For 160 years in the history of this school there was everything: privileges, money, repressions and arrests. From a private gymnasium for wealthy merchants and aristocrats, it turned into an exemplary Soviet school for the children of Stalin and the party elite. Poets and revolutionaries studied here, heads of foreign states came here with visits. The school, whose history began under Alexander II, is still operating in the center of Moscow.
For those who are preparing for the main school exam
Until the second half of the 19th century, private schools in Russia were under constant pressure from the Ministry of Education. In the 1930s and 1940s, there were from 400 to 600 private educational institutions in the country. In the 1850s, it was completely forbidden to open new private educational institutions.
The situation changed only during the reign of Alexander II - already in 1857 the emperor canceled the decree banning the opening of private schools and boarding houses. One of the first to take advantage of this new opportunity was Franz Ivanovich Kreiman, a Moscow merchant and graduate of Dorpat University. Thus began the history of the Kreimanovskaya gymnasium.
In 1858, Kreyman was only 30 years old. He aimed to build his school on the principles of the Western European educational system - a strict approach to students, the development of a large number of subjects, systematic preparation for entering the university. Emphasis was placed on classical education: foreign and ancient languages, literature and history were a priority for the leaders of the gymnasium.
At first, the new educational institution received the status of a boarding school (which did not give its graduates the right to enter the university), but Kreyman stubbornly went towards his goal - and the status of the gymnasium was received in 1865.
Information about Franz Kreiman's private gymnasium in Moscow, 1892
The boarding house was located on 1st Meshchanskaya (now it is part of Mira Avenue) in the premises of the temple of Adrian and Natalia. At first, his popularity was low, and only seven people came to the first lesson. Kreyman was not at all embarrassed, he was sure of success. And not in vain - a year later the school had 20 students, and eight years later their number increased 10 times.
The key to success was the careful selection of teachers. Here is how one of the researchers of the history of the Kreyman gymnasium, Inga Tuman, describes them: “The law of God was taught there by the protopresbyter of the Assumption Cathedral in the Kremlin, professor of theology at Moscow University and the Theological Academy N. A. Sergievsky. Latin and ancient Greek were taught by Ivan Khristianovich Wiberg. . Mathematics, physics and geography were taught by Yuri Frantsevich Vipper. He also taught at the Kreyman gymnasium and the son of Yuri Frantsevich - historian, future member of the Academy of Sciences of the USSR Robert Yuryevich Vipper. Music and singing were taught by one of the founders of the Moscow Conservatory, composer Karl Karlovich Albrecht. The natural science teacher was Karl Eduardovich Lindemann, a professor at the Petrovsky Agricultural Academy and an outstanding scientist. Astronomy was taught by Pavel Karlovich Sternberg, the future director of the Moscow Observatory.
Strict atmosphere, classical education and high price
At the same time, the atmosphere in the gymnasium was quite strict. She worked as a boarding school, that is, the students lived in the gymnasium itself (which in the 1860s moved from Meshchanskaya to Petrovka - to the former estate of Gubin). The administration tried to avoid punishments, but eventually began to use them - the most severe was the expulsion from the gymnasium.
The school strictly suppressed absenteeism, reading foreign books, long hair, smoking, cheating, tips
Despite this (as well as the very high tuition fees), the Kreiman gymnasium was very popular with Moscow parents. They sought to send their children there, and they frightened negligent students with the fact that they would be transferred to the Kreiman gymnasium, where misconduct would be dealt with seriously.
However, Franz Kreiman tried to do everything possible so that there were no serious conflicts between students and teachers. As a graduate of the gymnasium, philosopher and jurist Prince Yevgeny Trubetskoy recalled: “There were good and even excellent teachers among the teachers who taught us. They gave us everything they could, and even knew how to interest us - boys of the third and fourth grade - in such dry, boring matters as ancient languages.
Since the 1860s, the school has been located in the former mansion of the merchant Mikhail Gubin, photo 1926
The emphasis on classical education was both a strength and a weakness of the Kreiman Gymnasium. Pupils and teachers of the school noted the depth and seriousness of the liberal arts education, but they also complained that memorizing the texts of Caesar and Thucydides did little to help develop independent thinking and the ability to create. However, there was also a real department in the gymnasium, where the natural sciences were given more attention.
Be that as it may, in the second half of the 19th century, the Kreyman gymnasium became one of the leading educational institutions in Moscow.
Children of aristocrats, large merchants, cultural figures studied here, as well as students expelled from other Moscow gymnasiums
Kreyman set himself the ambitious task of re-educating them and making them worthy members of society.
It was not easy to study: every day the high school students had six hours of classes (with only one break), after lunch it was necessary to do homework and listen to additional language lessons.
This is probably why graduates of the gymnasium often achieved a lot. Among them were the children of the Moscow merchant Abrikosov (the founder of the confectionery factory named after him, now known as the Babaevsky concern). Alexei became an outstanding pathologist (it was he who did the first embalming of V. Lenin's body), and Dmitry chose a career as a diplomat. After the 1917 revolution, he did not return to Russia.
The children of the sugar factory Tereshchenko also studied here - both later achieved great success in the development of the family business. The future revolutionary and philosopher Ilya Fondaminsky, historian Yuri Gautier, physicist Alexander Eikhenvald, philologist Alexei Shakhmatov, poet Valery Bryusov (who, however, was expelled because of his atheistic beliefs) studied in the building on Petrovka.
In 1901, Franz Kreiman handed over the management of the school to his son Richard, and four years later the school moved to a new building in Staropimenovskiy Lane. It was built by the famous architect Nikolai Shevyakov (his other projects in Moscow are the Metropol building and the gallery of the Rumyantsev Museum in Pashkov's house). The construction was paid for by the society of graduates of the gymnasium.
Within the walls of the new building, Mark Levy, better known as Mikhail Ageev, the author of the book "Affair with Cocaine", studied. In it, he described in great detail the gymnasium life of the early 20th century and introduced some classmates as characters.
At the beginning of the 20th century, the school moved to a building in Staropimenovskiy Lane / Photo: Nikolai Georgievich Kochnev
Shortly after 1917, the history of the Kreiman Gymnasium was interrupted. It was nationalized, Richard Kreyman was deprived of his post. The building in Staropimenovskiy Lane housed institutions from a veterinary institute to a Polish school. But already in 1925, a new era of the school began - in some ways similar to the past, but in some ways completely different.
Director Groza is a friend of Krupskaya and Clara Zetkin
In 1925, an ordinary district school No. 38 was opened in the building of the former Kreyman gymnasium. First of all, she was extremely lucky with the administration. Soon after the opening, Nina Iosafovna Groza, a young woman, a little over 30 years old, from an officer's family, became the director. She received an excellent education: she graduated from the Kursk Mariinsky Gymnasium, whose graduates had the right to teach.
Before the start of World War I, Nina married a young officer, Ivan Groza. At the front, he became interested in Bolshevik ideas, during the Civil War he became a red commissar. Nina Iosafovna in 1918, following her husband, also became a member of the Bolshevik Party. Soon after moving to Moscow, he became one of the leaders of the Soviet civil aviation, and she headed the 38th labor school. Nina Iosafovna was in close contact with Nadezhda Krupskaya (who played an important role in the work of the People's Commissariat of Education) and Clara Zetkin (nominally one of the leaders of the Comintern).
Contemporaries of Nina Groza spoke of her as a very strict director. She was a commanding but fair woman with a strong voice who always achieved excellent discipline in her classes and in the school as a whole. The students were a little afraid of her, warning each other in a whisper: "The storm is coming!"
Head of Education Alexander Tolstov
Her success in creating a quality school was greatly helped by the head of the educational department Alexander Tolstov. Coming from a peasant family, he was able to get a decent education and at the beginning of the 20th century became a school teacher in Moscow. In addition, he wrote textbooks, fairy tales for children, articles and brochures on education.
After the revolution, Tolstov was disgraced for some time, but then he became a member of the All-Russian Central Executive Committee and the Moscow Council and was awarded the Order of Lenin, while remaining non-partisan.
In the early 1930s, the Soviet leadership thought about the need to reform school education. This was partly due to the fact that the children of the party elite were growing up and high-ranking parents wanted a better education for them. In 1931, a resolution “On Primary and Secondary Schools” was issued, which, among other things, spoke of the creation of a network of exemplary schools.
With such connections in the People's Commissariat of Education, which Nina Groza and her husband had, it is not surprising that it was the 38th school that was chosen as one of the exemplary educational institutions. Of course, the personal qualities of Nina Groza as a director also played a role.
Stalin's head of security, Karl Pauker, wrote to the leader: “It would be nice to transfer Vasya [Stalin] to another school ... I have the 25th school scheduled on Pimensky Lane. (Tverskaya). It is very strict there, great discipline ... Svetlanka can be placed in the same school.
Joseph Stalin with son Vasily and daughter Svetlana
Stalin was just thinking about where to send his daughter Svetlana to study - it was time for her to go to first grade. He heeded Pauker's advice, and in 1932 Svetlana Alilluyeva and Vasily Stalin began to study at the new 25th Model School. They were joined by the children of many other Soviet leaders.
High salaries and half a million budget
The new 1932/33 academic year began brilliantly for the school. Back in the spring, almost 2,000 students studied here in three shifts, and by the autumn the school was heavily unloaded. At first, about 1,200 students remained, and by the mid-1930s, even closer to 800. The reduction affected primarily the children of workers, whose proportion fell from 64% to 34%. Children from the families of major Soviet officials, diplomats and military men came to these places.
The financial well-being of the school also increased greatly: in 1932, it received 195,000 rubles from the state and 124,000 from the Izvestia newspaper, the patronage of the school.
By the mid-1930s, the school budget had grown to half a million rubles.
About 350 rubles were spent per student, which is about 4-5 times more than the average norm in ordinary Soviet schools of that time. The 25th school received additional support from the Dzerzhinsky factory, the leadership of the Soviet trade unions, the Kalyaevsky plant, and district and city authorities. In addition, she earned 15 thousand rubles annually by selling tickets to the Moscow Conservatory.
Head of the educational department Alexander Tolstov (second from left) and students of the school, 1934
The school was staffed to the highest standard. 12 thousand volumes were collected in her library: from Yesenin and Dostoevsky to Dickens, Shakespeare and Hugo. Thanks to the patronage of the People's Commissariat of Health, the school had its own doctor and dentist. There was an excellent canteen (it was provided with products by the People's Commissariat of Supply), the Moscow Committee for the Free Supply of Asphalt laid asphalt in the schoolyard, the People's Commissariat for Light Industry supplied school supplies, and the People's Commissariat for the Forest Industry provided furniture for free.
Teachers also felt good: on average, their salaries were 25% higher than in regular schools.
The director and the head teacher regularly received significant bonuses totaling several thousand rubles a year. True, the requirements for teachers were also high: out of 49 teachers, 24 received a university education, and half of the teachers had 10 to 15 or more years of teaching experience.
Students of the 25th school gather for a May Day demonstration, 1935
Children of the party elite and memories of Svetlana Allilluyeva
Such concern for the 25th school was connected not only with the fact that Stalin's son and daughter studied there. Children of almost the entire Soviet party and cultural elite were educated here: Sergo Beria, Svetlana Molotova, Alexei and Stepan Mikoyans, Lev Bulganin (son of the chairman of the Moscow City Council and the future Minister of Defense of the USSR Nikolai Bulganin), Martha and Daria Peshkov (Gorky's granddaughters), Alexei Tupolev ( son of aircraft designer Tupolev), Svetlana Sobinova (daughter of opera singer Leonid Sobinov). The chairman of the parent committee was Polina Zhemchuzhina, the wife of Vyacheslav Molotov.
Among the students there were many children of foreign communists: for example, Marta Gottwald, daughter of the future leader of Czechoslovakia Klement Gottwald, Ursula Lode (daughter of the German communist Wilhelm Pieck).
Lavrenty Beria with his son Sergo
Of course, children from ordinary families also studied at the exemplary school, but they were in the minority and were often ridiculed.
Children were taken to school in official cars, but dropped off in neighboring alleys
Spectacular luxury was considered reprehensible. In some cases, a guard walked on the heels of the children. Stalin's daughter recalled: “Following me to school, from school, and wherever I went, to the dacha, to the theaters, followed (not nearby, but a little further away) an adult, a Chekist. He gradually terrorized the entire school where I studied. He made his own arrangements there. I had to put on my coat not in the common locker room, but in a special nook, near the office, where I went, blushing with shame and anger. He also canceled breakfast at a big break in the common dining room, and they began to take me somewhere to a specially fenced off corner, where he brought my sandwich from home.
The atmosphere was not the easiest for teaching, but experienced teachers managed to build the learning process on the basis of mutual respect. Even Stalin's son was afraid of being called to the director's office. Once, after his next “performance”, Nina Groza called Vasily to her, took his pioneer tie from him and said that she would send it to her father. Vasily was frightened, but was able to persuade the director not to tell Stalin anything.
School students' letter to Stalin, 1936
Geometry textbook author and noblewoman teacher
There were many additional sections in the 25th school - from boxing and amateur performances to photo circles, young naturalists and athletics sections. School self-government was strongly developed. The school was regularly visited by foreigners: from pedologists from the United States to French Prime Minister Edouard Herriot. At the same time, it was not a reserve of liberalism; on the contrary, it followed official ideological guidelines.
The students loved many of their teachers. In memoirs and interviews, the name of Anna Yasnopolskaya, a teacher of literature, is often heard. She refused to teach from a textbook, instead encouraging her children to go to the library and get acquainted with the works of Russian classics. For Yasnopolskaya, when talking about literature, the question of talent was in the first place. She could give a two for politically sensible talk about the class origin of some writer.
Geography was taught by Vera Alexandrovna Raush - a noblewoman and an experienced teacher. She has worked as a teacher in Vyatka since the beginning of the 20th century. Schoolchildren were remembered as a strict aristocrat who knew how to captivate students, but strictly fought against any violations of discipline - the same Vasily Stalin, when he tried to disrupt lessons, she was not at all afraid and kicked out of the class.
Mathematics was taught by Julius Gurvits, a lively and energetic teacher who for many years was remembered by graduates of the 25th school as an intelligent and strict mentor. He was the author of a textbook on geometry, which was used by schoolchildren throughout the USSR. Hurwitz constantly required students to perform mental calculations, saying that this was the best way to develop their abilities.
Pupils of 7 "A" class. In the center of the group of children is the director Nina Iosafovna Groza. 1934
History was taught by Pyotr Kholmogortsev (it was he who was the first to call the 25th school "Soviet Lyceum") and Matvey Zhibkov, English - Bulganin's wife Elena Korovina, physics - Boris Zworykin, a brilliant teacher and methodologist, author of many methodological manuals on physics.
It is not surprising that among the graduates of the school there were many people who connected their lives with science and culture: for example, historians Daniil Proektor and Alexander Nekrich, hydrologist Boris Ginzburg, mathematician Lev Ovsyannikov, classical philologist Viktor Yarkho, writer Boris Zakhoder, writer Yudif Kapusto, human rights activist Dina Kaminskaya.
The era of terror affected the school directly. The parents of some students were arrested at night, which the children learned about at the school assembly in the morning. Rimma Mamontova, one of the graduates of the school, recalled: “Once in the winter of 1938, director Groza gathered us all in a line in the assembly hall. We lined up in a square, as always. Lyuda [Khodorovskaya] stood next to me. Nina Osapovna came on stage with a copy of the Izvestia newspaper in her hands and read a note to us. It talked about the disclosure of the "conspiracy" of doctors, among whom were Lyuda's parents. “The doctors were arrested and sentenced to death. Today at 4 am the sentence was carried out.”
Parents were often arrested in front of their children. So, for example, it happened with the daughter of the People's Commissar of Education Elena Bubnova. Her family lived in a large mansion in Ermolaevsky Lane, the former home of the architect Shekhtel. At the end of October 1937, the NKVD came to arrest my father (he was shot 10 months later). During the search and confiscation of property, almost all of his gifts were taken away from Elena.
The Bubnov family had to live with their aunt in a communal apartment. However, Elena was not expelled from school - she was only transferred to another class; she could not join the Komsomol, because she did not want to renounce her father.
Children reacted to what was happening in different ways. Often it seemed to them that they were arresting correctly (for example, the arrest of Tukhachevsky was considered by many to be quite fair). But when it came to their families, they believed that there was some kind of mistake that would probably be corrected.
Children of "enemies of the people" were most often transferred first to other classes, and then to schools
Yevgeny Borisovich Pasternak studied for a year at an exemplary school, and then transferred to a neighboring one - in Degtyarny Lane. He recalled the children of the repressed: “The 25th school was exemplary, Stalin’s children studied there, so boys and girls periodically appeared there in tears - the children of repressed parents, they were transferred to our school in Degtyarny. If someone allowed himself to say something against these children, we beat him, and Lidia Petrovna [Melnikova, the school director] then defended us.”
But still, many of those whose parents were arrested became pariahs at school. Rimma Mamontova tells about one significant episode: on March 8, the boys played a trick on the girls - they gave them brooms instead of bouquets. In response, the girls conspired and, under the guise of sweets, fed their classmates with laxatives: “The director of the school, Nina Osapovna Groza, called everyone to her and asked -“ who invented this? No one confessed, then the “children of the enemies of the people” were made guilty and expelled from school.”
When the new 167th school was completed, next to the 25th exemplary one, the children of the “enemies of the people” began to be transferred there. Sometimes whole classes. Viktor Levenshtein, a friend of Elena Bubnova, recalled: “After a sleepless night, a search in the apartment and the arrest of the father (and sometimes the mother), the son or daughter came to class late or the next day with a face swollen from tears. In the class, everything was clear to everyone ... Our best athlete Laura Mogilnaya, the daughter of the manager of the Council of People's Commissars of the USSR and the prettiest girl in the class, the blonde Alla Lebed, the daughter of the deputy chairman of the Council of People's Commissars of the RSFSR, disappeared from our class. Yura Muralov and Misha Chervonny, who in December 1934 staged the assassination of Kirov, disappeared. Volodya Gugel, the son of the head of Magnitostroy, has disappeared.
But the repressions did not bypass the exemplary school itself - and how could this have been avoided?
School No. 175 and Stalin's favorite director
In 1937, a press campaign began against the "exemplary" schools, and already in April they were canceled. By the end of spring, Nina Groza and the school authorities began to be accused of “corruption” of children: articles appeared that school grades were inflated, and teachers nurtured the otherness and peculiarity of students, tearing them away from the people.
Nina Groza was removed from her post (Tolstov left the school even earlier - retaining, however, his place in the People's Commissariat of Education). She was appointed director of the 182nd school, and the 25th model school received the number 175.
At the end of 1937, Ivan Groza was arrested - he was accused of collaborating with the right-wing opposition and being friends with Karl Bauman. After the arrest of her husband, the turn of Nina Iosafovna herself came - she was sent into exile, from which, however, she was returned in 1941, when help was needed in the evacuation of Moscow schools.
The new principal was Olga Leonova, a primary school teacher who had been spotted by Stalin during a student tour of the Kremlin in 1936. According to another version, he was impressed by her integrity - she allegedly called Father Vasily Stalin to school, not understanding who his father was. Her career skyrocketed. She not only headed the school, but was also elected to the Supreme Soviet of the USSR in 1937. Newspapers wrote a lot about Leonova, praising her pedagogical talent and political flair.
Olga Leonova
Otherwise, there were not very many changes: funding remained the same, most of the teachers were in place, the children of high-ranking parents (including Svetlana Alliluyeva) - too. Only the sign of the "exemplary" school disappeared, formally it became ordinary. Although, of course, it wasn't.
"Fourth Reich" within the walls of the school
According to various testimonies, it was during this period that the school became even more privileged, and many parents, who had previously been embarrassed to show their position, rejected excessive modesty. Children began to be brought in luxury cars to the school building, and not to neighboring alleys.
School graduates, May 1940
In 1943, a year after Stalin's daughter graduated from school, the story of the murder and suicide on the Stone Bridge thundered in Moscow. The son of the people's commissar of the aviation industry and a student of the 175th school, Vladimir Shakhurin, was in love with a classmate Nina Umanskaya, the daughter of a Soviet diplomat, ambassador to the United States. The official version says that when her father was appointed ambassador to Mexico, Volodya tried to persuade her to stay. When it became clear that this would not happen, he appointed Nina a farewell meeting on the Bolshoy Kamenny Bridge and shot her, and then himself, from his father's "Walter" - he died two days later in the hospital.
The investigation found out that at school Shakhurin founded the secret organization "Fourth Reich", the participants of which were the children of Anastas Mikoyan, the son of Deputy Gosplan Kirpichnikov, the son of Stalin's brother-in-law Redens, the son of General Khmelnitsky, the nephew of the millionaire Armand Hammer and the son of the famous Soviet surgeon Bakulev.
The members of the organization called each other "Reichsfuehrers" and either pretended or really considered themselves "the shadow government of the USSR." For the members of the organization, the story ended badly - first they were placed in prison, and then they were sent to different parts of the USSR for a year. After this story, the school became exclusively female. Olga Leonova was removed from the post of director, despite being a deputy in the Supreme Soviet.
The level of education at the school remained quite high, besides, children of the elite continued to study in it. Excursions were organized for schoolchildren (either to enterprises or to the storerooms of the best museums), and circles worked with very professional teachers. After 1954, when co-education was reintroduced, the school became private. The only thing that really made her stand out was her in-depth study of biology.
In the 1990s, the school managed to overcome the problems that faced all educational institutions at that time a little easier - private sponsors and former students helped. In 2008, the school received the status of an Education Center, and later it was merged with Lyceum No. 1574 - now it has become its structural unit. In 2010, the first cadet class was opened, which is supervised by the Federal Security Service. In 2018, the school celebrates its 160th anniversary.
From the outside, their life was like a fairy tale: the father's belonging to the party elite of the country, access to all benefits.
How did the fate of the children and grandchildren of the party leaders of the Soviet Union
The Kremlin children, in fact, personified the future of the Soviet country, because it was they who had to live under communism. Years have passed, the political structure of the country has changed, the children have grown up and have long since become parents.
How do the descendants of the Kremlin leaders live and what do they do?
Descendants of Joseph Stalin: pilot, artist, builder
Yakov Dzhugashvili. / Photo: www.densegodnya.ru
Joseph Stalin has a lot of descendants. The eldest son Jacob left behind two children. Evgeny Yakovlevich became a military man, studied history, and led an active social life in Russia and Georgia. Stalin's great-grandson Yakov became an artist and currently lives in Tbilisi. The second great-grandson, Vissarion, works as a builder in the USA.
Galina Dzhugashvili. / Photo: www.smedata.sk
The daughter of Yakov Iosifovich Galina became a philologist, worked at the Institute of World Literature. She was married to an Algerian citizen, from whom she gave birth to her only son, Selim. Passed away in 2007.
Vasily Stalin. / Photo: www.24smi.org
Vasily became the father of four children, he had two daughters and two sons. The most famous of them - Alexander Burdonsky, director, died in 2017. Vasily became addicted to drugs and at the age of 23 he shot himself in Tbilisi. Svetlana, who suffered from a mental disorder, died at 42. Nadezhda studied at the theater school, but she did not achieve significant success in the profession, she married the adopted son of the writer Fadeev, and gave birth to a daughter. Nadezhda Stalina died in 1999 in Moscow.
Svetlana Alliluyeva. / Photo: www.kramola.info
Svetlana Alliluyeva was repeatedly married, gave birth to three children. Son Joseph was a cardiologist, lived and worked in Moscow, daughter Galina was very difficult to endure increased attention to her own person, so she left for Kamchatka, where she still lives.
Chris Evans. / Photo: www.time.kg
Of particular interest is the daughter of Svetlana Alliluyeva Chris Evans, who lives in Oregon. She was born in the marriage of the daughter of Stalin and US citizen William Peters. The 45-year-old granddaughter of the father of nations owns an antiques shop, looks very extravagant, does not like talking about her famous relative and does not know a word of Russian.
Children and grandchildren of Nikita Khrushchev: nothing to do with corn
Nikita Khrushchev. / Photo: www.livejournal.com
Nikita Sergeevich was a father of many children. In two marriages he had five children and another daughter died in infancy. The daughter from her first marriage, Julia, lived in Kyiv with her husband Viktor Gontar, who ran the theater in the capital of Ukraine. The son from his first marriage Leonid, a military pilot, died in 1943. Leonid's son Yuri died after an accident, daughter Yulia was adopted and raised by Nikita Sergeevich himself, she was a journalist, later she was in charge of the literary part of the Yermolova Theater. She died in 2017 on the railroad.
Rada Nikitichna Adzhubey (Khrushchev). / Photo: www.iz.ru
In the second marriage, three daughters and a son were born. The first girl did not live up to a year. Rada Nikitichna was the wife of the editor-in-chief of Izvestia Alexei Adzhubei, she herself devoted half a century to the journal Science and Life.
Sergei Nikitovich Khrushchev. / Photo: www.bulvar.com.ua
Sergei Nikitovich became a rocket systems engineer, in 1991 he left for America, where he was engaged in teaching. His son, the full namesake of his grandfather, Nikita Sergeyevich, graduated from Moscow State University with a degree in psychology, lived and worked in Moscow as the editor of the Dossier department in Moscow News. Passed away in 2007. Sergei Sergeevich, the second grandson of the General Secretary, lives and works in Moscow.
Elena Nikitichna planned to devote her life to science, but she died at the age of 35.
The broken family of Leonid Brezhnev
Galina Brezhneva. / Photo: www.24smi.org
Galina Brezhneva, as you know, gave her parents a lot of trouble. Not only the capital, but the whole vast country spoke about her behavior. There were legends about the "princess" novels. She was officially married only three times, but Galina Brezhneva's hobbies and loves were innumerable. The turbulent life of the Kremlin princess ended in 1998 in a psychiatric clinic.
Brezhnev's granddaughter - Victoria - with her grandmother and first husband Mikhail Filippov. 1973 / Photo: Vladimir Musaelyan / TASS.
The only granddaughter of the Secretary General, Victoria, died in 2018 from cancer. However, her life was never smooth. The marriage ended in failure, a good education did not develop into a successful career, the sale of apartments and summer cottages ended in a deal with swindlers. At one time, she handed over her mother, and then her daughter, to a psychiatric clinic - to be treated for alcoholism.
Yuri Brezhnev. / Photo: www.monateka.com
Yuri Leonidovich Brezhnev, like his father, connected his life with politics. At the beginning of his career, he held senior positions in the Ministry of Foreign Trade. Up to the first deputy minister. Later he became a deputy and a candidate member of the Central Committee of the CPSU. He died in 2003 from cancer.
Andrey Brezhnev. / Photo: www.grandhistory.ru
Brezhnev's grandchildren Leonid and Andrei made a good career. Leonid became a chemist and was not particularly interested in politics, developing his own business and teaching at the Faculty of Chemistry of Moscow State University. Leonid Yurievich is still developing various chemical additives for hygiene products. The second grandson, Andrei, devoted himself to politics, was the first secretary of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of Social Justice. He died in July 2018 from a heart attack.
Yuri Andropov: two marriages of the head of the KGB
Evgenia and Vladimir Andropov, children from their first marriage. / Photo: www.kpcdn.net
Vladimir Andropov, the son of Yuri Vladimirovich from his first marriage, was convicted twice for theft, after the second term he drank heavily, and died at the age of 35. Vladimir's daughter Evgenia lives in Moscow, worked as an assistant to State Duma deputy Alexei Mitrofanov.
Not much is known about the fate of Yuri Andropov's daughter from her first marriage. She lives in Yaroslavl and really dislikes questions about her famous father. She raised two sons, both of whom worked in the security forces.
Yuri Andropov with his wife Tatyana and children Igor and Irina. / Photo: www.24smi.org
In the marriage of Andropov with Tatyana Lebedeva, Igor and Irina were born. Igor Yuryevich graduated from MGIMO, was engaged in teaching, was an ambassador to Greece, and later worked at the Russian Foreign Ministry. Igor had two children, Tatyana and Konstantin.
Igor Andropov. / Photo: www.kpcdn.net
Tatyana became a choreographer, worked at the Bolshoi Theater. Later she went to America, but could not find herself there. A year after returning to Russia, in 2010 she died of oncology.
Konstantin for a long time lived in the USA, where he graduated from college, becoming an architect-designer. After returning to Moscow, he received a second education, becoming a lawyer.
The daughter of the General Secretary, Irina, graduated from the philological faculty of Moscow State University, was married to Mikhail Filippov, raised his son Dmitry from him. The grandson of Yuri Andropov is engaged in banking.
It was not easy at all to develop the fate of the wives of the leaders of the USSR . They hardly appeared in public and led a very secluded life. And some of the companions themselves were carefully hidden by the leaders of the party elite of the USSR. Some were happy in their closed world, someone happened to threaten and blackmail her husband to refuse a divorce, and there were those who absolutely could not even be shown to the public.
The girl - Nadezhda Umanskaya - was the daughter of the Soviet ambassador, and the young man - Vladimir Shakhurin - was the son of the powerful People's Commissar of Aviation. There was no clear explanation for this crime. Is it possible that a gang of German saboteurs is operating in the very center of the Soviet capital, hunting the children of the Soviet elite?
A search was conducted in Shakhurin's house, and the diary of the deceased young man simply stunned the investigators. If you believe him, then Shakhurin's friends at school - all like the children of the Soviet elite - were members of some kind of anti-Soviet organization. And not just anti-Soviet, but also Nazi, as evidenced by its name - "The Fourth Reich". And this is in the midst of the war with the Third Reich.
175th school
Although the Soviet government declared the formal equality of Soviet citizens, in reality it was by no means always respected. "Class differences" have not disappeared anywhere. High-ranking leaders and party members lived in completely different houses, had servants, cars, dachas and other benefits that were inaccessible to ordinary working people. Therefore, it is not surprising that their children grew up in a special atmosphere.
Many children of the party elite of that time studied at the 175th school in Moscow. Although it was formally allowed to accept ordinary children there, the majority there were traditionally privileged: the children of Stalin's people's commissars, the offspring of famous writers and major directors, as well as prominent foreign communists who came to the USSR.
Unlike most Soviet schools, this one provided a quality education and in fact did not differ from pre-revolutionary gymnasiums, especially since a large proportion of the teachers were teachers with even pre-revolutionary experience.
In the 175th, the children of Joseph Stalin himself, Svetlana and Vasily, studied. The children of Beria, Molotov, Mikoyan, Bulganin, the granddaughter of the writer Gorky, as well as the children of Stalin's people's commissars of a lower rank, also studied there.
The director of the school - a tough lady with a speaking surname Groza - knew the whole nomenclature very well, was always in touch with Krupskaya herself and was close friends with Molotov's wife.
Of course, the children of the people's commissars kept each other and created their own close circle of friends, practically not allowing strangers into it. In connection with the German offensive in 1941, they were all evacuated to Kuibyshev (as Samara was then called), but after the danger had passed, the evacuees were returned to Moscow.
Shots on the Grand Bridge
15-year-old Vladimir Shakhurin has long been in love with his classmate Nina Umanskaya. Both went to the same school and came from elite families. Shakhurin's father, Alexei, was the people's commissar for aviation. It seems to be not an outstanding political position, but this is in peacetime. And by that time, the USSR had been at war for two years and the aviation industry was one of the key defense industries, especially considering that by the beginning of the war, German aviation had an overwhelming advantage over the Soviet one and this gap had to be overcome.
Konstantin Umansky did not hold positions in the government, but was a prominent diplomatic worker. Before the start of the war, he managed to work as the Soviet ambassador to the United States. Some time after the start of the war, he was recalled to Moscow, where for a year and a half he was a member of the collegium of the People's Commissariat for Foreign Affairs. Just a few days before the tragic incident with his daughter, Umansky was appointed ambassador to Mexico.
On June 3, 1943, two shots rang out on the stairs of the Bolshoy Kamenny Bridge. Shooting near the Kremlin in wartime did not bode well. Suddenly some landing of German saboteurs or something like that. Police arrived at the scene and found the bodies of two teenagers. At the same time, the young man with a wound in the temple was still alive. The girl no longer showed signs of life.
After finding out the identity of the dead, the situation became even more complicated. The son of the people's commissar of aviation and the daughter of the ambassador - who could they interfere with? Are saboteurs really working in the city who are trying to get close to the Soviet people's commissars? Or is it unrequited love?
Investigation
After the first interview with classmates, the investigators found out that Shakhurin and Umanskaya were in love with each other. State Counselor of Justice 2nd Class, Head of the Investigation Department of the USSR Prosecutor's Office Lev Sheinin was appointed investigator in this case.
Sheinin had a rich track record, he also participated in the investigation into the murder of Kirov. At the same time, he was a cautious person and understanding delicate situations: he was arrested twice under Stalin, first in 1936, and then already in the post-war period, and both times he was released, which at that time was very rare.
Sheinin was also known not only for his work as an investigator, but also for his literary works. He wrote novels, plays and even film scripts, usually with the theme of confrontation between policemen/special service agents and bandits or spies.
Two days after the shooting on the bridge, Vladimir Shakhurin died. He never regained consciousness, his injury was too severe, and the doctors were powerless. But even without his testimony, the investigators already had a clear picture of the crime. Shakhurin shot after the departing Umanskaya, and after that he shot himself. Anyway, everything pointed to it.
Only one thing was disturbing: it was not possible to establish the motive for the crime, and also to find out where the teenager got the gun from. The Soviet people's commissars had weapons, and initially the investigation believed that Shakhurin stole a pistol from his father, but his weapon did not disappear and was not fired from.
In search of an answer to the question of what was the motive for the murder, the investigators searched the Shakhurins, where they found the teenager's diary, after which the case took a completely different turn.
"Fourth Reich"
In the diary of the deceased son of the People's Commissar of Aviation, the investigators found something incredible. It turned out that Shakhurin and a group of his friends and classmates from among the students of the elite 175th school were members of some kind of anti-Soviet organization.
The children of the Soviet people's commissars were already dreaming about the future and, judging by Shakhurin's diary, they were actively preparing to usurp power in the future. The organization was clearly inspired by Nazi Germany, its members wore the titles adopted in the Reich: Gruppenführer, Reichsführer, etc.
Members of the organization took upon themselves the obligation to improve their physical fitness and comply with the TRP standards, receive a category in any sports discipline, learn to drive a car and jump with a parachute.
In addition, the diary contained quotations from the works of Hitler and Nietzsche.
It is curious that no revolution was planned at the same time. The members of the organization planned to grow up and take leadership positions in Soviet institutions, and then become leaders of the country, and Stalin was assigned the role of a living symbol and mentor of the leaders of the future empire.
Such revelations of the Soviet teenager gave the matter a completely different turn, already political. The case was taken away from the prosecutor's office and transferred to the NKGB. Instead of Sheinin, the head of the investigation unit for especially important cases of the NKGB, Lev Vlodzimirsky, one of Beria's most trusted people, who dealt with key political affairs, took up the investigation.
Interrogations of schoolchildren began again, and those who were listed in Shakhurin's diaries as members of the organization were sent into custody. In addition, it was necessary to find out where Shakhurin got the weapon from, because it turned out that the children of the people's commissars united in an anti-Soviet organization, had access to weapons, and here it was not far from the assassination attempt on Stalin himself.
Quite quickly it was possible to establish that the pistol was handed over to Shakhurin by Vano Mikoyan, the son of Stalin's People's Commissar Anastas Mikoyan. True, there are still conflicting versions of where he got it from. According to one version, the gun was brought to him by his older brothers, who came from the front on a visit. According to another version, he stole it from his father. Mikoyan assured the investigators that he did not know why Shakhurin needed a gun, he asked for it only to "scare" Umanskaya, who was leaving with her parents for Mexico.
The children of many high-ranking parents were arrested as members of the organization:
Vano and Sergo Mikoyan are the children of Anastas Mikoyan, a member of the Politburo and one of Stalin's closest associates. Mikoyan was a member of the State Defense Committee.
Artyom Khmelnitsky is the son of Lieutenant General Rafail Khmelnitsky, who is very close to Voroshilov. Artyom Khmelnitsky's sister was a friend of Stalin's daughter Svetlana.
Leonid Redens is a relative of Stalin himself. His father was a prominent Chekist Stanislav Redens, who was shot during the Stalinist repressions, and his mother, Anna Alliluyeva, was the sister of Stalin's wife Nadezhda.
Felix Kirpichnikov is the son of Pyotr Kirpichnikov, Deputy Chairman of the State Planning Commission and later a member of the GKO Voznesensky. Kirpichnikov also served as head of the defense industry department of the State Planning Commission, that is, he actually controlled all products for the army produced in the USSR.
Pyotr Bakulev is the son of Alexander Bakulev, head of Moscow hospitals and a close friend of Stalin's secretary (and his most trusted person) Poskrebyshev.
Armand Hammer is the nephew of the famous businessman Armand Hammer, who throughout the existence of the Soviet Union was a key intermediary in trade with Western countries and himself implemented a number of major projects in the USSR, collaborating with all generations of Kremlin leaders.
Leonid Barabanov is the son of Mikoyan's secretary Alexander Barabanov.
All of them were interrogated separately for six months. The main goal was to achieve recognition that they were members of an anti-Soviet organization. Since the suspects turned out to be the children of already very high-ranking parents, the methods of investigation familiar at that time were not applied to them. Nevertheless, they spent all six months in the inner prison of the NKGB, where the most prominent political prisoners were kept.
However, the high school students turned out to be very quick-witted and did not take the blame on themselves, blaming everything on the late Shakhurin. Their testimonies boiled down to the fact that all this was a stupid game that was started by the son of the People's Commissar of Aviation, he, they say, was not all right with his head, so he was running around with some lists. But no one supported him, and in general everyone refused to join his "Fourth Reich", and everything that is written in his diary is Shakhurin's own fantasies.
Then the investigators asked a logical question: but if everyone was against these nonsense and no one supported Shakhurin's hooliganism, then why didn't anyone tell their parents or teachers about it? After all, failure to report a crime is also a crime. The schoolchildren explained that they were just about to do it, literally the other day, but then Shakhurin shot Umanskaya and committed suicide, ahead of them.
In general, it was quite obvious that all this was just teenage stupidity and hooliganism. It is unlikely that anyone is able to seriously believe that a few teenagers from among the golden youth are really going to seize power. However, in the Stalinist USSR they did not understand jokes, especially when it came to politics. And here there was an "anti-Soviet organization". In the late 30s, they were shot and sent to camps for much smaller deeds.
Sentence
All arrested teenagers eventually signed the necessary testimony, confessing that they were members of an anti-Soviet organization. If they were the children of ordinary workers and peasants, they would have received the full program. Perhaps they would not have been shot, but they certainly could not have avoided a prison term.
But in this case, teenagers were not at all simple. Therefore, there was no trial. The verdict was handed down personally by Stalin. And he needed to think about it properly.
On the one hand, it could be stupid teenage pranks. But on the other hand: there is a war with the Germans, it is not yet entirely clear in which direction the scales will swing, schoolchildren are not ordinary, but the children of people's commissars, have access to the houses of the leaders of the Soviet state, and they also have access to weapons. Suddenly they will shoot some people's commissar or even the leader of the peoples.
According to the logic of Stalin's time, it was necessary to send everyone to the camps. But these are not just teenagers, but children of Stalin's inner circle. Will their parents, who, of course, consider this teenage hooliganism, accept a harsh sentence? And if they don’t accept it, then they will plot evil against Stalin himself. No one would have forgiven his children even to Stalin.
Dangerous situation. This means that after the children it is necessary to judge the immediate environment. Let's say one or two more could have been possible, but all those involved were no longer possible. Indeed, according to the logic of that time, if the leader fell out of favor, then a total purge of the entire department began, all the other nominees of his lower rank were taken away, and a cardinal shake-up of the apparatus began.
In peacetime, Stalin could still do this. But then the war was in full swing. If they undertook to carry out purges in key defense departments, this would threaten with serious consequences. Until they pick up new personnel, until they get up to speed and figure it out, it will take several weeks at best, and several months at worst. And the year is 1943, and the USSR is just beginning to cautiously seize the initiative in the war.
Stalin had this choice: either go on principle, which threatened with unpredictable consequences, or step on the throat of his own song and hush up the matter. Stalin preferred the latter.
The case was settled out of court. In December 1943, Merkulov, People's Commissar for State Security, personally read out the verdict to the arrested schoolchildren. All of them were sent from Moscow to remote cities for a period of one year: some to the Urals, others to Siberia. Mikoyanov was sent to Dushanbe. An extremely lenient sentence given the gravity of the charge.
The story of the "Fourth Reich" did not prevent some of its participants from making a career. Sergo Mikoyan graduated from MGIMO and was engaged in scientific activities for a long time, was a member of the CPSU. Vano Mikoyan, after completing his studies, went to work at his uncle's design bureau, was the lead designer of MiG aircraft.
Officially, it is believed that all this was just a stupid teenage prank. And the unbalanced Shakhurin shot his girlfriend in a fit of rage, not wanting to let her go to Mexico with her parents.
CHILDREN OF THE TOP LEADERS OF THE USSR OF THE FIRST FORMATIONThe ruling, as it is now fashionable to say, the elite of any state are people of flesh and blood. They, like ordinary people, happen to get married, get divorced, give birth and raise children.
summer vacation in Sochi at the state dacha No. 9, 1934. Svetlana Stalin (in a white dress), I.V. Stalin, niece of S.M. Budyonny's wife, S.M. Budyonny, Vasily Stalin, Stalin's adopted son Artyom Sergeyev.
It is also not surprising that the children of the elite grow up in conditions that are more or less different from the conditions in which the children of ordinary people grow up. There are many reasons for this, including quite objective ones: life in large cities, mainly metropolitan ones, and the fact that other parents are protected persons, and the desire of others through children to “find an approach” to parents, and so on, so on. other ... However, as the classics taught, there is special, and there is general. “Elite” youth, like any other, is not averse to having fun, drinking, taking a walk with the opposite sex, commits reckless acts that sometimes just don’t come to a person’s wise age and experience.
From this obvious point of view, the hard-nosed Bolsheviks, who led the construction and defense of the young Soviet state, were no exception either. Without pretending to be comprehensive, I would like to recall some of the brightest representatives of the first generation of major boys in the Soviet Union. The parties and adventures of some of them became legendary and overgrown with gossip. But they weren't the main ones.
Yakov Iosifovich Dzhugashvili (03/18/1907 - 04/14/1943)
The Germans tried to use the fact of the capture of Yakov Dzhugashvili in their propaganda, but without much success: an emaciated man who stubbornly refuses to look at the camera (he never looked at the photographer during the entire time of captivity) does not look convincingly satisfied with his fate.
The eldest son of I.V. Stalin from his first wife Ekaterina Svanidze. He graduated from the Higher Technical School in Moscow, then the Artillery Academy (a 5-year course was completed in 2.5 years). Captain Dzhugashvili entered the battle with the Germans on June 24, 1941 as commander of the 6th artillery battery of the howitzer regiment of the 14th tank division of the 7th mechanized corps of the 20th army. For the battle on July 7, 1941, near the river. The Chernogost woman near Senno, Vitebsk region, was presented for the award along with a number of other fighters.
July 16 captured. Shot dead by a Sachsenhausen camp guard (perhaps while making a suicidal mock escape attempt).
In 1977, he was posthumously awarded the Order of the Patriotic War, 1st class.
Vasily Iosifovich Stalin (03/24/1921 - 03/19/1962, Kazan)
The son of I.V. Stalin from the second wife of Nadezhda Alliluyeva. Graduated from the Kachinsky Red Banner Military Aviation School. A.F. Myasnikova (last name - Kachinsk Higher Military Aviation School of Pilots, established on November 21, 1910, disbanded on November 1, 1998; however, in 2010, Minister of Defense Serdyukov, strengthening the Russian Air Force, renamed the Krasnodar Higher Military Aviation School of Pilots to Kachinskoye) .
By the beginning of the war - captain, pilot-inspector at the General Staff of the Air Force. In January 1943, Colonel V.I. Stalin was transferred to the Active Army as the commander of the 32nd Guards. iap. During the command of the regiment, he made 27 sorties, personally shot down up to two aircraft, including the FW-190 (and, according to various sources, up to three in a group). In May, he was removed from his post for a tragic incident that occurred in a regiment that was being replenished in the rear (while fishing using RS-82 shells as “silencers”, one officer died, one ace pilot was seriously wounded and subsequently commissioned, Vasily himself received shrapnel leg injury). In 1944 he was appointed commander of the 3rd, from February 1945 - 286th IAD. He was awarded two Orders of the Red Banner, the Order of Alexander Nevsky, the Order of Suvorov II degree.
After the war - commander of the 1st Guards. AK, from 1948 - lieutenant general of aviation, commander of the Air Force of the Moscow Military District. Member of the Supreme Soviet of the USSR (1949), "curator" of the Air Force sports club and the CSKA sports complex, chairman of the USSR Equestrian Federation. Removed from his post in May 1952 for the loss of two aircraft during the May Day air parade.
On March 26, 1953, by order of the Minister of Defense Bulganin, he was transferred to the reserve without the right to wear a military uniform (for “moral decay”), on April 28 of the same year he was arrested, charged under Art. 58-1 (treason), 58-10 (anti-Soviet propaganda) and 193-17 (abuse of official position) of the Criminal Code of the RSFSR and in 1955 he was sentenced (“by a special procedure”, that is, without a lawyer) to 8 years in a labor camp, but was held in prison. He was released ahead of schedule in January 1960 under a partial amnesty, the grounds for dismissal to the reserve were changed, the right to wear a military uniform was returned, and a pension was granted. On April 16 of the same year, he was arrested by the KGB "for continuing anti-Soviet activities" and was in Lefortovo prison until April 1961, after which he was sent to the closed city of Kazan for a period of 5 years. According to official information, on March 19, 1962, he died from alcohol abuse.
In accordance with the current legislation of the Russian Federation, he must be recognized as a victim of political repression and posthumously rehabilitated on political charges.
Artyom Fedorovich Sergeev (03/05/1921 - 01/15/2008, Moscow)
The son of a revolutionary and statesman Fyodor Andreevich Sergeev - "Artyom", who died in 1921 in a railway accident. He grew up and was brought up in the family of I.V. Stalin with his other children. In 1938, after graduating from the 10th grade of the 2nd Moscow Special Artillery School, he began serving in the Red Army. Having risen to the rank of foreman, he entered the 2nd Leningrad Artillery School and graduated in 1940 as a lieutenant.
He entered combat operations on June 26, 1941 as a platoon commander of 152 mm M-10 howitzers. He was taken prisoner, fled, was in one of the partisan detachments, taken out of the front line. Member of the defense of Stalingrad, the battle for the Dnieper, the battles in East Prussia, Hungary, Germany. In total, he had 24 wounds, including two severe ones: a bayonet in the stomach and crushing of the hand. He met the victory as a lieutenant colonel, commander of an artillery brigade. For the Great Patriotic War, he was awarded three Orders of the Red Banner, the Order of Alexander Nevsky, two Orders of the Patriotic War of the 1st degree, two Orders of the Red Star, as well as medals "For Military Merit", "For the Defense of Moscow", "For the Defense of Stalingrad", "For the Liberation of Warsaw ”, “For the liberation of Prague”, “For the capture of Koenigsberg”.
After the war, he graduated from the Artillery Academy and the Military Academy named after K.E. Voroshilov. Became one of the founders of the missile and anti-aircraft troops of the USSR. He retired in 1981 from the post of Deputy Inspector General for Air Defense of the Warsaw Pact with the rank of Major General of Artillery.
Stepan Anastasovich Mikoyan (07/12/1922)
Son of Anastas Ivanovich Mikoyan - revolutionary, party and statesman, candidate member of the Politburo of the Central Committee of the All-Union Communist Party of Bolsheviks since 1929, member of the Politburo since 1935, deputy chairman of the Council of People's Commissars since 1937, people's commissar for foreign trade in 1938-1949, first deputy chairman of the Council of Ministers of the USSR in 1957-1964.
In the Red Army since 1940, together with his friend Timur Frunze, in 1941 he graduated from the Kachin Military Aviation School (see the chapter on V.I. Stalin), lieutenant. In the Active Army since December 1941, fighter pilot of the 11th IAP, who defended Moscow. On the 13th sortie, he was shot down by mistake by his fighter, was wounded. After being cured, he fought in the 32nd Guards. IAP near Stalingrad, however, after the death of his brother Vladimir in an air battle, he was transferred to the 12th Guards. Iap air defense of Moscow.
After the war, he graduated from the VVIA named after Zhukovsky and switched to flight test work at the Air Force Research Institute named after V.P. Chkalov. Tested 102 types and modifications of aircraft, including MiG-23, MiG-25, MiG-27, Su-15, Su-24. Since 1978 - deputy. General Director for flight tests of NPO Molniya, participated in the creation and testing of the Buran spacecraft, supervised work on the Bor-4 orbital flying model. Retired since 1992.
Lieutenant General of Aviation (1980), Honored Test Pilot of the USSR (1963), Candidate of Technical Sciences (1980). For the development of new aviation technology and the courage shown at the same time, in 1975 he was awarded the title of Hero of the Soviet Union; awarded the Order of Lenin, the Order of the Red Banner, the Order of the Patriotic War, I degree, four Orders of the Red Star.
Vladimir Anastasovich Mikoyan (26.01.1924-18.09.1942)
With the beginning of the Great Patriotic War, he achieved early enrollment in the Kachinsky military aviation school (see the chapter on V.I. Stalin), completed an accelerated course in February 1942, lieutenant. From September 1942 - fighter pilot of the 434th IAP. He died near Stalingrad in an air battle in one of the first sorties. Posthumously awarded the Order of the Red Banner.
Alexey Anastasovich Mikoyan (1925 - 12/19/1986)
Son of Anastas Ivanovich Mikoyan.
In the Red Army since 1943, he completed an accelerated course of the Vyaznikovskaya VASL. Member of the Great Patriotic War since September 1943. Fought in the 12th Guards. iap air defense. After the war, he passed the exams externally for a high school course, received a certificate - and one of the first Soviet pilots mastered jet aircraft. Participated in air parades leading MiG-15 columns. He was the first Soviet pilot to shoot down a surface-to-air missile. Graduated from the Academy of Zhukovsky, the Academy of the General Staff. He held the position of aviation commander of the Central Asian Military District, in 1978-1986 he was deputy. Head of Air Traffic Control of the Air Force, Lieutenant General of Aviation. He was elected a deputy of the Supreme Soviet of the USSR.
He was awarded two Orders of the Red Banner, the Order of the Red Banner of Labour, three Orders of the Red Star, the Order of the Patriotic War, 1st class, and the Order for Service to the Motherland in the Armed Forces of the USSR, 3rd class.
Two more sons of Anastas Mikoyan - Vano (1927-) 
and Sergo (1929-2010) 
were accused of participating in a “youthful anti-Soviet organization” numbering several dozen members. This conclusion was reached by investigator Vlodzimirsky, who was investigating the murder of the underage daughter of the appointed ambassador to Mexico, K.A. Vano and Sergo served six months under investigation in Lubyanka and spent a year in exile in Stalinabad (Dushanbe), after which Vano (Ivan) Mikoyan graduated from the military aviation school of mechanics, then - Zhukovsky All-Russian Aviation Institute and became an aircraft designer, worked in the Design Bureau of his uncle Artyom Ivanovich Mikoyan , participated in the development of the MiG-21 and MiG-29 aircraft. And Sergo Mikoyan graduated from MGIMO in 1952 and became a prominent Soviet specialist in Latin America.
Vyaznikovsky military aviation school of pilots graduated and became a fighter Boris Bochkov (1924-1991) - the son of the Prosecutor of the USSR in 1940-1941 and 1942-1943 Viktor Mikhailovich Bochkov (1900-1981). Subsequently, he became commander of the Moscow Air Defense District, deputy commander-in-chief of the USSR air defense, colonel-general of aviation, was a member of the Central Audit Commission of the CPSU Central Committee, and was elected to the Supreme Soviet of the USSR.
Timur Mikhailovich Frunze (04/05/1923 - 01/19/1942)
The son of Mikhail Vasilievich Frunze (1885-1925) - a revolutionary, then a military leader, chairman of the Revolutionary Military Council of the USSR, People's Commissar for Military and Naval Affairs. Since 1931, he was brought up in the family of K.E. Voroshilov - People's Commissar for Military and Naval Affairs of the USSR (1925-1934), then People's Commissar of Defense of the USSR (1934-1940).
In the Red Army since 1940, together with his friend Stepan Mikoyan, in 1941 he graduated from the Kachin Military Aviation School (see the chapter on V.I. Stalin), lieutenant. In the Active Army since January 1941 - fighter pilot of the 161st IAP. He made 9 sorties to cover ground troops in the Staraya Russa area, participated in three battles, shot down two German aircraft in a group. In a battle between a pair of Yakov and 8 German fighters, he was killed by a direct hit in the head; the plane was set on fire, but did not explode during the fall, which made it possible to bury Lieutenant Frunze (first - in the village of Kresttsy, Leningrad Region; after the war, the remains were transferred to Moscow to the Novodevichy Cemetery).
Posthumously awarded the title of Hero of the Soviet Union.
About the life of Timur Frunze tells the film "At the age of eighteen," shot in 1974 by director Iya Mironova. The role of Timur was played by Evgeny Karelskikh. It will turn out to be found - look, now they don’t shoot like that.
A friend of Alexei Mikoyan and Alexander Shcherbakov, Lev Bulganin, the son of Nikolai Alexandrovich Bulganin, at various times - Chairman of the Board of the USSR State Bank, Minister of the Armed Forces, then - Defense of the USSR, Chairman of the Council of Ministers of the USSR, became a fighter pilot.
Alexander Alexandrovich Shcherbakov (09/15/1925)
Son of Alexander Sergeyevich Shcherbakov (1901-1945), secretary, first secretary of various regional committees of the CPSU (b), from 1941 - 1st secretary of the MGK of the CPSU (b), secretary of the Central Committee of the CPSU (b), from 1942 - colonel general, head of the Chief political department of the Red Army and the head of the Soviet Information Bureau.
In the Red Army since 1943, he completed an accelerated course of the Vyaznikovskaya VASL. From September 1943 to October 1944 fighter pilot of the 12th Guards. Iap air defense of Moscow. In October 1944 he achieved a transfer to the front, fought in the 176th Guards. iap. He made 25 sorties, conducted 5 air battles, shot down 1 German aircraft in the group.
In 1951 he graduated from the Zhukovsky Air Force Academy and became a test pilot at the Civil Aviation Research Institute of the Air Force. From 1953 to 1986 - in flight test work at the FRI. Tested (including spin and critical modes) such aircraft as the MiG-17LL, MiG-19, Yak-25, Yak-27, MiG-21, Su-9, Yak-28, MiG-25, MiG-23 , MiG-27, Su-24, Su-25.
Aviation Colonel, Honored Test Pilot of the USSR (1967), Candidate of Technical Sciences (1986). For the development of new aviation technology and the courage shown at the same time, in 1971 he was awarded the title of Hero of the Soviet Union; awarded the Order of Lenin, the Order of the Red Banner, the Order of the Red Banner of Labor, the Order of the Patriotic War I and II degrees.
Retired since 1986, worked as a leading engineer at the OKB named after A.I. Mikoyan. Lives in Moscow.
These are far from the only children of dignitary Bolshevik parents who chose this very profession for themselves - to defend their homeland. The pilots were both sons of the "chief atheist" of the USSR Emelyan Mikhailovich Yaroslavsky (Minei Izrailevich Gubelman, 1878-1943) - Vladimir and Frunze Yaroslavsky, and Frunze Emelyanovich rose to the rank of Major General of Aviation.
The sons of the legendary hero of the Civil War Vasily Ivanovich Chapaev (1887-1919) became officers.
The eldest, Alexander Chapaev (1910-1985), chose artillery, went through the entire war, participated in exercises at the Totsk training ground in 1954, was the head of artillery in the Volga, then Moscow Military District, retired as a major general of artillery. By the way, you can see him in a documentary about twice Hero of the Soviet Union, General Petrov
The younger, Arkady Chapaev (1914-1939) became a military pilot and, finishing the program of the first year of the Air Force Academy of the Red Army, performing a test flight for aerobatics, being a very experienced pilot, for unknown reasons, did not have time or could not bring the I-16 out of a spin .
Seventy-five years ago, in the summer of 1943, a crime took place in Moscow, all the details of which were immediately classified. The reason was not only that both the perpetrator and his victim were the children of high-ranking Soviet officials - the murder took place a stone's throw from the Kremlin.
As the investigation soon found out, the son of the people's commissar of the aviation industry, Vladimir Shakhurin, who shot the daughter of the diplomat Umansky, was a member of an informal youth organization, which included the offspring of the first persons of the state, including the nephew of Joseph Stalin. The teenagers called their organization, the basis for which was the ideology of fascism, the “Fourth Reich”.
There is still no official evidence available to the public about this case - as if there was nothing at all. There are only a few semi-documentary books where you do not understand what is the author's fantasy and what is the truth. Nevertheless, circumstantial evidence is available, including the graves of both participants in this bloody drama at the Novodevichy cemetery, as well as the memories of their contemporaries and acquaintances. In particular, Stalin’s nephew Vladimir Alliluyev, who personally knew Shakhurin (pictured), recalls the events of June 3, 1943 in his book Chronicle of a Family: “We played with the guys in the yard and, hearing two shots, rushed to see what happened . When they ran to the stairs, everything was already over ... ".
This refers to the courtyard of the residential complex of the Central Executive Committee - the famous House on the embankment - on Bolotnaya Square, where the families of the Soviet ruling elite lived. The staircase is a side descent of the Bolshoy Kamenny Bridge leading to the Kremlin. It was here that on a summer evening Vladimir Shakhurin's last meeting with his classmate Nina Umanskaya took place. “Nina was supposed to fly to the United States with her parents,” writes Vladimir Alliluyev, who studied at the same party elite, school No. 175, intended for children. - Volodya loved Nina and began to beg her not to fly away, to stay in Moscow. Nina laughed at this request and, waving goodbye to him, began to go down the stairs. And then Volodya took a pistol out of his pocket and shot first at Nina, then at his own temple. Nina died immediately, and Volodya died in the hospital the next day.
"Fuhrer" of the underground organization
The tragic incident immediately became known not only in Petrovka, but also in Lubyanka. It's no joke - the son of the people's commissar and the daughter of the Soviet ambassador were killed! The Chekists, on their own line, worked out the version of the appearance of German saboteurs hunting in the capital for the children of prominent functionaries. However, it soon became clear that the spies had nothing to do with it - the prosecutor's office investigator Lev Sheinin unambiguously established the fact of suicide. Yes, and Shakhurin's classmates confirmed: the young man actually breathed unevenly towards the beautiful Nina. The only question left was where the teenager got the gun from. At that time, almost every high-ranking Soviet official had a weapon at home, but People's Commissar Shakhurin immediately declared that he was seeing the ill-fated Walther for the first time in his life. It soon became clear that the pistol belonged to the family of the deputy chairman of the Council of People's Commissars, People's Commissar for Foreign Trade of the USSR and one of Stalin's closest associates, Anastas Mikoyan, whose son Ivan Shakhurin was friends with and studied in the same class. This turn of events did not please the investigator: the thread of the investigation led to such heights of power that one could easily turn one's head off. But what happened next was even more unexpected and shocking.
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Members of the organization hoped to take power in the country into their own hands in the future. Not through a coup, of course, but by building a successful career guaranteed by the fathers and occupying high positions in power. At the same time, they paid tribute to Stalin himself, calling him their mentor
Vladimir Alliluyev had an older brother, Leonid, who was the same age as Vladimir Shakhurin and his bosom friend. “Volodya’s diary at one time lay in our sideboard,” writes V. Alliluyev. - My mother (the sister of Stalin's late wife Nadezhda Alliluyeva. - Ed.) found this diary and immediately gave it to Volodya's mother. What kind of diary it was, she had no idea, of course. And it’s a pity, because from this diary it followed that Volodya Shakhurin was the “Fuhrer” of the “underground organization”, which included my brother Leonid, Vano and Sergo Mikoyan, Artyom Khmelnitsky, the son of Major General R.P. Khmelnitsky, and Leonid Barabanov, son of Mikoyan's assistant. All these guys went to the same school. Sofya Mironovna, having received her son's diary from my mother, after some time handed it over to L.P. Beria. As a result, everyone ended up in an internal prison in Lubyanka. Sergo Mikoyan was the last to be arrested.”
Vladimir Alliluyev writes about this story with restraint, which is understandable. Otherwise, one would have to decipher why the word “Führer” appeared in his story, and not “ataman”, say, or “chairman”.
forgive and forget
Having received the diary of the late Shakhurin, Beria instructed the head of the investigative unit for especially important cases of the NKGB, Lev Vlodzimirsky, to continue the investigation, ordering all materials to be classified. After all, the circumstances of the case could not but shock: it was the middle of 1943, the citizens of the country were fighting the Nazis as one, even children knew about the atrocities of the Germans. And at this time, the children of honored figures of the Soviet state - generals, academicians, members of the government! - create a secret organization, calling it the "Fourth Reich." Teenagers admire the aesthetics of fascism with might and main, quote the works of Hitler and call each other "Gruppenführer" and "Reichsführer"! Yes, for a hundredth of this, you can turn into camp dust!
But this is if we are talking about ordinary citizens, and not about the sons of functionaries. With a report, Beria went to Stalin. According to legend, the leader glumly listened to the story of the “Fourth Reich”, throwing at the end: “Here are the cubs ...” It is not known whether the head of the NKVD informed the leader about such a circumstance: the members of the organization expected to take power in the country in their own hands in the future. Not through a coup, of course, but by building a successful career guaranteed by the fathers and occupying high positions in power. At the same time, they paid tribute to Stalin himself, calling him their mentor. Such a curtsey from the Gruppenfuehrers looked more than ambiguous.
None of the teenagers in the end was ever brought to serious responsibility. Moreover, they themselves told during the investigation that they had no idea about any “Fourth Reich” - all these are the fantasies of the late Shakhurin, who for some reason entered them in his diary. Therefore, in the end, everyone was simply sent for a year to the cities of the Urals, Siberia and Central Asia, and after that the situation was completely put on the brakes. So, Ivan Mikoyan, while in Dushanbe, graduated from the aviation technical school, then the Zhukovsky Academy and became an outstanding aircraft designer. And Pyotr Bakulev became a famous scientist in the field of radar.
Why did Stalin act so liberally? Vladimir Alliluyev writes that the leader simply took pity on the teenagers - they say that the war is already going on, why the extra corpses. However, there is another version: it is unlikely that Stalin did not understand that if he shot the "Reichsfuehrers", then their fathers would have to be executed - not one would forgive him for the death of his son. That's why I limited the link.
“Three Soviet generations came together in this story: the old people are the leaders of the Soviet state. The “fathers” are the generation of the 40-year-old Shakhurins and Umanskys, in whom the most acute desire is already manifesting to “just live”, enjoy their privileges, build mansions, and collect foreign cars. Finally, the generation of “children,” noted the journalist Alexander Terekhov, who wrote the novel “Stone Bridge” about the “Fourth Reich” case. - Russia was going through its most tragic time, and the sons of the heroic people's commissars admired the fascist form, the Reich and sought pleasure in various ways. This is not a game, this is ordinary life, it happens so often. Let's look out the window - everything is the same there. It’s just that today’s boys have the opportunity to receive an inheritance and have somewhere to leave the place where dads pump oil and gas.”
