VLASIK Nikolay Sidorovich (1896-1967)
One of the heads of the USSR state security agencies, head of personal security I.V. Stalin, lieutenant general (07/09/1945).
Born in 1896 in the village of Bobynichi, Slonim district, Grodno province (Belarus). The son of a peasant. He received his education at a parochial school. Since 1913 he worked as a laborer and digger. During the First World War, in March 1915, he was drafted into the army as a junior non-commissioned officer. Since November 1917 he has been a policeman in Moscow. In 1918 - a Red Army soldier, participant in the defense of Tsaritsyn. In November of the same year he joined the RCP(b).
In September 1919 he was transferred to the Cheka. On November 1, 1926, he became the senior commissioner of the Operations Department of the OGPU of the USSR, and then held senior positions in the system of the Operations Department, whose functions included protecting the leaders of the party and state.
Nikolai Vlasik appeared in Stalin’s guard in 1931 on the personal recommendation of the OGPU chairman V.R. Menzhinsky, after the death of Stalin’s chief guard I.F. Yusis. Later, however, a legend arose that Stalin, back in 1918, somehow liked the Red Army soldier Vlasik, whom he then took as his personal bodyguard. The legend became widespread. Even Svetlana Alliluyeva, the daughter of Joseph Vissarionovich, took her on faith in her memoirs. She also got into fiction, for example, in the historical and documentary novel by Vladimir Uspensky “The Leader’s Privy Advisor.” However, this legend was refuted by Nikolai Sidorovich himself in his unpublished notes, written by him at the end of his life for his family and friends: ordinary soldier Vlasik fought near Tsaritsyn, but member of the Revolutionary Military Council I.V. He had never seen Stalin then.
Initially, Nikolai Vlasik was only the head of Stalin's security. But after the tragic death of Nadezhda Alliluyeva, he was already the teacher of the children - Vasily and Svetlana, the organizer of their leisure time, the financial and economic distributor, whose vigilant eye kept all the inhabitants of the Stalinist house under the supervision. N. S. Vlasik decided almost everything everyday problems Stalin. Svetlana Iosifovna Alliluyeva wrote in her memoirs “Twenty Letters to a Friend”:
He headed his father’s entire bodyguard, considered himself almost the closest person to him, and, being himself incredibly illiterate, rude, stupid, but noble, in recent years he went so far as to dictate to some artists “the tastes of Comrade Stalin,” so as he believed that he knew and understood them well. And the leaders listened and followed these advice. And not a single one festive concert at the Bolshoi Theater, or in the St. George's Hall at banquets, was not compiled without Vlasik's sanction... His impudence knew no bounds, and he favorably conveyed to artists whether he “liked it” himself - be it a film, or an opera, or even the silhouettes of those under construction at that time high-rise buildings... It would not be worth mentioning him at all - he ruined the lives of many, but he was such a colorful figure that you could not pass him by. In our house, for the “servants”, Vlasik was almost equal to his father himself, since his father was high and far away, and Vlasik, with the power given to him, could do anything...
During my mother’s life, he existed somewhere in the background as a bodyguard, and, of course, there was neither his foot nor his spirit in the house. He was constantly at his father’s dacha in Kuntsevo and “directed” from there all the other residences of his father, which became more and more numerous over the years...”
A few years later, Vlasik becomes not only Stalin’s main security guard, but also one of the leaders of the entire security service of the top leadership of the USSR. In 1935-36, he was the head of the personal security of the Operations Department of the NKVD of the USSR. Since 1936 - head of the operational group and head of the 1st department of the 1st directorate of the NKVD of the USSR.
After joining the NKVD of the USSR L.P. Beria and the removal of N.I.’s nominees from posts. Ezhova N.S. Vlasik on November 19, 1938 was appointed head of the 1st department of the Main Directorate state security. In February-July 1941, Vlasik’s department was part of the NKGB of the USSR, and then returned to the NKVD. On January 19, 1942, Vlasik was transferred to the post of first deputy head of the 1st department.
In 1941, due to the possibility of the fall of Moscow, he was sent to Kuibyshev to monitor the government's move there. Responsible for guarding the residences of I.V. Stalin in Tehran, Yalta and Potsdam.
After the secondary formation of the independent National State Clinical Hospital of the USSR in April 1943, Vlasik’s department was deployed to the 6th Directorate, but on August 9 Vlasik again became not the chief, but the first deputy. On July 9, 1945, he was awarded the rank of lieutenant general. Since March 1946, he has been the head of security department No. 1 of the USSR Ministry of State Security. This department was exclusively engaged in the protection and provision of Stalin. On November 28, 1946, under the leadership of General Vlasik, the Main Security Directorate (GUO) of the USSR Ministry of State Security was formed, which included the 1st and 2nd Security Directorates, as well as the Directorate of the Commandant of the Moscow Kremlin.
In the last year of Stalin's life, with the progressive deterioration of his health, the struggle between various factions in the leadership of the USSR for Stalin's legacy intensified. At the same time, certain forces did not stop at speeding up the leader’s departure, and a necessary condition for this was the removal from Stalin’s inner circle of the people most devoted to him, which included Vlasik, who enjoyed Stalin’s exceptional trust. Yes - and not too literate, and too much of a lover of the fair sex, and, to put it mildly, not entirely conscientious in relation to state property. But at the same time, infinitely devoted to the leader! Stalin could easily trust him with his life.
On May 23, 1952, the Main Directorate of Defense was transformed into the Security Directorate, and General Vlasik was removed from work and transferred to the post of deputy head of the Bazhenov forced labor camp in Asbest (Sverdlovsk region). December 16, 1952 N.S. Vlasik was arrested and accused of “indulging in sabotage doctors,” abuse of office, etc. The investigation dragged on, and only in January 1955 he was sentenced by the Military Collegium of the Supreme Court of the USSR (in a closed session) under Article 193-17, part “b” of the Criminal Code of the RSFSR (Abuse of Trust and Official Position) to 5 years of exile in Krasnoyarsk (term punishment was calculated from the moment of arrest). However, already in 1956, Vlasik was pardoned with his criminal record expunged and returned to Moscow. Apparently, the death of the “master” still did not allow him to be crushed. N.S. was rehabilitated. Vlasik was not there either then or later. According to his wife, until his death, Vlasik was convinced that Lavrentiy Beria “helped” Stalin die.
Lieutenant General N.S. Vlasik was awarded three Orders of Lenin, four Orders of the Red Banner, the Order of Kutuzov first degree, the Order of the Red Star, medals “XX Years of the Red Army”, “For the Defense of Moscow”, “For the Victory over Germany in the Great Patriotic War of 1941 - 1945”, “In memory of the 800th anniversary of Moscow”, “XXX years of the Soviet Army and Navy”, as well as two badges “Honorary Security Officer”. He was deprived of all of the above awards by a court verdict in 1955.
The daughter of General Vlasik, Nadezhda Nikolaevna Vlasik, fought for many years for the rehabilitation of her father, and in 2000, the Supreme Court of the Russian Federation posthumously acquitted Nikolai Sidorovich Vlasik “for lack of corpus delicti.”
In an interview given to the Moskovsky Komsomolets newspaper in 2003, Nadezhda Vlasik said: “...father would not have let him [Stalin] die. He would not have waited for a day outside the doors, like those guards on March 5, 1953, when Stalin “wake up.” He would knock down all the doors, drive everyone out of the dacha territory, regardless of rank, and of course he would bring doctors.”
Nikolai Sidorovich Vlasik died in Moscow from lung cancer on June 18, 1967. He was buried in the new Donskoy cemetery, a few dozen steps west of the Great Patriotic War memorial. Patriotic War.
At the end of his life N.S. Vlasik wrote memoirs that have not yet been published. A valuable historical source is the many photographs he took at different times of I.V. Stalin and his inner circle, and in an informal setting. There is, among other things, a photo of a drunk Nikita Sergeevich Khrushchev, in a Ukrainian embroidered shirt, dancing the hopak at the Near Dacha.
The Russian Federal Security Service declassified the general's archive Nikolai Vlasik, who served as Joseph Stalin's security chief from 1931 to 1952. Vlasik’s memoirs, dedicated to his life next to the leader, were published by the Komsomolskaya Pravda newspaper.
As Vlasik said in his notes, he was tasked with organizing the security of the Special Department of the Cheka and the Kremlin, as well as paying special attention to Stalin’s personal security, after a bomb was thrown into the commandant’s office building on Lubyanka in Moscow in 1927.
According to Vlasik, before he headed the leader’s security, only one employee was responsible for his safety - Lithuanian Ivan Yusis. At the dacha near Moscow, where Stalin vacationed on weekends, complete chaos reigned. Vlasik began by sending linen and dishes to the dacha, hiring a cook and a cleaner, and also arranging for the delivery of food from the nearby GPU state farm.
Vlasik also described Stalin’s way of life in his apartment in the Kremlin. The housekeeper Karolina Vasilyevna and the cleaning lady kept order there. Hot meals were brought to the family from the Kremlin canteen in boats.
According to the general, then Stalin lived very modestly with his wife Nadezhda Alliluyeva, daughter Svetlana and sons Vasily and Yakov. Stalin walked around in an old coat, and at Vlasik’s offer to sew a new one outerwear responded with a categorical refusal. As Vlasik wrote in his notes, he had to sew a new coat for the leader by eye - he did not let me take measurements. Nadezhda Alliluyeva was just as modest, according to the general.
He came to work late and walked back to the Kremlin
As Vlasik recalls, Stalin usually got up at 9 a.m. and after breakfast at 11 a.m. he arrived at the Central Committee building on Old Square. Had lunch at work. The leader worked until late at night. He often returned from work to the Kremlin on foot with Vyacheslav Molotov.
After Stalin's wife committed suicide in 1933, the care of the children fell on the housekeeper Karolina Vasilievna. According to Vlasik, when the children grew up, part of the responsibility fell on him. And if there were no problems with Svetlana, son Vasily studied at school reluctantly, and instead of preparing for classes, he was interested in something extraneous like horse riding. Vlasik, in his words, “reluctantly” reported to Stalin about Vasily’s behavior.
Stalin planted Sochi with eucalyptus trees
As Vlasik wrote in his memoirs, Stalin annually went on vacation to Sochi or Gagra for two months at the end of summer and beginning of autumn. There he read a lot, rode a boat on the sea, watched movies, played skittles, gorodki and billiards.
Another hobby of the leader was the garden. In the south he grew oranges and tangerines. On Stalin’s initiative, a large number of eucalyptus trees were planted in Sochi, which, according to the leader’s idea, was supposed to reduce the incidence of malaria in the local population.
As Vlasik admitted, in the 30s, when Stalin arrived on vacation in Tskhaltubo at the dacha intended for employees of the Central Committee and the Council of Ministers of Georgia, it turned out to be so dirty that, in his words, “his heart bled” when the leader was nervous, demanding to clean up.
About the leader's love for Kirov and the assassination attempt on Stalin
According to Vlasik, Stalin loved the leader of the Leningrad party organization of the All-Union Communist Party of Bolsheviks, Sergei Kirov, “with some kind of touching, tender love.” When Kirov came to Moscow, he stayed at Stalin’s apartment, and they never parted. The murder of Kirov in 1934 by Leonid Nikolaev, an instructor of the historical-party commission of the Institute of History of the All-Union Communist Party of Bolsheviks, shocked the leader. As Vlasik noted, he traveled with Stalin to Leningrad to say goodbye to Kirov and saw how he suffered, experiencing the loss of his beloved friend.
As Vlasik wrote in his memoirs, Stalin himself survived the assassination attempt in the summer of 1935. This happened in the south, where he was vacationing at a dacha near Gagra. The boat sent from Leningrad by the then head of the NKVD Genrikh Yagoda, on which Stalin was, was fired upon from the shore. According to Vlasik, he quickly put Stalin on a bench and covered him with himself, after which he ordered the minder to go out to the open sea. In response, Stalin's guards fired a machine gun along the shore.
According to Vlasik, the small and unmaneuverable boat was sent by Yagoda “not without malicious intent.” Obviously, the NKVD chief assumed that on a large wave the ship would inevitably capsize, the general assumes. Fortunately, this did not happen. The case of the assassination attempt was transferred for investigation to Lavrentiy Beria, who then held the position of Secretary of the Central Committee of Georgia.
During interrogation, the shooter stated that the boat had an unfamiliar license plate; this seemed suspicious to him and he opened fire, Vlasik writes. In fact, as historians write, the appearance of Stalin’s boat in the protected zone was not documented with the appropriate documents, and the border guards acted in strict accordance with the instructions. The commander of the border post department, Lavrov, fired shots into the air and demanded that the boat stop. Warning shots had to be repeated because the boat did not respond to signals.
Lavrov was tried. Although he was facing the death penalty, after Yagoda’s intervention, the commander of the outpost squad was given only five years for “sloppiness.” Lavrov, however, did not serve his term. In 1937, he was taken from the camp to Tbilisi, and after interrogation, he was accused of a terrorist plot and sentenced to death as an enemy of the people.
In his memoirs, Vlasik expresses the idea that the murders of Kirov, Vyacheslav Menzhinsky in 1934, Valerian Kuibyshev in 1935 and the writer Maxim Gorky in 1936, as well as attempts on Stalin and Molotov, were organized by the right-wing Trotskyist bloc and became links in one chain. "We managed to unravel this tangle and thus neutralize the enemies Soviet power", states the general.
Let us recall that the circumstances of the death of Gorky and his son Maxim Peshkov were considered suspicious for a long time, but rumors about their murder were never confirmed. At the 1938 trial, Yagoda was charged with poisoning Gorky's son. During interrogations, Yagoda stated that Gorky was killed on Trotsky’s orders, and he decided to liquidate the writer’s son on his personal initiative.
Under pressure from various “de-Stalinizers” from the “nano-democrat” Medvedev to Mlechin and the government commission to counter the falsification of history under the leadership of its permanent leader Svanidze, the Russian Federal Security Service declassified the archive of Lieutenant General Nikolai Vlasik, including his diary and memoir entries. Vlasik was the head of Stalin's personal security for more than 20 years - from 1927 to 1952. In 1946, he became head of the Main Security Directorate of the USSR Ministry of State Security.
The declassified documents, as planned by the klutzes of the de-Stalinizers, were supposed to “highlight” the vices and greed of the Generalissimo, so hated by them, and confirm the myth about the leader’s countless treasures. The general's notes, published by Komsomolskaya Pravda, depict the leader not so much as a statesman, but as a specific person with his own habits and principles inherent in his everyday life, hidden from prying eyes. Yes, it probably couldn’t have been otherwise: as one of the people closest to Stalin, Vlasik knew the underbelly of Stalin’s life better than others. Inside out, figuratively and literally. In terms of clothes.
Quote: “Comrade Stalin lived very modestly with his family,” it is said, in particular, in the memoirs. - He walked around in an old, very shabby coat. I suggested that Nadezhda Sergeevna (Stalin’s wife Nadezhda Alliluyeva. - Ed.) sew him a new coat, but for this it was necessary to take measurements or take an old coat and make exactly the same one in the workshop. It was not possible to take measurements, as he flatly refused, saying that he did not need a new coat. But we still made him a coat.”.
You read and are amazed. Was this really possible in our country (the USSR was also our country, whether anyone likes it or not), where power from time immemorial has been perceived, first of all, as a source of personal enrichment, as the basis of personal happiness, as a guarantee of personal comfort and prosperity? And suddenly you see a man, being at the pinnacle of power, at the very top (Stalin became the General Secretary of the Central Committee of the Party back in 1922) and is not concerned with this very personal enrichment.
He even brushes off the offer to sew him a new coat: he says he looks like the old one. What about our country: in all of world history it is difficult to find a similar example where a person possessing such unlimited, more than monarchical power would be so indifferent to the personal and material side of the issue.
An exceptionally benevolent tone towards Stalin is maintained throughout Vlasik’s now published memoir. The Generalissimo appears before readers not as a wingless angel, but as a humble, hardworking and intelligent person.
That part of the audience that sees in Stalin only a “mustachioed, pockmarked cannibal”, naturally, immediately burst out with mockingly caustic comments: they say, Vlasik wrote his opus while Stalin was alive. What else, they say, besides obsequious praise could this “lack,” whose position and very life depended on the will of the Master, write? If, they say, the general guard tried to write something disrespectful or dirty, he would immediately be put up against the wall. Or until the end of his days he would chew camp bread in the polar latitudes. He would chew with the teeth he still had after interrogations. In general, all these declassified archives of yours are flattering lies, and that’s all. This is the logic. It's flawed, to be honest.
But alas, the theory of sycophancy does not stand up to criticism. In May 1952, Lieutenant General Vlasik was removed from his post as head of Stalin’s security and sent to the Urals as deputy head of a forced labor camp. In December 1952, less than three months before Stalin’s death, he was arrested in connection with the “Doctors’ Case.” In January 1955, he was found guilty of abuse of office and sentenced to 10 years in exile. By virtue of the Decree of the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet of the USSR of March 27, 1953 on amnesty, Vlasik’s sentence was reduced to five years. In December 1956, he was pardoned with his criminal record expunged. He was not restored to his military rank or awards. So Vlasik wrote his memoirs about the “bloody” tyrant after Stalin’s death, when the “cult of personality” was “exposed” at the 20th Congress...
The fact of Vlasik’s personal devotion to Stalin and the possible element of subjectivity present in his notes do not mean that what he wrote is a lie. They do not mean this a priori, no matter how much anyone might want the opposite. Subjectivity is generally an inevitable component of any diaries and memoirs, no matter who they were written by.
Quote: “I was cruelly offended by Stalin,” he wrote in his memoirs. - For 25 years of impeccable work, without a single penalty, but only incentives and awards, I was expelled from the party and thrown into prison. For my boundless devotion, he (Stalin.) gave me into the hands of enemies. But never, not for a single minute, no matter what state I was in, no matter what bullying I was subjected to while in prison, I had no anger in my soul against Stalin.”.
But subjectivity is an evaluative property. And there are facts. One such fact that testifies to Stalin’s personal modesty and unpretentiousness is such a well-known document as the inventory of the leader’s personal property, compiled less than an hour after his death at the Blizhnaya Dacha on March 5, 1953. The inventory includes: notebook, notebook, general notebook, smoking pipes, books, jacket white- 2 pcs., gray jacket - 2 pcs., dark green jacket - 2 pcs., trousers - 10, underwear. “A savings book was found in the bedroom with 900 rubles written in it.”(for comparison: the average monthly salary of workers and employees in the country at that time was about 700 rubles.).
Skeptics always cling to the phrase appearing in the inventory “Other property belonging to Comrade Stalin was not included in the inventory”. And they talk about countless luxurious dachas and residences that Stalin built for himself and his loved ones and which his daughter Svetlana, in particular, recalled with delight. But nothing is known about the palaces and treasures that, after the death of the leader, became the personal use of his immediate and non-immediate relatives. There are no such facts.
The dachas and cars that Stalin used during his lifetime were transferred to the service of other government officials after his death. Some of these dachas eventually became sanatoriums. As for Stalin’s closest relatives, his son Vasily died two years after his release from prison, where he worked as a turner.
And daughter Svetlana, who emigrated in 1967, lived abroad mainly on money earned by writing: publishers’ interest in the memoirs of Stalin’s daughter, of course, was enormous. In this sense, Stalin provided for his daughter. But only in this sense. Diplomat Semenov wrote in his diary from the words of Mikhail Sholokhov that Stalin once remarked in a narrow circle that he did not want to build a dacha for his daughter, because “the dacha would be confiscated on the second day after his death.” When offended comrades “waved their hands,” Stalin allegedly said: “You will be the first to oppose me.”.
In general, one way or another, Vlasik’s diaries did not report anything new or sensational about the personal modesty of the Generalissimo.
Thanks to the diaries of the personal bodyguard of leader Nikolai Vlasik, many episodes of our history will open from the other side.
...The diaries of the all-powerful head of Stalin's security, which lay for more than fifty years in an old suitcase with his daughter Nadezhda Nikolaevna Vlasik-Mikhailova. These notes in notebooks, notebooks, and on scraps of paper are a sensation. Nikolai Vlasik was Stalin’s personal bodyguard for many years and held this position the longest. Having joined his personal guard in 1931, he not only became its chief, but also actually became a member of the family. After the death of Stalin's wife Nadezhda Alliluyeva, he was also the teacher of the children Vasily and Svetlana.
Having served his “Master” faithfully for more than 20 years, Vlasik was practically betrayed by him and was arrested two and a half months before the leader’s death...
...In May 1994, during the restoration of the first building of the Kremlin, a secret passage was discovered on the second floor in a former Stalinist office. In the very place where Stalin’s desk used to stand, two large hatches were found under the parquet. Below them are two brick shafts with iron brackets in the walls going into the basement. One can now only guess about the purpose of the secret passage. But two severed special communication cables found in these mines are alarming. It looks like someone was listening to Stalin. Who?
Only one person from his entourage, Beria, could decide to do this, and only in the last years or even months of Stalin’s life, when the question of an heir turned into a matter of life and death for Beria. It was then that Beria managed to remove from his path one of his main opponents - the head of Stalin’s personal security, Nikolai Vlasik, a figure now, perhaps, no less legendary than Beria himself. During his arrest in December 1952, Vlasik uttered prophetic words:
“If there is no me, there will be no Stalin.” And he turned out to be right. Stalin died 2.5 months later in a strange death at his “Near Dacha” in Kuntsevo.
Today, for the first time in many years of rumors and legends, there was an opportunity to hear Vlasik himself. It’s hard to believe, but it turns out that there are diaries of the all-powerful head of Stalin’s security. They lay in a closet in an ordinary old suitcase for more than 50 years. These notes in notebooks, notebooks, and random scraps of paper are a sensation, priceless evidence of the era.
Published materials N.S. Vlasik are unique historical documents that are of great value both for any researcher and for a wide range of readers interested in the history of Soviet society.
It is worth noting that the leader’s personal bodyguard was fond of photography, and over almost 30 years of service he took more than 3,000 photographs. All of them were confiscated by Lubyanka during Vlasik’s arrest. And until recently, private photographs of the leader of all nations were inaccessible to the general public. About ten years ago, the surviving archives of Vlasik were “opened” by his relatives and even his diaries were published. But the rest of the confiscated materials about Stalin’s life, and in huge quantities, including photos, video, and audio, are not yet available.
“During the arrest of N.S. During a search of Vlasik’s work, apartment and dacha in the village of Tomilino, numerous records and about three thousand photographs and negatives were confiscated. Almost all of these documents and unique photographs taken by the general over many years of service were included in his criminal case. After the rehabilitation of N.S. Vlasik, a significant part of these materials was returned to the general’s family. Later they were transferred to the Federal Security Service of the Russian Federation by the adopted daughter N.S. Vlasik - Nadezhda Nikolaevna Vlasik"
“Favorites” - from the diaries of Nikolai Sidorovich Vlasik
Preface
I do not set myself the task of showing Stalin as a political figure.
Try to remove the unfair accusations of rudeness, cruelty and inhumanity brought against him. Try to refute the lies that were attributed to him after his death, to justify what he was undeservedly accused of.
To the best of my ability, I will highlight the facts that I have witnessed and establish the truth where possible.
1919 A year of healing the wounds inflicted by the war, a year of the beginning of the restoration of the national economy and the ongoing struggle against counter-revolutionary elements trying to strike blows at the young and fragile Soviet republic.
At this difficult time for the country, at the call of the party, I was sent to the Special Department of the Cheka at the disposal of Comrade. Dzerzhinsky. Until 1927 I worked in the Special Department, and then in 1927 I moved to work in the Operations Department.
From 1919 to 1952 I went from an ordinary employee to a general.
My new position
In 1927, a bomb was thrown at the commandant's office building on Lubyanka. At that time I was in Sochi on vacation. The authorities urgently called me and instructed me to organize the security of the Special Department of the Cheka, the Kremlin, as well as the security of government members at dachas, walks, on trips and Special attention pay attention to the personal protection of Comrade Stalin. Until this time, Comrade Stalin had only an employee who accompanied him when he went on business trips.
It was a Lithuanian - Yusis. Having called Yusis, we went with him by car to a dacha near Moscow, where Stalin usually rested. Arriving at the dacha and examining it, I saw that there was complete chaos there. There was no linen, no dishes, no staff. There was a commandant who lived at the dacha.
As I learned from Yusis, Comrade Stalin came to the dacha with his family only on Sundays and ate sandwiches that they brought with them from Moscow.
Family, rhythm of life, everyday life
Comrade Stalin’s family consisted of his wife, Nadezhda Sergeevna, an unusually modest young woman, the daughter of the old Bolshevik Alliluyev S.Ya., whom Comrade Stalin met in 19 (?) when he was hiding in their apartment in Petrograd, and two children - son Vasya, a very lively and impetuous boy of five years old, and daughter Svetlana, two years old.
In addition to these two children, Comrade Stalin had an adult son from his first marriage, Yasha, very sweet and humble person, in conversations and manners unusually similar to his father.
Looking ahead, I will say that he graduated from the Institute of Railway Transport, lived on a scholarship, was in need at times, but never turned to his father with any requests. After graduating from college, in response to his father’s remark that he would like to see his son in the military, Yasha entered the Artillery Academy, which he graduated from just before the war. In the very first days of the war, he went to the front. At Vyazma, our units were surrounded and he was taken prisoner. The Germans kept him captive in a camp until the end of the war. In the camp they killed him, allegedly while trying to escape.
According to the former French Prime Minister Herriot, who was with him in this camp, he behaved with exceptional dignity and courage. After the end of the war, Herriot wrote to Stalin about this.
By order of my superiors, in addition to security, I had to arrange supplies and living conditions protected.
I began by sending linen and dishes to the dacha, and arranged for a supply of food from the state farm, which was under the jurisdiction of the GPU and located next to the dacha. He sent a cook and a cleaner to the dacha. Established a direct telephone connection with Moscow. Yusis, fearing Stalin’s dissatisfaction with these innovations, suggested that I myself report everything to Comrade Stalin.
This is how my first meeting and first conversation with Comrade Stalin took place. Before that, I had only seen him from afar, when I accompanied him on walks and on trips to the theater.
Comrade Stalin lived very modestly with his family. He walked around in an old, very shabby coat.
I suggested that Nadezhda Sergeevna sew him a new coat, but for this it was necessary to take measurements or take an old coat and make exactly the same one in the workshop. It was not possible to take measurements, as he flatly refused, saying that he did not need a new coat. But we still made him a coat.
His wife, Nadezhda Sergeevna, as I already said, was unusually modest, very rarely made any requests, and dressed modestly, unlike the wives of many responsible workers. She studied at the Industrial Academy and devoted a lot of time to children. I wanted to know, and I needed it, the tastes and habits of Comrade Stalin, the peculiarities of his character, and I looked closely at everything with curiosity and interest.
August 17, 1922. Joseph Stalin (left) and his wife Nadezhda Alliluyeva (right) Stalin usually got up at 9 o'clock, had breakfast and at 11 o'clock was at work at the Central Committee on Old Square. He had lunch at work; it was brought to his office from the Central Committee canteen. Sometimes, when Comrade Kirov came to Moscow, they went home for dinner together. He often worked until late at night, especially in those years when, after Lenin’s death, the fight against the Trotskyists had to be intensified.
He also worked on his book “Questions of Leninism” in his office at the Central Committee, sometimes staying until late at night. I often returned from work on foot with Comrade Molotov, walking to the Kremlin through the Spassky Gate. I spent Sundays at home with my family, usually going to the dacha. Stalin went to the theater more often on Saturdays and Sundays together with Nadezhda Sergeevna. We visited the Bolshoi Theater, Maly Theater, Moscow Art Theater, them. Vakhtangov. We went to see Meyerhold and watched the play “The Bedbug” by Mayakovsky. With us at this performance were Comrade. Kirov and Molotov.
Stalin loved Gorky very much and always watched his plays, which were shown in Moscow theaters. Often after work, Stalin and Molotov went to watch films in Gnezdnikovsky Lane. Later, a screening room was set up in the Kremlin. Comrade Stalin loved cinema and attached great propaganda importance to it.
In the fall, usually in August - September, Stalin and his family left for the south. He spent his holidays on the Black Sea coast in Sochi or Gagra. He lived in the south for two months. While vacationing in Sochi, he sometimes took Matsesta baths.
During the entire vacation he worked very hard. He received a lot of mail. He always took one of his employees to the south. In the 20s a cryptographer traveled with him, and starting in the 30s. - secretary. During the vacation, business meetings also took place.
Stalin read a lot, followed political and fiction. Entertainment in the south included boat trips, movies, bowling alleys, small towns he loved to play, and billiards. The partners were employees who lived with him at the dacha. Comrade Stalin devoted a lot of time to the garden. Living in Sochi, he planted a lot of lemons and tangerines in his garden. I always watched the growth of young trees myself, rejoicing when they were well received and began to bear fruit.
He was very concerned about the incidence of malaria in the local population. And on his initiative, large plantings of eucalyptus trees were carried out in Sochi. This tree has valuable properties. It grows unusually quickly and dries out the soil. Planting eucalyptus in wetlands, hotbeds of malarial mosquitoes, dries out the soil and destroys breeding grounds for malarial diseases. Molotov, Kalinin, Ordzhonikidze, who at that time were vacationing on the Black Sea coast, often came to his dacha. Comrade Kirov came to visit. I would like to tell you especially about Kirov. Stalin loved Kirov most of all. He loved with some touching, tender love. Arrivals of Comrade Kirov to Moscow and the south were a real holiday for Stalin. Sergei Mironovich came for a week or two. In Moscow, he stayed at Stalin’s apartment and literally never left his side.
In 1933, Comrade Stalin’s wife tragically died. Joseph Vissarionovich deeply experienced the loss of his wife and friend. The children were still small, Comrade Stalin could not pay much attention to them due to his busy schedule. I had to hand over the upbringing and care of the children to Karolina Vasilievna, the housekeeper who managed their household. Karolina Vasilievna was a cultured woman, sincerely attached to children.
Editor's note: Maria Svanidze, a friend of Nadezhda Sergeevna, wrote down in April 1935: “...And then Joseph said: “How is it Nadya... could shoot herself. She did a very bad thing”... “What children, they forgot about her in a few days, but she crippled me for life. Let's drink to Nadya! - said Joseph. And we all drank to the health of dear Nadya, who left us so cruelly..."
Comrade Stalin often came to Nadezhda Sergeevna’s grave. I sat on the marble bench opposite, smoked a pipe, thought about something...
When the children grew up and both were already studying, part of the responsibility fell on me. The daughter, her father's favorite, studied well and was modest and disciplined. The son is gifted by nature and was reluctant to study at school. He was too nervous, impetuous, could not study diligently for a long time, often to the detriment of his studies and, not without success, becoming interested in something extraneous like horse riding. I reluctantly had to report his behavior to my father and upset him.
He loved children, especially his little daughter, whom he jokingly called “mistress,” which made her proud. He treated his son strictly and punished him for pranks and misdeeds. The girl looked like her grandmother, Stalin’s mother. Her character was somewhat reserved, silent and dry. The boy, on the contrary, is lively and temperamental. He was very sincere and responsive.
In general, children were raised very strictly; no pampering or excess was allowed. The daughter grew up, graduated from college, defended her dissertation, has a family, works and raises children. Only my father’s surname had to be abandoned.
Svetlana Alliluyeva at a meeting with journalists, 1967, USA.
Editor's note: Lana Peters - daughter of I. Stalin, emigrated from the USSR to the USA in 1966. November 29, 2011 - died in the USA in a nursing home. She was 85 years old. In recent years, she was seriously ill, lived quietly, and did not favor journalists. What I wanted to tell, I have already told, including in my memoirs. Her last interview formed the basis of the film “Svetlana,” which was shown on Channel One.
The fate of his son was more tragic. After graduating from aviation school, he was a participant in the war, commanded, and I must say not bad, an aviation regiment. At the end of the war he worked as...
After the death of his father, he was arrested and sentenced to 8 years. For what? Don't know. After serving his sentence, he was released completely sick. He retained his military rank and was given a pension, but they suggested, like his sister, that he give up his father’s surname Dzhugashvili, to which he did not agree. After this, he was exiled to Kazan, where he soon died in March 1962 at the age of 40.
Murder of Kirov
On December 13, 1934 (December 1, 1934) S.M. was killed in Leningrad. Kirov. Kirov's death shocked Stalin. I went with him to Leningrad and I know how he suffered and experienced the loss of his beloved friend. About what a person of crystal purity S.M. was. Kirov, how simple and modest he was, what a great worker and wise leader he was, everyone knows. This vile murder showed that the enemies of Soviet power had not yet been destroyed and were ready to strike from around the corner at any moment. Comrade Kirov was killed by enemies of the people.
His killer Leonid Nikolaev stated in his testimony: “Our shot should have been a signal for an explosion and an offensive within the country against the CPSU (b) and Soviet power.” In September 1934, an assassination attempt was made on Comrade Molotov while he was on an inspection tour of the mining regions of Siberia. Comrade Molotov and his companions miraculously escaped death.
Assassination
In the summer of 1935, an attempt was made on Comrade Stalin’s life. This happened in the south. Stalin was relaxing at a dacha near Gagra. On a small boat that was transported to the Black Sea from the Neva from Leningrad, comrade. Stalin took walks on the sea. Only security was with him. The direction was taken to Cape Pitsunda. Having entered the bay, we went ashore, rested, had a snack, and walked, staying on the shore for several hours. Then we got on the boat and went home. There is a lighthouse on Cape Pitsunda, and not far from the lighthouse on the shore of the bay there was a border guard post.
When we left the bay and turned in the direction of Gagra, shots were heard from the shore. We were fired upon. Having quickly seated Comrade Stalin on the bench and covering him with me, I ordered the mechanic to go out to the open sea. Immediately we fired a machine gun along the shore. The shots at our boat stopped.
Our boat was a small river boat and completely unsuitable for walking on the sea, and we had a great chat before we landed on the shore. The sending of such a boat to Sochi was done by Yagoda, apparently not without malicious intent; on a large wave it would inevitably capsize, but we, as people not versed in maritime affairs, did not know about this.
This case was transferred for investigation to Beria, who was at that time the secretary of the Georgian Central Committee.
During interrogation, the shooter stated that the boat had an unfamiliar number; this seemed suspicious to him, and he opened fire, although he had enough time to find out everything while we were on the shore of the bay, and he could not help but see us. It was all one ball. The murder of Kirov, Menzhinsky, Kuibyshev and Gorky, as well as the mentioned assassination attempts, were organized by the right-wing Trotskyist bloc. This was shown by the trials of Kamenev and Zinoviev in 1936.
Nikita Khrushchev, Joseph Stalin, Georgy Malenkov, Lavrenty Beria, Vyacheslav Molotov, 1940s. Trips to the south
Accompanying Stalin on trips to the south, I communicated with him a lot, we always dined together, and he spent almost all his free time with us, I mean himself and his secretary Poskrebyshev. In Moscow I saw him much less often. I accompanied him on trips around the city, to the theater, to the cinema.
During the life of A.M. Gorky, Stalin often met with him. As I already mentioned, he loved him very much. He visited him both at his dacha and in the city. On these trips I always accompanied him.
Speaking about the trips to the south that Stalin made annually, I wanted to talk about this trip in more detail, because... Her route was not entirely usual. This was in 1947. In August, I don’t remember the date, Stalin called me and announced that we would go south, not by train as usual, but to Kharkov by car, and in Kharkov we would take the train.
It is difficult to express my joy in words. Stalin still completely trusts me, I, like all previous years, will accompany him to the south, and he entrusts the organization of the entire trip to me. I must say that in 1946 my doctors and envious people, and I had many of them, slandered me, and I was removed from the post of head of the Department.
But Comrade Stalin reacted to this with all his sensitivity, he himself sorted out all the absolutely false accusations brought against me, and, seeing my complete innocence, returned my former trust. I carefully thought through the trip plan, consulted with the minister, he approved everything, and I reported it to Comrade Stalin.
Considering that such a long journey by car would be tiring for him, I tried to convince him to refuse such a trip, but he did not want to listen to me. We left, I think, on August 16th. We drove to Kharkov with three stops in Shchekino - Tula region, Orel and Kursk. At the stops everything was very modest and simple without any noise, which Comrade Stalin really liked.
We all ate together with Comrade Stalin. Both in Shchekino and Kursk, Comrade Stalin walked around the city. On the way between Tula and Orel, the tires on our Packard overheated. Stalin ordered to stop the car and said that he would walk a little, and the driver would change the tires, and then he would catch up with us.
After walking a little along the highway, we saw 3 trucks standing on the side of the highway and the driver was also changing a tire on one of them. Seeing Stalin, the workers were so confused that they could not believe their eyes, so unexpected was the appearance of comrade on the highway. Stalin, and on foot. When we passed, they began to hug and kiss each other, saying: “What happiness, they saw Stalin so close.”
After walking a little more, we met a little boy about 11-12 years old. Comrade Stalin stopped, extended his hand to him and said: “Well, let’s get to know each other. What is your name? Where are you going?" The boy said that his name was Vova, he was going to the village, where he grazed cows, and was studying in the 4th grade with grades of four and five. At this time our car arrived, we said goodbye to Vova and continued our journey. After this stop, Comrade Stalin switched to the ZIS-110. He really liked the car, and throughout his vacation he drove only a domestic ZIS.
Editor's note: ZIS-110, a car highest (executive) class, the first Soviet post-war car. Produced at the Moscow Stalin Plant. (ZIS) Its production began in 1945, replacing the ZIS-101 on the assembly line, and ended in 1958, when it was in turn replaced by the ZIL-111. On June 26, 1956, the plant received the name of I. A. Likhachev, and the car was renamed ZIL-110. A total of 2072 copies of all modifications were produced.
In Orel we made a stop, rested, washed up from the road, had lunch and set off on our further journey. Our next stop was in Kursk. We stopped to rest in the apartment of one of our security officers. The apartment was clean and cozy, on the shelf above the sofa there were many porcelain trinkets, and on the mirror stand there were many beautiful bottles of perfume and empty ones.
Comrade Stalin carefully examined the entire furnishings of the apartment, touched the trinkets that stood on the shelf, and when we, having rested, were getting ready to leave, he asked me what we would leave for the hostess as a souvenir, whether we had cologne. Fortunately, the cologne was found in a rather beautiful bottle. Comrade Stalin himself took it to the bedroom where he was resting and placed it on the mirror holder.
Despite the very tiring road, we left Moscow in the evening, drove all night and day, Comrade Stalin slept for a little more than two hours, Joseph Vissarionovich felt very well, he was in a great mood, which we were all very happy about. In the conversation, he said that he was very pleased that we went by car, that he saw a lot.
I saw how cities were built, how fields were cleared, and what kind of roads we had. You won't see this from the office. These were his authentic words.
Regarding roads, Comrade Stalin noted that the road from Moscow needs to be made as best as possible, divided into sections, guards installed, houses built for them, a plot of land given so that they have everything they need, they will be interested and will take good care of the road. Install gas filling stations, because there will be a lot of cars, everyone will drive cars, not only in the city, but also in the countryside.
Having safely reached Kharkov, we boarded the train and traveled by train to Simferopol. From Simferopol to Yalta we again traveled by car. In Yalta, the cruiser Molotov was waiting for us, on which Comrade Stalin was supposed to make a trip to Sochi.
Cruiser "Molotov"
On August 19, 1947, the cruiser Molotov, under the command of Admiral Yumashev, accompanied by two destroyers, left the Yalta port.
On board the cruiser, in addition to Comrade Stalin, were Comrade Kosygin, invited by Joseph Vissarionovich, who was vacationing in Yalta at that time, the commander of the Black Sea Fleet, Admiral Oktyabrsky, and other persons accompanying Stalin.
The cruiser headed for Sochi. This trip made an unforgettable impression on me. The weather was magnificent and everyone was in high spirits. Comrade Stalin walked around the cruiser to the incessant cheers of “Hurray” from the entire crew. The faces of the sailors were joyful and enthusiastic.
The photo shows the shadow of the photographer - Nikolai Vlasik Having agreed to Admiral Yumashev’s request to be photographed with the cruiser’s personnel, Comrade Stalin called me over. I ended up, one might say, as a photojournalist. I had already taken a lot of photographs, and Comrade Stalin saw my photographs. But despite this, I was very worried, because... I wasn't sure about the film. Stalin saw my condition and, as always, showed sensitivity. When I finished filming, having taken a few photographs to be sure, he called a security officer and said:
“Vlasik tried so hard, but no one took him down. Here, take a picture of him with us.”
I handed the camera to the employee, explaining everything that was needed, and he also took a few pictures. The photographs turned out very well and were reprinted in many newspapers.
Holidays in Sochi
While vacationing in Sochi, Comrade Stalin often walked around the city and along the highway. These walks gave me a lot of anxiety, because... There were always a lot of vacationers on the streets, a crowd surrounded us, everyone greeted Comrade Stalin, everyone wanted to shake his hand and talk to him.
It was extremely difficult to protect the leader in such a situation, especially since Comrade Stalin did not like having guards accompany him. Usually he was accompanied on walks by me, secretary Poskrebyshev and two or three security officers.
One day, during a trip around the city, Comrade Stalin decided to stop at the port. Having reached the pier, we got out of the car. The motor ship "Voroshilov" was unloading at the port. T. Stalin looked at the unloading for a long time, he did not like the ship, he found it clumsy.
When we returned to the cars, a large crowd had already gathered at the port. Everyone wanted to look at the leader, to make sure whether it was true that Stalin was just walking in the port like that. Approaching the cars, Stalin warmly responded to the greetings and, opening the door, invited the guys who ran to the car to take a ride with us. Stalin wanted to give the children some pleasure, to treat them with something.
We went to the Riviera, there was an open cafe there. We went there, seated the guys at tables, but here it turned out the same as in the port. Vacationers surrounded us, there were many children among them, so we had to invite everyone for lemonade. I brought a large vase of sweets from the buffet, and so on. Stalin began to treat the children to sweets. One little girl, apparently timid, was pushed aside by the guys, she did not get anything, and she began to cry. Then Comrade Stalin took her in his arms so that she could choose the sweets that she would like. Having distributed all the candy and paid the barman, I turned to the guys: “Well, guys, now the pioneer “Hurray” for Comrade Stalin.” The guys shouted “Hurray” in unison. We barely made it through the crowd to the car and drove home.
In the autumn of October 14, 1947 in Sochi, on Stalin’s instructions, I met the British delegation of Labor members of parliament at the airport. Stalin received them at his dacha. He allowed me to attend this reception. For me this meeting was extremely interesting.
The British asked questions of a deeply political nature, as well as economic ones. Stalin gave short, clear and comprehensive answers. After the reception, I escorted the guests to the dacha assigned to them. Two of our translators were at the reception. Over dinner, they shared their impressions of this meeting.
The British were amazed by Stalin's erudition. It's really great person, he not only understands all political issues, but also knows the economy of England.
About warm attitude towards people
I would like to give a few more examples of Stalin’s warm and caring attitude towards the people, employees and me personally.
I remember a conversation that took place in the 30s. between Stalin and Molotov during a walk in Sochi. The conversation turned to the five-day period. At that time, Sunday was abolished as a day of rest. The people worked for five days, and the sixth day was a day of rest. The work week was continuous, and everyone rested on different days. Comrade Molotov said that he had heard rumors that the people were dissatisfied with the five-day period, because... no family can get together, no friends can meet to spend a free day together. Comrade Stalin, hearing this, immediately said:
“Since the people are dissatisfied, we need to cancel the five-day week and make it a general day off, as the people want.”
We need to explain this in print and make a decision. Which is what was done. Comrade Molotov was at that time chairman of the Council of People's Commissars. Let me give you another fact.
While living in Sochi, Joseph Vissarionovich decided to inspect the Matsesta baths. Entering the room where patients were taking baths, he saw that the water supplied to the baths was dirty black. He was very indignant. Returning home, he called Professor Valdinsky, who was responsible for the condition of the resort, and asked him: “Can’t you clean the water? Why do patients have to take such dirty baths? We need to do everything possible to clean the water.” After this conversation, all measures were taken and the water in the Matsesta baths began to flow not contaminated, but clean. Joseph Vissarionovich was also interested in the construction of housing stock. He made sure that they built well and beautifully, that the buildings beautified the city and did not disfigure it, that the people received bright and comfortable apartments.
In the post-war period, he carefully monitored the timely and regular reduction of food prices. The commanders who participated in the war were allowed to build dachas for personal recreation on preferential terms.
Attitude towards employees
Let me give you an example of a warm attitude towards employees. One day during summer holiday one of the employees guarding the territory of the dacha where Comrade Stalin was resting fell asleep at his post. In his justification, it should be noted that I had only nine security officers, and the territory was large, all in thickets, people, of course, were tired. Comrade Stalin was informed about this, he called me and asked what measures had been taken against this employee. I replied that I wanted to remove him from work and send him to Moscow.
Joseph Vissarionovich asked if he admitted that he fell asleep at his post. I replied that I confessed. “Well, since he confessed, don’t punish him, let him work,” said Joseph Vissarionovich. After this incident, I had a conversation with the employees, increased security and thus gave the security the opportunity to rest normally.
Attitude towards me personally
This fact speaks of Stalin’s caring attitude towards me personally.
In 1948, during a vacation in Crimea, Comrade Stalin called me and said that guests would come to him - a family, there would be six of them. They need to be provided with accommodation, food and service. Today we ourselves will also move to one of the vacant dachas.
In the evening, as always when on vacation, secretary Poskrebyshev and I had dinner with him. Joseph Vissarionovich joked a lot, shared memories from his past, and talked about life in exile in the Turukhansk region. These leisure hours spent in the company of the leader will forever remain in memory as best watch of my life. He was so endearing that I always felt simple and free with him.
We sat at dinner for a very long time and immediately, without going to bed, decided to go to another dacha. After waking up the drivers, we drove to Livadia. Arriving in Livadia, Comrade Stalin ordered breakfast to be served on the veranda and invited the drivers and security officers who accompanied us. Breakfast took place in a simple, friendly atmosphere. After breakfast, Comrade Stalin and Poskrebyshev went to rest, since we did not go to bed that night, and I had things to do, and besides, I was excited by this conversation with the leader and did not want to sleep.
After sleeping for several hours, Comrade Stalin asked for a car to go and inspect the dacha, which we decided to prepare for guests. When I approached him, he saw that I looked tired, and, having learned that I had not gone to bed, he did not allow me to go with him, but ordered me to immediately go to bed. I left, but I couldn’t sleep, and I accompanied him in another car.
Returning home, Comrade Stalin asked his employees several times whether Vlasik was sleeping, and only the next day he called me and asked if I had gotten enough sleep. I apologized to him, he laughed and I saw a truly dear, close person to me.
Over the twenty-five years of work, I had, of course, mistakes and blunders, and he understood them with all sensitivity and tact and forgave me a lot, seeing my sincere, incorruptible devotion and ardent desire to justify his trust.
Chkalov
Stalin treated people not rudely and cruelly, but with care and attention. Everyone knows his warm and fatherly attitude towards the famous pilot Valery Pavlovich Chkalov. Let us remember his words to Chkalov: “Your life is more valuable to us than any car.” Words that moved this courageous, rough-looking pilot to the depths of his soul. Let us remember Stalin’s concerns about his further flights.
The route of Chkalov's first non-stop flight Moscow-Petropavlovsk-on-Kamchatka was suggested by Stalin as a stage for preparing an unprecedented flight through the North Pole to America. Stalin was worried about Chkalov and persuaded him not to rush into the flight across the pole, as it was very dangerous. It is better to carefully check the aircraft and material equipment in order to somewhat secure the flight across the pole. I remember how at a reception in the Kremlin in the St. George's Hall in honor of the return of Chkalov's crew from America after a flight over the North Pole, the excited Chkalov, tearing his tunic on his chest, exclaimed, addressing Stalin: “Not only am I ready to give my life to you, take my heart!”
Attitude towards children
Joseph Vissarionovich loved children very much. When he met children on a walk, he always entered into conversation with them. I remember once during a walk on Matsesta vol. Stalin and Molotov we met a little boy of about six years old, very talkative and intelligent, he intelligently and thoroughly answered Joseph Vissarionovich’s questions. When they met, Stalin extended his hand to him and asked: “What is your name?” “Valka,” the boy answered gravely. “Well, I’m Oska the Pockmarked One,” Stalin answered him in the same tone. “Well, now we know each other.” Comrade Molotov and I laughed, and the boy looked carefully at Joseph Vissarionovich. After suffering from smallpox in childhood, Comrade Stalin had several rowan spots on his face.
Comrade Stalin loved animals. One day in Sochi he picked up a hungry stray puppy. He personally fed him and took care of him. But the puppy turned out to be ungrateful and when he was fat and strong, he ran away.
I cited all these facts of Stalin’s warm and sensitive attitude towards those around him, towards the people - in refutation of the statement that was widespread after his death, presenting him as a rude and tough person, inhuman and merciless towards those around him. It's a lie. He was never like that. He was simple and friendly, condescending and sensitive. He was merciless to his enemies, but deeply loved his friends. And if he mistook the enemy for a friend, brought him closer to him and trusted him, it was his mistake. Fatal mistake. May she forgive him! He paid for it dearly - with his life.
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Nikolai Sidorovich Vlasik(May 22, 1896, Bobynichi (Belorian)Russian Slonim district of the Grodno province (now Slonim district of the Grodno region) - June 18, 1967, Moscow) - employee of the state security agencies of the USSR. Head of Stalin's security (-). Lieutenant General ().
Start of service
| N. S. Vlasik with I. V. Stalin and his son Vasily. Near dacha in Volynskoe, 1935 | N. S. Vlasik with his wife Maria Semyonovna, 1930s |
N. S. Vlasik (far right) accompanies J.V. Stalin at the Potsdam Conference, August 1, 1945 |
N. S. Vlasik in his office. Early 1940s |
Since 1947, he was a deputy of the Moscow City Council of Workers of the 2nd convocation.
In May 1952, he was removed from the post of head of Stalin’s security and sent to the Ural city of Asbest as deputy head of the Bazhenov forced labor camp of the USSR Ministry of Internal Affairs.
Arrest, trial, exile
By a resolution of the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet of the USSR of December 15, 1956, Vlasik was pardoned and his criminal record was expunged, but his military rank and awards were not restored.
In his memoirs, Vlasik wrote:
| I was severely offended by Stalin. For 25 years of impeccable work, without a single penalty, but only incentives and awards, I was expelled from the party and thrown into prison. For my boundless devotion, he handed me over to the hands of his enemies. But never, not for a single minute, no matter what state I was in, no matter what bullying I was subjected to while in prison, I had no anger in my soul against Stalin. |
Last years
Lived in Moscow. He died on June 18, 1967 in Moscow from lung cancer. He was buried at the New Donskoy Cemetery.
Rehabilitation
Awards
- St. George's Cross, 4th degree [[K:Wikipedia:Articles without sources (country: Lua error: callParserFunction: function "#property" was not found. )]][[K:Wikipedia:Articles without sources (country: Lua error: callParserFunction: function "#property" was not found. )]]
- Three Orders of Lenin (04/26/1940, 02/21/1945, 09/16/1945)
- Three Orders of the Red Banner (08/28/1937, 09/20/1943, 11/3/1944)
- Order of the Red Star (05/14/1936)
- Order of Kutuzov, 1st degree (02/24/1945)
- Medal of the XX years of the Red Army (02/22/1938)
- Two badges Honorary Worker of the Cheka-GPU (12/20/1932, 12/16/1935)
Ranks
- Major of State Security (12/11/1935)
- Senior Major of State Security (04/26/1938)
- State Security Commissioner 3rd rank (12/28/1938)
- Lieutenant General (07/12/1945)
Personal life and hobbies
Nikolai Vlasik was fond of photography. He is the author of many unique photographs of Joseph Stalin, members of his family and immediate circle.
Wife - Maria Semyonovna Vlasik (1908-1996). Daughter - Nadezhda Nikolaevna Vlasik-Mikhailova (born 1935), worked as an art editor and graphic artist at the Nauka publishing house.
see also
Film incarnations
- - “The Inner Circle”, in the role of N. S. Vlasik - People's Artist of the USSR Oleg Tabakov.
- - “Stalin. Live ", in the role of N. S. Vlasik - Yuri Gamayunov.
- - “Yalta-45”, in the role of N. S. Vlasik - Boris Kamorzin.
- - “Son of the Father of Nations”, in the role of N. S. Vlasik - Honored Artist of Russia Yuri Lakhin.
- - “Kill Stalin”, in the role of N. S. Vlasik - People's Artist of Russia Vladimir Yumatov.
- - Documentary series “Vlasik”, in the role of N. S. Vlasik - Konstantin Milovanov.
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Literature
- Vlasik N. S."Memories of J.V. Stalin"
- // Petrov N.V., Skorkin K.V./ Ed. N. G. Okhotin and A. B. Roginsky. - M.: Links, 1999. - 502 p. - 3000 copies. - ISBN 5-7870-0032-3.
- V. Loginov.. - M.: Sovremennik, 2000. - 152 p. - ISBN 5-270-01297-9.
- Artyom Sergeev, Ekaterina Glushik. Conversations about Stalin. - M.: Crimean Bridge-9D, 2006. - 192 p. - (Stalin: Primary sources). - 5000 copies. - ISBN 5-89747-067-7.
- Artyom Sergeev, Ekaterina Glushik. How I. V. Stalin lived, worked and raised his children. Eyewitness testimony. - M.: Crimean Bridge-9D, Scientific and Technical Center "Forum", 2011. - 288 p. - (Stalin: Primary sources). - 2000 copies. - ISBN 978-5-89747-062-4.
Notes
Links
- Memoirs of the head of personal security I.V. Stalin: , , , ,
Excerpt characterizing Vlasik, Nikolai Sidorovich
– This place is sacred to me, Ramon. It is not for worldly meetings and conversations. And except for my daughter, no one could bring you here, and she, as you see, is now with me. You were following us... Why?I suddenly suddenly felt an icy cold pull down my back - something was wrong, something was about to happen... I wildly wanted to scream!.. To warn somehow... But I understood that I can’t help them, I can’t reach out across the centuries, I can’t intervene... I don’t have that right. The events unfolding in front of me took place a very long time ago, and even if I could help now, it would already be an interference in history. Since, if I had saved Magdalene, many destinies would have changed, and perhaps the entire subsequent Earthly history would have been completely different... Only two people on Earth had the right to do this, and I, unfortunately, was not one of them... Then everything happened too quickly... It seemed that it wasn’t even real... Smiling coldly, a man named Ramon suddenly grabbed Magdalena by the hair from behind and with lightning speed plunged a narrow long dagger into her open neck... A crunch was heard. Without even having time to understand what was happening, Magdalena hung on his arm, not showing any signs of life. Scarlet blood streamed down her snow-white robe... The daughter screamed shrilly, trying to escape from the hands of the second monster, who grabbed her fragile shoulders. But her scream was cut off - just like a rabbit’s thin neck was broken. The girl fell next to the body of her unfortunate mother, in whose heart the crazy man was still endlessly stabbing his bloody dagger... It seemed that he had lost his mind and could not stop... Or was his hatred so strong that it controlled his criminal hand? .. Finally, it's over. Without even looking back at what they had done, the two heartless killers disappeared into the cave without a trace.
Only a few short minutes had passed since their unexpected appearance. The evening was still just as beautiful and quiet, and only darkness was slowly creeping down to the ground from the tops of the blue mountains. On the stone floor of the small “cell” a woman and a girl lay peacefully. Their long golden hair touched in heavy strands, mixing into a solid golden blanket. It seemed that the dead were sleeping... Only scarlet blood was still spurting out from Magdalene’s terrible wounds. There was an incredible amount of blood... It flooded the floor, gathering into a huge red puddle. My legs gave way from horror and indignation... I wanted to howl like a wolf, not wanting to accept what had happened!.. I couldn’t believe that everything happened so simply and imperceptibly. So easy. Someone had to see this! Someone should have warned them!.. But no one noticed. And he didn’t warn me. There was simply no one around at that moment... And torn off by someone’s dirty hand two Light, Pure Lives They flew away like doves to another, unfamiliar World, where no one could harm them anymore.
Golden Maria was no longer on our evil and ungrateful Earth... She went to Radomir... Or rather, her Soul flew to him.
During the years of perestroika, when practically all people from Stalin’s circle were subjected to a wave of all kinds of accusations in the advanced Soviet press, the most unenviable lot fell to General Vlasik. The long-time head of Stalin's security appeared in these materials as a real lackey who adored his master, chain dog, ready to rush at anyone at his command, greedy, vindictive and selfish...
Among those who did not spare Vlasik negative epithets was Stalin’s daughter Svetlana Alliluyeva. But the leader’s bodyguard at one time had to become practically the main educator for both Svetlana and Vasily. Nikolai Sidorovich Vlasik spent a quarter of a century next to Stalin, protecting the life of the Soviet leader. The leader lived without his bodyguard for less than a year.
From parochial school to the Cheka
Nikolai Vlasik was born on May 22, 1896 in Western Belarus, in the village of Bobynichi, into a poor peasant family. The boy lost his parents early and could not count on a good education. After three classes at the parochial school, Nikolai went to work. From the age of 13, he worked as a laborer at a construction site, then as a bricklayer, then as a loader at a paper mill. In March 1915, Vlasik was drafted into the army and sent to the front. During the First World War, he served in the 167th Ostrog Infantry Regiment and was awarded the St. George Cross for bravery in battle. After being wounded, Vlasik was promoted to non-commissioned officer and appointed platoon commander of the 251st Infantry Regiment, which was stationed in Moscow.
During the October Revolution, Nikolai Vlasik, who came from the very bottom, quickly decided on his political choice: together with the entrusted platoon, he went over to the side of the Bolsheviks. At first he served in the Moscow police, then participated in Civil War, was wounded near Tsaritsyn. In September 1919, Vlasik was sent to the Cheka, where he served in the central apparatus under the command of Felix Dzerzhinsky himself.
Master of Security and Household
Since May 1926, Nikolai Vlasik served as senior commissioner of the Operations Department of the OGPU. As Vlasik himself recalled, his work as Stalin’s bodyguard began in 1927 after an emergency in the capital: a bomb was thrown at the commandant’s office building on Lubyanka. The operative, who was on vacation, was recalled and announced: from now on, he will be entrusted with the protection of the Special Department of the Cheka, the Kremlin, and members of the government at their dachas and walks. Particular attention was ordered to be paid to the personal security of Joseph Stalin. Despite the sad story of the assassination attempt on Lenin, by 1927 the security of the top officials of the state in the USSR was not particularly thorough. Stalin was accompanied by only one guard: the Lithuanian Yusis. Vlasik was even more surprised when they arrived at the dacha, where Stalin usually spent his weekends. There was only one commandant living at the dacha; there was no linen or dishes, and the leader ate sandwiches brought from Moscow.
Like all Belarusian peasants, Nikolai Sidorovich Vlasik was a thorough and homely person. He took on not only the security, but also the arrangement of Stalin’s life. The leader, accustomed to asceticism, was initially skeptical about the innovations of the new bodyguard. But Vlasik was persistent: a cook and a cleaner appeared at the dacha, and supplies of food were arranged from the nearest state farm. At that moment, there was not even a telephone connection with Moscow at the dacha, and it appeared through the efforts of Vlasik. Over time, Vlasik created a whole system of dachas in the Moscow region and in the south, where well-trained staff were ready at any time to receive the Soviet leader. It is not worth mentioning that these objects were guarded in the most careful manner. The system for protecting important government facilities existed before Vlasik, but he became the developer of security measures for the first person of the state during his trips around the country, official events, and international meetings.
Stalin's bodyguard came up with a system according to which the first person and the people accompanying him travel in a cavalcade of identical cars, and only the personal security officers know which of them the leader is traveling in. Subsequently, this scheme saved the life of Leonid Brezhnev, who was assassinated in 1969.
“Illiterate, stupid, but noble”
Within a few years, Vlasik turned into an irreplaceable and especially trusted person for Stalin. After the death of Nadezhda Alliluyeva, Stalin entrusted his bodyguard with caring for the children: Svetlana, Vasily and his adopted son Artyom Sergeev. Nikolai Sidorovich was not a teacher, but he tried his best. If Svetlana and Artyom did not cause him much trouble, then Vasily was uncontrollable from childhood. Vlasik, knowing that Stalin did not give permission to children, tried, as far as possible, to mitigate Vasily’s sins in reports to his father.
Nikolai Vlasik with Stalin's children: Svetlana, Vasily and Yakov.
But over the years, the “pranks” became more and more serious, and the role of “lightning rod” became more and more difficult for Vlasik to play. Svetlana and Artyom, having become adults, wrote about their “tutor” in different ways. Stalin’s daughter in “Twenty Letters to a Friend” characterized Vlasik as follows:
“He headed his father’s entire guard, considered himself almost the closest person to him, and, being himself incredibly illiterate, rude, stupid, but noble, in recent years he went so far as to dictate to some artists the “tastes of Comrade Stalin,” since believed that he knew and understood them well...His impudence knew no bounds, and he favorably conveyed to artists whether he “liked” it, be it a film, or an opera, or even the silhouettes of high-rise buildings that were being built at that time...”“He had a job all his life, and he lived near Stalin”
Artyom Sergeev in “Conversations about Stalin” expressed himself differently:
“His main responsibility was to ensure Stalin’s safety. This work was inhuman. Always take responsibility with your head, always live on the cutting edge. He knew both Stalin's friends and enemies very well...What kind of work did Vlasik even have? It was a day and night job, there were no 6-8 hour days. He had a job all his life and lived near Stalin. Next to Stalin’s room was Vlasik’s room...”
In ten to fifteen years, Nikolai Vlasik turned from an ordinary bodyguard into a general, heading a huge structure responsible not only for security, but also for the life of the top officials of the state.
N. S. Vlasik with I. V. Stalin and his son Vasily. Near dacha in Volynskoe, 1935.
During the war years, the evacuation of the government, members of the diplomatic corps and people's commissariats from Moscow fell on Vlasik's shoulders. It was necessary not only to deliver them to Kuibyshev, but also to accommodate them, equip them in a new place, and think through security issues. The evacuation of Lenin's body from Moscow was also a task that Vlasik performed. He was also responsible for security at the parade on Red Square on November 7, 1941.
Assassination attempt in Gagra
For all the years that Vlasik was responsible for Stalin’s life, not a single hair fell from his head. At the same time, the head of the leader’s security, judging by his memoirs, took the threat of assassination attempt very seriously. Even in his declining years, he was sure that Trotskyist groups were preparing the assassination of Stalin. In 1935, Vlasik really had to cover the leader from bullets. During a boat trip in the Gagra area, fire was opened on them from the shore. The bodyguard covered Stalin with his body, but both were lucky: the bullets did not hit them. The boat left the firing zone. Vlasik considered this a real assassination attempt, and his opponents later believed that it was all a staged act. Judging by the circumstances, there was a misunderstanding. The border guards were not notified of Stalin's boat ride, and they mistook him for an intruder.
Abuse of cows
During the Great Patriotic War, Vlasik was responsible for ensuring security at conferences of the heads of countries participating in the anti-Hitler coalition and coped with his task brilliantly. For the successful holding of the conference in Tehran, Vlasik was awarded the Order of Lenin, for the Crimean conference - the Order of Kutuzov, 1st degree, for the Potsdam conference - another Order of Lenin.
But the Potsdam Conference became the reason for accusations of misappropriation of property: it was alleged that after its completion, Vlasik took various valuables from Germany, including a horse, two cows and one bull. Subsequently this fact cited as an example of the irrepressible greed of Stalin’s bodyguard. Vlasik himself recalled that this story had a completely different background. In 1941 he native village Bobynichi was captured by the Germans. The house in which the sister lived was burned, half the village was shot, the sister’s eldest daughter was taken to work in Germany, the cow and horse were taken away. My sister and her husband joined the partisans, and after the liberation of Belarus they returned to their native village, of which little remained. Stalin's bodyguard brought cattle from Germany for his loved ones.
Was this abuse? If you approach it with strict standards, then, perhaps, yes. However, Stalin, when this case was first reported to him, abruptly ordered further investigation to be stopped.
Opal
In 1946, Lieutenant General Nikolai Vlasik became the head of the Main Directorate of Security: an agency with an annual budget of 170 million rubles and a staff of thousands. He did not fight for power, but at the same time he made a huge number of enemies. Being too close to Stalin, Vlasik had the opportunity to influence the leader’s attitude towards this or that person, deciding who would receive wider access to the first person and who would be denied such an opportunity. In 1948, the commandant of the so-called “Near Dacha” Fedoseev was arrested, who testified that Vlasik intended to poison Stalin. But the leader again did not take this accusation seriously: if the bodyguard had such intentions, he could have realized his plans a long time ago.
Vlasik in the office.
In 1952, by decision of the Politburo, a commission was created to verify the activities of the Main Directorate of the Ministry of State Security of the USSR. This time, extremely unpleasant facts have surfaced that look quite plausible. The guards and staff of the special dachas, which had been empty for weeks, staged real orgies there and stole food and expensive drinks. Later, there were witnesses who assured that Vlasik himself was not averse to relaxing in this way. On April 29, 1952, on the basis of these materials, Nikolai Vlasik was removed from his post and sent to the Urals, to the city of Asbest, as deputy head of the Bazhenov forced labor camp of the USSR Ministry of Internal Affairs.
Why did Stalin suddenly abandon a man who had honestly served him for 25 years? Perhaps the leader’s growing suspicion in recent years was to blame. It is possible that Stalin considered the waste of state funds on drunken revelry to be too serious a sin. Be that as it may, very difficult times came for the former head of Stalin’s guard... In December 1952, he was arrested in connection with the “Doctors’ Case.” He was blamed for the fact that he ignored the statements of Lydia Timashuk, who accused the professors who treated the top officials of the state of sabotage.
Vlasik himself wrote in his memoirs that there was no reason to believe Timashuk: “There was no information discrediting the professors, which is what I reported to Stalin.”
Could Vlasik extend the life of the leader?
On March 5, 1953, Joseph Stalin passed away. Even if we discard the dubious version of the murder of the leader, Vlasik, if he had remained in his post, could well have extended his life. When the leader became ill at the Nizhny Dacha, he lay for several hours on the floor of his room without help: the guards did not dare to enter Stalin’s chambers. There is no doubt that Vlasik would not allow this.
After the death of the leader, the “doctors’ case” was closed. All of his defendants were released, except Nikolai Vlasik. In January 1955, the Military Collegium of the Supreme Court of the USSR found Nikolai Vlasik guilty of abuse of official position under especially aggravating circumstances, sentencing him under Art. 193-17 paragraph “b” of the Criminal Code of the RSFSR to 10 years of exile, deprivation of the rank of general and state awards. In March 1955, Vlasik’s sentence was reduced to 5 years. He was sent to Krasnoyarsk to serve his sentence. By a resolution of the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet of the USSR of December 15, 1956, Vlasik was pardoned and his criminal record was expunged, but his military rank and awards were not restored.
“Not for a single minute did I have any grudge against Stalin in my soul.”
He returned to Moscow, where he had almost nothing left: his property was confiscated, a separate apartment was turned into a communal apartment. Vlasik knocked on doors of offices, wrote to the leaders of the party and government, asked for rehabilitation and reinstatement in the party, but was refused everywhere.
Secretly, he began dictating memoirs in which he talked about how he saw his life, why he committed certain actions, and how he treated Stalin.
"P After Stalin’s death, such an expression as “cult of personality” appeared... If a person - a leader by his deeds deserves the love and respect of others, what’s wrong with that... The people loved and respected Stalin. He personified the country that he led to prosperity and victories, wrote Nikolai Vlasik. “Under his leadership, a lot of good things were done, and the people saw it.” He enjoyed enormous authority. I knew him very closely... And I am convincedA yu that he lived only in the interests of the country, the interests of his people.”
“It is easy to accuse a person of all mortal sins when he is dead and can neither justify himself nor defend himself. Why did no one dare to point out his mistakes during his lifetime? What was stopping you? Fear? Or were there no errors that needed to be pointed out?
What a threat Tsar Ivan IV was, but there were people to whom their homeland was dear, who, without fear of death, pointed out to him his mistakes. Or transferred to Rus' brave people? - this is what Stalin’s bodyguard thought.
Summing up his memoirs and his life in general, Vlasik wrote: “Having not a single penalty, but only incentives and awards, I was expelled from the party and thrown into prison.
But never, not for a single minute, no matter what state I was in, no matter what bullying I was subjected to while in prison, I had no anger in my soul against Stalin. I understood perfectly well what kind of situation was created around him in the last years of his life. How difficult it was for him. He was an old, sick, lonely man... He was and remains the most dear person to me, and no slander can shake the feeling of love and deepest respect that I have always had for this wonderful man. He personified for me everything bright and dear in my life - the party, my homeland and my people.”
Posthumously rehabilitated
Nikolai Sidorovich Vlasik died on June 18, 1967. His archive was seized and classified. Only in 2011, the Federal Security Service declassified the notes of the person who, in fact, was at the origins of its creation.
Vlasik’s relatives have repeatedly made attempts to achieve his rehabilitation. After several refusals, on June 28, 2000, by a resolution of the Presidium of the Supreme Court of Russia, the 1955 sentence was overturned and the criminal case was dismissed “for lack of corpus delicti.”
Nikolai Sidorovich Vlasik. Born on May 22, 1896 in Bobynichi, Slonim district, Grodno province - died on June 18, 1967 in Moscow. Head of Stalin's security in 1931-1952. Lieutenant General (1945).
Nikolai Vlasik was born on May 22, 1896 in the village. Bobynichi, Slonim district, Grodno province (now Slonim district, Grodno region).
Comes from a poor peasant family.
By nationality - Belarusian.
At the age of three he was left an orphan: first his mother died, and soon his father.
As a child, he graduated from three classes of a rural parochial school. He started working at the age of thirteen. At first he was a laborer for a landowner. Then - the digger on railway. Next - a laborer at a paper factory in Yekaterinoslav.
In March 1915 he was called up for military service. He served in the 167th Ostrog Infantry Regiment, in the 251st Reserve Infantry Regiment. For bravery in the battles of World War I he received the St. George Cross.
During the days of the October Revolution, being in the rank of non-commissioned officer, he and his platoon went over to the side of Soviet power.
In November 1917, he joined the Moscow police.
From February 1918 - in the Red Army, a participant in the battles on the Southern Front near Tsaritsyn, and was an assistant company commander in the 33rd Rogozhsko-Simonovsky Infantry Regiment.
In September 1919, he was transferred to the Cheka, worked under direct supervision in the central apparatus, was an employee of a special department, and a senior representative of the active department of the operational unit. From May 1926 he worked as a senior commissioner of the Operations Department of the OGPU, and from January 1930 he became an assistant to the head of the department there.
In 1927, he headed the Kremlin's special security forces and became the de facto chief of security.
This happened after an emergency, which Vlasik wrote in his diary: “In 1927, a bomb was thrown into the commandant’s office building on Lubyanka. At that time I was in Sochi on vacation. The authorities urgently called me and instructed me to organize the security of the Special Department of the Cheka, the Kremlin, as well as the security of government members at dachas, walks, on trips, and to pay special attention to the personal security of Comrade Stalin. Until this time, Comrade Stalin had only an employee who accompanied him when he went on business trips. It was a Lithuanian - Yusis. Having called Yusis, we went with him by car to a dacha near Moscow, where Stalin usually rested. Arriving at the dacha and examining it, I saw that there was complete chaos there. There was no linen, no dishes, no staff. There was a commandant who lived at the dacha.”
“By order of my superiors, in addition to security, I had to arrange supplies and living conditions for the protected person. I began by sending linen and dishes to the dacha, and arranged for a supply of food from the state farm, which was under the jurisdiction of the GPU and located next to the dacha. He sent a cook and a cleaner to the dacha. Established a direct telephone connection with Moscow. Yusis, fearing Stalin’s dissatisfaction with these innovations, suggested that I myself report everything to Comrade Stalin. This is how my first meeting and first conversation with Comrade Stalin took place. Before that, I had only seen him from afar, when I accompanied him on walks and on trips to the theater,” he wrote.
The official name of his position was changed several times due to constant reorganizations and reassignments in the security agencies:
From the mid-1930s - head of the 1st department (security of senior officials) of the Main Directorate of State Security of the NKVD of the USSR;
- from November 1938 - head of the 1st department there;
- in February-July 1941, the 1st department was part of the People's Commissariat of State Security of the USSR, then it was returned to the NKVD of the USSR;
- from November 1942 - first deputy head of the 1st department of the NKVD of the USSR;
- from May 1943 - head of the 6th Directorate of the USSR People's Commissariat of State Security;
- since August 1943 - first deputy head of this department;
- since April 1946 - head of the Main Security Directorate of the USSR Ministry of State Security;
- since December 1946 - head of the Main Security Directorate.
Nikolai Vlasik was Stalin’s personal bodyguard for many years and held this position the longest.
Having joined his personal guard in 1931, he not only became its chief, but also took over many of the everyday problems of Stalin’s family, in which Vlasik was essentially a family member. After the tragic death of Stalin's wife, Nadezhda Alliluyeva, he was also a teacher of children, practically performing the functions of a majordomo.
Svetlana Alliluyeva wrote sharply negatively about Vlasik in her book “Twenty Letters to a Friend.” At the same time, he was positively assessed by Stalin’s adopted son Artyom Sergeev, who believed that the role and contribution of N. S. Vlasik was not fully appreciated.
Artem Sergeev noted: “His main responsibility was to ensure Stalin’s safety. This work was inhuman. Always take responsibility with your head, always live on the cutting edge. He knew both Stalin's friends and enemies very well. And he knew that his life and Stalin’s life were very closely connected, and it was no coincidence that when he was suddenly arrested a month and a half or two before Stalin’s death, he said: “I was arrested, which means that Stalin will soon be gone”. And, indeed, after this arrest, Stalin did not live long. What kind of work did Vlasik even have? It was day and night work, there were no 6-8 hour days. He had a job all his life and lived near Stalin. Next to Stalin’s room was Vlasik’s room... He understood that he lived for Stalin, to ensure the work of Stalin, and therefore the Soviet state. Vlasik and Poskrebyshev were like two supports for that colossal activity, not yet fully appreciated, that Stalin led, and they remained in the shadows. And they treated Poskrebyshev badly, and even worse with Vlasik.”
Since 1947, he was a deputy of the Moscow City Council of Workers' Deputies of the 2nd convocation.
In May 1952, he was removed from the post of head of Stalin’s security and sent to the Ural city of Asbest as deputy head of the Bazhenov forced labor camp of the USSR Ministry of Internal Affairs.
Arrest and exile of Nikolai Vlasik
The first attempt to arrest Vlasik was made in 1946 - he was accused of wanting to poison the leader. He was even removed from office for some time. But then Stalin personally sorted out the testimony of one of the MGB employees and again reinstated Vlasik to his post.
Nikolai Vlasik was arrested on December 16, 1952, in connection with the doctors’ case, because he “provided treatment to members of the government and was responsible for the reliability of the professors.”
Until March 12, 1953, Vlasik was interrogated almost daily, mainly in the case of doctors. Later, an audit found that the charges brought against the group of doctors were false. All professors and doctors have been released from custody.
Further, the investigation into Vlasik’s case was carried out in two directions: disclosure of secret information and theft of material assets. After Vlasik’s arrest, several dozen documents classified as “secret” were found in his apartment.
In addition, he was charged with the fact that, while in Potsdam, where he accompanied the government delegation of the USSR, Vlasik was engaged in junk.
The scale of the junk is evidenced by the following data: during a search in his house, they found a trophy service for 100 people, 112 crystal glasses, 20 crystal vases, 13 cameras, 14 photographic lenses, five rings and a “foreign accordion” (as was written in the search report).
It was established that after the end of the Potsdam Conference in 1945, he took three cows, a bull and two horses from Germany, of which he gave a cow, a bull and a horse to his brother, a cow to his sister, and a cow to his niece. The cattle were delivered to the Slonim district of the Baranovichi region on a train from the Security Directorate of the USSR Ministry of State Security.
They also remembered that he gave his female companions passes to the stands of Red Square and to the government boxes of theaters, and connections with persons who did not inspire political trust, in conversations with whom he divulged secret information “concerning the protection of the leaders of the party and government.”
On January 17, 1955, the Military Collegium of the Supreme Court of the USSR found him guilty of abuse of office under especially aggravating circumstances, sentencing him under Art. 193-17 paragraph “b” of the Criminal Code of the RSFSR to 10 years of exile, deprivation of the rank of general and state awards.
According to the amnesty on March 27, 1955, Vlasik’s sentence was reduced to five years, without loss of rights. Sent to serve exile in Krasnoyarsk.
By a resolution of the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet of the USSR of December 15, 1956, Vlasik was pardoned and his criminal record was expunged, but his military rank and awards were not restored.
In his memoirs, he wrote: “I was cruelly offended by Stalin. For 25 years of impeccable work, without a single penalty, but only incentives and awards, I was expelled from the party and thrown into prison. For my boundless devotion, he handed me over to the hands of his enemies. But never, not for a single minute, no matter what state I was in, no matter what bullying I was subjected to while in prison, I had no anger in my soul against Stalin.”
Last years lived in the capital. He died on June 18, 1967 in Moscow from lung cancer. He was buried at the New Donskoy Cemetery.
On June 28, 2000, by a resolution of the Presidium of the Supreme Court of Russia, the 1955 verdict against Vlasik was canceled and the criminal case was terminated “for lack of corpus delicti.”
In October 2001, Vlasik’s daughter was returned the awards confiscated by court verdict.
Nikolay Vlasik ( documentary)
Personal life of Nikolai Vlasik:
Wife - Maria Semyonovna Vlasik (1908-1996).
Adopted daughter - Nadezhda Nikolaevna Vlasik-Mikhailova (born 1935), worked as an art editor and graphic artist at the Nauka publishing house.
Nikolai Vlasik was fond of photography. He is the author of many unique photographs of Joseph Stalin, members of his family and immediate circle.
Bibliography of Nikolai Vlasik:
Memories of I.V. Stalin;
Who led the NKVD, 1934-1941: reference book
Nikolai Vlasik in the cinema:
1991 - Inner Circle (in the role of Vlasik -);
2006 - Stalin. Live (in the role of Vlasik - Yuri Gamayunov);
2011 - Yalta-45 (in the role of Vlasik - Boris Kamorzin);
2013 - Son of the Father of Nations (in the role of Vlasik - Yuri Lakhin);
2013 - Kill Stalin (as Vlasik -);
2014 - Vlasik (documentary) (in the role of Vlasik -);
2017 - (in the role of Vlasik - Konstantin Milovanov)
