What did Vlasik do after Stalin's death? Court case I

The long-time head of Stalin's personal security, General Nikolai Vlasik, was unexpectedly arrested on December 16, 1952, with the approval of the leader himself. During his arrest, he uttered almost prophetic words: “If there is no me, there will be no Stalin.”

In his diary, Vlasik will write: “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.”

Our film will use unique materials - the personal diaries of General Vlasik. We will show and read them for the first time. Together with presenter Sergei Medvedev, we will conduct our own documentary investigation.

What enemies did the chief's chief guard write about? Why did Stalin allow the general loyal to him to be arrested and, finally, why did Vlasik’s prophecy come true in the most fatal way? After all, just two and a half months after the arrest of the bodyguard, Stalin really died, and some of the circumstances of his death still seem strange. Was the tragic death of the “father of all nations” somehow connected with the “elimination” of General Vlasik, who called himself “the leader’s watchdog”?

We will talk about how Vlasik came to join Stalin’s guard and how he became the right hand of the “Boss” in relations with his family. And this is also true - Vlasik not only guarded the leader, but also actually raised Stalin’s children.

Vlasik’s government duties will not be left aside. Viewers will learn about how Stalin’s main bodyguard built a security system for the “first person” and participated in the “wiretapping” of Presidents Roosevelt and Truman, Prime Ministers Churchill and Attlee.

Vlasik was a passionate amateur photographer and took many photographs of Stalin and his family in various situations. We will show the same photo and film materials that “bodyguard No. 1” filmed. Viewers will see many of them for the first time. And this is exclusive!

If it were not for the First World War and the revolution of 1917, Nikolai Vlasik would probably have remained a farm laborer in his native Belarusian village. But in 1914, immediately after the start of the war, he was drafted into the army. He ends up in intelligence, for his heroic deeds he receives the rank of non-commissioned officer and the St. George Cross, and immediately after the 1917 coup he goes over to the side of the Bolsheviks, and already in 1918 he begins serving in the Cheka under the command of Felix Dzerzhinsky.

Together with the presenter, we also visited the homeland of Nikolai Vlasik in the Belarusian village of Bobynchi. His house has been preserved there, and in the regional center of Slonim, in the local history museum, there is an exhibition dedicated to Vlasik. His Order of the Red Star and several gifts from Stalin are presented there.

In 1927, private counterintelligence officer Vlasik was wounded during a terrorist explosion at Lubyanka. In an extreme situation, he showed his best side, and immediately after the hospital he was sent to Stalin’s personal guard. The head of the personal security of the General Secretary of the Central Committee of the All-Union Communist Party of Bolsheviks, Ivan Yusis, was about to retire due to illness and received the order to gradually hand over his affairs to the newly arrived bodyguard. The first personal communication with Stalin occurred only when Vlasik first went to his dacha in Zubalovo.

From Vlasik’s diaries: “Having arrived at the dacha and examined 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. Stalin came to the dacha with his family only on Sundays, eating sandwiches that they brought with them from Moscow.”

The very next day, Vlasik ordered food to be sent to Stalin’s dacha, direct government telephone numbers were installed, he organized security, and appointed a cook and a cleaner. In his diaries, he noted: “This is how my first meeting and first conversation with Comrade Stalin took place.”

Could a simple, poorly educated Belarusian guy have imagined then that two decades later he would become one of the most influential people in a huge country?

Vlasik’s life for many years to come was now subordinated to the routine of Stalin’s life and work. He himself believed that he had practically become a member of the leader’s family. Vlasik, for example, advised his wife Nadezhda Alliluyeva to sew a new coat for her husband.

From the diaries of Nikolai Vlasik: “I suggested that Nadezhda Sergeevna sew him a new coat. But to do this, it was necessary to take measurements or take an old coat and make exactly the same 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.”

But at night, while Stalin was sleeping, Vlasik measured all the details of the coat and handed them over to the master in the studio. A day later, instead of the old worn out overcoat, a new one was already hanging on the hanger. Stalin pretended not to notice the substitution and said nothing.

Few people know, but it was Nikolai Vlasik who came up with the idea of leaving a string of identical government cars. He collected data about all the residents of those streets along which Stalin usually passed. If the owner was traveling somewhere by train, then schedules for other trains were not approved without Vlasik’s consent.

It was bodyguard No. 1 who prepared the evacuation of Stalin from Moscow on October 16, 1941, when panic had already begun in Moscow. But the Supreme Commander-in-Chief refused to leave at the very last moment. Until the end of his life, Vlasik believed that it was this act of Stalin that saved Moscow from surrender to the Germans.

Nikolai Vlasik prepared residences for Stalin during negotiations with the allies in Tehran, Yalta and Potsdam. For example, he recalled how he treated Roosevelt and Churchill in Yalta:

“I decided to receive guests, according to Russian custom, hospitably and ordered that large sandwiches be prepared, as is our custom, thickly spread with butter and caviar, so that there was a solid piece of ham or fish. And he selected tall, rosy-cheeked girls as waitresses. The success of my sandwiches exceeded, as they say, all expectations.”

Vlasik believed that Stalin trusted him completely. Especially after he, according to him, almost saved the leader during the assassination attempt in the fall of 1933.

Then Stalin was relaxing at a dacha near Gagra and every day he took walks on the sea on a small river boat with guards. One day, when leaving the bay, the boat was suddenly fired upon from the coastal border post. Vlasik recalled: “Having quickly seated Stalin on the bench and covering him with myself, 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."

According to the official version, there was a misunderstanding. But Vlasik believed that it was after this incident that Stalin began to treat him as a “close person.” However, only for the time being.

At the beginning of 1952, a struggle for power began among Stalin's entourage. The competitors felt that the leader was weakening.

One day, Beria’s people arrested the commandant of Stalin’s “Near Dacha”, Ivan Fedoseev, Vlasik’s right hand. He was accused of espionage. His wife was also arrested. During interrogations, Fedoseev stated that Stalin was being poisoned, the main organizer of which was General Vlasik. But Stalin didn’t believe it then.

However, after some time, the “doctors’ case” began. And then Vlasik was “attached” to him - they say he missed the “killers in white coats.”

Nadezhda Vlasik recalled how their apartment was searched for more than 10 hours. Awards, many photographs and films, recordings with Stalin’s voice, and photographs were confiscated.

“He simply prevented Beria from getting to Stalin, because his father would not let him die. He wouldn’t wait outside the doors for a day, like those guards on March 1, 1953, when Stalin “woke up”.”- said Vlasik’s daughter.

Stalin died and Vlasik was in prison. The disgraced general was tortured mentally and physically: for several hours a recording of a child’s cry was heard from the next cell, he was not allowed to sleep, and was kept without light. They simulated execution twice. Vlasik had a heart attack.

We have at our disposal the investigative file opened against him after his arrest in 1952. During interrogations - in general - he admitted his guilt, although “without intent.” He did not deny that he drank, was debauched, blurted out secret information at parties, and led his acquaintances to secret sites through connections. “I actually cohabited with many women, drank alcohol with them and the artist Stenberg. But all this happened at the expense of my personal health and in my free time from service.”, he admitted.

He was also accused of illegally bringing a cow from Germany. For all his general ranks, Vlasik always had a peasant psychology at his core.

Vlasik was sentenced in January 1955 to 10 years of exile. He was also stripped of his general rank and state awards. In Krasnoyarsk, I caught a cold in my already sick lungs.

The former general was pardoned in December 1956, but his title and awards were not returned and he was never reinstated in the party. Despite the requests of his wife and daughter, he was denied rehabilitation. And Vlasik was sure that this was the revenge of those about whom he knew more than he should.

In recent years, he tried to write letters to party authorities. Marshals Zhukov and Vasilevsky tried to stand up for the leader’s former bodyguard, however, according to Vlasik’s daughter, he was surrounded by “some kind of silent conspiracy.” It was then that he began to write and dictate notes about his life.

In the spring of 1967, his request for reinstatement in the party was finally denied. This blow knocked down the once strong man. Vlasik began to rapidly decline and died three months later from lung cancer.

“I am not guilty of anything and I still don’t know why I was so cruelly punished.”, he wrote in his diaries. Is it so? Was the leader's devoted bodyguard really sinless? Probably not - he was a man of his cruel time. But that’s not why he suffered. The general simply knew too much.

Taking part in the film:

Nadezhda Vlasik-Mikhailova - daughter of Nikolai Vlasik (archive footage),

Nikolai Dolgopolov - historian of special services,

Yaroslav Listov - historian,

Sergey Devyatov - Advisor to the Director of the FSO,

Alexey Pimanov - producer of the series “Vlasik. Shadow of Stalin"

Olga Pogodina - actress,

Kira Alliluyeva - Stalin's niece (archive footage),

Konstantin Milovanov - actor.

Producers: Sergey Medvedev, Oleg Volnov

Director: Sergey Kozhevnikov

Production: CJSC "Television Company "Ostankino"", 2017

Among those who did not spare negative epithets for Vlasik 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

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 he participated in the Civil War, and was wounded near Tsaritsyn. In September 1919, Vlasik was sent to the Cheka, where he served in the central apparatus under the command of the Felix Dzerzhinsky.

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 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: a 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 lives 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 death Nadezhda Alliluyeva Stalin entrusted his bodyguard with the care of 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.

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 came to the point that dictated to some artists the “tastes of Comrade Stalin”, since he believed that he knew and understood them well... His impudence knew no bounds, and he favorably conveyed to the artists whether he “liked” it, be it a film, or opera, or even the silhouettes of high-rise buildings being built at that time..."

“He had a job all his life, and he lived near Stalin”

Artyom Sergeev in “Conversations about Stalin” he expressed himself differently: “His main duty was to ensure Stalin’s safety. This work was inhuman. Always take responsibility with your head, always live on the cutting edge. He knew 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.

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

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. The officer who ordered the shooting was subsequently sentenced to five years. But in 1937, during the “Great Terror,” they remembered him again, held another trial and shot him.

Abuse of cows

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 was 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, his 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.

Omnipotent head of the Soviet intelligence services Lavrentiy Beria I passionately wanted to get rid of Vlasik. Incriminating evidence on Stalin's bodyguard was collected scrupulously, bit by bit eroding the leader's trust in him.

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.

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.

“He cohabited with women and drank alcohol in his free time”

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. There is a third assumption. It is known that during this period the Soviet leader began to promote young leaders, and openly said to his former comrades: “It’s time to change you.” Perhaps Stalin felt that the time had come to replace Vlasik too.

Be that as it may, very difficult times have come for the former head of Stalin’s guard.

In December 1952, he was arrested in connection with the Doctors' Case. He was charged with the fact that the statements Lydia Timashuk, who accused the professors who treated the top officials of the state of sabotage, he ignored.

Vlasik himself wrote in his memoirs that there was no reason to believe Timashuk: “There was no data discrediting the professors, which I reported to Stalin.”

In prison, Vlasik was interrogated with passion for several months. For a man who was well over 50, the disgraced bodyguard was stoic. I was ready to admit “moral corruption” and even waste of funds, but not conspiracy and espionage. “I really cohabited with many women, drank alcohol with them and the artist Stenberg, but all this happened at the expense of my personal health and in my free time from service,” was his testimony.

Could Vlasik extend the life of the leader?

After the death of the leader, the “doctors’ case” was closed. All of his defendants were released, except Nikolai Vlasik. The collapse of Lavrentiy Beria in June 1953 did not bring him freedom either.

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 one. 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.

“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 claim 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 he was Tsar Ivan IV, but there were people who cared about their homeland, who, without fear of death, pointed out to him his mistakes. Or have there been no brave people in Rus'? - 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.”

The head of security, Nikolai Sidorovich Vlasik, was an avid photographer and many of his photographs even ended up in newspapers. The leader’s “closeness to the body” allowed Vlasik to take a huge number of unique photographs. And more often unofficial.
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 materials about Stalin’s life confiscated by Lubyanka, and in huge quantities, including photos, video, and audio, are not yet available.

Let's start in order, with the biography.
Nikolai Sidorovich Vlasik (May 22, 1896, Bobynichi village, Slonim district, Grodno province (now Slonim district, Grodno region) - June 18, 1967, Moscow) - figure in the USSR security agencies, head of I. Stalin’s security, lieutenant general.
Member of the RCP(b) since 1918. Expelled from the party after his arrest in the doctors' case on December 16, 1952.
Born into a poor peasant family. By nationality - Belarusian. He graduated from three classes of a rural parochial school. He began his working career at the age of thirteen: as a laborer for a landowner, as a navvy on the railroad, as a laborer at a paper mill 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 the direct supervision of F. E. Dzerzhinsky in the central apparatus, was an employee of the special department, senior representative of the active department of the operational unit. From May 1926 he became the 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 and became the de facto head of Stalin's security. At the same time, the official name of his position was repeatedly changed 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, this department was part of the People's Commissariat for 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.

Since May 1943 - head of the 6th directorate of the People's Commissariat of State Security of the USSR, since August 1943 - first deputy head of this directorate. Since April 1946 - Head of the Main Security Directorate of the USSR Ministry of State Security (since December 1946 - Main Security Directorate).
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.
On December 16, 1952, Vlasik was arrested. He was accused of misappropriating large sums of government money and valuables, “indulging saboteur doctors,” abuse of official position, etc... L. Beria and G. Malenkov are considered the initiators of Vlasik’s arrest. “Until March 12, 1953, Vlasik was interrogated almost daily (mainly in the doctors’ case). The investigation found that the charges brought against the group of doctors were false. All professors and doctors have been released from custody. Recently, the investigation into Vlasik’s case has been carried out in two directions: disclosure of secret information and theft of material assets... After Vlasik’s arrest, several dozen documents marked “secret” were found in his apartment... While in Potsdam, where he accompanied the USSR government delegation, Vlasik was engaged in junk..." (Certificate from the criminal case).
On January 17, 1953, 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. Sent to serve exile in Krasnoyarsk. According to the amnesty on March 27, 1953, Vlasik’s sentence was reduced to five years, without loss of rights. By a resolution of the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet of the USSR dated December 15, 1956, Vlasik was pardoned and his criminal record was expunged. He was not restored to his military rank or awards.
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.”
Vlasik lasted the longest in Stalin's guard. At the same time, almost all the everyday problems of the head of state lay on his shoulders. Essentially, Vlasik was a member of Stalin's family. After the death of N.S. Alliluyeva, he was also a teacher of children, an organizer of their leisure time, and an economic and financial manager.

Stalin's dacha residences, along with the staff of security, maids, housekeepers and cooks, were also subordinate to Vlasik. And there were many of them: a dacha in Kuntsevo-Volynsky, or “Near Dacha” (in 1934-1953 - Stalin’s main residence, where he died), a dacha in Gorki-tenty (35 km from Moscow along the Uspenskaya road), an old estate on Dmitrovskoe highway - Lipki, a dacha in Semenovskoye (the house was built before the war), a dacha in Zubalovo-4 (“Far Dacha”, “Zubalovo”), 2nd dacha on Lake Ritsa, or “Dacha on the Cold River” (at the mouth the Lashupse River, which flows into Lake Ritsa), three dachas in Sochi (one is not far from Matsesta, the other is beyond Adler, the third is before Gagra), a dacha in Borjomi (Liakan Palace), a dacha in New Athos, a dacha in Tskhaltubo , a dacha in Myusery (near Pitsunda), a dacha in Kislovodsk, a dacha in Crimea (in Mukholatka), a dacha in Valdai.
"He N. S. Vlasik] simply prevented Beria from getting to Stalin, because his father would not let him die. He wouldn’t wait for a day outside the doors, like those guards on March 1, 1953, when Stalin “woke up”…” - N. S. Vlasik’s daughter Nadezhda Vlasik in the newspaper “Moskovsky Komsomolets” dated 05/07/2003
Unfortunately, this interview turned out to have sad consequences for Nadezhda Nikolaevna. This is how an employee of the Slonim Local History Museum tells this story:
“Nikolai Sidorovich’s personal belongings were transferred to the museum by his adopted daughter, his own niece Nadezhda Nikolaevna (he did not have any children of his own). This lonely woman spent her entire life trying to rehabilitate the general.
In 2000, the Supreme Court of the Russian Federation dropped all charges against Nikolai Vlasik. He was rehabilitated posthumously, restored to his rank, and his awards were returned to his family. These are three Orders of Lenin, four Orders of the Red Banner, Orders of the Red Star and Kutuzov, four medals, two honorary Chekist badges.
“At that time,” says Irina Shpyrkova, “we contacted Nadezhda Nikolaevna. We agreed to transfer awards and personal belongings to our museum. She agreed, and in the summer of 2003 our employee went to Moscow.
But everything turned out like in a detective story. An article about Vlasik was published in Moskovsky Komsomolets. Many called Nadezhda Nikolaevna. One of the callers identified himself as Alexander Borisovich, a lawyer and representative of State Duma deputy Demin. He promised to help the woman return Vlasik’s priceless personal photo archive.
The next day he came to Nadezhda Nikolaevna, allegedly to draw up documents. I asked for tea. The hostess left, and when she returned to the room, the guest suddenly prepared to leave. She never saw him again, nor did she see the general’s 16 medals and orders, or the general’s gold watch...
Nadezhda Nikolaevna only had the Order of the Red Banner left, which she donated to the Slonim Museum of Local Lore. And also two pieces of paper from my father’s notebook.”
Here is a list of all the awards that disappeared from Nadezhda Nikolaevna (except for one Order of the Red Banner):
St. George's Cross 4th degree
3 Orders of Lenin (04/26/1940, 02/21/1945, 09/16/1945)
3 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)
2 badges Honorary Worker of the Cheka-GPU (12/20/1932, 12/16/1935)
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.”

According to his wife, until his death, Vlasik was convinced that L.P. Beria “helped” Stalin die.
Well, now let’s move on to Vlasik’s activities as a photographer. This is what he himself writes in his memoirs:
“A few days before the November holidays in 1941, Comrade Stalin called me and said that it was necessary to prepare the premises of the Mayakovskaya metro station for the ceremonial meeting.
There was very little time, I immediately called the Deputy Chairman of the Moscow City Council, Yasnov, and agreed to go with him to Mayakovsky Square. Having arrived and examined the metro station, we made a plan. It was necessary to build a stage, get chairs, arrange a rest room for the presidium and organize a concert. We quickly organized all this, and the hall was ready at the appointed time. Going down the escalator to the Ceremonial Meeting, Comrade Stalin looked at me (I was dressed in a bekesha and a hat) and said: “You have a star on your hat, but I don’t have one. Still, you know, it’s inconvenient - the commander-in-chief, but he’s not dressed in uniform, and there’s not even a star on his cap, please get me a star.”
When Comrade Stalin was leaving home after the meeting, a star shone on his cap. In this cap and a simple overcoat without any insignia, he performed at the historical parade on November 7, 1941. I managed to photograph him successfully, and this photograph was distributed in large numbers. The soldiers attached it to their tanks and said: “For the Motherland! For Stalin!" - went into fierce attacks.”

The same famous photo of N. Vlasik, taken on November 7, 1941 during the parade on Red Square.
“At the conference in Tehran, which took place at the end of November 1943, from November 28 to December 1, in addition to Comrade Stalin, Molotov, Voroshilov and the head of the Operations Directorate of the General Staff Shtemenko were present.
During his stay in Tehran, Comrade Stalin paid a visit to the Shah of Iran, Mohammad Reza Pahlavi, in his truly fabulous crystal palace. I personally managed to capture this meeting in photographs.

December 1, 1943, Tehran. The USSR delegation led by Stalin and Shahinshah Mohammad Reza Pahlavi, on the eve of the conversation in the palace of the Shahinshah. It is possible that this photograph was taken by N. Vlasik.
At the Tehran conference I again had to act as a photojournalist. Together with other photographers, I photographed the Big Three, who posed especially for the press. The photographs turned out very well and were published in Soviet newspapers.”

November 29, 1943, Tehran. Stalin, Roosevelt and Churchill. It is possible that one of these photos belongs to N. Vlasik.
“On August 19, 1947, the cruiser Molotov, under the command of Admiral I. S. Yumashev, accompanied by two destroyers, left the Yalta port.
On board the cruiser, in addition to Comrade Stalin, were: the invited I. V. t. A. N. Kosygin, the commander of the Black Sea Fleet, Admiral F. S. Oktyabrsky, who was vacationing in Yalta at that time, and others. This trip made an unforgettable impression on me. The weather was magnificent and everyone was in high spirits. Comrade Stalin, to the incessant greeting of “Hurray!” the entire crew was bypassed by the cruiser. The faces of the sailors were joyful and enthusiastic. 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 was not confident in the film.
Comrade 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.”
A series of photographs taken on August 19, 1947 by different authors. Some photos could have been taken by N. Vlasik:

In the corner of the photo there is an inscription - N. Shcheglov. Most likely he is the author of the photo.

In this photo, the shadow of the photographer wearing a cap is visible on Stalin's trousers. Therefore, with a high probability we can say that the photo was taken by N. Vlasik.

Another photo, like a continuation of the previous photo. We can assume that the photo is also of N. Vlasik.
“As a snack,” but off topic - as usual, the socialist realist court artists wrote propaganda pieces based on Stalin’s majestic visits to something. This time, the artist V. Puzyrkov helped out competently.
Fragments of the court hearing on January 17, 1955, mostly about Vlasik’s passion for recording Stalin’s life:
…
The presiding officer, having opened it, announced that a criminal case was being considered accusing Nikolai Sidorovich Vlasik of committing crimes under Article 193-17 p. “b” of the Criminal Code of the RSFSR.
…
Chairman. Defendant Vlasik, did you keep secret documents in your apartment?
Vlasik. I was going to compile an album in which the life and work of Joseph Vissarionovich Stalin would be reflected in photographs and documents, and therefore I had some data for this in my apartment.
…
I thought that these documents were not particularly confidential, but, as I see now, I had to deposit some of them with the MGB. I kept them locked in desk drawers, and my wife made sure that no one climbed into the drawers.
…
Member of the court Kovalenko. Defendant Vlasik, show the court about your acquaintance with Kudoyarov.
Vlasik. Kudoyarov worked as a photojournalist during the period when I was attached to the security of the head of government. I saw him filming in the Kremlin, on Red Square, and heard reviews of him as an excellent photographer. When I bought myself a camera, I asked for photography advice. He came to my apartment. He showed me how to use the camera and how to take pictures. Then I visited the darkroom on Vorovskogo Street several times
…
Member of the court Kovalenko. What can you say about the fourteen cameras and lenses you had?
Vlasik. Most of them I received through my professional activities. I bought one Zeiss device through Vneshtorg, and Serov gave me another device.
Member of the court Kovalenko. Where did you get the camera with the telephoto lens?
Vlasik. This camera was made in Palkin's department especially for me. I needed it to photograph I.V. Stalin from long distances, since the latter was always very reluctant to allow photography.
Member of the court Kovalenko. Where did you get your movie camera?
Vlasik. The film camera was sent to me from the Ministry of Cinematography specifically for filming J.V. Stalin.
Member of the court Kovalenko. What kind of quartz devices did you have?
Vlasik. Quartz devices were intended for illumination during photo and film shooting.
…
Based on Art. 331 of the Code of Criminal Procedure of the RSFSR, property discovered during a search in Vlasik’s apartment, such as: ... movie camera No. 265, ..., cameras No. 102811 with lens No. 1396, No. 16690, No. 331977, No. 2076368, No. 318708, No. 151429, No. 212271, No. 3112350, No. 1006978, No. 240429, No. 216977, “Talbot” camera, 14 different photographic lenses, two quartz cameras,..., indicated in the search report dated December 17, 1952 for Nos. 41, 42, 43, 46 and 47, ... - as acquired by criminal means - confiscate and turn into state income.

To be continued…

Ig Kuv “Please get me a star”

Few people know that Joseph Stalin’s security chief Nikolai Vlasik was an avid photographer, and the leader’s “closeness to the body” allowed him to take a huge number of unique photographs, often unofficial

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 materials about Stalin’s life confiscated by Lubyanka, and in huge quantities, including photos, video, and audio, are not yet available.

Let's start in order, with the biography.

Nikolai Sidorovich Vlasik (May 22, 1896, Bobynichi village, Slonim district, Grodno province (now Slonim district, Grodno region) - June 18, 1967, Moscow) - figure in the USSR security agencies, head of I. Stalin’s security, lieutenant general.

Member of the RCP(b) since 1918. Expelled from the party after his arrest in the doctors' case on December 16, 1952.

Born into a poor peasant family. By nationality - Belarusian. He graduated from three classes of a rural parochial school. He began his working career at the age of thirteen: as a laborer for a landowner, as a navvy on the railroad, as a laborer at a paper mill 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 the direct supervision of F. E. Dzerzhinsky in the central apparatus, was an employee of the special department, senior representative of the active department of the operational unit. From May 1926 he became the senior commissioner of the Operations Department of the OGPU, and from January 1930 he became assistant to the head of the department there.

In 1927, he headed the Kremlin's special security and became the de facto head of Stalin's security. At the same time, the official name of his position was repeatedly changed 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, this department was part of the People's Commissariat for 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 People's Commissariat of State Security of the USSR, from August 1943 - first deputy head of this directorate. Since April 1946 - Head of the Main Security Directorate of the USSR Ministry of State Security (since December 1946 - Main Security Directorate).

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.

On December 16, 1952, Vlasik was arrested. He was accused of embezzling large sums of government money and valuables, “indulging saboteur doctors,” abuse of official position, etc. L. Beria and G. Malenkov are considered the initiators of Vlasik’s arrest. “Until March 12, 1953, Vlasik was interrogated almost daily (mainly in the doctors’ case). The investigation found that the charges brought against the group of doctors were false. All professors and doctors have been released from custody. Recently, the investigation into Vlasik’s case has been carried out in two directions: disclosure of secret information and theft of material assets... After Vlasik’s arrest, several dozen documents marked “secret” were found in his apartment... While in Potsdam, where he accompanied the USSR government delegation, Vlasik engaged in junk..."(Certificate from the criminal case).

On January 17, 1953, 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. Sent to serve exile in Krasnoyarsk. According to the amnesty on March 27, 1953, Vlasik’s sentence was reduced to five years, without loss of rights. By a resolution of the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet of the USSR dated December 15, 1956, Vlasik was pardoned and his criminal record was expunged. He was not restored to his military rank or awards.

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.”

Vlasik lasted the longest in Stalin's guard. At the same time, almost all the everyday problems of the head of state lay on his shoulders. Essentially, Vlasik was a member of Stalin's family. After the death of N.S. Alliluyeva, he was also a teacher of children, an organizer of their leisure time, and an economic and financial manager.

"He N. S. Vlasik] simply prevented Beria from getting to Stalin, because his father would not let him die. He would not wait for a day outside the doors, like those guards on March 1, 1953, when Stalin “woke up”..." - daughter of N. S. Vlasik Nadezhda Vlasik in the newspaper "Moskovsky Komsomolets" dated 05/07/2003

Unfortunately, this interview turned out to have sad consequences for Nadezhda Nikolaevna. This is how an employee of the Slonim Local History Museum tells this story:

“Nikolai Sidorovich’s personal belongings were donated to the museum by his adopted daughter, his own niece Nadezhda Nikolaevna (there were no children of her own). This lonely woman spent her entire life trying to rehabilitate the general.

In 2000, the Supreme Court of the Russian Federation dropped all charges against Nikolai Vlasik. He was rehabilitated posthumously, restored to his rank, and his awards were returned to his family. These are three Orders of Lenin, four Orders of the Red Banner, Orders of the Red Star and Kutuzov, four medals, two honorary Chekist badges.

At that time,” says Irina Shpyrkova, “we contacted Nadezhda Nikolaevna. We agreed to transfer awards and personal belongings to our museum. She agreed, and in the summer of 2003 our employee went to Moscow.

But everything turned out like in a detective story. An article about Vlasik was published in Moskovsky Komsomolets. Many called Nadezhda Nikolaevna. One of the callers identified himself as Alexander Borisovich, a lawyer and representative of State Duma deputy Demin. He promised to help the woman return Vlasik’s priceless personal photo archive.

The next day he came to Nadezhda Nikolaevna, allegedly to draw up documents. I asked for tea. The hostess left, and when she returned to the room, the guest suddenly prepared to leave. She never saw him again, nor did she see the general’s 16 medals and orders, or the general’s gold watch...

Nadezhda Nikolaevna only had the Order of the Red Banner, which she gave to Slonimsky local history museum. And also two pieces of paper from my father’s notebook. "

Here is a list of all the awards that disappeared from Nadezhda Nikolaevna (except for one Order of the Red Banner):

St. George's Cross 4th degree

3 Orders of Lenin (04/26/1940, 02/21/1945, 09/16/1945)

3 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)

2 badges Honorary Worker of the Cheka-GPU (12/20/1932, 12/16/1935)

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.»

According to his wife, until his death, Vlasik was convinced that L.P. Beria “helped” Stalin die.

Well, now let’s move on to Vlasik’s activities as a photographer. This is what he himself writes in his memoirs:

« A few days before the November holidays in 1941, Comrade Stalin called me and said that it was necessary to prepare the premises of the Mayakovskaya metro station for the ceremonial meeting.

There was very little time, I immediately called the Deputy Chairman of the Moscow City Council, Yasnov, and agreed to go with him to Mayakovsky Square. Having arrived and examined the metro station, we made a plan. It was necessary to build a stage, get chairs, arrange a rest room for the presidium and organize a concert. We quickly organized all this, and the hall was ready at the appointed time. Going down the escalator to the Ceremonial Meeting, Comrade Stalin looked at me (I was dressed in a bekesha and a hat) and said: “You have a star on your hat, but I don’t have one. Still, you know, it’s inconvenient - the commander-in-chief, but he’s not dressed in uniform, and there’s not even a star on his cap, please get me a star.”

When Comrade Stalin was leaving home after the meeting, a star shone on his cap. In this cap and a simple overcoat without any insignia, he performed at the historical parade on November 7, 1941. I managed to photograph him successfully, and this photograph was distributed in large numbers. The soldiers attached it to their tanks and said: “For the Motherland! For Stalin!" - went into fierce attacks. »

The same famous photo of N. Vlasik, taken on November 7, 1941 during the parade on Red Square.

“At the conference in Tehran, which took place at the end of November 1943, from November 28 to December 1, in addition to Comrade Stalin, Molotov, Voroshilov and the head of the Operations Directorate of the General Staff Shtemenko were present.

During his stay in Tehran, Comrade Stalin paid a visit to the Shah of Iran, Mohammad Reza Pahlavi, in his truly fabulous crystal palace. I personally managed to capture this meeting in photographs.

At the Tehran conference I again had to act as a photojournalist. Together with other photographers, I photographed the Big Three, who posed especially for the press. The photographs turned out very well and were published in Soviet newspapers.»

November 29, 1943, Tehran. Stalin, Roosevelt and Churchill. It is possible that one of these photos belongs to N. Vlasik.

« On August 19, 1947, the cruiser Molotov, under the command of Admiral I. S. Yumashev, accompanied by two destroyers, left the Yalta port.

On board the cruiser, in addition to Comrade Stalin, were: the invited I. V. t. A. N. Kosygin, the commander of the Black Sea Fleet, Admiral F. S. Oktyabrsky, who was vacationing in Yalta at that time, and others. This trip made an unforgettable impression on me. The weather was magnificent and everyone was in high spirits. Comrade Stalin, to the incessant greeting of “Hurray!” the entire crew was bypassed by the cruiser. The faces of the sailors were joyful and enthusiastic. 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 was not confident in the film.

Comrade 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. »

A series of photographs taken on August 19, 1947 by different authors. Some photos could have been taken by N. Vlasik:

In this photo, the shadow of the photographer wearing a cap is visible on Stalin's trousers. Therefore, with a high probability we can say that the photo was taken by N. Vlasik.

“As a snack,” but off topic - as usual, court Socialist Realist artists wrote propaganda pieces based on Stalin’s majestic visits to something. This time, the artist V. Puzyrkov helped out competently.

Fragments of the court hearing on January 17, 1955, mostly about Vlasik’s passion for recording Stalin’s life:

The presiding officer, having opened it, announced that a criminal case was being considered accusing Nikolai Sidorovich Vlasik of committing crimes under Article 193-17 p. "b" of the Criminal Code of the RSFSR.

Chairman. Defendant Vlasik, did you keep secret documents in your apartment?

Vlasik. I was going to compile an album in which the life and work of Joseph Vissarionovich Stalin would be reflected in photographs and documents, and therefore I had some data for this in my apartment.

I thought that these documents were not particularly confidential, but, as I see now, I had to deposit some of them with the MGB. I kept them locked in desk drawers, and my wife made sure that no one climbed into the drawers.

Member of the court Kovalenko. Defendant Vlasik, show the court about your acquaintance with Kudoyarov.

Vlasik. Kudoyarov worked as a photojournalist during the period when I was attached to the security of the head of government. I saw him filming in the Kremlin, on Red Square, and heard reviews of him as an excellent photographer. When I bought myself a camera, I asked for photography advice. He came to my apartment. He showed me how to use the camera and how to take pictures. Then I visited the darkroom on Vorovskogo Street several times

Member of the court Kovalenko. What can you say about the fourteen cameras and lenses you had?

Vlasik. Most of them I received through my professional activities. I bought one Zeiss device through Vneshtorg, and Serov gave me another device.

Member of the court Kovalenko. Where did you get the camera with the telephoto lens?

Vlasik. This camera was made in Palkin's department especially for me. I needed it to photograph I.V. Stalin from long distances, since the latter was always very reluctant to allow photography.

Member of the court Kovalenko. Where did you get your movie camera?

Vlasik. The film camera was sent to me from the Ministry of Cinematography specifically for filming J.V. Stalin.

Member of the court Kovalenko. What kind of quartz devices did you have?

Vlasik. Quartz devices were intended for illumination during photo and film shooting.

Based on Art. 331 of the Code of Criminal Procedure of the RSFSR, property discovered during a search in Vlasik’s apartment, such as: ... movie camera No. 265, ..., cameras No. 102811 with lens No. 1396, No. 16690, No. 331977, No. 2076368, No. 318708, No. 151429, No. 212271, No. 3112350, No. 1006978, No. 240429, No. 216977, “Talbot” camera, 14 different photographic lenses, two quartz cameras,..., indicated in the search report dated December 17, 1952 for Nos. 41, 42, 43, 46 and 47, ... - as acquired by criminal means - to seize and turn into state income.

The equipment seized during the search on December 17, 1952 represents a significant collection of photographic equipment. Let's see how Vlasik used it. And along the way, we’ll try to restore the chronological order.

Summer 1935. Most likely "Near Dacha". The private life of a dictator. Not only Vlasik takes photographs, but him as well.

Vlasik with Vasily and Joseph Stalin. Please note that Vlasik has a camera hanging around his neck (I hope that experts will be able to identify the model). It was with this camera that the photo session that follows was made.

Stalin with his daughter Svetlana. Well known photo.

Stalin with his children - Vasily and Svetlana.

The same, but the composition has changed.

A lesser-known photo of Stalin, where he jokes twice as hard.

A very private photo of Stalin taken by Vlasik. The same 1935, Tiflis. Stalin with his mother, Beria and an unknown Georgian communist.

A large series of photographs taken by Vlasik on April 29, 1936 in the Kremlin. Stalin, Molotov, Mikoyan, Ordzhonikidze, I.A. Likhachev and others inspect the new brand of Soviet car - ZiS-101.

Here's what the website of the magazine "Behind the Wheel" wrote about this event:

“These were two cars, black and cherry. While preparing them, engineers Alexei Alekseevich Evseev and Nikolai Timofeevich Osipov did not leave the workshop for two days, together with the assemblers, repeatedly checking every detail. And then the limousines sparkling with varnish froze under the windows of the Kremlin apartment of one of the most popular People's Commissars of the country, Grigory Konstantinovich Ordzhonikidze. The director of the ZiS plant, Ivan Alekseevich Likhachev, and the old body worker Evseev went upstairs with a report. It turned out that Ordzhonikidze was walking around the Kremlin at that hour. And when the ZiS workers went out to the cars again, Comrade Sergo was already enthusiastically getting acquainted with the new products. Despite Due to this effect of surprise, the show went well.

Sergo Ordzhonikidze driving one of the ZiS-101

All members of the government were in an excellent mood that morning. Looking at Likhachev’s ironed jacket, Stalin joked: “Comrade Sergo, buy Likhachev half a dozen good shirts, otherwise his salary, apparently, is not enough for decent shirts.”

Of the comments made by the leader, the most significant related to the form of the decorative hood design. The massive mascot depicting a waving banner will subsequently be replaced by a laconic and less material-intensive flag."

V.Ya. Chubar, I.A. Likhachev, N.S. Khrushchev G.K. Ordzhonikidze, I.V. Stalin, V.I. Mezhlauk, L.M. Kaganovich, V.M. Molotov

I.V.Stalin, V.M.Molotov, A.I.Mikoyan, G.K.Ordzhonikidze and I.A.Likhachev at one of the ZiS-101 samples. There is slight falsification - the first deputy chairman of the USSR State Planning Committee, V.I. Mezhlauk, who was shot in 1938, was cut off, as was the deputy chairman of the Council of People's Commissars, V.Ya. Chubar, who was shot a year later.

Grigory Konstantinovich (aka Sergo) Ordzhonikidze, who recently admired the ZiS-101, died on February 18, 1937. Whether he shot himself or died due to illness is still unknown. Vlasik again took a very historically valuable photo. At Sergo's deathbed stand his relatives and comrades: his wife Zinaida Gavrilovna Ordzhonikidze, comrades Molotov, Yezhov, Stalin, Zhdanov, Kaganovich, Mikoyan and Voroshilov:

The following photos have already been used in the material “The Third Coming of Stalin”. Let me remind you that this is April 22, 1937, Stalin and the company’s visit to the construction of the Moscow-Volga Canal:

Voroshilov, Molotov, Stalin, Khrushchev and Yezhov

Voroshilov, Moltov, Stalin and Yezhov at gateway No. 3

Right there. Voroshilov, Moltov, Stalin are already without Yezhov, who was removed from the photo after his arrest.

A little-known, but very important meeting between Harry Hopkins and Stalin at the very beginning of the war, on July 30, 1941, was also recorded by Vlasik on film.

G. Hopkins, as a representative of the American government and President Roosevelt personally, repeatedly visited Moscow, where he negotiated with Stalin, Molotov and other Soviet leaders. He first arrived in the Soviet capital on July 30, 1941 to clarify Moscow’s position regarding the demand for necessary military supplies, as well as to clarify the USSR’s intentions regarding participation in the war. The message delivered by Hopkins to the American administration promised US support in the supply of weapons to Moscow, as well as a proposal to convene a trilateral conference (USA, USSR and Great Britain), at which the positions of the three parties and theaters of military operations would be discussed. For Stalin, the main goal was to open a second front, but he supported the offer of American assistance, including on the Soviet-German front.

Hopkins gave a positive account of the negotiations with Stalin, concluding that the Soviet Union was ready to fight to the bitter end. On August 2, 1941, an exchange of notes took place between the USSR and the USA: Washington declared its readiness to provide all possible economic assistance to the USSR.

On March 28, 1947, another new car from the Soviet automobile industry was brought to the Kremlin. This time it was the legendary “Victory”. Stalin and members of the government inspect the Victory. Photo by N. Vlasik, published in the magazine "Technology-Youth":

As we have already been able to see, N.S. Vlasik’s not always technically perfect photographs represent enormous historical value, showing the life of Stalin and his entourage from completely unexpected angles. For example, a photo of a drunk Nikita Sergeevich Khrushchev, in a Ukrainian embroidered shirt, dancing a hopak at the Near Dacha.

Where are Vlasik’s archives now?

Fragments of a conversation between the compiler of the book “Shadows of Stalin General Vlasik and His Companions” Vladimir Loginov and N. S. Vlasik’s daughter Nadezhda Nikolaevna Vlasik-Mikhailova.

Not far from the Belorusskaya metro station, Nadezhda Nikolaevna Vlasik-Mikhailova, the daughter of Nikolai Sergeevich Vlasik, lives in a small two-room apartment. After the death of her mother, according to her father’s will, she handed over his suicide notes and memories of Stalin to Georgy Aleksandrovich Egnatashvili with a large number of photographs from Nikolai Sidorovich’s personal archive.

« They took a lot of things from us and a lot of things that were connected with my father’s archive. Actually, the main part. And what was left, my mother saved until her death. In 1985, people from Gori came to us with a letter from the Council of Ministers of Georgia with a request to transfer everything that was left to the Stalin Museum in Gori. I still have it, I can show it to you. And I handed over one hundred and fifty-two photographs, five Stalin smoking pipes, Nadezhda Alliluyeva’s student card, the original of her letter and something else. And I gave what was left to Bichigo, as my mother bequeathed to me. I only have personal photographs...

- But in addition to just human qualities, he was also very talented in many ways?

- Not that word. It was just a nugget. Whatever he undertook, he succeeded. Judge for yourself, because he went through life’s journey from a shepherd to a lieutenant general! Take his passion for photography. The Pravda newspaper constantly published his photographs. I remember no matter what number you pick up: “Photo by N. Vlasik.” After all, he had a special dark room at home. He did everything - from exposure and shooting to developing, printing and glossing - exclusively himself, without anyone's help.

— Have all the awards been confiscated?

- Absolutely everything! Four orders of Lenin, Kutuzov, the Red Banner, medals, titles... All films and recordings of Stalin’s voice were taken away... And a huge number of photographs, cameras...

— Please tell us how you lived without your father.

- We lived poorly. My father was arrested the day after my mother’s birthday—December sixteenth. We took it very hard. And they didn’t even feel sorry for the confiscated sets and cameras - this can be survived. It was scary that my father’s archive was destroyed. »

So, most of Vlasik’s archive and personal belongings are most likely now in the NKVD archives. Some of the things (photographic equipment, etc.) were sold after being confiscated immediately after the arrest. What survived in the family in 1985 was partially transferred to the Stalin Museum in Gori (including about 150 photographs), most of the orders and medals were stolen in 2003, the surviving order and a few personal items were transferred to the Slonim Creed History Museum in the same year (at the place of birth of N.S. Vlasik), and the rest, according to the will, was given to a certain Bichigo. Who is Bichigo?

From the memoirs of Lavrenty Ivanovich Pogrebny (recorded by V.M. Loginov):

— Georgians accept without evidence the version expressed by Anatoly Rybakov in the novel “Children of Arbat”: Stalin’s true father was Yakov Georgievich Egnatashvili, for whom Ekaterina Georgievna Dzhugashvili, Joseph’s mother, cleaned and washed clothes. So, he also had children and grandchildren. And one of them is Georgy Aleksandrovich Egnatashvili, my old comrade, nicknamed Bichigo. When I worked with Shvernik, he was the head of his security.

This is the turn of events! Another almost detective story!

Explanation by Georgy Aleksandrovich Egnatashvili himself (recorded by V.M. Loginov):

“The memoirs of Nikolai Sidorovich Vlasik, dictated by him before his death and recorded by his wife Maria Semyonovna Vlasik, were given to me by the general’s daughter Nadezhda Nikolaevna Vlasik-Mikhailova according to her mother’s will, along with a large number of photographs depicting I.V. Stalin with the head of the Main Directorate’s own camera security."

All that remains is to hope that the documents of the era will not dissolve in time and space and that people will come forward who can study and describe in more detail and professionally the photographic heritage of not only Stalin’s personal security guard, but also photographer Nikolai Sidorovich Vlasik.

Not being a Stalinist, I nevertheless believe that the Stalin era should be studied objectively and thoroughly. And it’s hard to find anything more objective than photographs.

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, a chain dog, ready to rush at anyone at his command, greedy, vengeful 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 factory. 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. First, he served in the Moscow police, then he participated in the Civil War, and 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 the 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 into 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 history 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 at first 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, the dacha did not even have a telephone connection with Moscow, and it appeared through the efforts of Vlasik. Over time, Vlasik created an entire 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’s not worth talking about the fact that these objects were guarded in the most thorough manner. The system of protecting important government objects 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. Bodyguard Stalin 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 the care of the children: Svetlana, Vasily and his adopted son Artyom Sergeev. Nikolai Sidorovich was not a teacher, but he tried as best he could. 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.
But over the years, the “pranks” became more and more serious, and the role of the “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 came to the point that dictated to some artists the “tastes of Comrade Stalin”, since he believed that he knew and understood them well... His impudence knew no bounds, and he favorably conveyed to the artists whether he “liked it” himself, be it a film or opera, or even the silhouettes of the high-rise buildings that were under construction 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 duty was to ensure Stalin’s safety. This work was inhuman. Always take responsibility with your head, always live on the cutting edge. He knew 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.
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 place 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 shelling 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 was 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, his 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. The sister and her husband joined the partisans, and after the liberation of Belarus they returned to their native village, of which little was left. 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 Security Directorate: a department 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” was arrested. Fedoseev, 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 data discrediting the professors, which 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 have allowed this. After the death of the leader, the “doctors’ case” was closed. All of his defendants were released, except for 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 with his criminal record 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.
“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 affirm 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 not these mistakes that needed to be pointed out? Tsar Ivan IV was formidable, but there were people who cared about their homeland, who, without fear of death, pointed out his mistakes to him. Or have there been no brave people in Rus'? - this is what Stalin’s bodyguard thought. Summing up his memoirs and his entire life in general, Vlasik wrote: “Without 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 condition I was in, no matter how much abuse 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.” Nikolai Sidorovich Vlasik, posthumously rehabilitated, 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.

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