Death and state funeral of Joseph Stalin
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]
- Gheorghe Gheorghiu-Dej – President of the State Council and Prime Minister of Romania, General Secretary of the Romanian Communist Party
- Bolesław Bierut – Prime Minister of Poland, Secretary General of the Polish United Workers' Party
- Konstantin Rokossovsky - Defence Minister of Poland
- Walter Ulbricht – First Secretary of the Socialist Unity Party of Germany, Deputy Chairman of the Council of Ministers of the German Democratic Republic
- Dolores Ibárruri – General Secretary of the Communist Party of Spain
- Otto Grotewohl – Chairman of the Council of Ministers of the German Democratic Republic
- Max Reimann - Chairman of the West German Communist Party
- Valko Chervenkov – Prime Minister of Bulgaria, General Secretary of the Communist Party of Bulgaria
- Mátyás Rákosi – General Secretary of the Hungarian Working People's Party
- Pietro Nenni – Secretary of the Italian Socialist Party
- Palmiro Togliatti – General Secretary of the Italian Communist Party
- Jacques Duclos – Interim General Secretary of the French Communist Party
- Klement Gottwald – President of Czechoslovakia, Chairman of the Communist Party of Czechoslovakia
- Spiro Koleka – Vice-Premier of the People's Socialist Republic of Albania
- Zhou Enlai – Premier of the People's Republic of China
- Urho Kekkonen – Prime Minister of Finland[8]
- Yumjaagiin Tsedenbal – Prime Minister of Mongolia
- Harry Pollitt – General Secretary of the Communist Party of Great Britain
- Johann Koplenig – Chairman of the Communist Party of Austria
Gallery
- Stalin's funeral procession
- Floustry at the funeral procession
- Planes of the Soviet Air Force during the military parade
- APCs headed to Red Square
- The first report about Stalin serious disease in Pravda three days after the stroke (1 March) and one day before the death. Published Pravda issue 63 (12631) dated 4 March 1953.
- Report on Stalin medical condition, four days after the stroke (1 March) and 7 hours before he died. Published Pravda issue 64 (12632) dated 5 March 1953.
- Lenin's & Stalin's Mausoleum, August 1957.
- Grave of Stalin at the Kremlin Wall Necropolis, May 2015.
See also
References
- ↑ 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.
- ↑ "Martin Manhoff archive". www.rferl.org.
- ↑ 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.
- ↑ "Why Did Russia Move Stalin's Body?". ThoughtCo. Retrieved 2017-08-06.
- ↑ Evtushenko, Evgenii. "Mourners Crushed at Stalin's Funeral". Seventeen Moments in Soviet History. Retrieved 5 May 2018.
- ↑ Khlevniuk, Oleg (2017). Stalin: New Biography of a Dictator. Yale University Press. ISBN 0300219784.
- ↑ "Mourning of millions". Ogoniok issue 11 (1344). 1953-03-15.
- ↑ "Kun Josif Stalin kuoli – näin Urho Kekkonen ryntäsi tilaisuuteen" (in Finnish). 18 October 2017. Retrieved 10 December 2017.