Of the entire "Stalinist circle" Poskrebyshev is probably the least talked about. Although his role in the politics of the USSR was very significant. For many years he was Stalin's personal secretary, and history was made through him.
imaginary shadow
Stalin tried to surround himself only with people personally devoted to him. And the higher was the level of "proximity to the body", the more devoted the person had to be. Poskrebyshev was the closest person to the "leader of the peoples" for a long time. In all the memoirs about Stalin, Alexander Nikolayevich is certainly mentioned. "Poskrebyshev handed over", "Poskrebyshev reported", "Poskrebyshev called"...
Historian Dmitry Volkoganov wrote: "At any time, whenever Stalin called Poskrebyshev, the bald head of his assistant was always tilted over a pile of papers. He was a man with a computer memory. You could get help on any issue from him."
The French writer Barbusse echoed him. He wrote about Stalin: "He does not have 32 secretaries, like Lloyd George, he has only one secretary - Comrade Poskrebyshev. Stalin did not sign what others write. He is given materials, and he does everything himself."
In his conversations with Chuev, Vyacheslav Molotov recalled: “When Stalin came home from work,” Artem Fedorovich told me, “Poskrebyshev followed him with a bag of letters. Stalin sat down at the table, read, some of them aloud.”
Thus, an image of a kind of "Stalin's shadow" emerges before us. However, Poskrebyshev was not a mere shadow, all the correspondence of Joseph Stalin passed through him, he solved the personal and administrative issues of the Secretary General. It was Poskrebyshev who, for many years, determined what would fall on the Secretary General's table and what could be "wrapped up," he monitored compliance with the protocol and the attendance of members of the Politburo at meetings. The power of this short, plump man was enormous, everyone was forced to reckon with him - from mere mortals to military leaders.
for fun
The original version of how Poskrebyshev ended up "under Stalin" is given in his memoirs by Boris Bazhanov, who was Stalin's secretary when he was just going to the top of power. Bazhanov himself, as he admitted, "disappointed in communism" and emigrated, and he wrote his memoirs abroad, which became a bestseller.
According to Bazhanov, when he worked in the editorial office of Izvestia TsK for Molotov, he noticed a small bald man among the workers who were packing the print runs. For the sake of laughter, they decide to nominate him as a member of the Central Committee cell. And, of course, since the recommendation comes from the party secretariat, Poskrebyshev is immediately accepted.
Further more. Again, for the sake of mischief, Poskrebyshev, according to Bazhanov, is recommended as a personal assistant to the secretary of the Central Committee, Kossior (purely for reasons of the comical picture: two small bald people work in the same team).
So, they say, Poskrebyshev was promoted. We will not argue that Bazhanov's memoirs correspond to historical truth. Rather, this is a personal attitude of "disillusioned with communism", but the attitude itself is indicative - Bazhanov tried in every possible way to show that Stalin brought narrow-minded people closer to him. Of course it wasn't.
Great friendship
Poskrebyshev was not an armchair hostage, although he worked 16 hours a day. He also had close friends. He loved to go fishing with them. Friends were not easy: cardiologist Bakulev, polar explorer Papanin, General Khrulev. Poskrebyshev had a long-term friendship with Bakulev, they grew up together, sang together in the church choir, they were called Poskrebenya and Bakulenya. They carried their friendship throughout their lives.
Alexander Nikolayevich also loved outdoor activities, played gorodki and tennis. He loved to visit friends in the country. One incidental story, told by Vladimir Kuznichevsky, is connected with the dacha of Poskrebyshev's friend, the polar explorer Papanin. Stalin greatly appreciated Papanin and presented him with a luxurious dacha. A polar explorer, a broad nature, dug a pond in the dacha and even settled two swans there. Shortly thereafter, the General Secretary summoned him to his office. He asked if he liked the cottage. Papanin began to express gratitude, then Stalin asked: "If you like the dacha so much, why did you give it to the orphanage?" The stunned Papanin began to deny that he did not remember when this happened ... Stalin said: "Well, of course, this morning. Here Poskrebyshev has the documents. By the way, when you go out, do not forget to sign them "...
The Secretary General, of course, gave another dacha to the polar explorer, but Papanin no longer started swans and did not boast of luxury.
The wife's case
Stalin liked to test the loyalty of his close associates, putting them before a difficult choice - between personal life and state necessity. Poskrebyshev's second wife was Bronislava Metallikova. The sister of the wife of her brother Mikhail Solomonovich was at one time married to Trotsky's son Leo. This connection proved fatal.
During a trip to Paris in 1933, Bronislava and Mikhail met Lev Lvovich. Meaningless, a chance meeting gave rise in 1937 to the initiation of criminal cases against the Metallikovs. Poskrebyshev's wife was saved, but not for long. Bronislava worked very actively for her brother, and in 1939 she went to Lubyanka to meet with Beria. Didn't come back.
Poskrebyshev asked Stalin to intervene, but he himself was forced to submit a warrant for the arrest of his wife to Stalin for signature. According to Alliluyeva's memoirs, Stalin said: "What's the matter? Do you need a woman? We'll find you." Faithful Poskrebyshev worked with Stalin for almost 15 more years.
Beria factor
At the end of Stalin's rule, his secretary fell under the "skating rink" of Lavrenty Beria, who methodically eliminated both competitors in power and persons close to Stalin. In November 1952, Beria succeeded in removing Poskrebyshev from the Kremlin. The main arguments are the alleged involvement of Poskrebyshev in the "case of doctors" and the "Zionist conspiracy", as well as the loss by Poskrebyshev of important documents that were "lost" not without the efforts of Beria.
Stalin made a statement: "I caught Poskrebyshev in the loss of secret material. No one else could do this. The leak of secret documents went through Poskrebyshev. He gave out secrets." However, they did not have time to shoot Stalin's secretary. After the death of the "leader" Khrushchev released Alexander Nikolaevich. He lived until 1965. Until now little known, although he became the hero of jokes.
Not a single modern historian has yet considered the arrest of Stalin's personal secretary A.N. Poskrebyshev and the head of security N.S. Vlasik as links of one chain that preceded the elimination of the leader. The task is rather difficult, but we will try anyway. To begin with, let's turn to the memoirs of P. A. Sudoplatov.
Lieutenant General Vlasik, - said Pavel Anatolyevich, - the head of the Kremlin guard, was sent to Siberia to the post of head of the camp and secretly arrested there. Vlasik was charged with concealing the famous letter of L. Timashuk, which Ryumin used to start the "doctors' case", as well as in suspicious ties with foreign intelligence agents and secret collusion with Abakumov.
After the arrest, Vlasik was mercilessly beaten and tortured. His desperate letters to Stalin about his innocence went unanswered. Vlasik was forced to admit that he abused his power, that he allowed suspicious people to attend official receptions in the Kremlin, on Red Square and at the Bolshoi Theater, where Stalin and members of the Politburo were, who, thus, could be exposed to terrorist attacks. Vlasik remained imprisoned until 1955, when he was convicted now for embezzling funds for the Yalta and Potsdam conferences, and then amnestied. Despite the support of Marshal Zhukov, his requests for rehabilitation were denied.
The dismissal of Vlasik did not mean at all that Beria could now change people in Stalin's personal guard. In 1952, after the arrest of Vlasik, Ignatiev personally headed the Kremlin Security Directorate, combining this position with the post of Minister of State Security.
Even before the conversation with P. A. Sudoplatov, I learned that Vlasik was arrested on December 15, 1952. But his trial took place two years after Stalin's death - on January 17, 1955.
Excerpt from court testimony:
presiding. When did you meet the artist S.?
Vlasik. In 1934 or 1935. He worked on the decoration of Red Square for the festive holidays.
presiding. What brought you closer to him?
Vlasik. Of course, the rapprochement was based on joint drinking and meeting women ...
presiding. Defendant Vlasik, you exposed secret agents of the MGB before S. He testified: “I learned from Vlasik that my friend Krivova is an agent of the authorities, and that his cohabitant Ryazantseva is also cooperating.”
Recognizing this, Vlasik shows:
But in matters of service, I was always in place. Drinking and meeting women was at the expense of my health and in my spare time. I admit, I had a lot of women.
Did the head of government warn you about the inadmissibility of such behavior?
Yes, in 1950 he told me that I was abusing relationships with women.
You showed that Sarkisov reported to you about Beria's debauchery, and you said: "There is nothing to interfere in Beria's personal life, we must protect him."
Yes, I got away from this, because I thought that it was not my business to interfere in this, because it is connected with the name of Beria.
How could you allow a huge overspending of public funds in your administration?
My literacy suffers greatly, my whole education consists in three classes of the parish school.
Defendant Vlasik, tell the court what of the trophy property you acquired illegally, without payment?
As far as I remember: a piano, a grand piano, three or four carpets.
What can you say about fourteen cameras? Where do you get crystal vases, glasses, porcelain dishes in such quantity?
It's enough. Pianos, carpets, cameras - this is nothing more than an excuse. The main thing is completely different. And A. Avtorkhanov speaks about this main thing, referring to the situation in the early fifties: “Two people are regaining their former importance: Lieutenant General A. N. Poskrebyshev and Lieutenant General N. S. Vlasik. No one can have access to Stalin without these persons, not even members of the Politburo. There were exceptions, if Stalin himself called someone, most often for drinking dinners. Stalin not only managed current affairs through these two persons, but he entrusted them with his personal security. An outside force could sneak up on Stalin only through the crisis of this ideal service of his personal security. In other words, no one could remove Stalin before they remove these two persons. But no one could remove them either, except Stalin himself.
Avtorkhanov gave an unflattering description of Poskrebyshev. Yes, by nature a helper. Yes, not an independent figure. What was another temporary worker of Stalin, General Vlasik? According to the researcher, it was Arakcheev and Rasputin in one person: a soulless martinet and a cunning peasant. In the Russian and Soviet armies, A. Avtorkhanov writes, this is probably the only case when an illiterate, simple soldier, bypassing all sorts of courses and schools, reached the rank of lieutenant general. Moreover, he acted as an interpreter of Stalin's views on cultural issues. Vlasik broke the record for the duration of his service with Stalin - he is the only one who managed to hold out from 1919 until almost the death of Stalin.
Chechens say: a wolf marching to a mountain top risks his life. So many "Stalin's wolves" died - at the hands of Stalin himself. But, sacrificing such wolves as Poskrebyshev and Vlasik, Stalin did not know that for the first time in his life he had become an instrument of someone else's will.
The opinion of a foreign political scientist of Soviet origin, who, by the way, never saw Vlasik, and the opinion of Stalin's daughter, although she knew her father's main bodyguard from childhood, do not differ in many respects:
General Nikolai Sergeevich Vlasik stayed near his father for a very long time, since 1919. Then he was a Red Army soldier assigned to guard, and then became a very powerful person behind the scenes. He headed all of his father’s guards, considered himself almost the closest person to him, and, being himself incredibly illiterate, rude, stupid, but noble, in recent years he went so far as to dictate to some artists the “tastes of Comrade Stalin” ... And the figures listened and followed these tips ... His impudence knew no bounds ... It would not be worth mentioning him at all - he ruined the lives of many - but before that he was a colorful figure that you would not pass by him. During my mother's lifetime, he existed somewhere in the background as a bodyguard. At his father’s dacha, in Kuntsevo, he was constantly and “supervised” from there all the other residences of his father, which became more and more over the years ... Vlasik, with the power given to him, could do anything ...
Significant details in the portrait of N. S. Vlasik are added by the writer K. Stolyarov, who, judging by his works, studied the Lubyanka characters well:
Protecting Stalin was a troublesome and nervous task, because, according to Vlasik, there were always intriguers nearby who tried to remove him from this work. The first such attempt took place in 1934. And in 1935, he, Vlasik, covered Stalin with his body when the pleasure boat was fired upon from the shore by a border guard post, and, not at a loss, organized a return machine-gun fire, after which the shots at the boat stopped. The leader was imbued with confidence in Vlasik, for ten years Nikolai Sergeevich was not disturbed by intrigues, and then the unrest began again ...
However, Vlasik himself spoke about this episode in a letter from the places of punishment: “In 1946, my enemies slandered me, and I was removed from the post of head of the Security Directorate of the USSR Ministry of State Security. But Comrade Stalin reacted to this with all sensitivity, he himself sorted out all the charges against me, which were absolutely false, and, convinced of my innocence, restored my former trust.
In 1948, Fedoseev, commandant of the Blizhnaya dacha, was arrested. The investigation was led by Serov under the direct supervision of Beria. Testimony was taken from Fedoseyev against me that I supposedly wanted to poison Comrade Stalin. T. Stalin doubted this and personally verified it by summoning Fedoseyev for interrogation, where he stated that this was a lie, which he was forced to sign by beatings. The Fedoseev case was transferred from the Ministry of Internal Affairs to the MGB ...
Soon Serov summoned Orlov, the new commandant of the Blizhnaya dacha, for interrogation and also demanded that he sign a false protocol against me, but Orlov refused. And Serov could not get a sanction for the arrest of Orlov ... "
“Big troubles befell Vlasik in the spring of 1952,” we read from the writer K. Stolyarov, “when the commission of the Central Committee of the All-Union Communist Party of Bolsheviks, chaired by G. Malenkov, revealed blatant outrages: using the lack of control, the faithful bodyguards of the Kremlin elite at the master’s dachas ate black caviar with centners and balyks intended for nomenclature stomachs! In response to the question: “Where did you look?” - Vlasik explained that, due to his illiteracy, it was difficult for him to engage in financial and economic activities, so he entrusted control over this side of the work of the head office to his deputy. As for those cognacs and balychki that were brought from Stalin's dacha for his personal consumption, Nikolai Sergeevich answered: “Yes, there were such cases, but sometimes I paid money for these products. True, there were cases when they got it for free.
Apparently, Nikolai Sergeevich had no idea why he was being pestered because of some fish ?! If, according to his position, for decades he had been eating for free with Stalin, then - mother-to-be! - Is there a big difference: will he eat half a kilo of caviar in front of the leader, or will he take the same caviar with him, so to speak, "dry rations"?
In fairness, I note that there was no clear regulation in this regard, except for the old lackey rule: servants are allowed to take for themselves only what the owners themselves and the persons invited by them did not eat at the table - fruit from vases, salmon cut into petals, salmon, ham , although full, but already uncorked bottles of alcoholic beverages, etc. But, on the other hand, was General Vlasik obliged to be guided by the norms of behavior for lackeys, since he himself had long ago turned from a poor day laborer, if not into a socialist count , then at least a baron or a viscount, because he had his own chic state dacha with a personal chef, whom Nikolai Sergeevich terrorized in a uniform way and with whom, according to the testimony of witness P., “he spoke exclusively with the use of a selective obscenity, not embarrassed by the women present” ?
According to K. Stolyarov, they didn’t want to label Vlasik as a non-sent, but they punished him approximately by expelling him from the party and shamefully appointing him not to a general, but to an officer’s position as deputy head of a forced labor camp in the Urals, in the city of Asbest. He served there for only six months, and in December 1952 he was arrested for treason - it turns out that it was he, Vlasik, who in 1948 did not properly respond to Lydia Timashuk's denunciation about the villainous murder of A. Zhdanov.
When it turned out that the killer doctors were only doctors, but by no means murderers, Beria, as already mentioned, was in no hurry to release Vlasik. Those who replaced Beria did the same. During the investigation, some facts were discovered that made it possible to call Vlasik to account. For example, during a search in his house, they found a trophy service for 100 people, 112 crystal glasses, 20 crystal vases, 13 cameras, 14 photographic lenses, 5 rings and - as it is written in the protocol - a “foreign accordion”, which Vlasik acquired illegally without payment. In addition, Vlasik admitted that in 1945, at the end of the Potsdam Conference, “he took three cows, a bull and two horses out of Germany, of which he gave a cow, a bull and a horse to his brother, a cow and a horse to his sister, a cow to his niece; the cattle was delivered to the Slonim district of the Baranovichi region by train of the Security Department of the Ministry of State Security of the USSR.
But that's not all. The investigation found that Vlasik was morally decomposed, systematically drank and cohabited with women who received passes from him to the stands of Red Square and government theater boxes, and also kept in touch with persons who did not inspire political confidence, disclosed in conversations with them secret information regarding protection of the leaders of the party and the Soviet government, kept official documents in his apartment that were not subject to disclosure.
Despite the fact that Vlasik fervently argued that drinking and countless relationships with women occurred only in his spare time, the Military Collegium of the Supreme Court of the USSR on January 17, 1955 issued a verdict:
“Vlasik Nikolai Sergeevich be deprived of the rank of lieutenant general, on the basis of Article 193-17, paragraph “b” of the Criminal Code of the RSFSR, using Article 51 of the Criminal Code of the RSFSR, exile for 10 (ten) years in a remote area of the USSR. By virtue of Article 4 of the Decree of the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet of the USSR of March 27, 1953 on amnesty, to reduce this punishment by half, that is, to 5 (five) years, without loss of rights.
Deprive Vlasik of medals: “For the defense of Moscow”, “For the victory over Germany in the Great Patriotic War of 1941–1945”, “In memory of the 800th anniversary of Moscow”, “XXX years of the Soviet Army and Navy”, two badges of honor “VChK - GPU."
File a petition before the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet of the USSR to deprive Vlasik of government awards: three orders of Lenin, four orders of the Red Banner, the Order of the Red Star, the Order of Kutuzov 1st degree and the medal "XX Years of the Red Army".
The verdict is final and not subject to cassation appeal.
The hastily incriminated article on treason was absent in the verdict, it was replaced with abuse of office. Vlasik soon fell under an amnesty and returned to Moscow. He failed to achieve rehabilitation, despite the intercession of such influential people as the famous marshals Zhukov and Vasilevsky.
And here is the conclusion that A. Avtorkhanov came to: “In the decisive moments, there was no one near Stalin: neither the“ old guard ”of Stalin - the Molotovites, nor the“ most faithful squire ”Poskrebyshev, nor the life guard Vlasik, nor the devoted son Vasily, not even Vinogradov's personal doctor. The death of Stalin guards and regulates Beria with the constant presence of his three accomplices - Malenkov, Khrushchev, Bulganin, who betrayed Stalin, Beria, and themselves.
And now about another person closest to Stalin - A. N. Poskrebyshev, without whose report no one could enter the leader's office. Says the former employee of the Kremlin guard S. P. Krasikov:
The personal office of the leader - a special sector - for a long time was headed by Major General Alexander Nikolaevich Poskrebyshev, whom the owner called "chief", thereby making it clear that all issues relating to himself should first be agreed with Poskrebyshev.
About a year before Stalin's death, Beria, with the help of Malenkov, disbanded the well-coordinated personal guard of the leader. Nikolai Sergeevich Vlasik was accused of squandering public funds and trying to embezzle and conceal important government documents. After one of the meetings of the Bureau of the Presidium of the Central Committee of the CPSU, which took place at Stalin's dacha in Volynsky, Vlasik, examining the premises, found a top secret document on the floor and put it in his pocket in order to pass it on to Poskrebyshev. But, by order of Stalin, when leaving the house he was detained and searched, then suspended from work. Whether the leader himself threw incriminating material to Vlasik or at the prompt of someone, but the car was given a move. Poskrebyshev was accused of losing his vigilance...
And now about one tenacious legend. After the death of Poskrebyshev, there were rumors that he left either diary entries about the years of work with Stalin, or almost completed memoirs. During the years of my work in the Central Committee of the CPSU, I was interested in many old-timers whether this was so. I remember one of the veterans of the general department retold the words of his former boss K. U. Chernenko:
Poskrebyshev could not keep diary entries due to the specifics of working for "himself" and because of the peculiarities of his secretive nature. After his death, we found nothing. And if I don’t know, our department was engaged in the seizure of archives at that time.
Konstantin Ustinovich at that time was in charge of the General Department of the Central Committee of the CPSU.
However, this does not mean that Poskrebyshev really did not leave any memoirs behind him. The fact that they have not yet been discovered is not yet evidence that they do not exist.
And yet Poskrebyshev, for all the importance of his post, was a "paper" general. Documents for signature, regulation of visitors. Another thing is Vlasik, who was directly responsible for the safety of the leader. Why was it removed? Who was the developer of the ingenious multi-move?
S. P. Krasikov, while preparing his notes for publication, talked with people who were well aware of this very mysterious matter, but who did not want to disclose their names. He gives one of these conversations in his book "Near the Leaders" in the form of questions and answers.
Question. Were the abuses of the “nine” (the Ninth Directorate of the KGB of the USSR, which was responsible for the security of the top Soviet leadership) so strong? N. Z.), that it was necessary to arrest the head of the personal guard of the leader N. Vlasik?
Answer. The reason for his dismissal was the “doctors' case”. Vlasik was accused of hiding a letter from Lydia Timashuk since 1948, where Voroshilov, Mikoyan and Molotov were to become the main defendants.
Question. Don't you think that Georgy Maximilianovich Malenkov deliberately disarmed his benefactor in order to doom him to defenselessness and loneliness? Did Beria help him in this? I remember that on the eve of the leader's illness, his personal guards were disbanded into different units. And some were even sent to where, as they say, Makar did not graze calves. Those who tried to resist lawlessness were shot on the spot. And all this while Joseph Vissarionovich was alive.
Answer. I remember. All the main guards were then discouraged by such a turn of events ... The veterans of the security service were dispersed, and the fledgling youth were only able to tremble before the members of the Politburo, and not demand from them the impeccable observance of the rules of official regulations. According to the stories of Colonel S. V. Gusarov, who at that time served in the protection of I. V. Stalin, the sudden death of the leader, who had felt quite tolerably the day before, gave rise to various rumors. One version of his sudden death was a premeditated murder.
The same Colonel Gusarov did not exclude the possibility that this heinous act was committed by someone from his inner circle.
Question. But who could be interested in this? Beria? At that time he was on the hook of Malenkov and knew that his every step was being watched, or Khrushchev? There was no reason for Malenkov to send the father of the leader to the forefathers, who, in fact, handed over to him the leadership of the party and the country ...
Answer. It seems that he bequeathed something, but he did not give it away. He teased his appetite, but he lives and gets on well, rules the country, leads the party. It is not known when it will turn up. Georgy Maximilianovich is beyond suspicion, he holds the cards in his hands.
Question. A game not for life, but for death, love and hate?
Answer. Don't know. But on the night of February 28 to March 1, Sergei Vasilievich Gusarov stood at his post at the entrance to the main house of the dacha, saw Malenkov, Beria and Khrushchev leaving at about four o'clock in the morning. He remembered that Malenkov then breathed a sigh of relief, and they all went home.
Question. What are you implying? Imagine breathing a sigh of relief. What follows from that?
Answer. Nothing. However, some heaviness from the soul, it turns out, Malenkov removed. Which one? ... When Molotov was asked the question: “Could it be that they (Malenkov, Beria and Khrushchev) poisoned Stalin when they drank tea with him on the last day before the illness?” - he answered without a shadow of a doubt: “Could be. It could be ... Beria and Malenkov were closely connected. Khrushchev joined them and had his own goals ... "
Question. But Khrushchev, in his memoirs, claims that the only person interested in Stalin's death was Lavrenty Beria.
Answer. In this situation, G. M. Malenkov was also interested in Stalin's death. It was not Beria who dispersed the Stalinist guards and brought Vlasik and Poskrebyshev under arrest, namely G. M. Malenkov, but, like a cunning fox, he did it with the hands of L. P. Beria so that the mosquito would not undermine his nose. And as soon as Stalin went to the forefathers, he immediately concocted a case against Beria and got rid of him.
Question. Terrible suspicions. Could it be?
Answer. There are more than enough reasons for this, in my opinion. During the interrogation by the chief of the KGB L.P. Beria, the head of Stalin's personal guard Vlasik, Nikolai Sergeevich got the impression that Beria knew thoroughly about his purely personal conversations with I.V. Stalin. Which once again gives reason to assume that the services of L.P. Beria were listening to the office and apartment of the Secretary General. By the way, the son of Lavrenty Pavlovich Sergo Lavrentievich mastered the eavesdropping system to perfection, about which he shared his memories in the book “My father is Lavrenty Beria”.
It is appropriate here to cite the answers of L. M. Kaganovich to the questions of the writer F. Chuev:
It seems that Stalin was killed?
I can not say.
Molotov was inclined to this. Do you know what he told me?
At the mausoleum on May 1, 1953, the last time Beria was, he told Molotov: "I removed him." “But Beria could not deliberately slander himself in order to give himself weight,” said Molotov. - And Beria said: “I saved you all!” - Above Molotov also hung ...
May be.
But you don’t admit, Lazar Moiseevich, that if Stalin had lived a little longer, they could have dealt with you, with Molotov ...
I can not say. You can’t do this: if yes, if only ...
And in conclusion - a fragment from an exclusive interview with S. I. Alliluyeva to the editor-in-chief of the newspaper "Sovershenno sekretno" Artem Borovik. The interview took place in London in the summer of 1998. It was already a completely different woman - tired, extremely sincere, weighing her every word.
When a stroke happened to him late in the evening, - she said, - in the morning of the next day they told me to come to the dacha without notifying me of what had happened. And the day before, I tried all the time to get to him. I felt like I should have been there. I think he called me somehow, without words. Some cry from the heart. I called the security guards several times. But since they knew he was unconscious, they didn't let me in. I tried to get through all night. Then, late at night, I went to the Shverniki, I didn’t know where to go. To the cottage. They played movies there. An old film with Moskvin "The Stationmaster". This completely threw me off track. Because the movie was silent. Silent Russian classic. Such a touching film about the love of an old father for his daughter, who was kidnapped by a passing officer and taken away. And the poor old man decided to go to the city and froze. Then, a few years later, a beautiful cab arrives. A beautiful metropolitan lady comes out of it and goes to the grave. And there she cries. I watched this movie that night. I was offered to stay overnight. But I couldn't. Went home quickly. And in the morning they called me. Turns out he had a stroke last night.
Poskrebyshev Alexander Nikolaevich
Personal secretary of Joseph Vissarionovich Stalin (Dzhugashvili), General Secretary of the Central Committee of the CPSU, Generalissimo of the Soviet Union, leader of the USSR in 1922-1953.
Alexander Poskrebyshev, a party leader, was a permanent secretary, personal assistant and attorney in almost all affairs of the state and, of course, Joseph Stalin himself. His role in the power structures of the country was significant and was even more important than his official status, which was confirmed by the special disposition of the leader of the USSR towards him.
Poskrebyshev Alexander Nikolaevich was born in 1981 in Vyatka in the family of a shoemaker. By education he was a paramedic. In 1917, in March, he joined RSDLP (b).
In 1922, Poskrebyshev began his party and state career with work in the apparatus of the Central Committee of the RCP (b) and a year later became the head of the Administration Central Committee of the RCP (b).
In 1924, Poskrebyshev met I. Stalin, and he invited him to work with him, his assistant. I. Stalin at that time was already General Secretary of the Central Committee of the Party and systematically carried out a covert struggle for his absolute power in the Party and in the country.
Continuing to remain in this position, Poskrebyshev added all new functions and powers to his duties. So, in 1929–1934, he became the deputy head, and then the head himself. Special Secret Department.
In 1931, Poskrebyshev was appointed personal secretary to I.V. Stalin (now such a position sounds like a press secretary and adviser to the president). Alexander Poskrebyshev managed to become the most trusted person of the leader. He prepared various documents, carried out special assignments of I. Stalin. It was through Poskrebyshev that all the information, of almost any nature, came to Stalin. The secretary always attached a sheet to each document with his comments, and almost always his opinion coincided with the opinion of General Secretary.
But the career of a devoted secretary began with a joke. Boris Bazhanov talks about this in his "Memoirs". Boris Bazhanov was Stalin's personal secretary during the rise of the future great leader to power. He fled on January 1, 1928 to Persia and later left for the United States. “When I worked for Molotov as a secretary of Izvestia of the Central Committee,” recalls B.G. Bazhanov, - one worker worked on the expedition of the Central Committee, who packed magazines in bales, dragged them and sent them out. Small, bald and does not seem to be a fool. Surname - Poskrebyshev .. . Almost out of mischief, we decide to nominate him to the secretary of a cell of the Central Committee (since it comes from Stalin's secretariat, it passes instantly). Poskrebyshev turns out to be an extremely obedient cell secretary and even too often runs to Kanner for directives ... But the mischief of Stalin's secretaries plays once again a decisive role in Poskrebyshev's career. In 1926, when Stanislav Kosior became the fourth secretary of the Central Committee ... he asked that Stalin's secretariat indicate the candidacy of a secretary for him. Kosior is small and bald, Poskrebyshev is small and bald; they make a rather comical couple. That is why Kanner, choking with laughter, offers the secretary of Poskrebyshev’s cell as Kosior’s assistant, which is being done ... From Kosior’s secretariat, he will move in 1928 to Tovstukha’s assistants, after Tovstukha’s death in 1935 he will take his place - Stalin’s assistant and head of the Special Sector , and for eighteen years he will be Stalin's faithful batman, before whom the ministers and members of the Politburo will tremble ”(Bazhanov B. G. Memoirs of Stalin's secretary. M., 1990. P. 84).
From 1934 to 1952, Poskrebyshev led Special Sector of the Central Committee of the CPSU (B). In August 1935, he was appointed head of the office of the General Secretary of the Central Committee of the All-Union Communist Party of Bolsheviks (now this department and position would be called the head of the presidential administration).
In 1946, Poskrebyshev was elected to the Supreme Soviet of the USSR. After World War II, his wife Bronislava Solomonovna, a distant relative of L.D. Trotsky was arrested. Poskrebyshev asked Stalin to save her, but he refused and she spent three years in prison, and was later shot on charges of espionage.
In 1952, Poskrebyshev became secretary of the Presidium and Bureau of the Presidium of the Central Committee of the CPSU. In November 1952, L.P. Beria managed to convince I. Stalin to remove his personal secretary from the Kremlin. Beria's argument was Poskrebyshev's alleged involvement in the so-called "cause of doctors".
At this time, in the inner circle of Stalin, a plan was ripened to demand the resignation of the Secretary General. But it is almost impossible to do this while Stalin is surrounded by people devoted to him. And Beria chooses intrigue as a struggle for power. According to historians, he masterfully owned this "weapon". The most favorable place for submitting a demand for resignation was the Black Sea coast of Georgia, far from Moscow. But after the "Mingrelian case" Stalin was afraid of his countrymen and stopped going there on vacation. Alliluyeva reports: “The last time he lived especially solitary; trip south in the autumn of 1951 was the last."
There were two places left for the implementation of the plan: the Kremlin and a dacha in Moscow. The Kremlin is the seat of the state and the party. All actions originating from here are considered legal. But if Stalin refused to accept the demand for his resignation, then at the touch of a button he would have raised the alarm not only in the Kremlin, but in Moscow and throughout the country: communication here was perfect, so the Kremlin would also fall away. All that remained was Kuntsevo, Stalin's dacha near Moscow. Kuntsevo posed a danger only as long as Stalin's "inner cabinet" operated flawlessly. It was necessary to remove from Stalin his personal doctor, the head of his personal guard , the head of his personal office, his representative in the Kremlin - the commandant of the Kremlin. They could only be removed by the hands of Stalin himself. This is what Beria did. Secret documents disappear from Poskrebyshev's bureau, he is accused of theft, of "leaking state secrets" and of links with international Zionism. Probably, Beria managed to steal from Poskrebyshev something more secret than Stalin's economic manuscripts, which Khrushchev speaks about. Otherwise, Stalin's statement would not have been clear: “I convicted Poskrebyshev of losing secret material. Nobody else could do it. The leak of secret documents went through Poskrebyshev. He gave away secrets." Stalin immediately removed Poskrebyshev, but did not have time to shoot him. After Stalin's death, he was released and retired.
The personality of Alexander Poskrebyshev, “Stalin’s faithful squire,” as N.S. called him. Khrushchev at the XX Party Congress, no doubt, was very influential during the reign of the "leader of all peoples" and his participation in the course of the history of our country is the subject of research by many modern historians. Alexander Poskrebyshev, according to the recollections of his family, colleagues and eyewitnesses, was of exceptional capacity for work. Poskrebyshev's eldest daughter, Galina Aleksandrovna Egorova, told D. Volkogonov that he spent at least sixteen hours at work. “At any time, whenever Stalin called Poskrebyshev, the bald head of his assistant was always tilted over a pile of papers. It was a man with a computer memory. It was possible to get information from him on any issue” (Vologonov D. Stalin. M., 1991. S. 358–359).
Biography
A. N. Poskrebyshev was born in 1891 in Vyatka.
He is a paramedic by training.
In March 1917 he became a member of the RSDLP (b). Since 1922, he worked in the apparatus of the Central Committee, and then became the head of the Administration of the Central Committee of the RCP (b) - 1923-1924.
In 1924, he acted as assistant, and then personal secretary to I.V. Stalin and remained in this appointment until Stalin's death (1953).
Since 1935, Poskrebyshev headed the personal office and the Special Sector of the Secretary General.
From 1939–1956 Poskrebyshev was a member of the Central Committee of the CPSU.
In 1946 he was elected to the Supreme Soviet of the USSR.
In 1953 he was removed from Stalin's inner circle. The reason for the disfavor was the intrigues of L.P. Beria. After Stalin's death, Poskrebyshev was arrested on charges of leaking information and espionage, and was also suspected of having links with international Zionism. He was soon released and retired.
Main works and awards
Promoted to the rank of General of the Army.
Alexander Poskrebyshev was born in the village of Uspensky, Sloboda district of the Vyatka province. Mother - Nadezhda Efimovna. Brother - Soviet pilot Ivan Poskrebyshev, sisters - Olga and Alexandra.
After graduating from the medical assistant's school, he was sent to work in the city of Baranchu (Urals), where he was elected secretary of the party organization (RSDLP (b), 1917-1918). Subsequently, he worked in the political department of the Special Turkestan Army (1918-1919). In 1919-1921. - in Zlatoust: Chairman of the District Military Revolutionary Committee, then - Chairman of the Executive Committee of the District Council of Workers' and Peasants' Deputies. In 1921-1922. on party and Soviet work in Ufa.
In 1922 he was sent to Moscow, to work in the apparatus of the Central Committee of the RCP (b), VKP (b), CPSU: instructor, deputy manager of affairs, assistant secretary of the Central Committee Joseph Stalin:
1923-1924, head of the Administration of the Central Committee of the RCP (b)
1924-1929, Assistant Secretary General of the Central Committee of the RCP(b) - VKP(b)
In 1927, he simultaneously graduated from the Faculty of Economics and Law of Moscow State University.
Since 1930, he has been in charge of a special sector of the Central Committee (Stalin's Secretariat):
Since May 1929 - Deputy Head of the Secret Department of the Central Committee of the All-Union Communist Party of Bolsheviks
Since August 1935 - Head of the Office of the Secretary of the Central Committee of the All-Union Communist Party of Bolsheviks, Joseph Stalin
In 1934, a candidate member of the Central Committee of the All-Union Communist Party of Bolsheviks (XVII Congress). Based on the theses formulated by Stalin, he writes the texts of the Constitution of the USSR (1936) and the Short Course in the History of the All-Union Communist Party of Bolsheviks (1938). In 1939, at the 18th (and subsequently at the 19th) Congress, he was elected a member of the Central Committee of the All-Union Communist Party of Bolsheviks (later - the CPSU). Deputy of the Supreme Soviets of the RSFSR and the USSR (first, second and third convocations).
During the war of 1941-1945 he worked in Stalin's office in Moscow. Participated in the development of military operations and the preparation of materials for the Tehran, Yalta and Potsdam conferences. He took direct part in the work of the Yalta and Potsdam conferences. At the same time, Alexander Poskrebyshev was awarded the rank of major general.
According to his daughter Natalia Poskrebysheva:
He had a phenomenal memory. He remembered all the phones by heart and never wrote them down.
In 1947, he participated in the work of the presidium of the January philosophical discussion.
Since December 1952 - Secretary of the Presidium and Bureau of the Presidium of the Central Committee of the CPSU
Until 1953 he continued to work with Stalin. For 25 years, almost all information intended for transmission to Stalin was reported to him and he filtered out, and he reported the most important information immediately to the Politburo.
In 1953, he was accused of losing important government documents and suspended from work. Subsequently, it was reported that the incident was inspired and fabricated by Lavrenty Beria, and the documents were found.
Natalya Poskrebysheva spoke.
After Stalin's death in 1953, at the XX Congress of the CPSU, Poskrebyshev, along with many other members of the CPSU, was retired by Nikita Khrushchev.
From early childhood until the very last days, he was friends and communicated with Alexander Bakulev. Alexander Nikolaevich Poskrebyshev died on January 3, 1965. He was buried at the Novodevichy cemetery.
Personal life
From 1919 to 1929 he was married to the Polish revolutionary Jadwiga Ippolitovna Stankevich, who, after a long illness (tuberculosis), died in 1937 (buried at the Novodevichy Cemetery). Some time after the divorce from his first wife, he married Bronislava Metallikova. From this marriage he has two daughters - Galina (March 29, 1932) and Natalya (January 7, 1938).
In March 1939, Bronislava Poskrebysheva was repressed on charges of having links with Trotsky and counter-revolutionary activities. There is an assumption that the main reason for the arrest was Beria's desire to compromise Poskrebyshev and replace him with a person from his entourage. This is also confirmed by subsequent events - the arrest in 1952 of Nikolai Vlasik, the head of Stalin's personal guard, and the "knocking out" of compromising testimony against Poskrebyshev from him. Despite Poskrebyshev's attempt to achieve the release and rehabilitation of his wife, Bronislava was shot as the German army approached Moscow (October 13, 1941). In 1957, she was rehabilitated (reburied at the Novodevichy cemetery).
In 1941, Poskrebyshev married for the third time Ekaterina Grigorievna (born in 1916, maiden name not established). From this marriage, in 1942, his third daughter, Elena, was born.
Hobbies
In his free time, one of Poskrebyshev's favorite activities was fishing, which he did together with Alexander Bakulev, Ivan Papanin and Andrey Khrulev. Other hobbies include tennis, gorodki and billiards, as well as "reading fiction" (A. Gide, R. Rolland, V. Kaverin, etc.). There is evidence of his interest in the theater, and also that it was thanks to Poskrebyshev's interest "in art" that some writers, artists and theater workers escaped arrest and repression. Sergey Lemeshev, Ivan Moskvin, Ivan Kozlovsky visited his house.
Awards
- 1939, 1944, 1945, 1951 - Order of Lenin
- Medal "For the Victory over Germany in the Great Patriotic War of 1941-1945"
- Medal "For Valiant Labor in the Great Patriotic War of 1941-1945"
Movie
The directors and actors of Soviet and Russian cinema tried to recreate the image of Poskrebyshev. Historical image in the films of Vladimir Petrov (“The Battle of Stalingrad”, actor Sergei Blinnikov), Yuri Ozerov (“Liberation”, etc.) and Evgeny Matveev (“Victory”, actor Pavel Vinnik), as well as an artistic and fictional image in the film of Yuri Kara (“Feasts of Belshazzar”, actor Mikhail Kononov).
Poskrebyshev Alexander Nikolaevich, whose biography is described in this article, is a well-known statesman, a member of the RSDLP (b) party. He was the head of a special sector of the Central Committee - the Secretariat of Joseph Vissarionovich Stalin. By rank - major general.
A family
Poskrebyshev Alexander Nikolayevich was born on August 7, 1965 in the village of Uspensky, located in the Sloboda district. His father, Nikolai, was a small-land peasant and worked as a shoemaker. Mother, Nadezha Efimovna, loved children very much, raised them strictly, but fairly. Alexander had several sisters and a brother, who later became a military pilot.
Childhood
Alexander grew up like all children: he ran fishing, loved to catch crayfish from the river. He helped his mother with household chores. He was very well-read, because he loved books too much. Studied at school. He had a friend with whom they were friends until his death, Sasha Bakulin. He lived in a neighboring village. Even at school, the guys sat at the same desk. Both Sashas went to sing in the church choir. The guys were often called Bakulen and Poskreben.
Education
After school, Alexander graduated from the Vyatka Medical Assistant School. But, having received a specialty, he did not stop and continued his studies, in 1927 he entered the Moscow State University at the Faculty of Economics and Law.
Career
The career of Alexander Nikolayevich began with work as a doctor. After college, he left in the direction of the Urals, to the city of Barancha. There he joined the party and was elected secretary of the RSDLP (b). From 1918 to 1919 he worked in the political department of the Turkestan army. From 1919 to 1921 he continued to work in Zlatoust as chairman of the Military Revolutionary Committee, and then the executive committee of the Soviet of Workers' Deputies. From 1921 to 1922 - at party work in Ufa.
In the twenty-second year Poskrebyshev Alexander Nikolaevich was sent to Moscow. There he began as an instructor in the Central Committee of the party. First, from 1923 to 1924, he worked in the Central Committee of the RCP (b) as a deputy manager of affairs. Then, from 1924 to 1929, he was an assistant to the Secretary General. He was promoted to Deputy head of the secret department. In 1930 he became its head. And from 1934 he headed the Special Department of the Central Committee. In 1935, he became head of the office of the secretariat of Stalin's Central Committee.
In 1947, he took part in the discussion of the presidium, and in the fall of 1952 he became a member of the Standing Committee. In the winter of the same year - Secretary of the Presidium and
Working with Stalin
Despite the nondescript appearance, the power of Alexander Nikolaevich was enormous. And an important role in this was played by Stalin's disposition towards him. A. N. Poskrebyshev answered him with absolute devotion. And all the orders or words of Stalin even pronounced with the intonations spoken by the General Secretary.
Alexander Nikolaevich knew all his moods, habits and illnesses. They understood each other often without words at all. Poskrebyshev performed his duties conscientiously, without fuss. He had an amazing capacity for work and a phenomenal memory. He was called a walking encyclopedia. He remembered all the phones by heart and never wrote them down.
In wartime, from 1941 to 1945, he took part in the development of military operations and conference materials. At this time, Poskrebyshev became a major general. Until 1953 Alexander Nikolaevich worked with Stalin. For twenty-five years, all the information that he filtered passed through him. Part of it was passed on to the Politburo, and if there was important news, directly to Joseph Vissarionovich Stalin.
"Squire" Stalin
Alexander Nikolaevich Poskrebyshev, Stalin's personal secretary, was his "shadow", solving not only administrative, but also personal issues. He followed not only the correspondence of the General Secretary, but also the observance of the protocol and the attendance of members of the Politburo. Everyone had to reckon with Poskrebyshev - both ordinary people and military leaders.
Despite being close to his own, Poskrebyshev could not save him from arrest. He had to personally issue a warrant for her. Although he tried to defend his wife. But Stalin signed the order and, seeing the expression on Alexander Nikolayevich's face, laughed. I decided that Poskrebyshev "needed a new woman" and promised to find one in the near future. And about the arrest was adamant. I thought that if the NKVD made such a decision, then there were reasons for that. And soon a young woman came to Alexander Nikolaevich's apartment with a message that she had been sent to run the household.
Victim of Beria's intrigues
Poskrebyshev Alexander Nikolayevich became a victim of Beria's intrigues. After the fifty-second year, a plan was ripening to dismiss General Secretary Stalin. But no one wanted to talk about it openly. Moreover, he was surrounded by devoted people. As a result, Beria decided to remove Joseph Vissarionovich with the help of intrigue.
According to Lavrenty Pavlovich, Georgia would be the best place for this business. But because of the “Mingrelian case”, Stalin did not go on vacation to his fellow countrymen. Lived very secluded. There were only two places left: the Kremlin and the Moscow dacha. But there was perfect communication in the Kremlin residence, and if they began to insist on his resignation, then the alarm would rise throughout the country in a split second. The last option remained - the Moscow dacha.
But she was well protected, while Stalin was surrounded by guards and Poskrebyshev. Only the General Secretary himself could remove it. Beria informed Stalin that secret materials were allegedly disappearing from the Politburo. And except for Alexander Nikolaevich, no one could do this.
Stalin immediately removed Alexander Nikolaevich from his post and sent him to prison. I was going to shoot him. But he didn't manage to do it. After Stalin lost his loyal entourage, very soon he was found murdered in his country dacha.
Politics
In 1934 Poskrebyshev Alexander Nikolaevich became a candidate member of the Central Committee. In 1936, based on the formulated theses of Stalin, he wrote the texts to the Constitution of the Soviet Union. And two years later - A short course in history. In 1939 he became a member of the Central Committee of the All-Union Communist Party of Bolsheviks, and later - the CPSU. Poskrebyshev is a deputy of the RSFSR and BASSR of the 1st-3rd convocations.
Personal life
For the first time Alexander Nikolaevich married in 1919 to Jadwiga Ippolitovna Stankevich, a Polish revolutionary. They were married for ten years and divorced. She subsequently died of tuberculosis in 1937. She was buried at the Novodevichy cemetery in Moscow.
After a divorce from his first wife, Poskrebyshev married a second time. His wife's name was Bronislava Metallikova. In this marriage, he had two daughters - Galina and Natalya. In 1939, Bronislava was repressed for her relationship with Trotsky and on charges of counter-revolutionary activities.
There is an opinion that the real reason for her arrest is Beria, who wanted to compromise Alexander Nikolaevich, and then replace him in his position with his own man. But this is only an assumption, since at that time Beria was not closely connected with the NKVD and the Ministry of Internal Affairs.
Poskrebyshev made an attempt to rehabilitate his wife, but to no avail. She was shot as the Nazi army approached Moscow. Much later, in 1957, Bronislava was nevertheless acquitted and rehabilitated. She was reburied at Moscow's Novodevichy Cemetery.
For the third time, Alexander Poskrebyshev married Ekaterina Grigoryevna Zimina. In this marriage, a third daughter was born, who was named Elena.
Friends
Despite the busy work schedule of sixteen hours a day, Alexander Nikolayevich still found time for friends with whom he went fishing. There were only three close friends. Childhood friend Bakulev, who became a famous cardiologist, General Khrulev and polar explorer Papanin. Poskrebyshev loved not only books and fishing, but also outdoor activities: tennis, playing gorodki. He liked to visit his friends at the dacha, relax there, fish and hunt.
Character
By nature, Poskrebyshev Alexander Nikolaevich, whose photo is in this article, was decisive and purposeful. By nature, he is very kind, but at work he is collected and strict. As his daughter recalls, he always said that a person should be kind, but not kind.
Death of Poskrebyshev
Alexander Nikolaevich did not have time to shoot, since Stalin died. Khrushchev came to power and released Poskrebyshev from the dungeons. He was no longer allowed to work, but was sent to retire. He lived twelve years longer than Joseph Vissarionovich Stalin. Poskrebyshev Alexander Nikolaevich, Stalin's secretary and his right hand, died on January 3, 1965. He was buried at Moscow's Novodevichy Cemetery.
Awards
Alexander Nikolaevich Poskrebyshev was awarded four Orders of Lenin, the medal "For the victory over Germany in the Second World War." He also has a medal "For Valiant Labor in the Second World War."
