When Stalin was buried. Stalin’s funeral and other terrible stampedes in the USSR. Crowd on Red Square

Parting

Leaders of the Party and Government at the tomb of I.V. Stalin. Column Hall of the House of Unions March 6, 1953. Beria’s face is scratched out in the photo.

As a farewell, Stalin's body was exhibited on March 6 in the Hall of Columns of the House of Unions. From 16:00 the first streams of people came who wanted to say goodbye to Stalin.

Stalin lay in a coffin, on a high pedestal, in the canopy of red banners, among roses and evergreen branches.

Crystal chandeliers with electric candles were covered in black crepe. Sixteen scarlet velvet panels, bordered with black silk, with the coats of arms of the republics, fell from white marble columns. The giant banner of the USSR was bowed over Stalin's head. In front of the coffin, on the atlas, lay the Marshall Star, orders and medals of Stalin. Funeral melodies of Tchaikovsky, Beethoven, and Mozart were played.

Representatives of youth, Komsomol members, blacksmiths from the Stalin Automobile Plant, steelworkers from Hammer and Sickle, Orekhovo-Zuev weavers, Shatura electricians, Dynamo and Kirov workers, Siberian metallurgists and Donetsk miners, Moscow region collective farmers, Uzbek cotton growers, Kuban field farmers, Altai peasants; infantrymen and sailors, pilots and tank crews, artillerymen and sappers, representatives of the Soviet Army and Navy.

At the coffin of I.V. Stalin, the leaders of the CPSU and the government were on a mourning guard of honor: G.M. Malenkov, L.P. Beria, V.M. Molotov, K.E. Voroshilov, N.S. Khrushchev, N. A. Bulganin, L. M. Kaganovich, A. I. Mikoyan.

On the streets of Moscow, floodlights mounted on trucks were turned on, illuminating the squares and streets along which columns of thousands were moving towards the House of Unions.

At night, the streets of Moscow were full of people waiting for their turn to say goodbye. Long before dawn, the doors of the House of Unions opened again, and people again walked into the Hall of Columns. Among those who came to say goodbye, in addition to the peoples of the USSR, were the Chinese and Koreans, Hungarians and Bulgarians, Poles and Czechs, Slovaks and Romanians, Albanians and Mongols.

Planes and trains with delegations from Siberia, the Black Sea region, Beijing, Warsaw, Prague, Tirana, Bucharest, and other places in the USSR and the world constantly arrived in Moscow. Thousands of wreaths were laid.

The Chinese delegation brought wreaths from the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China and Mao Tse-tung. The mourning watch was carried out by Chou En-lai, Clement Gottwald, Boleslav Bierut, Matthias Rakosi, Vylko Chervenkov, Gheorghe Gheorghiu-Dej, Palmiro Togliatti, Walter Ulbricht, Otto Grotewohl, Dolores Ibarruri, Harry Pollitt, Johann Koplenig, Ville Pessi, Pietro Nenni, mzhagiin Tsedenbal.

Standing at the coffin were Finnish Prime Minister Urho K. Kekkonen and Chairman of the All-India Peace Council Saifuddin Kitchlu.

The farewell lasted three days and three nights, as people walked through the Hall of Columns.

March 9 - funeral day

List of generals and admirals who carried Stalin's awards on the day of the funeral

Third day with open doors
all Moscow, the whole world
everyone walked and walked.
For the third day we tried to believe
to his death. And they couldn't.
The quiet orchestras died down.
Moans of grief are restrained in the chest.
This night of farewell and sadness
ended.
Immortality is ahead.

Malenkov, Beria, Khrushchev spoke at the funeral meeting, their speeches were published and included in the film “The Great Farewell.” Stalin's embalmed body was placed on public display in the Lenin Mausoleum, which in 1953-1961 was called the “Mausoleum of V. I. Lenin and I. V. Stalin.” A special resolution of the Council of Ministers of the USSR and the Central Committee of the CPSU of March 6 provided for the construction of the Pantheon, where it was planned to transfer the bodies of Lenin and Stalin, as well as burials at the Kremlin wall, but these projects were actually curtailed very soon.

Reburial of Stalin's body

On the last day of the congress, the first secretary of the Leningrad regional party committee, Spiridonov, rose to the podium and, after a brief speech, made a proposal to remove Stalin’s body from the Mausoleum. The proposal was adopted unanimously.

N. Zakharov and the Kremlin commandant, Lieutenant General Vedenin, learned about the impending decision in advance. N.S. Khrushchev called them and said:

Please keep in mind that today a decision on Stalin’s reburial will probably take place. The place is marked. The commandant of the Mausoleum knows where to dig the grave,” added Nikita Sergeevich. - By the decision of the Presidium of the CPSU Central Committee, a commission of five people was created, headed by Shvernik: Mzhavanadze - first secretary of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of Georgia, Javakhishvili - chairman of the Council of Ministers of Georgia, Shelepin - chairman of the KGB, Demichev - first secretary of the Moscow City Party Committee and Dygai - chairman of the executive committee of the Moscow Soviet.

In literature

Stalin's funeral became the subject of numerous mournful responses from Soviet poets, published in the central press. Alexander Tvardovsky's poems began:

In this hour of greatest sorrow
I won't find those words
So that they fully express
Our nationwide misfortune.
Our nationwide loss,
The one we're crying about now.
But I believe in a wise party -
She is our support!

...And here he lies on a magnificent pedestal,
Between the red stars, in a shining coffin,
“The Greatest of the Greats” - Oska Stalin,
Having surpassed all the Caesars by fate.

Notes

See also

  • The Great Farewell

Links

Audio recordings

Newsreel

The stampede at Stalin's funeral still raises many questions: how many dead were there, and why did this happen? Could the tragedy have been avoided, or was it intended to be this way? Lovers of mysticism say that Stalin could not leave without reaping the next “harvest.”

On March 6, 1953, in the morning it was announced on the radio that the leader of the world proletariat had died. For many it was a shock. To some, Stalin seemed like a terrible demon, to others he was a deity, but his death came as a shock to both. People couldn't believe he was gone.

In the USSR, mourning and farewell to the leader were declared. Plants, factories, all departments and shops, everything was closed due to mourning.

Entry into Moscow was prohibited, but people walked to get at least a glimpse of Stalin. Someone wanted to make sure that the “mustachioed shoe polisher” had passed away, someone was sincerely grieving, and someone was just walking, because everyone was walking.

Stalin's funeral: how many people died in the stampede?

Stalin's body was exhibited for farewell in the Column Hall of the House of Unions on Pushkinskaya. All police units, cadets and military units were urgently raised, but the organizers did not expect that there would be so many people who wanted to say goodbye to the leader.

A dense ring of cadets and trucks was organized around Trubnaya Square, and this cordon was supposed to streamline and direct the flow of people in the right direction.

But the crowd is scary. Distraught people pushed and crushed each other, climbed over their heads, losing shoes and clothes along the way. The cadets pulled out gasping people right from the sides of the trucks, trying to save them. Having rested, some again rushed into the crowd to reach the House of Unions.

Thousands of people were looking for a way out to the blocked area, the flows of people crossed, changed direction, fear, despair and panic forced them to stubbornly move forward, and many survivors now cannot explain what it was.

The crushed bodies were thrown onto a truck and taken away. Someone said that they were taken out of town and simply dumped in a common grave, and no one kept count of them. And now there is no official data on how many died at Stalin’s funeral in the stampede.

For many days after Stalin's funeral, people were looking for their relatives who had not returned home. Most often they were in hospitals or morgues. Sometimes it was possible to identify a person only by clothing, but the death certificate indicated completely different causes of death.

During the days of mourning throughout the country, many died from heart attacks, strokes and nervous shocks. People were shocked to the core, and Stalin's death was the end of the world for them.

According to unofficial data, the stampede at Stalin's funeral killed between 2 and 3 thousand people. These are terrible numbers also because no one counted the people. At that time, the authorities were only thinking about who would take Stalin’s place, and the people as such were not interested.

Photos from that time have survived to this day, but they do not reflect the scale of the tragedy. They show only the people who say goodbye to the father of nations, how the country mourns, and how many wreaths the grateful people brought to their beloved leader.

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Parting

Leaders of the Party and Government at the tomb of I.V. Stalin. Column Hall of the House of Unions March 6, 1953. L.P. Beria’s face is blurred out in the photo.

As a farewell, Stalin's body was exhibited on March 6 in the Column Hall of the House of Unions. From 16:00 the first streams of people came who wanted to say goodbye to Stalin.

Stalin lay in a coffin, on a high pedestal, framed by red banners, roses and green branches. He was wearing his favorite everyday uniform of a grayish-green color with a turn-down collar, onto which the general's overcoat buttonholes were sewn. It differed from the lifetime uniform only in the sewn shoulder straps of the generalissimo and gold buttons. In addition to the order bars, the “Golden Star” and “Hammer and Sickle” medals were attached to the tunic (although Stalin wore only the latter during his lifetime).

Crystal chandeliers with electric candles were covered in black crepe. Sixteen scarlet velvet panels, bordered with black silk, with the coats of arms of the Union republics are fixed on white marble columns. A giant USSR banner was bowed over Stalin's head. In front of the coffin, on the atlas, lay the Marshal's Star, orders and medals of Stalin. Funeral melodies of Tchaikovsky, Beethoven, and Mozart were played.

Residents of Moscow and other cities, representatives of various enterprises, institutions, Armed Forces. Near the coffin of I.V. Stalin, in a guard of honor were the leaders of the CPSU and the government: G. M. Malenkov, L. P. Beria, V. M. Molotov, K. E. Voroshilov, N. S. Khrushchev, N. A. Bulganin, L. M. Kaganovich, A. I. Mikoyan.

On the streets of Moscow, floodlights mounted on trucks were turned on; they illuminated the squares and streets along which columns of thousands of people were moving towards the House of Unions.

At night, the streets of Moscow were full of those who were waiting for their turn to say goodbye. The doors of the House of Unions were opened early in the morning, while it was still dark, and farewells in the Hall of Columns resumed. In addition to Soviet citizens, representatives of many other countries took part in the ceremony.

The Chinese delegation brought wreaths from the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China and Mao Tse-tung. The honor guard included Chou En-lai, Clement Gottwald, Boleslav Bierut, Matthias Rakosi, Vylko Chervenkov, George Georgiu-Dej, Palmiro Tolyatti, Walter Ulbricht, Otto Grotewohl, Dolores Ibarruri, Harry Pollitt, Johann Koplenig, Ville Pessi, Pietro Nenni, Yumzhagiin Tsedenbal. Also standing at the coffin were Prime Minister of Finland Urho K. Kekkonen and Chairman of the All-India Peace Council Saifuddin Kitchlu.

The farewell continued for three days and three nights. Around midnight on March 8, the farewells stopped and preparations for the funeral began. At 2 a.m., numerous wreaths began to be brought out. Since it was decided to carry only 100 wreaths from the country’s leadership, the largest party organizations, foreign communist parties and relatives behind the coffin, the remaining wreaths, the number of which numbered in the thousands, were installed by morning on both sides of the Mausoleum.

March 9 - funeral day

Marshals and generals carried Stalin's awards on satin pillows: the Marshal's Star (Marshal S. M. Budyonny), two Orders of Victory (Marshals V. D. Sokolovsky and L. A. Govorov), three Orders of Lenin (Marshals I. S. Konev, S. K. Timoshenko, R. Y. Malinovsky), three Orders of the Red Banner (Marshals K. A. Meretskov, S. I. Bogdanov and Colonel General Kuznetsov), Order of Suvorov, 1st degree (Army General Zakharov). The medals were carried by Vice Admiral V. A. Fokin, Air Marshal K. A. Vershinin, Army General I. Kh. Bagramyan, Colonel General M. I. Nedelin and K. S. Moskalenko.

Following the coffin were members of the Presidium of the CPSU Central Committee, then family, members and candidates for membership of the Central Committee, deputies of the Supreme Soviet of the USSR, heads of delegations of fraternal communist parties and an honorary military escort.

At 10:45 a.m. the coffin was removed from the carriage and placed on a red pedestal in front of the Mausoleum. Preparations for the rally began (the participants ascended to the podium of the Mausoleum). The workers of Moscow, delegations of union and autonomous republics, territories and regions gathered on the square; representatives of China, people's democracies, delegations and representatives of other states were also present.

The Chairman of the Commission for organizing Stalin's funeral N. S. Khrushchev, who opened the meeting, gave the floor to the Chairman of the Council of Ministers of the USSR and Secretary of the CPSU Central Committee G. M. Malenkov. The following speech was made by the First Deputy Chairman of the Council of Ministers of the USSR L.P. Beria. Then the First Deputy Chairman of the Council of Ministers of the USSR V. M. Molotov made a speech.

At 11:54 a.m., Khrushchev declared the funeral meeting closed. Gheorghe Georgiu-Dej, Boleslav Berut, Pach Dem Li, Walter Ulbricht, Dolores Ibarruri, Otto Grotewohl, Vylko Chervenkov, Matthias Rakosi, Pietro Nenni, Palmiro Togliatti came down from the Mausoleum's rostrum , Jacques Duclos, Clement Gottwald, N. A. Bulganin, V M. Molotov, K. E. Voroshilov, G. M. Malenkov, N. S. Khrushchev, L. P. Beria, M. Z. Saburov, Zhou En-lai, M. G. Pervukhin, L. M. Kaganovich, N. M. Shvernik, A. I. Mikoyan.

G. M. Malenkov, L. P. Beria, V. M. Molotov, K. E. Voroshilov, N. S. Khrushchev, N. A. Bulganin, L. M. Kaganovich, A. I. Mikoyan raised the coffin and They slowly carried him into the Mausoleum.

At 12 o'clock an artillery salute was fired over the Kremlin. The sounds of the funeral march were followed by the beeps of Moscow industrial enterprises, and five minutes of silence began throughout the country. The funeral march gave way to the solemn Anthem of the Soviet Union. The State Flag of the Soviet Union, lowered after Stalin’s death, was raised over the Kremlin. At 12:10 a.m., troops passed in front of the Mausoleum and planes flew in formation in the sky.

The speeches made at the rally were published and later included in the movie “The Great Farewell.” Stalin's embalmed body was placed on public display in the Lenin Mausoleum, which in 1953-1961 was called the “Mausoleum of V. I. Lenin and I. V. Stalin.” A special resolution of the Council of Ministers of the USSR and the Central Committee of the CPSU of March 6 provided for the construction of the Pantheon, where it was planned to transfer the bodies of Lenin and Stalin, as well as burials at the Kremlin wall, but these projects were actually curtailed very soon.

Stampede during Stalin's funeral

During the funeral there was a stampede in the Trubnaya Square area. The stampede killed from several hundred to two to three thousand people (official data on the number of victims is classified).

Dorman O. Interlinear

Reburial of Stalin's body

On the last day of the congress, the first secretary of the Leningrad regional party committee, I.V. Spiridonov, rose to the podium and, after a brief speech, made a proposal to remove Stalin’s body from the Mausoleum. The proposal was adopted unanimously.

Fyodor Timofeevich Konev, the former commander of the Kremlin regiment, recalled that day: “To find out the mood of the people, I changed into civilian clothes and went out to Red Square. People in groups were having excited conversations. Their content can be reduced to the following: “Why was this issue decided without consulting the people?”

N. S. Zakharov and the Kremlin commandant, Lieutenant General A. Ya. Vedenin, learned about the impending decision in advance. N.S. Khrushchev called them and said:

Please keep in mind that today a decision on Stalin’s reburial will probably take place. The place is marked. The commandant of the Mausoleum knows where to dig the grave,” added Nikita Sergeevich. - By the decision of the Presidium of the CPSU Central Committee, a commission of five people was created, headed by Shvernik: Mzhavanadze - the first secretary of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of Georgia, Javakhishvili - the chairman of the Council of Ministers of Georgia, Shelepin - the chairman of the KGB, Demichev - the first secretary of the Moscow city party committee and Dygai - the chairman of the executive committee of the Moscow Council.

N. M. Shvernik told the performers how to secretly organize the reburial: since there was a parade on Red Square on November 7, it should have been cordoned off under the pretext of a parade rehearsal. General control over the progress of work was entrusted to Zakharov's deputy, General V. Ya. Chekalov. To the commander of a separate regiment special purpose The commandant's office of the Moscow Kremlin ordered Konev to make a coffin from dry wood in a carpentry workshop, which was made on the same day. The wood was covered with black and red crepe. The Kremlin commandant's office assigned six soldiers to dig the grave and eight officers to first remove the sarcophagus from the Mausoleum to the laboratory, and then lower the coffin with the body into the grave. General A. Ya. Vedenin was instructed by the Zakharovs to select reliable, proven and previously proven people.

The camouflage was provided by the head of the economic department of the Kremlin commandant's office, Colonel Tarasov. He had to cover the right and left sides behind the Mausoleum with plywood so that the place of work could not be seen from anywhere. At the same time, in the workshop of the arsenal, the artist Savinov made a wide white ribbon with the letters “LENIN”. It had to be used to cover the inscription “LENIN STALIN” on the Mausoleum until the letters were laid out in marble. At 18:00, the passages to Red Square were blocked, after which the servicemen began digging a hole for the burial.

All members of the commission, except Mzhavanadze, arrived at the Mausoleum at 21:00. Eight officers took the sarcophagus and carried it down to the basement where the laboratory is located. In addition to the members of the commission, there were also scientific workers who had previously monitored the condition of Stalin’s embalmed body. The glass was removed from the sarcophagus, and the officers transferred Stalin's body to a coffin.

N.M. Shvernik ordered the Gold Star of the Hero of Socialist Labor to be removed from his uniform (there was no other award, the Star of the Hero of the Soviet Union, in the sarcophagus). The chairman of the commission ordered to replace the gold buttons of the uniform with brass ones. All this was carried out by the commandant of the Mausoleum, Colonel K. A. Moshkov. He transferred the removed award and buttons to a special Security Room, where the awards of all those buried near the Kremlin wall were kept.

When the coffin with Stalin’s body was covered with a lid, Shvernik and Javakhishvili burst into tears. The officers lowered the coffin into the plywood-lined grave. Someone threw a handful of earth, as required by Christian custom. The grave was buried. A slab of white marble was placed on top with the inscription: “STALIN JOSEPH VISSARIONOVICH 1879−1953.” Then it served as a tombstone for a long time, until a bust was erected in 1970.

Lenin's sarcophagus was installed in the central place, where it stood before Stalin's funeral in 1953.

In 1970, a monument was unveiled at the grave (bust by N.V. Tomsky).

On October 21, 1962, a year after Stalin’s reburial, the Pravda newspaper published Yevgeny Yevtushenko’s poem “Stalin’s Heirs.”

On March 9, 1953, a crowd of thousands gathered in the center of the Soviet capital - people came to say goodbye to the leader. History has known cases before when pandemonium led to numerous casualties. For example, the tragedy on the Khodynka Field, which occurred on the day of the coronation of Nicholas II. But in what happened in March 1953, many saw a terrible mystical sign: the executioner of his people continued to destroy Soviet people and after his death.

How many people died at Stalin's funeral? What caused the stampede in the area?

The death of the Kremlin dictator

Both the life and death of the greatest dictator of the 20th century are still covered in an impenetrable veil of secrets. Therefore, there is no clear answer to the question of how many people died at Stalin’s funeral.

The news of the leader's death plunged the whole country into shock. The news of Stalin’s death did not leave residents of other states indifferent either. The man who set the tone for world politics for thirty years has died. A man who destroyed a significant part of his people, but at the same time turned backward Russia into a powerful Soviet Union.

General grief

Stalin terrified and at the same time inspired love and devotion. On March 5, on Soviet streets one could see people immersed in deep sadness. They did not grieve for the departed leader as much as they were in terrible uncertainty. Stalin died, and it became unclear how to live further, what to expect from tomorrow.

On the holiday of March 8, Soviet newspapers spoke exclusively about the death of the Generalissimo. Mourning was declared and all entertainment events were cancelled. According to the government decree, the coffin with the leader’s body was to be transferred to the mausoleum on March 9. But he didn't stay here long. In 1961, Stalin's body was taken out of the mausoleum.

Who was at the funeral?

On March 9, a crowd gathered near the Kremlin, most of which were visitors. Gloomy men in sheepskin coats, worried women in village-style scarves, curious children and naively fearless teenagers - they all came to say goodbye to the “father of nations”. It was announced that a national farewell would take place in the Hall of Columns. The queue was enormous.

Stalin's funeral was a grandiose event. He ruled the country from 1924 until his death. During this period, a generation grew up that knew nothing about life without him. He was perceived as a kind of celestial being. His personal life was kept secret. In the country they not only did not talk, but were even afraid to think that the Generalissimo was just ordinary person with its own vices and shortcomings.

There were many teenagers at Stalin's funeral. People of more mature age also came to say goodbye to the leader. But there were no old people in the center of Moscow that day. Elderly people rarely attend such public events. Although researchers believe that the reason is different: those who remembered pre-Stalin times and had the opportunity to compare did not want to take part in the mourning event.

On the eve of the tragedy

According to eyewitnesses, in those days people traveled to Moscow even from remote regions. It was impossible to buy tickets to the capital. On the eve of the funeral, entry into Moscow was closed and train service was canceled. The police blocked the stations. But it was already too late. The capital was literally drowning from the influx of people who found themselves in a huge unfamiliar city for the first time. These people turned into a scattered and poorly controlled crowd.

The police and the alerted army did everything possible to take control of the situation. They succeeded in doing this, but only partially. The crowd is a terrible force that even the most organized army cannot cope with. How many people died in the stampede? Several thousand people gathered at Stalin's funeral. Of course, it is impossible to name the exact number of visitors and Muscovites. The number of deaths is classified data.

In the Hall of Columns

While the police tried in vain to prevent the tragedy, in the House of Unions, framed by roses, green branches and red banners, there stood a coffin, towards which an endless stream of people walked. The leader was buried in his favorite everyday uniform. The crystal chandeliers in the Hall of Columns were covered with black crepe, and scarlet velvet panels were attached to the white columns. Spotlights were turned on on the capital's streets to illuminate the path to the House of Unions.

The farewell to the leader lasted three days. The entrance to the Hall of Columns was closed on the night of March 8. Preparations for the funeral have begun.

To the sounds of a funeral march

At exactly 12 o'clock an artillery salute was fired over the Kremlin. Five minutes of silence began across the country. Yuri Levitan reported on the radio what was happening in Moscow in his characteristic solemn style. True, he only spoke about the ceremony - about how the troops passed in front of the Mausoleum at the beginning of the first, about the planes that flew over the Kremlin. No one knew about the pandemonium in the country.

At the rally, speeches were made that were later included in the documentary film “The Great Farewell.” Around the time the leader’s embalmed body was being transferred to the Mausoleum, a stampede broke out near Trubnaya Square.

The terrible truth about the events of March 9

There are several versions about what caused the stampede. It is noteworthy that not only researchers, but also witnesses provide completely different facts.

In 1990 he made a film in which he talked about the March events of 1953. The painting is called "Stalin's Funeral". It is unknown how many people died in Moscow on March 9, 1953. Therefore, historians give different figures, based on various information and stories of witnesses. Yevtushenko, an eyewitness to those events, believed that several thousand people died. According to his memoirs, the bodies were taken outside the city and buried in a common grave. Among the crushed there were those who came to their senses and asked for help. They could still be saved. But ambulance practically didn't work.

On days of mourning it was forbidden to drive along the central streets. Nobody needed the wounded. Nothing was to overshadow the Generalissimo's funeral. Such terrible facts are cited by Yevtushenko and other witnesses. However, no researcher can say how many people died at Stalin’s funeral.

Planned action

The events of March 9, 1953 are often compared to the tragedy that occurred on the day Nicholas II ascended the throne. Some historians believe that the de-Stalinization of the country began with the desecration of the leader's funeral. That is, the crush did not happen by chance. On the sidelines of the Kremlin there were rumors about a significant and terrible phrase that Beria uttered. The General Commissioner of State Security allegedly said: “Nicholas ended with Khodynka, and Stalin will end with a funeral.” But this version is not confirmed by anything.

Rozhdestvensky Boulevard

During the years of perestroika, information about how many people died during Stalin's funeral was greatly exaggerated. They said that pandemonium formed on March 9 not only in the vicinity of the Kremlin, but also in other areas of Moscow. In reality, the real tragedy did not play out everywhere, but only in one place.

For people who came to say goodbye to the deceased Generalissimo, Rozhdestvensky Boulevard, connecting Trubnaya Square with Sretenka, became a death trap. This street is very narrow and downhill. It was here, on Rozhdestvensky Boulevard, that the tragedy occurred. People who walked from the direction of Sretenka fell into small holes near the windows of the semi-basement premises. When a huge crowd is walking, a person is not able to get to his feet. Another one falls on him, a third one. Thus begins the deadly stampede.

Crowd on Red Square

Even today, sixty years after the death of the leader, no one has named the exact number of those killed during Stalin’s funeral. Neither historians nor state security representatives have studied this issue. There is a version that people died not only on Rozhdestvensky Boulevard, but also on Red Square, which was fenced off that day with trucks. This fence was not removed even after a terrible crush began.

Some eyewitnesses claim that several hundred Muscovites and visitors were injured. Others, answering the question about Stalin’s funeral, assure: from two thousand.

Historian Yuri Zhukov insists that there was a lot of space between the trucks, allowing free passage, that is, the area was not blocked. However, the poet Yevgeny Yevtushenko in his memoirs talks about the bloody horror that engulfed several streets in the center of the capital. Which one should you believe? One can only guess how many people died at Stalin's funeral. No photos were taken where the tragedy occurred.

In March 1953 in Soviet newspapers Notes appeared about the people's grief, about the solemn ceremony in the Hall of Columns, about how much Joseph Vissarionovich did for the Soviet people. Unflattering facts were not reported in the press.

Ordinary citizens did not know not only how many people died during Stalin’s funeral, but even about the tragedy itself. It is impossible to restore the chronology of events. The historians give very approximate data. According to one version, about three thousand people died. According to another, the stampede occurred only on Rozhdestvensky Boulevard. According to the most conservative estimates, several hundred people died.