Survey for a $100 HBO Max reward. Participation Required.

Issues with Images, view here

Survey for a $100 HBO Max reward. Participation Required.

alin and the other leaders decided it would not be appropriate to say Alliluyeva had killed herself. So when her death was announced the next day, the cause of death was given as appendicitis.[74][75] The children were not told the true nature of her death.[74] Accounts of contemporaries and Stalin's letters indicate that he was much disturbed by the event.[76][77] Pravda, the official party newspaper, announced Alliluyeva's death in its 10 November edition. This came as a surprise to many in the Soviet Union, as it also was the first public acknowledgement that Stalin had been married. Her body, in an open casket, was placed in an upper floor of the GUM department store, opposite Red Square and the Kremlin. Government and party officials came to visit, but the public was not allowed.[78] The funeral was held on 12 November, both Stalin and Vasily attending.[78][79] Stalin took part in the procession to the cemetery afterwards, which involved a 6 kilometres (3.7 mi) march from GUM to the Novodevichy Cemetery, though it is not clear if he walked the entire route.[80][81] In her memoirs Svetlana claimed that Stalin never again visited the grave.[79] Aftermath The death of Alliluyeva had a profound impact on her children and family. Svetlana only found out her mother killed herself when reading an English journal article in 1942. The revelation came as a shock to her, and profoundly altered her relationship with Stalin, who had maintained the lie for a decade.[82] She remained distant from Stalin until his death, and took up her mother's maiden name in 1957 as a means to further distance herself from him.[83] She ultimately defected from the Soviet Union in 1967, and died in the United States in 2011.[84] Vasily was also greatly affected: although Alliluyeva had not played a major role in raising her children, she still showed interest in their well-being. After her death, Stalin doted upon Svetlana but virtually ignored Vasily, who began to drink from a young age and ultimately died of alcohol-related issues in 1962.[85][86] Alliluyeva's father, Sergei, became very withdrawn after her death. He continued working, and from 1924 to 1928 was in charge of the electric cable network for Leningrad.[87] He also wrote memoirs, which were published in 1946 after being heavily red