Yakov Dzhugashvili: biography, photo. In what concentration camp was Yakov Dzhugashvili kept? How did Dzhugashvili Yakov Josephovich (Stalin's son) die?

Perhaps, in the history of our country there are so many great odious persons that it is difficult to understand the intricacies of myths and legends surrounding them. An ideal example from the recent past is Joseph Vissarionovich Stalin. Many believe that he was a man extremely insensitive and callous. Even his son, Yakov Dzhugashvili, was killed in a German concentration camp. Father, as many historians say, did nothing to save him. Is it really?

General information

More than 70 years ago, on April 14, 1943, Stalin's eldest son died in a concentration camp. It is known that not long before, he refused to exchange his son for Field Marshal Paulus. The phrase of Joseph Vissarionovich is known, which then amazed the whole world: "I do not change the soldier to generals!" But after the war, foreign mass media rumored that Stalin still saved his son and sent him to America. Among Western researchers and domestic liberals, there was a rumor that there was some sort of "diplomatic mission" by Yakov Dzhugashvili.

Allegedly he was captured not just so, but for establishing contacts with the German commanders-in-chief. A sort of "Soviet Hess". However, this version of no criticism does not stand: in this case it would be easier to throw Jacob directly into the German rear, rather than engage in questionable manipulation of his captivity. In addition, what kind of agreements with the Germans in 1941? They uncontrollably rushed to Moscow, and it seemed to everyone that the USSR would fall before winter. Why do they need to negotiate? So the veracity of such rumors is close to zero.

How did Yakov get captured?

Yakov Dzhugashvili, who was 34 at that time, was captured in German prison at the very beginning of the war, on July 16, 1941. This happened during the confusion that prevailed during the retreat from Vitebsk. At that time, Jacob was barely able to finish the artillery academy with a senior lieutenant, who received from his father the only parting words: "Go, fight." He served in the 14th Tank Regiment, commanded an artillery battery of anti-tank guns. He, like hundreds of other fighters, was not counted after the lost battle. At that time he was ranked as missing.

But a few days later the fascists presented an extremely unpleasant surprise, throwing leaflets over the Soviet territory, where Yakov Dzhugashvili was portrayed. The propagandists of the Germans were excellent: "The son of Stalin, like thousands of your soldiers, surrendered to the troops of the Wehrmacht. That's why they feel fine, they are fed, fed. " It was an undisguised allusion to mass surrender: "Soviet soldiers, why should you die, even if the son of your supreme boss has already surrendered himself ...?"

Unknown History Pages

After he saw the ill-fated leaflet, Stalin said: "I have no son." What did he mean? Maybe he assumed misinformation? Or did he decide not to have anything to do with the traitor? So far, nothing is known about this. But we have documented documents of interrogations of Jacob. Contrary to the widespread "opinions of specialists" about the betrayal of Stalin's son, there is nothing compromising in them: the youngest Dzhugashvili behaved quite dignifiedly at the interrogations and did not give out any military secrets.

In general, at that time, Yakov Dzhugashvili really could not know any serious secrets, since his father did not tell him anything like that ... What could the rank-and-file lieutenant say about the plans for the global movement of our troops? It is known in which concentration camp Yakov Dzhugashvili was kept. At first, he and several particularly valuable prisoners were held in Hammelburg, then Lübeck, and then transferred to Sachsenhausen. One can imagine how seriously the protection of such a "bird" was put. Hitler intended to play this "trump card" in the event that any of his most valuable generals were captured by the USSR.

Such a case was introduced to them in the winter of 1942-43. After the great defeat at Stalingrad, when not only Paulus, but also other high-ranking officers of the Wehrmacht got into the hands of the Soviet command, Hitler decided to bargain. It is now believed that he tried to appeal to Stalin through the Red Cross. Surely the refusal surprised him. Whatever it was, Dzhugashvili Yakov Iosifovich remained in captivity.

Svetlana Allilluyeva, Stalin's daughter, later recalled this time in her memoirs. In her book there are such lines: "Father came home late at night and said that the Germans offered to exchange Yasha for someone of their own. He was angry then: "I will not bargain! War is always a difficult matter. " Just a couple of months after this conversation Djugashvili Yakov Iosifovich died. There is an opinion that Stalin could not stand his eldest son, considered him a rare loser and neurasthenic. But is it really so?

A brief biography of Jacob

I must say that there are certain grounds for such an opinion. So, in fact, Stalin, in fact, did not participate in the process of educating his eldest son. He was born in 1907, at the age of six months he remained an orphan. Stalin's first wife, Kato Svanidze, died during the raging typhus epidemic, and therefore his grandmother was training Yakov.

The father of the house practically did not visit, waving all over the country, carrying out the instructions of the party. In Moscow, Yasha moved only in 1921, with Stalin at that time was already a prominent man in the political life of the country. At this time he already had two children from his second wife: Vasily and Svetlana. Jacob, who at that time was only 14 years old, grew up in a remote mountain village, spoke very poorly in Russian. No wonder he was very difficult to learn. As his contemporaries testify, his father was constantly dissatisfied with the results of his son's studies.

Difficulties in personal life

He did not like Jacob's personal life either. At the age of eighteen he wanted to marry a girl of sixteen years of age, but his father forbade him to do so. Jacob was in despair, tried to shoot himself, but he was lucky - the bullet went right through. Stalin said that he was a "hooligan and blackmailer," and then completely removed him from himself: "Live wherever you want, live with whom you want!" By that time, Yakov had a connection with a student Olga Golysheva. To this story the father reacted even more seriously, since the offspring himself became a pope, but he did not recognize the child, he refused to marry the girl.

In 1936, Yakov Dzhugashvili, whose photo is in the article, signs with the dancer Julia Melzer. At that time, she was already married, and her husband was an NKVD officer. However, for obvious reasons, Jacob did not care. When Stalin's granddaughter Galya appeared, he thawed a little and allocated a separate apartment to the newlyweds on Granovsky Street. The further fate of Julia was still not easy: when it turned out that Yakov Dzhugashvili was in captivity, she was arrested on suspicion of having ties to German intelligence. Stalin wrote to his daughter Svetlana that: "Apparently, this woman is dishonest. We'll have to hold it, until we completely understand. Yasha's daughter let her live with you ... ". Proceedings lasted incomplete two years, at the end of Julia still released.

So did Stalin love his first son?

Marshal Georgy Zhukov after the war in his memoirs told that in fact Stalin deeply experienced the capture of Yakov Dzhugashvili. He talked about the informal conversation that he had with the commander-in-chief.

"Comrade Stalin, I would like to know about Yakov." Is there any information about his fate? " Stalin paused, then said in a strange, hoarse and hoarse voice: "It will not come to rescue Jacob from captivity. The Germans will shoot him for sure. There are reports that the fascists keep him isolated from other prisoners, agitate for treason to the Motherland. " Zhukov noted that Joseph Vissarionovich was deeply distressed and suffered from the inability to help at a time when his son was suffering. Yakov Dzhugashvili really loved, but time was like that ... What would all the citizens of the belligerent country think if their commander-in-chief entered into separate negotiations with the enemy about the release of his son? Be sure that the same Goebbels certainly would not miss this opportunity!

Attempts to rescue from captivity

At present, there is evidence that he repeatedly tried to free Jacob from the German captivity. Directly to Germany several sabotage groups were sent to whom this task was assigned. Ivan Kotnev, who was in one of these teams, already after the war told about it. His group flew to Germany in the dead of night. The operation was prepared by the best analysts of the USSR, all weather and other features of the terrain were taken into account, which allowed the aircraft to fly unnoticed to the German rear. And this is 1941, when the Germans felt themselves to be the sole owners of the sky!

They landed very successfully in the deep rear, hid parachutes and prepared to perform. Since the group threw themselves out over a large area, they gathered together until dawn. We left the group, then there were two dozen kilometers to the concentration camp. And then the residency in Germany handed over the cipher, which referred to the transfer of Jacob to another concentration camp: the saboteurs were late just for a day. As the front-line soldier recalled, they were immediately given the order to return. The return trip was difficult, the group lost several people.

The notorious Spanish communist Dolores Ibarruri also wrote in her memoirs about a similar group. To make it easier to penetrate the German rear, they obtained documents in the name of one of the officers of the Blue Division. These saboteurs were abandoned in 1942 to try to save Yakov from the Sachsenhausen concentration camp. This time it all ended much more sadly - all the abandoned saboteurs were captured and shot. There is information about the existence of several other similar groups, but there is no specific information about them. It is possible that these data are still stored in some classified archives.

The death of Stalin's son

So how did Yakov Dzhugashvili die? On April 14, 1943, he simply ran out of his barrack and ran to the camp fence with the words: "Shoot me!" Yakov rushed straight to the barbed wire. The sentry shot him, hitting his head ... That's how Jacob Dzhugashvili died. The Sachsenhausen Concentration Camp, in which he was held, became his last refuge. Many "experts" say that he was held there in "tsarist" conditions, which were "inaccessible to millions of Soviet prisoners of war." This is a blatant lie, which is refuted by the German archives.

Conditions of detention in a concentration camp

At first, they really tried to talk and induce him to cooperate, but nothing happened. Moreover, several "hens" ("imprisoned" prisoners) managed to find out only that "Dzhugashvili sincerely believes in the victory of the USSR and regrets that he will not see the triumph of his country any more." The Gestapo so obstinate the prisoner that he was immediately transferred to the Central Prison. There he was not only interrogated, but also tortured. In the materials of the investigation there is information that Yakov twice tried to commit suicide. Captured Captain Uzhinsky, who was in the same camp and was friends with Yakov, spent many hours after the war recording his testimony. The military was interested precisely in Stalin's son: how he behaved himself, how he looked, what he did. Here is an excerpt from his memories.

"When they brought Yakov to the camp, he looked terrible. Before the war, seeing him on the street, I would say that this man has just suffered a grave illness. He had a gray, earthy complexion, terribly sunken cheeks. The soldier's overcoat was just hanging on his shoulders. Everything was old and tattered. The food was not different from his delicacies, ate from a common cauldron: a loaf of bread for six people a day, a little bit of balancing from a rutabaga and tea, a color reminiscent of tinted water. The holiday was the days when we got a little potatoes in a uniform. Jacob was greatly tormented by the lack of tobacco, often changed his portion of bread for makhorka. Unlike the other prisoners, he was constantly searched, and several spies were lodged nearby. "

Work, transfer to Sachsenhausen

Prisoner Yakov Dzhugashvili, whose biography is contained in the pages of this article, worked in a local workshop on a par with other prisoners. They made mouthpieces, caskets, toys. If the camp authorities ordered a product from the bone, they had a holiday: for this purpose, the prisoners received bone chips that were completely cleared of meat. They cooked for a long time, making themselves a "soup". By the way, Jacob showed himself in the field of "artisan" just fine. Once he made from a bone a magnificent set of chess, which was replaced by several kilograms of potatoes from the guard. On that day, all the inhabitants of the barracks ate well the first time during the whole period of captivity. Later, a German officer bought some chess from the camp authorities. For sure, this set now occupies an important place in any private collection.

But even this "resort" was soon covered up. So without getting anything from Jacob, the Germans again threw him into the Central prison. Again torture, again many hours of interrogation and beating ... After this prisoner Dzhugashvili sent to the infamous concentration camp Sachsenhausen.

Is not it true that it is difficult to consider such conditions "royal"? And about the true circumstances of his death, Soviet historians learned much later, when the military managed to capture the necessary German archives, saving them from destruction. It was probably for this reason that right up to the end of the war there were rumors about the wonderful salvation of Yakov ... The wife of her son Julia and their daughter Galina Stalin was guarded for the rest of her life. Galina Dzhugashvili herself later recalled that her grandfather was very fond of her and constantly compared her son to her son: "Looks like it looks like it!" So Yakov Dzhugashvili, Stalin's son, showed himself to be a true patriot and son of his country without betraying her and not agreeing to Cooperation with the Germans, which could save his life.

Historians can not understand only one thing. German archives claim that, at the time of his capture, Yakov immediately told enemy soldiers about who he was. This stupid act causes confusion if it ever took place. After all, he could not not understand what the revelation would lead to? If the ordinary prisoner of war still had a chance to escape, Stalin's son would be expected to watch "at the highest level"! One can only assume that Jacob simply handed over. In a word, there are still enough questions in this story, but we can not get all the answers.