina and Nikita Khrushchev, Sergei, is a Soviet and Russian scientist, publicist, Doctor of Technical Sciences, professor, Hero of Socialist Labor.
In 1952 he graduated from Moscow school No. 110 with a gold medal, graduated from the Faculty of Electrical Vacuum Engineering and Special Instrumentation of the Moscow Power Engineering Institute with a degree in Automatic Control Systems. He worked at the Chelomey Design Bureau as deputy head of department, deputy director of the Institute of Electronic Control Machines (INEUM), and deputy general director of NPO Elektronmash.
When his father was fired, Sergei Nikitich Khrushchev also lost his favorite job. He did a great job - he persuaded his father to dictate his memoirs. Nikita Sergeevich's four-volume notes are an invaluable source on the history of the Fatherland.
In 1991, S. N. Khrushchev was invited to Brown University (USA) to lecture on the history of the Cold War, in which he now specializes. Remained a permanent resident in the United States, currently lives in Providence, Rhode Island, and has Russian and American (since 1999) citizenship. He is a professor at the Thomas Watson Institute of International Studies at Brown University.
He published a number of his own books with memories of historical events that he witnessed, and with his own balanced assessment of what happened: “Pensioner of Union Significance”, “Birth of a Superpower”. In his works he adheres to a clear anti-Stalinist position. Currently working on books about “Khrushchev’s reforms.” The books have been translated into 12 foreign languages. One of the screenwriters of the film "Gray Wolves" (Mosfilm, 1993).
He is divorced from his first wife, Galina Shumova. The second wife, Valentina Nikolaevna Golenko, lives with Sergei Nikitich in the USA. The eldest son Nikita, a journalist and editor of Moscow News, died on February 22, 2007 in Moscow. The youngest son Sergei lives in Moscow. foto-history.livejournal.com/8115525.html
Based on Internet materials, prepared by Nikolay Zubashenko
