Death and state funeral of Joseph Stalin

Stalin's Funeral
Stalin's funeral procession on Okhotny Ryad.
Date 9 March 1953
Location Red Square, Moscow, Soviet Union
Participants Nikita Khrushchev, Georgy Malenkov, Vyacheslav Molotov, Lavrentiy Beria and other Soviet and foreign dignitaries

On 5 March 1953, at 21:50 EET, Joseph Stalin, the second leader of the Soviet Union, died at the Kuntsevo Dacha aged 74 after suffering a stroke. After four days of national mourning, Stalin was given a state funeral and then buried in Lenin's Mausoleum on 9 March. Nikita Khrushchev, Georgy Malenkov, Vyacheslav Molotov and Lavrentiy Beria were in charge of organizing the funeral.

Funeral service

On 6 March, the coffin with Stalin's body was displayed at the Hall of Columns in the House of the Unions and it stayed there for three days.[1] On 9 March, the body of Stalin was delivered to Red Square[2] to be interred in Lenin's Mausoleum where he lay in state until 1961.[3][4] Speeches were delivered by Khrushchev, Malenkov, Molotov, and Beria. After the speeches, pallbearers carried the coffin to the mausoleum. As Stalin's body was being put into the mausoleum, a military band played the Soviet National Anthem. After the anthem played, a military parade of the Moscow Garrison was held in Stalin's honor. In the public's efforts to pay their respects to Stalin's casket, a number of people died as they were crushed and trampled by the amassed crowd.[5] Khrushchev provided an estimate that 109 people died in the crowd.[6]

Foreign dignitaries in attendance

According to Ogoniok, the mourners included the following foreign dignitaries:[7]

See also

References

  1. Alexander Ganjushin (6 March 2013). "Joseph Stalin's funeral: how it happened". Rossiyskaya Gazeta. Retrieved 17 January 2018 via Russia Beyond. On 6 March, the coffin with Stalin's body was displayed at the Hall of Columns in the House of Trade Unions.
  2. "Martin Manhoff archive". www.rferl.org.
  3. Alexander Ganjushin (5 March 2013). "Russia on the day of Stalin's funeral: A photo look back". Rossiyskaya Gazeta. Retrieved 17 January 2018 via Russia Beyond. On 9 March, Stalin's embalmed body was interred in the Lenin Mausoleum, which was called the Lenin–Stalin Mausoleum in 1953 to 1961.
  4. "Why Did Russia Move Stalin's Body?". ThoughtCo. Retrieved 2017-08-06.
  5. Evtushenko, Evgenii. "Mourners Crushed at Stalin's Funeral". Seventeen Moments in Soviet History. Retrieved 5 May 2018.
  6. Khlevniuk, Oleg (2017). Stalin: New Biography of a Dictator. Yale University Press. ISBN 0300219784.
  7. "Mourning of millions". Ogoniok issue 11 (1344). 1953-03-15.
  8. "Kun Josif Stalin kuoli – näin Urho Kekkonen ryntäsi tilaisuuteen" (in Finnish). 18 October 2017. Retrieved 10 December 2017.


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