03.03.2020

Death of Catherine Svanidze. Women loved by Stalin. Katya Svanidze: wife from a poor family

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It is unlikely that any of the adults in Russia, and indeed in the world, need to be told about Stalin the politician. Much less is known about Stalin as a person, and yet he was a husband, father and, as it turns out, a great hunter of women, at least during his stormy revolutionary youth. True, the fate of the people closest to him always developed tragically. Sweeping aside fiction, myths and gossip, Anews talks about the wives and children of the leader.

Ekaterina (Kato) Svanidze

First wife

At 27, Stalin married the 21-year-old daughter of a Georgian nobleman. Her brother, with whom he once studied at the seminary, was his close friend. They married secretly, at night, in a mountain monastery in Tiflis, because Joseph was already hiding from the authorities as a Bolshevik underground worker.

The marriage, made out of great love, lasted only 16 months: Kato gave birth to a son, Yakov, and at the age of 22 she died in her husband's arms, either from transient consumption, or from typhus. According to legend, the inconsolable widower allegedly said to a friend at the funeral: "My last warm feelings for people died with her."

Even if these words are fiction, then here real fact: years later, Stalinist repressions destroyed almost all of Catherine's relatives. The same brother with his wife and older sister were shot. And the brother's son was kept in a psychiatric hospital until Stalin's death.

Yakov Dzhugashvili

First son

Stalin's firstborn was raised by Kato's relatives. He first saw his father at the age of 14, when he already had a new family. It is believed that Stalin never fell in love with the "wolf cub", as he himself called him, and was even jealous of his wife, who was only five and a half years older than Yasha. He severely punished the teenager for the slightest misconduct, sometimes he did not let him go home, forcing him to spend the night on the stairs. When, at the age of 18, the son married against the will of his father, the relationship finally deteriorated. In desperation, Yakov tried to shoot himself, but the bullet went right through, he was saved, and Stalin moved even further away from the “hooligan and blackmailer” and poisoned him with mockery: “Ha, he didn’t hit!”

In June of the 41st, Yakov Dzhugashvili went to the front, and to the most difficult sector - near Vitebsk. His battery distinguished itself in one of the largest tank battles, and Stalin's son, along with other fighters, was presented for the award.

But soon Jacob was captured. His portraits immediately appeared on fascist leaflets designed to demoralize Soviet soldiers. There is a myth that Stalin allegedly refused to exchange his son for the German commander Paulus, saying: “I don’t change a soldier for a field marshal!” Historians doubt that the Germans even offered such an exchange, and the phrase itself sounds in the Soviet epic film "Liberation" and, apparently, is an invention of the screenwriters.

German photo: Stalin's son in captivity

And the next picture of the captured Yakov Dzhugashvili is published for the first time: only recently it was found in the photo archive of the commander of the Third Reich, Wolfram von Richthofen.

Yakov spent two years in captivity, under no pressure did not cooperate with the Germans. He died in the camp in April 1943: he provoked a sentry to a fatal shot by rushing to a barbed wire fence. According to a widespread version, Yakov was in despair when he heard Stalin's words on the radio that "there are no prisoners of war in the Red Army, there are only traitors and traitors to the Motherland." However, most likely, this "spectacular phrase" was attributed to Stalin later.

Meanwhile, relatives of Yakov Dzhugashvili, in particular, his daughter and step-brother Artem Sergeev, all his life they were convinced that he died in battle in June 41st, and his stay in captivity, including photos and interrogation protocols, was played from beginning to end by the Germans for propaganda purposes. However, in 2007, the FSB confirmed the fact of his capture.

Nadezhda Alliluyeva

Second and last wife

The second time Stalin married at the age of 40, his wife was 23 years younger - a fresh graduate of the gymnasium, who looked with admiration at the seasoned revolutionary, who had just returned from another Siberian exile.

Nadezhda was the daughter of Stalin's longtime associates, and he also had an affair with her mother Olga in his youth. Now, years later, she became his mother-in-law.

The marriage of Joseph and Nadezhda, at first happy, eventually became unbearable for both. The memories of their family are very contradictory: some said that Stalin was gentle at home, and she imposed strict discipline and flared up easily, others that he was constantly rude, and she endured and accumulated resentment until a tragedy happened ...

In November 1932, after another public skirmish with her husband while visiting Voroshilov, Nadezhda returned home, retired to the bedroom and shot herself in the heart. No one heard the shot, only the next morning she was found dead. She was 31 years old.

Different things were also told about Stalin's reaction. According to some, he was shocked, sobbed at the funeral. Others remember that he was furious and over the coffin of his wife said: "I did not know that you were my enemy." One way or another, with family relationships was forever finished. Subsequently, numerous novels were attributed to Stalin, including with the first beauty of the Soviet screen, Lyubov Orlova, but mostly these are unconfirmed rumors and myths.

Vasily Dzhugashvili (Stalin)

Second son

Nadezhda bore Stalin two children. When she committed suicide, the 12-year-old son and 6-year-old daughter were looked after not only by nannies and housekeepers, but also by male guards, led by General Vlasik. It was them that Vasily later blamed for the fact that from a young age he was addicted to smoking and alcohol.

Subsequently, being a military pilot and bravely fighting in the war, he repeatedly received penalties and demotions "in the name of Stalin" for hooligan actions. For example, he was removed from command of the regiment for fishing with aircraft shells, which killed his weapons engineer and wounded one of the best pilots.

Or after the war, a year before Stalin's death, he lost his post as commander of the Air Force of the Moscow Military District, when he showed up drunk at a festive reception of the government and was rude to the commander in chief of the Air Force.

Immediately after the death of the leader, the life of Lieutenant General of Aviation Vasily Stalin went downhill. It began to spread right and left that his father was poisoned, and when the Minister of Defense decided to appoint a troubled son to a position away from Moscow, he disobeyed his order. He was transferred to the reserve without the right to wear a uniform, and then he did the irreparable - he reported his version of Stalin's poisoning to foreigners, hoping to get protection from them.

But instead of abroad younger son Stalin, an order-bearing participant in the Great Patriotic War, ended up in prison, where he spent 8 years, from April 1953 to April 1961. angry Soviet leadership hung on him a lot of accusations, including frankly ridiculous ones, but during interrogations Vasily confessed to everything without exception. At the end of his term, he was “exiled” to Kazan, but he did not live a year at liberty: he died in March 1962, just a couple of days before his 41st birthday. According to the official conclusion, from alcohol poisoning.

Svetlana Alliluyeva (Lana Peters)

Stalin's daughter

Naturally or not, but the only one of the children in whom Stalin did not look for a soul gave him nothing but trouble during her lifetime, and after his death she fled abroad and in the end completely abandoned her homeland, where she was threatened with a fate until the end of her days to bear moral punishment for father's sins.

From a young age, she started countless novels, sometimes disastrous for her chosen ones. When, at the age of 16, she fell in love with the 40-year-old screenwriter Alexei Kapler, Stalin arrested him and exiled him to Vorkuta, completely forgetting how he seduced him at the same age. young Hope mother of Svetlana.

Only Svetlana had five official husbands, including an Indian and an American. Having escaped to India in 1966, she became a “defector”, leaving her 20-year-old son and 16-year-old daughter to the USSR. They did not forgive such a betrayal. The son is no longer in the world, and the daughter, who is now under 70, abruptly cuts off inquisitive journalists: “You are mistaken, she is not my mother.”

In America, Svetlana, who became Lana Peters by her husband, had a third daughter, Olga. With her, in the mid-80s, she suddenly returned to the USSR, but did not take root either in Moscow or in Georgia, and as a result, she finally left for the United States, renouncing her native citizenship. Her personal life did not work out. She died in a nursing home in 2011, her burial place is unknown.

Svetlana Alliluyeva: "Wherever I go - to Switzerland, or India, even Australia, even to some lonely island, I will always be a political prisoner of my father's name."

Stalin had three more sons - two illegitimate, born from his mistresses in exile, and one adopted. Surprisingly, their fates were not so tragic, on the contrary, as if remoteness from their father or lack of blood relationship saved them from evil fate.

Artem Sergeev

Stalin's adopted son

His own father was the legendary Bolshevik "Comrade Artem", a revolutionary ally and close friend Stalin. When his son was three months old, he died in a railway accident, and Stalin took him into his family.

Artem was the same age as Vasily Stalin, the guys from childhood were inseparable. From the age of two and a half, both were brought up in a boarding school for "Kremlin" children, however, in order not to raise a "children's elite", exactly the same number of real street homeless children were placed with them. Everyone was taught to work equally. The children of the party members returned home only on weekends, and they were obliged to invite orphans to their place.

According to the memoirs of Vasily, Stalin "loved Artyom very much, set him as an example." However, the diligent Artyom, who, unlike Vasily, studied well and with interest, Stalin did not give concessions. So, after the war, he had a pretty hard time at the Artillery Academy because of the excessive drill and nitpicking of teachers. Later it turned out that Stalin personally demanded that adopted son managed more rigorously.

Already after the death of Stalin, Artem Sergeev became a great military leader, retired with the rank of Major General of Artillery. He is considered one of the founders of anti-aircraft missile troops THE USSR. He died in 2008 at the age of 86. Until the end of his life he remained a devoted communist.

Mistresses and illegitimate children

British specialist in Soviet history Simon Seabag Montefiori, award-winning documentary filmmaker, toured the area in the 1990s former USSR and found a lot of unpublished documents in the archives. It turned out that young Stalin was surprisingly amorous, was fond of women different ages and estates, and after the death of his first wife, during the years of Siberian exile, he had a large number of mistresses.

17 year old high school graduate Field of Onufrieva he sent passionate postcards (one of them is in the photo). Postscript: “I have your kiss, passed on to me through Petka. I kiss you in return, and not just a kiss, but gorrrryacho (just kissing is not worth it!). Joseph".

He had affairs with party comrades - Vera Schweitzer And Lyudmila Stal.

And on a noblewoman from Odessa Stephanie Petrovskaya he even considered getting married.

However, Stalin lived two sons with simple peasant women from a distant wilderness.

Konstantin Stepanovich Kuzakov

An illegitimate son from a cohabitant in Solvychegodsk Maria Kuzakova

The son of a young widow who sheltered the exiled Stalin graduated from a university in Leningrad and made a dizzying career - from a non-party university teacher to the head of cinematography at the USSR Ministry of Culture and one of the leaders of the State Television and Radio Broadcasting Company. He recalled in 1995: “My origin was not a big secret, but I always managed to evade the answer when they asked me about it. But I suppose my promotion is also related to my abilities.

Only in adulthood for the first time he saw Stalin up close, and it happened in the cafeteria of the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet. Kuzakov, as a member of the apparatus of the Central Committee responsible for propaganda, was engaged in political editing of speeches. “I didn’t even have time to take a step towards Stalin. The bell rang, and the members of the Politburo went into the hall. Stalin stopped and looked at me. I felt that he wanted to say something to me. I wanted to run towards him, but something stopped me. Probably, subconsciously, I understood that public recognition of kinship would bring me nothing but big trouble. Stalin waved the receiver and walked slowly ... "

After that, Stalin, under the pretext of a working consultation, wanted to arrange a personal reception for Kuzakov, but he did not hear phone call falling asleep soundly after a late meeting. Only the next morning he was informed that he had missed. Then Konstantin saw Stalin more than once, both close and from a distance, but they never spoke to each other, and he did not call to himself again. "I think he did not want to make me an instrument in the hands of intriguers."

However, in the 47th Kuzakov almost fell under repression due to the intrigues of Beria. He was expelled from the party for "loss of vigilance", removed from all posts. Beria at the Politburo demanded his arrest. But Stalin saved the unrecognized son. As Zhdanov later told him, Stalin walked along the table for a long time, smoked, and then said: "I see no reason to arrest Kuzakov."

Kuzakov was reinstated in the party on the day Beria was arrested, and his career resumed. He retired already under Gorbachev, in 1987, at the age of 75. Died in 1996.

Alexander Yakovlevich Davydov

An illegitimate son from a cohabitant in Kureika Lidia Pereprygina

And here it was almost a criminal story, because the 34-year-old Stalin began to live with Lydia when she was only 14. Under the threat of gendarme prosecution for seducing a minor, he promised to marry her later, but escaped from exile earlier. At the time of his disappearance, she was pregnant and already without him gave birth to a son, Alexander.

There is evidence that at first the runaway father corresponded with Lydia. Then, there was a rumor that Stalin was killed at the front, and she married the fisherman Yakov Davydov, who adopted her child.

There is documentary evidence that in 1946, 67-year-old Stalin suddenly wanted to find out about their fate and gave a laconic order to find the bearers of such and such surnames. According to the results of the search, Stalin was given a brief reference - such and such live there. All personal and juicy details, which became clear in the process, surfaced only 10 years later, already under Khrushchev, when the campaign to expose the cult of personality began.

Alexander Davydov lived simple life Soviet soldier and a worker. Participated in the Great Patriotic and Korean Wars, rose to the rank of major. After his discharge from the army, he lived with his family in Novokuznetsk, worked in low positions - as a foreman, head of the factory canteen. Died in 1987.

"He went from house to house,
Knocking at other people's doors
With old oak panduri,
With its simple song.

And in his song, and in the song -
Like sunshine is pure,
The great truth sounded
Sublime dream.

Hearts turned to stone
Managed to make the fight
He awakened the mind of many,
Slumbering in deep darkness.

But instead of the greatness of glory
People of his land
Poison to the outcast
They presented it in a bowl.

They told him: "Damn,
Drink, dry to the bottom ...
And your song is alien to us,
And your truth is not needed!”
I. Dzhugashvilvi. 1895 Translation from Georgian

Hello dear!
Yesterday we started new topic- children I.V. Stalin: More precisely, they only touched on it. I propose today to move on to specifics.
Let's start with the eldest of Stalin's official children, Yakov Iosifovich Dzhugashvili.
Yakov was born on March 18, 1907 in the village of Badzi, Kutaisi province. The mother of Yakov Kato, or more precisely, according to the passport, Ekaterina Semenovna Svanidze. I think we need to dwell a little more on her biography.
Kato's father was an Aznauri (small Georgian nobleman) Semion Svanidze, and his mother Sepora Dvali-Svanidze was a wealthy peasant woman. 6 children were born in the family, Kato was the second oldest, and not at all the youngest, as is commonly believed. And the year of her birth is not 1885, but 1880. This is important. Apparently, most sources are mistaken accidentally or deliberately.

Kato Svanidze

So it is believed that the girl met Joseph through her brother Alexander (Alyosha), who studied with Soso at the Tiflis Theological Seminary and the young poet turned the young girl's head. Also, many write that Kato was a washerwoman and did not see anything in her life, she was quite limited and even a little wild. All this is complete nonsense.
You already understood about age when Stalin and Ekaterina met, and this happened in 1905, the girl was 25, not 20, that is, she was already an accomplished and independent person. It was really brother Kato Alexander (Alyosha) who introduced them, but he could not attend the Seminary with Joseph - he was much younger. It’s just that Alexander was a novice revolutionary, and through this case he was brought together with his senior comrade Koba, who by that time had become quite the same in revolutionary circles. famous person. Another relative of Kato, her husband, studied with Soso in a spiritual institution. older sister M. M. Monaselidze, with whose family Kato lived In Tbilisi on Freilinskaya Street in the house number 3. It was Mikhail Monaselidze that Alexander Svanidze turned to with a request to shelter Joseph Dzhugashvili for a while, who a year before had fled from exile and was in an illegal position . He, remembering Soso from the seminary, agreed. At the apartment, Alexander introduced Kato Joseph.

Young and fiery revolutionary

And Kato truly fell in love with this man. An amazing thing, but everyone has always noted that despite his rather plain appearance (and Stalin was small in stature - 163 centimeters, left hand he was not bent to the end due to a childhood injury, the 2nd and 3rd fingers on the left foot grew together, and even smallpox beat his face) Joseph, as if with a magnet, attracted women to him. Maybe it's the energy, who knows. In general, young people were inflamed with feelings for each other and began to meet. Moreover, Joseph "turned around" one opponent. A certain David Suliashvili, it seems, was considered Catherine's fiancé and even planned to marry, but was dismissed. In early April 1906, Joseph, like a real Georgian, asked for the hand of Kato from her parents. The father, reluctantly, gave his consent. But he set a condition - a church marriage. Apparently Koba loved the girl very much, because he even agreed to this. At that time, a church marriage for a revolutionary was a shame, and given the character of Dzhugashvili, who came to complete atheism after studying at the Theological Seminary, this was a very serious act.

Joseph in 1913

According to the metric book, their wedding took place for some reason on the night of July 15-16, 1906 in the church of St. David. Here's what the book says next: The wedding ceremony was performed by the priest Christisiy Tkhinvaleli, and the witnesses at the wedding were from the groom: Tiflis citizen David Motosovich Monaselidze, Georgy Ivanovich Elisabedashvili, and from the bride: Mikhail Nikolaevich Davidov and Mikhail Grigorievich Tskhakaya» The latter, by the way, is Lenin's future comrade-in-arms.
It is interesting that after getting married, Ekaterina Svanidze retained her maiden name and did not make a note in her passport about marriage. This was done for her own safety. Joseph did get married under a false name, Galiashvili. The same night, a wedding took place, at which a little more than ten people were present. In addition to the bride and groom, as well as their witnesses, the bride's sister Kato and her husband Mikhail Monaselidze, in addition, the brothers Vaso and Georgy Berdzenoshvili, Archil Dolidze and Simon Ter-Petrosyan, whom many of you know under the pseudonym Kamo.

Kamo

The bride's parents considered this marriage a misalliance - most sources are wrong - Kato was not wild and uneducated. She was brought up in decent conditions, read a lot, had an artistic taste. Besides, she wasn't a washerwoman. On Freylinskaya Street, at number 3, where she lived, she and her sister had their own business - a small but well-known sewing workshop in narrow circles, which sewed women's outfits from French fashion magazines. By the way, subsequently, connections through the wife of one police chief will help Kato to be released when a warehouse of illegal literature is covered in their house.
Joseph was not just a poor and half-educated seminarian - he was a dangerous person. A fugitive revolutionary, and besides, also a kinto (bandit). He never had money, because after all the exes (expropriations - as the revolutionaries called robbery attacks on banks and other financial institutions) he donated everything to the last penny to the party fund. One thing that cannot be blamed on Stalin in principle is the passion for profit - he was always unmercenary and so modest in everyday life that it amazed everyone. He read a lot, but Firstly haphazardly, and secondly, in these years, more and more revolutionary literature. So it turns out that it was Kato who "cut" Joseph a little, and not vice versa.

Freylinskaya street now

Soon the couple had a child - a son, who was named Jacob. It happened, as I already wrote, on March 18, 1907, in the house of Kato's parents. He was born weak and premature, and at first they feared that he would not survive. The mother was also very ill, but a month after the birth, she followed her husband to Baku, where the party sent him. There, in a safe house, Kato got either typhoid fever or tuberculosis - her body, weakened by childbirth, could not stand it. Burned out in six months, like a candle. She died on December 5, 1907 and was buried in Tbilisi at the Kuki cemetery.

Passport of Yakov Dzhugashvili.

Koba took the death of his wife hard. He was well aware that he contributed to her death in the most direct way. There are several versions of how he behaved in the cemetery during the funeral, but any of these versions show one thing - the man was beside himself with grief. And he tried to forget himself in the cause of the revolution.
Little Yakov was taken care of by Kato's relatives. His grandmother baptized a year later, then the year of Jacob's birth was recorded in 1908, so that his military service would begin a year later, a sort of small trick. After the death of Grandmother Sepora little boy was transported to Tbilisi and raised by the uncles and aunts of the deceased mother. Joseph did not see his son, apparently considering him the same culprit in the death of his beloved woman, as well as himself.
In 1921, uncle Alexander (Alyosha), without any agreement with Stalin, moved Yakov to Moscow, which caused the wrath of the Leader. Subsequently, he will be shot along with his wife. Not because of this, of course, but Stalin will not lift a finger to free his former relative.

Alexander (Alyosha) Svanidze

In Moscow, Yakov lived in Stalin's apartment in the Kremlin with his new family. He studied first at a school on the Arbat, then at an electrical school in Sokolniki, from which he graduated in 1925. The relationship with my father was very difficult. He considered Jacob mediocre and lazy, who wants nothing in this life. This hostility was smoothed out only by Stalin's second wife, Nadezhda Alliluyeva. Despite the small difference in age (only 6 years), Nadezhda tried to maternally take care of Yakov, to give him affection and tenderness, which he had been deprived of since childhood. Yakov, on the other hand, tried to help Nadezhda with the housework, fiddled with little Vasily, tried to study, leaning, first of all, on Russian, with whom there were big problems.

One of rare photos all Stalin's children with their father.

However, in 1925, Jacob broke off the number, which finally finished off his already bad relationship with his father. He decided to get married. Moreover, 16-year-old Zoya Gunina, the daughter of a priest, became his chosen one. Stalin tried to dissuade his son, complaining that he was still too young, and Yakov did not have education or a profession as such - he would have nothing to support his family. But Jacob was a very stubborn man and said that he would marry anyway. Apparently, there was an ugly scene, and the father kicked his son out of the apartment. For the next 2 years, Jacob tried to improve relations, but to no avail. Then he decided on a rather idiotic step. After another hard conversation with Stalin, he went into the kitchen and tried to shoot himself. However, the bullet went right through, only wounding him. According to legend, seeing his wounded son, Stalin said: You, little wolf, don't even know how to shoot' and called the doctor.

Zoya Gunina.

After that, he stopped all conversations with him. There is a well-known document, a letter dated April 9, 1928, in which Stalin writes to his wife Nadezhda about the failed suicide: “ Tell Yasha from me that he acted like a hooligan and blackmailer, with whom I have and cannot have anything in common. Let him live where he wants and with whom he wants". After leaving the hospital, Yakov and his wife went to live in Leningrad. There, Nadezhda Alliluyeva agreed with her relatives to give shelter to the young family. In Leningrad, Yakov completed courses and became first an assistant fitter, and then an electrician on duty at the 11th substation. Zoya entered the Mining Institute. Soon their daughter Lena was born. However, the girl fell ill and died at the age of 8 months. The death of a child severely affected the family, in fact, it broke up. However, the death of his granddaughter apparently shocked Stalin. He forgave his son and categorically demanded in August 1930 that he and his wife return to Moscow. There he entered the Moscow Institute of Transport Engineers. F.E. Dzerzhinsky at the Faculty of Thermal Physics. The marriage ceased to exist - the couple separated.
To be continued....
Have a nice day!

Ekaterina (Kato) Svanidze (1885-1907) - the first official wife Joseph Stalin (Dzhugashvili)

Name at birth:

Place of Birth: Tiflis

A place of death: Tiflis

Citizenship:Russian empire

Father: Semyon Svanidze

Mother:Sepora Dvali-Svanidze

Spouse:Joseph Dzhugashvili (Stalin)

Children:Yakov Dzhugashvili

Position: Georgian noblewoman

Georgian Kato (Ekaterina) Svanidze (1885-1907) - Stalin's first official wife.

Ekaterina Svanidze died at 22. After the death of his wife, Stalin was left with a newborn 8-month-old son Yakov, whom Stalin did not love until the end of his life.

IN various sources conflicting information is given, both about Ekaterina Svanidze herself (social status, occupation, parents, cause of death), and about the details of her marriage to Stalin (date of marriage, age at which Ekaterina Svanidze (Kato) got married, relations in marriage).

Different sources give different timing of events and different versions.

In addition, there are various stories about the acquaintance and wedding of Stalin and Ekaterina Sanidze (Kato).

Some sources claim that Stalin, after meeting Ekaterina Svanidze, after 2 days introduced his chosen one to his mother, and on the third day he led him to the altar, others claim that the young people got married only a few years after they met.

Let's try to figure out how it all really happened.

Let's make a reservation right away that supposedly there are several official documents that can shed light on these issues.

These are the following documents:

Extract from the metric church book of the Church of St. David about the wedding of Stalin and Svanidze;

Birth document of their son Yakov; record of Jacob's baptism;

Information about the death and funeral of 22-year-old Ekaterina (Kato) Svanidze, published in Nos. 22, 23 and 24 of the Tiflis newspaper Tskaro.

But, unfortunately, there are no copies of these documents on the Internet.

Therefore, we can safely say that everything that will be written below is just one of the versions.

Family of Ekaterina Svanidze (Kato), class origin

Naturally, in those years, Stalin could not have a class-wrong wife, and the official version reports on the worker-peasant origin of Ekaterina Svanidze, according to whichKato's parents were Georgian peasants, either from Tiflis, or from Batumi, or from Tbilisi.

However, this version is not true.

Ekaterina Svanidze has never been a peasant woman. By origin she was a noblewoman.

Kato was born in 1885 in the family of a hereditary Georgian nobleman (Georgian nobleman - Aznauri) Semion Svanidzea and his wife Sepora Dvali (Svanidze).

In total, the Kato family had six children:

Ekaterina (Kato) born in 1880.
- Alexander, born in 1884 - party pseudonym Alyosha Svanidze
- Maria (Mariko) born in 1888.
- Alexandra (Sashiko) - the date of birth has not been established, most likely she was the oldest.
- Bashiko - date of birth unknown.
- Mikhail (Miho) - date of birth unknown

What did Stalin's first wife Eaterina Svanidze do and who did she work for? Kato )

It is not known for certain what Ekaterina (Kato) Svanidze was doing.

According to the correct class version, given that the leader's wife could not be from the oppressors, the official version says that Kato worked either as a day laborer, or as a laundress, or as a dressmaker.

However, given that the noble relatives of Kato were not poor people, it is difficult to assume that Kato was really a laundress or a seamstress.

It is reliably known that before meeting Stalin, Kato lived with her sisters in Tiflis on the street. Freylinskaya, 3. Moreover, the sisters did not at all huddle in one room, but occupied several rooms, in one of which Stalin lived for some time before his marriage to Kato.

It is known that the Svanidze sisters had a sewing workshop, which was located in the same house No. 3 on Freylinskaya Street and was famous in Tiflis. The workshop of the sisters sewed all the fashionistas of the city, it is known that one of their clients was even the wife of the police chief of Tiflis. So, if Kato sewed something, then in her own workshop.

Here is what M. M. Monoselidze, a seminarian acquaintance of Stalin and the husband of Kato’s sister, wrote in his notes: “In 1904 I married eldest daughter Svanidze Alexander and took an apartment on Freilinskaya Street, No. 3 in the village of Baysogulov. Our apartment was located on the side of the courtyard and looked into the courtyard of the Transcaucasian military headquarters. My wife Alexandra and her sister Kato were well-known dressmakers throughout the city. Who just did not go to them to sew dresses. The wives of generals, high-ranking officials of the governor's office, the wives of officers and the like, who were accompanied by their husbands during the fittings, came. Therefore, our apartment was guaranteed against any suspicion from the police.”

If you carefully look at the photo of Kato, you can see that Kato does not look like a poor seamstress or laundress, but a very respectable lady in an expensive fashionable dress, clearly sewn from Parisian or St. Petersburg magazines. Moreover, she clearly knows how to wear this dress, and this dress is by no means worn for a photo shoot.

So, by the time she met Stalin, Kato was probably not a day laborer or a poor little wild girl, but a very beautiful, well-bred and educated young Georgian girl, with position and money.

In conclusion, to finally dispel the insinuations about the low social position Kato, in addition, we will cite the memoirs of Kato's brother and his wife Alexandra Monaselidze (Svanidze), from which it is clear that Kato was on a short footing with the wife of the gendarmerie colonel, head of the Tiflis police department.

“I,” Alexandra Monaselidze (Svanidze) recalled, “went to the wife of the gendarmerie colonel Rechitsky (who was sewing a dress) with a request that ... Kato be released as innocently arrested. She promised to help. Kato was released after two months of arrest.”

Alexandra Monaselidze (Svanidze)

“After many sufferings and with the help of acquaintances,” M. M. Monaselidze recalled, “we managed to save Kato from prison due to pregnancy, but instead of prison, she was sentenced to 2-month arrest in the police unit. The wife of the bailiff, the head of the police department, sewed dresses for us and knew Kato and my wife well. When Kato was brought to the police station, she visited her and did not allow her husband to keep her in the room of the police station reserved for her, but moved her immediately to her apartment.

M. M. Monaselidze

Agree that it is unlikely that the wife of a gendarmerie colonel would have taken a simple seamstress to her apartment.

Acquaintance of Ekaterina Svanidze (Kato) with Joseph Dzhugashvili (Stalin)

It is not known for certain when Stalin and Kato first met. It could equally have been in 1901 and in 1905 when Stalin was in Tiflis.

Stalin was introduced to Kato by her brother Alexander Svanidze, who had been a friend of Stalin since the days of the theological seminary and a comrade in revolutionary work.

If this acquaintance did not take place in 1091, then in 1905 it took place before Stalin's trip to the conference held from December 12 to 17, 1905.

At this time, Joseph, who was in an illegal position, ended up in Tiflis and his friend Alexander Svanidze invited Stalin to stay at his sisters' house.

It was a fatal decision for the Svanidze family, later Stalin deliberately repressed Alexander Svanidze himself, one of Kato's sisters Maria Svanidze, and a number of other relatives of his first wife. But it's still 22 years before that.

Stalin accepts Svanidze's invitation and finds himself in his sisters' house on the street. Freilinskaya, 3, and until the wedding with Kato, he stays and lives in this apartment.

Here is what Mikhail Monaselidze (Alexandra’s husband, Kato’s sktra) wrote about this event: “Somehow my brother-in-law (Alexander Semenovich Svanidze.) called me aside and said that he wanted to bring comrade Soso Dzhugashvili to us for the night. He asked not to say anything about this to his sisters for the time being. I agreed. From that time on, Comrade Stalin began to live in our apartment. This was in 1905."

Most likely, it was in 1905 and it was here that Stalin first met and met his future first wife, Kato Svanidze.

There is a legend that Stalin, immediately on the second day after meeting Kato, went to his mother for a blessing, and on the third day he already proposed to Kato. Maybe this is a legend, or maybe it's true, because Kato gave birth to a son not nine, but eight months after their wedding, and these fast 2-3 days were caused by a tough need to legitimize their relationship.

Wedding of Stalin and Ekaterina Svanidze (Kato)

Monastery on Mount Mtatsminda (wedding of Joseph and Kato)

There are also many legends and versions about the wedding of Stalin and Kato. In various sources, you can read that the wedding took place either in 1903, or 1904, or 1906.

Unfortunately, there is no clear answer to this question either.

It is generally accepted that there is allegedly a record of the wedding of Stalin and Kato, made in the parish book of the St. David Church, according to which the wedding of Stalin, then Joseph Dzhugashvili and noblewomen Kato Svanidze took place in this church of St. David on the night of July 15-16, 1906 and was conducted by his longtime friend.

Allegedly, the following entry was made in this parish book on July 16, 1906: “The wedding ceremony was performed by the priest Christisiy Tkhinvaleli, and the witnesses at the wedding were from the groom: Tiflis citizen David Motosovich Monaselidze, Georgy Ivanovich Elisabedashvili, and from the bride: Mikhail Nikolaevich Davidov and Mikhail Grigorievich Tskhakaya. But it was impossible to establish this in 1096 or in some other open source.

Stalin married under a false name - Galiashvili. This was due to the fact that at that time Soso was on the criminal wanted list and was wanted by the police for robberies and robberies.

According to a widespread version, in order not to fall into the hands of the police, the wedding ceremony was secretly conducted by Stalin's close friend from the seminary, Christisiy Tkhinvaleli.

After the wedding, Stalin and Kato never officially signed and lived in a church marriage. And Kato, until the end of her days, remained on her maiden name Svanidze.

According to this story, the young people celebrated the wedding on the same night, which was attended by about 15 friends of Stalin. Whether Kato's parents were at the wedding and the wedding of their daughter is not known. They say that among the guests, in addition to the witnesses, were the brothers Vaso and Georgy Berdzenoshvili, Archil Dolidze, the sister of the bride with her husband Monaselidze, S. A. Ter-Petrosyan.

The history of acquaintance and relations between Stalin and Ekaterna Svanidze ( Kato)

In an attempt to somehow answer the riddles of the relationship between Stalin and Kato, let's try to analyze the chronology of their relationship.

All this is not at all easy and, first of all, this is due to the fact that even during the life of the leader, everything that could cast a shadow on him was carefully cleaned up. But those did not remain in history, there were some dates associated with the revolutionary activities of Stalin. Here on them and try to restore the history of relations between Stalin and Kato.

Let's start with the wedding of Stalin and Kato. Official sources do not provide any information and in open access there is not a single document confirming the entry in the metric book about the wedding of Stalin and Kato made in 1906.

Therefore, it can be assumed that Stalin Stalin and Kato could get married in any period from 1901 to 1906. Moreover, Stalin was in Tiflis in 1901 and 1906, where Kato lived.

So, Kato could easily marry Soso in 1901 and 1906.

Let's try to conduct our own investigation.

Let's start with Kato's date of birth. No one disputes that Kato Svanidze was bornOn April 2, 1885, she lived in Tflis and she met her 16th birthday in 1901 right there in Tiflis.

So 1901

Kato is 16 years old. She lives with her sisters in Tiflis. 1901 in Tiflis.

And what about Stalin?

It is known that on April 22, 1901, Stalin was in Tiflis and received Active participation in the leadership of the May Day demonstration. Then, in November of the same 1901, he joined the first composition of the Tiflis Committee of the RSDLP. And only in December of this year he left Tiflis for Batum. Thus, it turns out that in 1901 Stalin was in Tiflis and could well have met Kato.

1902

Stalin spent the first half of 1902 in Batum, where in April he was arrested by the tsarist secret police and ended up in prison. Soso spends the rest of 1902 in prison.

1903

Stalin continues to sit in various prisons - first in Batumi, then in Kutaisi. In November of the same year, he was in exile in the village of Novaya Uda, Balagansky district, Irkutsk province.

1904

1905

On February 13, 1905, Stalin arrives in Tiflis and lives there until his departure for Kutaisi on April 18. Further not quiteit is clear when he returned to Tiflis again, but it is known that already on October 13 Stalin was again in Tiflis and took part in a citywide meeting of party activists.

1906

March 1906 - Stalin in Tiflis collaborates in the newspapers Gantiadi (Dawn) and Elva (Lightning).

So that Stalin could get acquainted with Kato Ltbo in 1901 or in 1905.

July 15, 1906 from unconfirmed sources, Stalin is married to Kato Svanidze in the Church of St. David.

November 13, 1906 - the gendarmerie conducts a search of Kato's apartment in Tiflis at the address: Freylinskaya, 3. Stalin was not there, he was in Baku. Kato was arrested and pregnant sent to prison.

December 29, 1906 - Kato, having been under arrest for a month and a half, is released from custody at the request of his relatives.

1907

November 21, 1907 - Stalin receives a message that his wife Kato is dying and arrives in Tiflis.

November 22, 1907 - Kato Svanidze, aged 22, dies. True reason disease is still unknown. According to one version, she died from pneumonia, according to another from typhoid fever, according to a third from tuberculosis. Any version can be grounded.

November 22, 23, 24, 1907 - in the Tiflis newspaper Tskaro, an obituary about the death of Kato Svanidze is published: “With heartfelt grief, comrades, acquaintances and relatives are informed about the death of Ekaterina Semyonovna Svanidze. The removal of the body to the Koloubanskaya church on November 25 at 9 am, Freylinskaya, 3.

November 25, 1907 - the funeral of Kato Svanidze. Kato was buried at the Kukiya cemetery of St. Nina. Stalin attended his wife's funeral, but it is not at all clear why he was not arrested by the tsarist secret police. Despite the fact that there is a legend that he, Stalin, allegedly threw himself into the grave of his late wife. Either the secret police blundered, or simply no one rushed anywhere.

According to the official version, Stalin's first marriage to the noblewoman Kato Svanidze lasted only 16 months, of which Stalin, judging by the chronology of events, was at home no more than 3-4 months.

So the most plausible years of acquaintance of Kato and Stalin are 1901 or 1905.

Let's try to restore the course of events in 10905.

February 13, 1905 - Stalin arrives in Tiflis and settles in the apartment of the sisters of his friend Svanidze. Here Stalin meets Kato. Stalin stayed in Tiflis until April 18, 1905, after which he left for Kutaisi.

October 13, 1905 - Stalin again arrives in Tiflis and participates in a citywide meeting of party activists.

December 12, 1905 - Stalin leaves Tiflis for Finland to participate in the First All-Russian Conference of the RSDLP

March 1906 - Stalin again in Tiflis, where, under the pseudonym I. Besoshvili, he collaborates in the newspapers Gantiadi (Dawn) and Elva (Lightning),

April 10-25, 1906 - Stalin travels to Stockholm for the IV (unifying) Congress of the RSDLP.

So, in order to understand the picture of the development of relations between Stalin and Kato, we will not yet consider their version of acquaintance in 1901, because. acquaintance in 1901 does not affect anything, except for psychological picture Kato.

Let us take the date of Stalin's arrival in Tiflis in February 1905 as the starting point for the relationship between Stalin and Kato.

On February 13, Stalin arrives in Tiflis and, apparently, on the same days, settles in the house of the sisters of his comrade Svanidze, where he meets or continues to get acquainted with Kato. Absolutely nothing is known about the relationship between Stalin and Kato. And from the moment of their first meeting in February 1905 to the wedding July 16, 1906 a year and a half passes.

All the main events in the relationship between Stalin and Kato took place from somewhere between July 5-7, 1906, after Stalin's next return to Tiflis to the house of the Kato sisters until their wedding on the night of July 15-16, 1906.

A month before the wedding, Stalin returns to Tiflis in early June and settles in the house of the Svanidze sisters. There are 40 days left before the wedding. It is absolutely unknown who initiated the marriage and what made Stalin propose to Kato. There is a legend that the decision to marry was made quickly within 2-3 days.

What caused such a rapid development of events, love or something else?

Whatever it was, but eight months after the official wedding -March 18, 1907 Kato safely gives birth to their son Yakov.

This is where the biggest question arises, which can shed light on both the reasons for the hasty marriage of Stalin and Kato.

So, Jacob was born on March 18, 1907, and the wedding took placeJuly 16, 1906. There are 8 months between these two dates. Then it turns out that either Kato gave birth to Yakov when he was eight months old, or the relationship between Stalin and Kato took place a month before their wedding. If the version of the premarital relationship between Stalin and Kato is correct, then the motives for the 2-3 day engagement and the blessing for marriage, which Stalin immediately asked his mother, are understandable. And this version has the right to life.

In the documents of the tsarist secret police there is a record thatOn November 13, 1906, Kato was arrested, while she was allegedly 4 months pregnant. Given that the wedding took placeJuly 16, 1906, it turns out that Yakov was supposed to be born in April, and not in March.

So what is this fast wedding Stalin and Kato could well have been caused by their premarital relationship, which at that time was a great shame for a noble Georgian girl. Yes, and find out the relatives that Stalin spoiled his sister and daughter at that time, he could have been great not to say hello.

Having finished with the conspiracy version of the marriage of Stalin and Kato, we recall official version from the relationship: Stalin, after the first acquaintance with Kato, immediately fell in love with her without a memory and after 2 days asked his mother for a blessing, and on the third day he proposed to Kato and immediately got married to her.

The picture was taken by the Batumi regional gendarmerie department.

How old was Ekaterina Svanidze (Kato) Stalin's first wife at the time of her wedding (marriage)

Ekaterina Svanidze (Kato)

There is no consensus on the age at which Ekaterina Svanidze married Stalin. According to various versions, she was from 16 to 21 years old.

Various sources give different versions about the age of Ekaterina (Kato) Svanidze, in which she entered into an official marriage with Stalin. An official marriage means exclusively a wedding, since it is known that they never officially legalized their marriage, and Ekaterina Svanidze remained on her maiden name Svanidze until the end of her life.

While the official archives are silent, there is a version that Kato and Stalin secretly got marriedJuly 16, 1906, and there is allegedly an entry about this in the church book of the church of St. David. True, this record is not on the Internet.

If we accept that this record really exists and it really is dated 1906, then given the date of Kato's birth -On April 2 (14), 1885, it turns out that at the time of her wedding in 1906, Kato was 21 years old.

But could this event (wedding) happen 5 years earlier, when Kato was 16 years old?

The answer is yes, it could. Indeed, in 1901, Stalin visited Tiflis, and given that Brother Kato was an old comrade of Stalin in the seminary and revolutionary struggle, then this acquaintance and marriage of Stalin and Kato could well have taken place in 1901, when Kato was 16 years old.

So which version is correct? Kato was 16 or 21?

Alas, until the archives are closed, it is impossible to unambiguously answer this question.

If we lean towards the conspiracy theory of the age of Kato's marriage, then we can assume that for the Soviet people, the leader of the people, Stalin, could not marry the underage 16-year-old Kato Svanidze, but change the entry in the metric church book from 1901 to 1906 in those years it was not difficult, as well as to shut your mouths those who know the truth, which, however, Stalin did with Kato's relatives later in the 30s.

It makes no sense to even consider all the other years of the possible wedding of Kato and Stalin, since due to Stalin's tough schedule of sitting in prison and being in exile, he physically could not be present in Tiflis during these years.

Relations between Stalin and Ekaterina Svanidze ( Kato)

Did Stalin love Kato Svanidze? Did Kato love Stalin?

Unfortunately, there is no information worthy of attention on this question, which would be confirmed by the facts and memories of contemporaries.

All the information that exists today regarding this issue is nothing more than the inventions of the authors.

According to one source, Kato was a woman-child who idolizes Stalin and, at the sight of guests, almost hides under the table.

Other sources say that Stalin beat Kato.

Third sources say that during the funeral, Stalin threw himself into the grave of Kato.

But all this is nothing more than beautiful, but not confirmed stories.

Let's try to look at their relationship through the prism of the events of those years:

Most likely they sexual relations began before their official wedding;

After Kato's pregnancy, Stalin was practically not at home;

At the time of Kato's arrest and all the subsequent time Kato was in jail and under house arrest, Stalin was absent from Tiflis;

During deadly disease Kato Stalin was absent for several months not only at home, but also in Tiflis in general;

Stalin appeared at home only a day before the death of the terminally ill Kato;

The conspiracy theory of Stalin's impossibility to be at home is broken by the presence of Stalin at Kato's funeral;

After the death of his wife, Stalin sent the newborn 8-month-old son Yakov to Kato's relatives and the next time he saw his son only 14 years later in 1921, where Yakov was taken on Stalin's orders.

So, until the archives are opened, everything that will be written about the relationship between Stalin and Kato will be nothing more than versions.

Repressions by Stalin of the relatives of Ekaterina Svanidze (Kato)

In the 30s, a wave of Stalinist repressions reached the relatives of Stalin's first wife, Kato Svanidze.

The first to suffer was Kato's brother Alexander Svanidze, who at one time introduced Stalin to Kato.

After the Bolsheviks came to power, Alexander Svanidze for a long time held high positions. He worked as the Minister of Finance of Georgia, worked in Geneva, headed the Vneshtorgbank of the USSR.

In addition, Alexander Svanidze and his wife were very trusted people in Stalin's house.

But in the 1930s it turned out that a long acquaintance with Stalin was not an indulgence from repressions.

In those years, during the great purges, many prominent party leaders with whom Stalin was associated were destroyed long years acquaintance.

The purges did not bypass Alexander either. Judging by the documents, Alexander Svanidze was repressed not without the knowledge of Stalin.

Alexander Svanidze was arrested in 1937. The investigation into his case lasted three years from December 1937 to December 1940. On December 4, 1940, Alexander was sentenced to capital punishment by the Military Collegium of the Supreme Court of the USSR. During the investigation, Alexander Svanidze pleaded not guilty to anti-Soviet activities. In 1941, the investigation offered Alexander to spare his life in exchange for admitting that he was a German spy, and Alexander again refused. On January 23, 1941, the Plenum of the Supreme Court replaced the shooting with 15 years in prison. But on August 20, the Plenum reversed its decision, upholding the first sentence of execution by firing squad. Alexander Svanidze was shot on the same day.

In his speech at the XXII Congress of the CPSU, Khrushchev said that before the execution, Alexander was given the words of Stalin that if he asks for forgiveness, he will be forgiven. To which Alexander Svanidze asked the executioners: “What should I ask for? After all, I did not commit any crime. After the execution of Alexander, Stalin said: "Look how proud he died, but did not ask for forgiveness."

Stalin did not spare his wife former friend. Alexander's wife, Maria Anisimovna, a singer at the Tbilisi Opera House, was also arrested and sentenced in December 1939 to 8 years in prison for "hiding her husband's anti-Soviet activities." But in 1942, Maria's sentence was unexpectedly changed, and on March 3, 1942, by order of the Special Council of the NKVD, Maria was shot.

Afterword

Stalin, after the death of his first wife Ekaterina Svanidze, will marry next time in 12 years. This will happen when the 40-year-old Stalin marries the 17-year-old Nadezhda Alliluyeva.

Stalin's second wife, Nadezhda Alliluyeva, will be 23 years younger than Stalin.

Reference:

Aznauri is a Georgian title of nobility that has been common since the 5th century. Given the antiquity of the clans (5th century), representatives of the Aznauri estate were exempt from taxes, had the right to own inhabited lands, as well as build fortresses on their lands. The bearers of this title were part of the royal and princely squads. After the entry of Georgia into the Russian Empire, the Georgian nobility was equalized in rights with Russian nobility. In 1850, by the highest decree, the lists of the noble families of Imereti and Guria were also included in the "Velvet Book" of noble families. Russian Empire. Wikipedia

Kato's relatives were wealthy nobles. Native sister mother, Sepora Dvali, was married to Aznaur priest Ivane Tvalchrelidze. Their son Anton Ivanovich Tvalchrelidze, cousin of Ekaterina Svanidze, held the high position of inspector of the Stavropol directorate of public schools. On a plot owned by his father-in-law, Terek Cossack Timofey Varlamovich Astakhov, Anton Tvalchrelidze built a dacha, striking in its beauty and original architecture, similar to an old castle. In 1907, after he retired with the rank of real state councilor, having received the right to hereditary nobility, he, along with his wife and two sons, settled in this house. In 1915, Anton Tvalchrelidze ceded his Kislovodsk dacha for a fabulous price to N.V. Lezhnev, the owner of the Yelan stud farm. In 1998, the owner of the pharmaceutical company Bryntsalov bought it for his wife.

Her name was Ekaterina Semyonovna Svanidze or simply Kato. She was born in 1885, 7 years later than her future chosen one. Catherine came from a noble family, but, as Andrei Galchuk writes in the publication “ Amazing Russia”, at the very beginning of the 1900s, she was an ordinary day laborer, that is, she made a living by washing, ironing and sewing for strangers. It was at that moment that fate brought her to Joseph. This happened thanks to Kato's brother Alexander, whom relatives called simply Alyosha.

Alyosha Svanidze studied at the Tiflis Theological Seminary with Joseph Dzhugashvili. Moreover, they were friends. Therefore, it is not surprising that one day Alyosha invited Stalin to visit him. Alexander was well aware of the political position of his friend, therefore, according to the author of the book “Stalin. The life of one leader ”Oleg Khlevnyuk, tried with all his might to protect his 3 sisters from this information. However, the girls were not too interested. Moreover, the appearance of the guest, according to Edward Radzinsky (“Joseph Stalin. Beginning”), did not make any impression on them. But Dzhugashvili himself was struck by the beauty of one of Alyosha Kato's sisters.

Ekaterina (Kato) Svanidze (1885-1907) - the first official wife of Joseph Stalin (Dzhugashvili)

Name at birth:

Place of Birth: Tiflis

A place of death: Tiflis

Citizenship:Russian empire

Father: Semyon Svanidze

Mother:Sepora Dvali-Svanidze

Spouse:Joseph Dzhugashvili (Stalin)

Children:Yakov Dzhugashvili

Position: Georgian noblewoman

Georgian Kato (Ekaterina) Svanidze (1885-1907) - Stalin's first official wife.

Ekaterina Svanidze died at 22. After the death of his wife, Stalin was left with a newborn 8-month-old son Yakov, whom Stalin did not love until the end of his life.

Various sources provide conflicting information, both about Ekaterina Svanidze herself (social status, occupation, parents, cause of death), and about the details of her marriage to Stalin (date of marriage, age at which Ekaterina Svanidze (Kato) married , marital relationship).

Different sources give different timing of events and different versions.

In addition, there are various stories about the acquaintance and wedding of Stalin and Ekaterina Sanidze (Kato).

Let's try to figure out how it all really happened.

Let's make a reservation right away that supposedly there are several official documents that can shed light on these issues.

These are the following documents:

Extract from the metric church book of the Church of St. David about the wedding of Stalin and Svanidze;

Birth document of their son Yakov; record of Jacob's baptism;

Information about the death and funeral of 22-year-old Ekaterina (Kato) Svanidze, published in Nos. 22, 23 and 24 of the Tiflis newspaper Tskaro.

But, unfortunately, there are no copies of these documents on the Internet.

Therefore, we can safely say that everything that will be written below is just one of the versions.

Family of Ekaterina Svanidze (Kato), class origin

However, this version is not true.

Ekaterina Svanidze has never been a peasant woman. By origin she was a noblewoman.

Kato was born in 1885 in the family of a hereditary Georgian nobleman (Georgian nobleman - Aznauri) Semion Svanidzea and his wife Sepora Dvali (Svanidze).

In total, the Kato family had six children:

What did Stalin's first wife Eaterina Svanidze do and who did she work for? Kato )

It is not known for certain what Ekaterina (Kato) Svanidze was doing.

However, given that the noble relatives of Kato were not poor people, it is difficult to assume that Kato was really a laundress or a seamstress.

Here is what Stalin’s seminary acquaintance and the husband of Kato’s sister M. M. Monaselidze wrote in his notes: “In 1904, I married Svanidze’s eldest daughter Alexandra and took an apartment on Freilinskaya Street, No. 3 in the village of Baysogulova. Our apartment was located on the side of the courtyard and looked into the courtyard of the Transcaucasian military headquarters. My wife Alexandra and her sister Kato were well-known dressmakers throughout the city. Who just did not go to them to sew dresses. The wives of generals, high-ranking officials of the governor's office, the wives of officers and the like, who were accompanied by their husbands during the fittings, came. Therefore, our apartment was guaranteed against any suspicion from the police.”

So, by the time she met Stalin, Kato was probably not a day laborer or a poor little wild girl, but a very beautiful, well-bred and educated young Georgian girl, with position and money.

In conclusion, in order to finally dispel the insinuations about the low social status of Kato, in addition, we cite the memories of Kato's brother and his wife Alexandra Monaselidze (Svanidze), from which it is clear that Kato was on a short footing with the wife of the gendarmerie colonel, head of the Tiflis police department.

Alexandra Monaselidze (Svanidze)

M. M. Monaselidze

Agree that it is unlikely that the wife of a gendarmerie colonel would have taken a simple seamstress to her apartment.

Acquaintance of Ekaterina Svanidze (Kato) with Joseph Dzhugashvili (Stalin)

It is not known for certain when Stalin and Kato first met. It could equally have been in 1901 and in 1905 when Stalin was in Tiflis.

Stalin was introduced to Kato by her brother Alexander Svanidze, who had been a friend of Stalin since the days of the theological seminary and a comrade in revolutionary work.

If this acquaintance did not take place in 1091, then in 1905 it took place before Stalin's trip to the conference held from December 12 to 17, 1905.

At this time, Joseph, who was in an illegal position, ended up in Tiflis and his friend Alexander Svanidze invited Stalin to stay at his sisters' house.

Stalin accepts Svanidze's invitation and finds himself in his sisters' house on the street. Freilinskaya, 3, and until the wedding with Kato, he stays and lives in this apartment.

Most likely, it was in 1905 and it was here that Stalin first met and met his future first wife, Kato Svanidze.

Wedding of Stalin and Ekaterina Svanidze (Kato)

Monastery on Mount Mtatsminda (wedding of Joseph and Kato)

There are also many legends and versions about the wedding of Stalin and Kato. In various sources, you can read that the wedding took place either in 1903, or 1904, or 1906.

Unfortunately, there is no clear answer to this question either.

Stalin married under a false name - Galiashvili. This was due to the fact that at that time Soso was on the criminal wanted list and was wanted by the police for robberies and robberies.

According to a widespread version, in order not to fall into the hands of the police, the wedding ceremony was secretly conducted by Stalin's close friend from the seminary, Christisiy Tkhinvaleli.

After the wedding, Stalin and Kato never officially signed and lived in a church marriage. And Kato, until the end of her days, remained on her maiden name Svanidze.

The history of acquaintance and relations between Stalin and Ekaterna Svanidze ( Kato)

In an attempt to somehow answer the riddles of the relationship between Stalin and Kato, let's try to analyze the chronology of their relationship.

Let's start with the wedding of Stalin and Kato. Official sources do not provide any information and there is not a single document in the public domain confirming the entry in the birth register about the wedding of Stalin and Kato made in 1906.

Therefore, it can be assumed that Stalin Stalin and Kato could get married in any period from 1901 to 1906. Moreover, Stalin was in Tiflis in 1901 and 1906, where Kato lived.

So, Kato could easily marry Soso in 1901 and 1906.

Let's try to conduct our own investigation.

Let's start with Kato's date of birth. No one disputes that Kato Svanidze was bornOn April 2, 1885, she lived in Tflis and she met her 16th birthday in 1901 right there in Tiflis.

So 1901

Kato is 16 years old. She lives with her sisters in Tiflis. 1901 in Tiflis.

And what about Stalin?

It is known that on April 22, 1901, Stalin was in Tiflis and took an active part in the leadership of the May Day demonstration. Then, in November of the same 1901, he joined the first composition of the Tiflis Committee of the RSDLP. And only in December of this year he left Tiflis for Batum. Thus, it turns out that in 1901 Stalin was in Tiflis and could well have met Kato.

1902

Stalin spent the first half of 1902 in Batum, where in April he was arrested by the tsarist secret police and ended up in prison. Soso spends the rest of 1902 in prison.

1903

Stalin continues to sit in various prisons - first in Batumi, then in Kutaisi. In November of the same year, he was in exile in the village of Novaya Uda, Balagansky district, Irkutsk province.

1904

1905

1906

March 1906 - Stalin in Tiflis collaborates in the newspapers Gantiadi (Dawn) and Elva (Lightning).

So that Stalin could get acquainted with Kato Ltbo in 1901 or in 1905.

July 15, 1906 from unconfirmed sources, Stalin is married to Kato Svanidze in the Church of St. David.

December 29, 1906 - Kato, having been under arrest for a month and a half, is released from custody at the request of his relatives.

1907

November 21, 1907 - Stalin receives a message that his wife Kato is dying and arrives in Tiflis.

November 22, 1907 - Kato Svanidze, aged 22, dies. The true cause of the disease is still unknown. According to one version, she died from pneumonia, according to another from typhoid fever, according to a third from tuberculosis. Any version can be grounded.