Stalin's Daughter

by Rosemary Sullivan

Olga collected her mother’s ashes and scattered them in the Pacific Ocean. She had lost the person who loved her most deeply, and her mourning would be long.

  Acknowledgments

  Writing Stalin’s Daughter: The Extraordinary and Tumultuous Life of Svetlana Alliluyeva presented challenges that were both exciting and daunting. I would like to thank those who helped me on a journey that took me from Toronto to Moscow, Saint Petersburg, Tbilisi, Gori, London, the Lake District, Washington, Princeton, New York, Portland, and elsewhere, during which I met remarkable people.

  First and foremost I would like to thank Svetlana Alliluyeva’s daughter Chrese Evans. Her remarkable openness in our long hours of conversation and correspondence and her permission to quote from her mother’s unpublished works and letters have made it possible for Alliluyeva’s voice to surface in this book. Sim Smiley was indispensable as I undertook research in the labyrinth of intelligence archives. My research assistant, Anastassia Kostrioukova, stayed with me throughout the project; her help in archival research, interviews, and much else was invaluable.

  There are many people to thank: Olga Alliloueva, who introduced me to her Moscow family; Alexander Alliluyev, Leonid and Galina Alliluyev, and Alexander Burdonsky, whose shrewd readings of their relative Stalin and of his daughter are fascinating; Stepan Mikoyan for his courtesy and thoughtfulness; Alexander Ushakov for his candor; and Yelena Khanga for her esprit. Professor Marina Kaul of the Russian State University of the Humanities helped me with visas and contacts. Jeff Parker encouraged me at the beginning of the project, and assisted me through the maze of Russia. I would like to thank Simon Sebag Montefiore for introducing me to the journalist Nestan Charkviani, whose Georgian warmth opened doors in Tbilisi; and Omari Tushurashvili at the Archive of the Georgian Ministry of Internal Affairs for his hospitality.

  Of those in England, I want to thank Linda Kelly, who was so helpful in connecting me with Svetlana’s British friends, and her husband, Laurence, for his amusing anecdotes about Stalin; Vanessa Thomas, who drove me through the sites of Svetlana’s past and gave me access to invaluable documents; Philippa Hill, who offered me Svetlana’s original letters; Nina Lobanov-Rostovsky for her insights; David and Clarissa Pryce-Jones, who made time for me; and the remarkable Mary Burkett, who hosted my stay in the Lake District. Rosamond Richardson was invariably generous with her time and her collection of Alliluyeva interview tapes and memorabilia.

  Of those in the United States, I would like to single out Joan Kennan, who has been so generous in her replies to my endless queries; Robert and Ramona Rayle, who hosted my stay in Ashburn, Virginia, and helped shape my perspective of Svetlana; Kathy Rossing for her patience and for confirming my subject’s sense of humor; Thomas Miller and Margaret Jameson, who generously offered me copies of letters; Rosa Shand, whose moving portrait of Svetlana Alliluyeva in her own writing is inspiring; Priscilla Johnson McMillan, so helpful in pursuing the mysteries of Svetlana’s copyright; and Meryle Secrest, who generously offered me permission to quote from her fifty hours of taped interviews with Svetlana.

  In writing this book I have had the help of specialists in Russian history. I would like particularly to thank Professor Lynne Viola of the University of Toronto, who generously read my manuscript to correct any historical errors; Stephen Cohen, who provided me with contacts and whose work on Nikolai Bukharin and on the Gulag is an invaluable source; and Alan Barenberg, who allowed me to read the manuscript of his book Gulag Town, Company Town: Forced Labor and Its Legacy in Vorkuta before it was published, illuminating the mysteries of the Gulag administration.

  I would like to thank my numerous research assistants and translators who helped me along the way, including Liza Kobrinsky, Andreas Vatiliotou, Andrei Osadchy, Nadia Ragbar, Oleksandr Melnyk, Andrey Gornostaev, and Liuba Turlova. I would also like to thank Elena Romanova and Brendan Sheehan.

  Archivists are invaluable in the research process. I would like to thank Charlaine McCauley at the Lyndon Baines Johnson Library; Anne Marie Menta and Natalia Sciarini at the Beinecke Rare Book and Manuscript Library; Amanda Pike and Adriane Hanson at the Seeley G. Mudd Manuscript Library, Princeton; Jonathan Eaker at the Library of Congress; Jim Sam and Carol Leadenham at the Hoover Institution Library and Archives, Stanford University; Keith Call at the Wheaton College Archives and Special Collections; Anna Evgen’evna Tsar’kova at the Alliluev Apartment-Museum; Dasha Kondrashina at the Model School No. 25 museum; and Aliona Gennadi’evna Kozlova at the Archive of the Memorial Society International. I would also like to thank Henry Hardy of the Isaiah Berlin Literary Trust, Wolfson College, Oxford.

  The Pierre Elliott Trudeau Foundation honored me with a three-year fellowship, which proved invaluable in the pursuit of my research.

  Last, I must thank the most important person, my editor, Claire Wachtel at HarperCollins USA. It was in our conversations that the idea for this book first surfaced. To put it simply, she is brilliant, courageous, and infinitely supportive. I must also thank the remarkably inventive and efficient Hannah Wood, associate editor, Harper/Perennial, and Jane Beirn, senior director of publicity, for the care and enthusiasm she has shown my book. I want to thank my Canadian editor, the inspiring Iris Tupholme of HarperCollins Canada, who has supported me throughout my career; her assistant, Doug Richmond, who was always generous with his time and insights; Maria Golikova, who read the manuscript so sympathetically and carefully; Miranda Snyder, for her organizational skills and kindness; and my British editor, Clare Reihill of HarperCollins UK, for her hospitality and enthusiasm, as well as her assistant, Emmanuella Kwenortey, whose patience in photo documentation was invaluable. I would like to thank my agent, Jackie Kaiser, who offers her time, insight, and enthusiasm so generously and can always be counted on. Finally I owe deepest gratitude to my husband, Juan Opitz, who maintained his patience and support through the long research and writing process; he is always my most impassioned advocate.

  Interviews

  IN THE UNITED STATES

  Chrese Evans (Olga Peters), Marie Anderson, Michael Coyne, Aris Georges, Millie Harford, Priscilla Johnson McMillan, Joan Kennan, Hella McVay, Thomas Miller, Walter Pozen, Robert and Ramona Rayle, Anne Reeves, Kathy Rossing, Alan Schwartz, Meryle Secrest, and Evgeniya Tucker.

  IN RUSSIA

  Alexander Pavlovich Alliluyev, Leonid Stanislavovich and Galina Ivanovna Alliluyev, Alexander Burdonsky, Marina Rafailovna Kaul, Yelena Khanga, Diana Kondrashina, Stepan Anastasovich Mikoyan, and Alexander Mironovich Ushakov.

  IN GEORGIA

  Nestan Charkviani and Leila Sikmashvili.

  IN ENGLAND

  Mary Burkett, Pamela Egremont, Philippa Hill, Linda and Laurence Kelly, David and Clarissa Pryce-Jones, Jane Renfrew, Rosamond Richardson, and Vanessa Thomas.

  IN CANADA

  Olga Leonidovna Alliloueva and Frances Sedgwik.

  IN MEXICO

  Raoul Ortiz

  List of Characters

  In the USSR:

  THE STALIN HOUSEHOLD

  Vissarion “Beso” Djugashvili: Stalin’s father; born in Georgia; a cobbler.

  Ekaterina “Keke” Djugashvili: Stalin’s mother, born in Georgia; seamstress and washerwoman; Stalin was her only surviving child.

  Joseph “Soso” Vissarionovich Djugashvili: Svetlana’s father; born in Gori, Georgia; revolutionary name Koba; adopted name Stalin (“steel”) in 1913.

  Nadezhda “Nadya” (Alliluyeva) Stalina: Stalin’s second wife and Svetlana’s mother; born in Baku, Azerbaijan.

  Vasili “Vasya” Stalin: Svetlana’s brother; born in Moscow, 1921; died of alcoholism.

  Yakov “Yasha” Djugashvili: Svetlana’s half brother; Stalin’s eldest son by first wife; born in Tbilisi, Georgia; captured by Germans in 1941; died in POW camp in 1943; second wife, Yulia Meltzer, arrested 1941; released 1943.

  Artyom Sergeev: adopted by Stalin when his father died in a train crash in 1921; lived with the Stalins until the late 1920s, when he returned to live with his mother.
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  Alexandra Andreevna Bychkova: served as Svetlana’s nanny and as nanny to Svetlana’s children; died in 1956.

  Carolina Til: Latvian housekeeper who worked for the Stalins from 1927 to 1937, when she was dismissed during the “Great Terror.”

  Mikhail Klimov: Svetlana’s bodyguard; reluctant witness to the love affair with Aleksei Kapler, 1942–43.

  Valentina “Valechka” Istomina: Stalin’s loyal housekeeper and rumored intimate companion; served at Stalin’s Kuntsevo dacha from 1934 until Stalin’s death.

  SVETLANA’S RELATIVES:

  The Alliluyevs:

  Olga Alliluyeva: Svetlana’s maternal grandmother; born in Georgia of German ancestry; mother of four children.

  Sergei Alliluyev: Svetlana’s maternal grandfather; railway worker and Bolshevik revolutionary; introduced Stalin into the Alliluyev family in 1900.

  Pavel Alliluyev: Nadya’s brother; died of a heart attack in 1938; his wife, Zhenya, was arrested in 1947; released 1954.

  Anna Alliluyeva: Nadya’s sister: arrested in 1948; released in 1954; husband, Stanislav Redens, the People’s Commissar for Internal Affairs in Kazakhstan and former head of the OGPU in the Ukraine; executed in 1940.

  Fyodor Alliluyev: Nadya’s brother, born in 1898; had mental breakdown in 1918–19, during training exercises in the Russian Civil War.

  Svetlana’s Cousins and Childhood Companions:

  Children of Pavel and Zhenya Alliluyev: Kyra arrested 1948; released 1953; Sergei; and Alexander.

  Children of Anna and Stanislav Redens: Leonid; Vladimir.

  Svetlana’s Nephew:

  Alexander Burdonsky: son of Svetlana’s brother Vasili Stalin; rejected the name Stalin and assumed mother’s name Burdonsky; well-known theater director.

  Svanidzes:

  Ekaterina “Kato” Svanidze: Stalin’s first wife; Georgian; married 1906; died of typhus in 1907.

  Alexander “Alyosha” Svanidze: brother of Stalin’s first wife, Kato; worked for Soviet Bank for Foreign Trade until arrest and execution in 1941; wife, Maria Svanidze, former Georgian opera singer; diarist; executed in 1942. Only son “Johnik.”

  Mariko and Sashiko Svanidze: sisters of Stalin’s first wife, Kato; Mariko was executed in 1942.

  SVETLANA’S HUSBANDS IN THE USSR:

  Grigori “Grisha” Morozov: Jewish friend of Vasili; married in 1944; divorced in 1947; went on to become a law professor.

  Yuri Zhdanov: son of Supreme Soviet chairman Andrei Zhdanov; married 1949; divorced 1951; head of the Science Department of the Central Committee at age twenty-eight.

  Johnreed “Johnik” (Ivan) Svanidze: sent to orphanage for children of the condemned; exiled to Kazakhstan to work in mines; returned to Moscow in 1956; married Svetlana in church wedding, 1962; divorced after one year.

  Brajesh Singh: son of the Rajah of Kalakankar in Uttar Pradesh; common-law husband; met Svetlana in 1963; died in 1966.

  SVETLANA’S CHILDREN IN THE USSR:

  Joseph Alliluyev: son of Grigori Morozov; born in 1945; neurologist; first wife, Elena; son Ilya; second wife, Lyuda; died in 2008.

  Katya Zhdanov: daughter of Yuri Zhdanov; born in 1950; worked as a volcanologist in Kamchatka; daughter, Anya.

  SVETLANA’S LOVERS IN THE USSR:

  Aleksei Kapler: Jewish screenwriter; platonic love affair 1942–43; exiled by Stalin to Gulag for ten years.

  Yuri Tomsky: son of Mikhail Tomsky, trade union leader who committed suicide in 1936; brought up in the Gulag as an orphan.

  David Samoilov: born in 1920; Jewish; one of the most important Russian postwar poets; died 1990.

  Andre Sinyavsky: dissident writer; arrested with Yuli Daniel in 1966; sentenced to seven years in the Gulag for anti-Soviet activity; released in 1971; emigrated to Paris with his wife, Maria Rozanova, in 1973; died 1997.

  SVETLANA’S CIRCLE OF RUSSIAN FRIENDS:

  Sergo Beria: childhood friend at Model School No. 25; son of Lavrenty Beria.

  Ilya Ehrenburg: journalist; author of the novel The Thaw (1954), which gave its name to the post-Stalin period.

  Lily Golden: researcher at the Institute of African Studies and the author of articles on African music and culture.

  Kyra Golovko: actress; husband, Arsenii; chief of staff of the Navy of the USSR; friends at House on the Embankment.

  Boris Gribanov: editor at Children’s Literature Press; friend of David Samoilov.

  Stepan Mikoyan: son of Stalin’s minister Anastas Mikoyan; wife, Ella.

  Marfa Peshkova: granddaughter of Maxim Gorky; married to Sergo Beria.

  Olga Rifkina: fellow student at Model School No. 25; lifelong friend.

  Fyodor Volkenstein: professor of chemistry in Moscow; inspired Svetlana to write Twenty Letters to a Friend.

  STALIN’S MINISTERS AND OFFICIALS:

  Lavrenty Beria: Mingrelian; chief of Stalin’s secret police from 1938; Politburo member in charge of nuclear bomb; arrested after Stalin’s death; executed 1953.

  Nikita Khrushchev: Nadya’s fellow student at Industrial Academy; first secretary of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union from 1953 to 1964; ousted 1964; “Secret Speech” in 1956 responsible for de-Stalinization policy; died in 1971.

  Sergei Kirov: Secretary of the Leningrad Party; assassinated 1934; his assassination was prelude to the subsequent “Great Terror.”

  Anastas Mikoyan: deputy prime minister, 1937; chairman of Supreme Soviet of USSR, 1964; died in 1978.

  Vyacheslav Molotov: first deputy premier from 1942 to 1957; dismissed by Khrushchev; retired in 1961; died in 1986.

  Polina Molotov: wife of Vyacheslav; close friend of Nadya Stalin; Fisheries Commissar; arrested in 1948; released in 1953; died in 1970.

  Andrei Zhdanov: chairman of the Supreme Soviet from 1938 to 1947; as head of Ideology, originated Zhdanov Doctrine; dismissed by Stalin 1947; died of a heart attack in 1948.

  Abel Enukidze: Nadya’s godfather, secretary of the Central Executive Committee; dismissed and arrested in 1935; executed in 1937.

  General Nikolai Vlasik: chief of Stalin’s security detail from 1931 to 1952; head of Guards Directorate; died in 1967.

  Genrikh Yagoda: director of NKVD (Soviet Union’s Security and Intelligence Agency) from 1934 to 1936; arrested in 1937; executed in 1938.

  Nikolai Yezhov: director of the NKVD from 1936 to 1938; presided over “Great Terror”; arrested in 1939; executed in 1940.

  VICTIMS OF ANTI-COSMOPOLITAN CAMPAIGN AND DOCTORS’ PLOT:

  Solomon Mikhoels: director of Moscow’s Yiddish State Theater; head of the Jewish anti-Fascist Committee, killed in 1948, at the beginning of the Anti-Cosmopolitan Campaign.

  Dr. Yakov Rapoport: Soviet pathologist; victim of the Doctors’ Plot. Arrested in December 1952; released in March 1953.

  In India:

  I. A. Benediktov: Soviet ambassador to India; returned Svetlana’s passport, enabling her defection in 1967.

  Triloki Nath Kaul: Indian ambassador to the Soviet Union and a friend of Brajesh Singh; carried Svetlana’s manuscript out of Moscow in 1966; daughter, Preeti.

  Mrs. Kassirova: functionary in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs; Svetlana’s minder on trip to India.

  Dinesh Singh: nephew of Brajesh Singh; minister of State in government of Indira Gandhi from 1966 to 1967; daughter, Reva.

  Suresh Singh: brother of Brajesh Singh; Svetlana’s host during her stay in Kalakankar before her defection.

  THE US EMBASSY IN INDIA:

  Chester Bowles: US ambassador to India and Nepal in 1967; made the decision to give Svetlana a tourist visa to the United States; his term ended in 1968.

  George Huey: consul at the US embassy in Delhi; the first officer to talk with Svetlana.

  Robert Rayle: second secretary at the US embassy in Delhi, undercover CIA officer; accompanied Svetlana to Italy and Switzerland during her defection in 1967.

  IN SWITZERLAND:

  Antonino Janner: chief of the East European section of the Swiss Foreign Ministry; t
ook charge of Svetlana.

  United States:

  Cass Canfield: publisher of Harper & Row; published Svetlana’s first two books.

  Fritz Ermarth: CIA national intelligence officer for the USSR and East Europe in 1984, when Svetlana returned to the USSR.

  Edward Greenbaum: “the General”; partner in New York law firm Greenbaum Wolff & Ernst; handled Svetlana’s visa and copyright; secured advance of $1.5 million.

  Donald Jameson: CIA officer; instrumental in securing Svetlana’s entry into the United States; assisted Svetlana during her early years in the United States.

  George Kennan: ex-ambassador to the Soviet Union; faculty member at the Institute for Advanced Study in Princeton; wife, Annelise.

  Foy Kohler: undersecretary of State in the Johnson administration in 1967; spearheaded refusal of asylum to Svetlana.

  Alan Schwartz: lawyer; assistant to Edward Greenbaum.

  Evan Thomas: executive vice president of Harper & Row.

  Russian Government Officials (from 1967):

  Yuri Andropov: appointed head of the KGB in 1967, shortly after Svetlana’s defection; succeeded Brezhnev as general secretary of the Central Committee of the Communist Party (CPSU) in 1982; chairman of the Supreme Soviet (president) in June 1983; ill by August; died in 1984.

  Leonid Brezhnev: replaced Khrushchev as general secretary of the CPSU from 1964 to 1982; reinitiated policies of repression; died 1982.

  Mikhail Gorbachev: general secretary from 1985 to 1991; initiated failed policies of glasnost (openness) and perestroika (restructuring); granted Svetlana permission to leave the USSR in 1986.