Top 10 Unbelievable Facts about the Death of Stalin

Photo by U.S. Signal Corps photo from Wikimedia

Top 10 Unbelievable Facts about the Death of Stalin

Popularly known as the “man of steel”, Joseph Stalin was one of the World’s most powerful leaders of the 20^th century. He was born on December 18, 1878, in Georgia and became the soviet leader in 1924, a position he held until his death in 1953.

During his three decades in power, the Soviet Leader commanded not just the party leadership, but also the hearts and minds of the Soviet public. His personality cult was such that in spite of his reign of terror that caused tens of millions to die, he remained “Uncle Joe,” the “father” of all Russians to his final days.

Stalin died suddenly in early March 1953 after a short illness, which was termed in a series of  Soviet medical bulletins as a Haemorrhagic stroke. Let’s look at the top 10 unbelievable facts about his death.

Also read about Stalin Line

1. Stalin died in his Private Quarters

Stalin’s health deteriorated towards the end of World War II as a result of heavy smoking and drinking. He suffered a mild stroke around the time of the victory parade in May 1945 and suffered a severe heart attack in the same year.

The last three days of Stalin’s life have been described in detail, first in the official Soviet announcements in Pravda, and then in a complete English translation which followed shortly thereafter in the Current Digest of the Soviet Press.

After a night of heavy drinking with members of his inner circle on 28 February 1953, Stalin was found the next morning lying on the floor and unresponsive. He died four days later, on March 5, 1953, at the age of 74.

2. Stalin died of Haemorrhagic Stroke

Photo Source: Wikimedia

After Stalin was found unresponsive in his quarters on the morning of March 1, 1953, a team of medical experts was summoned to examine him. They found him to have suffered from uncontrollable hypertension and had sustained a Haemorrhagic stroke involving his left middle cerebral artery.

Over the next two days, Stalin received a variety of treatments, in an attempt to decrease his blood pressure, which had risen to an arming level. Two separate applications of eight leeches each were applied to his neck and face,  but his condition continued to deteriorate and he died at 9:50 p.m. on 5 March 1953.

An autopsy report revealed that he had died of a cerebral hemorrhage and that he also suffered from severe damage to his cerebral arteries due to atherosclerosis. It concluded that no amount of treatment could have possibly saved his life.

3. His Daughter was Present at the Time of  his Death

 At the time of his death, Stalin was surrounded by trusted members of his inner circle together with his children Svetlana and Vasily. Vasilly was later sent home for drunkness and open hostility toward the doctors. 

Asked to comment about her father’s death, Svetlana said “it was a difficult and terrible death, before his last breath,  my father suddenly lifted his left hand as though he were pointing to something above and bringing down a curse on us all”. 

She eventually escaped from the Soviet Union and became a Christian. She later said she was tormented and never fully found peace with the enormity of her father’s alleged crimes.

4. His Death was celebrated by a Section of Some People

Photo by A. Oshurkov from Wikimedia

With a high number of excess deaths occurring under his rule, Stalin has been labeled as one of the most notorious figures in history. It is therefore not surprising that some people celebrated his death instead of mourning him.

Most of those who celebrated were millions of people who labored in his network of Siberian Gulag labor camps. It is estimated that 18 million people passed through the Gulag system from 1930 to 1953, of which between 1.5 and 1.7 million people died as a result of their incarceration.

Stalin’s death was also celebrated by some people from western countries, notably Bob Seidel, a restaurant owner in Washington, who, after hearing that Stalin was dead, put a sign in the window of his restaurant that read “1203 Restaurant Invites You to enjoy ‘FREE BORSHT’ in Celebration of STALIN’S DEATH.

5. Some People believe he was Assassinated

It has been suggested that Stalin was assassinated by senior members of his government led by Lavrentiy Beria, who was the chief of Soviet security services.

According to a former exiled Communist political memoir published in 1993, Stalin’s demise greatly benefitted Beria and other senior officials who had better chances of succeeding him.

Whether or not Beria and company were directly responsible for Stalin’s death remains unknown, but it is true that they did not summon medical attention for him until more than a day after he was found unresponsive in his bedroom.

In 2003, a joint group of Russian and American historians announced their view that Stalin ingested warfarin, a powerful rat poison that inhibits coagulation of the blood and so predisposes the victim to hemorrhagic stroke.

6. His Body was put on Public display for three Days

Photo by Shankar S. from Wikimedia

After Stalin died on 5 March 1953, his body was embalmed and then placed on display in Moscow’s House of Unions for three days. Thousands of people turned out to view the body and pay their last respect to their fallen leader, who had ruled the country for almost 30 years.

On 9 March 1953, Stalin was finally laid to rest in Lenin’s Mausoleum in Red Square, in a burial ceremony that was attended by hundreds of thousands of people from the Soviet republics and other parts of the world. 

As a show of respect for the departed leader, a moment of silence was observed in the whole of the Soviet Union, and a 21-gun salute was fired from within the precincts of the Kremlin.

7. Hundreds of Mourners Died in a Stampede during his funeral

During the three days that Stalin’s body was on display for public viewing, huge crowds gathered in Moscow to pay their last respect to their fallen leader. However, when Stalin’s coffin was carried through the red square, a big number of people rushed forward, causing a stampede that killed hundreds of mourners.

This was due to the negligence of authorities who sealed the outer parts of the city leaving those inside trapped with no way out. In addition, there was no information whatsoever about possible routes that could have been used by the people to exit.

Later on, Nikita Khrushchev estimated the number of dead to be around109 people but the real number of deaths may have been in the thousands. No official figures were given by the authorities and the exact number of the dead may never be known.

 8. Stalin left no Preferred Successor 

Stalin’s death left a power vacuum with no anointed successor nor a framework within which a transfer of power could take place; this was due to his permanent state of paranoia that left him prone to believing that people even those close to him were plotting against him.

The Central Committee met on the day of his death, with Malenkov, Beria, and Khrushchev emerging as the key front runners to succeed him. Furthermore, the system of collective leadership was restored, and measures were introduced to prevent any one member from attaining such autocratic domination again.

9. His Body was removed from the Original Burial Location

Photo by U.S. Department of State from Wikimedia

Four days after Stalin’s death, his remains were laid to rest in Lenin’s Mausoleum in Red Square. This was after the Politburo decree which decided to place him side by side with Vladimir Lenin, who was the founder of the Soviet Union. 

However, Eight years later, following the de-Stalinization, the body of Joseph Stalin was removed from the mausoleum and buried in a deep grave behind the Mausoleum. This decision was unanimously sanctioned by the congress of the Communist party on 31 October 1961.

The ceremony was attended only by the state commission led by Nikolay Shvernik, and no member of his family was in attendance. Unlike others, his grave was not graced by a bust and was only marked with his name and dates of birth and death. The current existing tomb of Stalin was carved and installed in 1970.

Read more about Lenin’s Mausoleum

10. Stalin was kept with no Medical Attention for over 24 Hours

According to Stalin’s successor Nikita Khrushchev accounts, he and other guests dispersed from Stalin’s living quarters at approximately 4:00 a.m. on 1 March after a night of entertainment and drinking. Stalin retired to his private quarters with strict instructions that he was not to be disturbed until sounds were heard indicating that he had awakened. 

Time passed and no sounds were heard throughout the day, until at about 11:00 p.m. on 1 March, when one of his housekeepers decided to check on him and found him lying on the floor, wearing his pajama and soaked with urine. 

Intentionally or not, it took until around 7:00 a.m the next morning for the members of his inner circle to reach a decision to summon a group of medical experts to come and examine him.