Born in 1896, Belarus, Grodno province, Slonim district, Bobynichi village; Belarusian; parochial school; Arrested: December 15, 1952

Source: Krasnoyarsk Society "Memorial"

Nikolai Sidorovich Vlasik(May 22, 1896, the village of Bobynichi, Slonim district, Grodno province (now the Slonim district of the Grodno region) - June 18, 1967, Moscow) - figure in the security agencies of the USSR, head of personal security of I. Stalin, lieutenant general.

Member of the RCP(b) since 1918. He was expelled from the party after being arrested in the doctors' case on December 16, 1952.

Biography

Born into a poor peasant family. By nationality - Belarusian. He graduated from three classes of a rural parochial school. He began his career at the age of thirteen: a laborer for a landowner, a digger on a railway, a laborer at a paper mill in Yekaterinoslav.

In March 1915 he was called up for military service. He served in the 167th Ostroh Infantry Regiment, in the 251st Reserve Infantry Regiment. For bravery in the battles of the First World War he received the St. George Cross. In the days of the October Revolution, being in the rank of non-commissioned officer, along with a platoon, he went over to the side of Soviet power.

In November 1917, he entered the service of the Moscow police. Since February 1918 - in the Red Army, a participant in the battles on the Southern Front near Tsaritsyn, was an assistant company commander in the 33rd working Rogozhsko-Simonovsky infantry regiment.

In September 1919, he was transferred to the bodies of the Cheka, worked under the direct supervision of F. E. Dzerzhinsky in the central office, was an employee of a special department, senior commissioner of the active department of the operational unit. From May 1926 he became a senior commissioner of the Operational Department of the OGPU, from January 1930 - assistant to the head of the department in the same place.

In 1927, he headed the Kremlin's special guards and became the de facto chief of Stalin's guards.

At the same time, the official name of his position was repeatedly changed due to constant reorganizations and reassignments in the security agencies. From the mid-1930s - head of the department of the 1st department (protection of senior officials) of the Main Directorate of State Security of the NKVD of the USSR, from November 1938 - head of the 1st department in the same place. In February - July 1941, this department was part of the People's Commissariat for State Security of the USSR, then it was returned to the NKVD of the USSR. From November 1942 - First Deputy Head of the 1st Department of the NKVD of the USSR.

From May 1943 - head of the 6th department of the People's Commissariat of State Security of the USSR, from August 1943 - first deputy head of this department. Since April 1946 - Head of the Main Directorate of Security of the Ministry of State Security of the USSR (since December 1946 - Main Directorate of Security).

In May 1952, he was removed from the post of head of Stalin's security and sent to the Ural city of Asbest as deputy head of the Bazhenov forced labor camp of the USSR Ministry of Internal Affairs.

Arrest, trial, exile

On December 16, 1952, in connection with the case of doctors, he was arrested, since he "provided treatment for members of the government and was responsible for the trustworthiness of the professors."

“Until March 12, 1953, Vlasik was interrogated almost daily (mainly in the case of doctors). The audit found that the accusations against the group of doctors are false. All professors and doctors have been released from custody. Recently, the investigation into the Vlasik case has been conducted in two directions: the disclosure of secret information and theft of material assets ... After Vlasik's arrest, several dozen documents marked "secret" were found in his apartment ... Being in Potsdam, where he accompanied the government delegation of the USSR, Vlasik engaged in thrift ... "(Certificate from the criminal case).

On January 17, 1953, the Military Collegium of the Supreme Court of the USSR found him guilty of abuse of office under especially aggravating circumstances, sentencing him under Art. 193-17 p. "b" of the Criminal Code of the RSFSR to 10 years of exile, deprivation of the rank of general and state awards. Sent to serve exile in Krasnoyarsk. Under an amnesty on March 27, 1953, Vlasik's term was reduced to five years, without loss of rights. By a decree of the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet of the USSR of December 15, 1956, Vlasik was pardoned with the removal of a criminal record. He was not restored in military rank and awards.

On June 28, 2000, by a decision of the Presidium of the Supreme Court of Russia, the 1955 verdict against Vlasik was canceled and the criminal case was dismissed "due to the lack of corpus delicti".

Stalin's head of security

Vlasik was Stalin's personal bodyguard for many years and lasted the longest in this post. Coming to his personal guard in 1931, he not only became her boss, but also adopted many of the everyday problems of the Stalin family, in which, in essence, Vlasik was a family member. After the death of Stalin's wife, N. S. Alliluyeva, he was also a teacher of children, practically performed the functions of a majordomo.

He N. S. Vlasik] simply prevented Beria from getting to Stalin, because his father would not let him die. He would not wait a day outside the door, like those guards on March 1, 1953, when Stalin “wakes up” ...

Daughter of N. S. Vlasik Nadezhda Vlasik in the newspaper "Moskovsky Komsomolets" dated 05/07/2003

Vlasik is extremely negatively assessed by Svetlana Alliluyeva in "20 Letters to a Friend".

In his memoirs, Vlasik wrote:

I was severely offended by Stalin. After 25 years of impeccable work, without any reprimand, but only encouragement and awards, I was expelled from the party and thrown into prison. For my boundless devotion, he gave me into the hands of enemies. But never, not for a single minute, no matter what state I was in, no matter what bullying I was subjected to while in prison, I did not have anger in my soul against Stalin.

According to his wife, Vlasik was convinced until his death that L.P. Beria “helped” Stalin to die.

Awards

George Cross 4th class
3 orders of Lenin (04/26/1940, 02/21/1945, 09/16/1945)
3 orders of the Red Banner (08/28/1937, 09/20/1943, 11/3/1944)
Order of the Red Star (05/14/1936)
Order of Kutuzov, 1st class (02/24/1945)
Medal of the twentieth years of the Red Army (22.02.1938)
2 badges Honorary Worker of the Cheka-GPU (12/20/1932, 12/16/1935)

Special and military ranks

major of state security (12/11/1935)
senior major of state security (04/26/1938)
Commissar of State Security 3rd rank (12/28/1938)
lieutenant general (07/12/1945)

(1896 , Bobynichi village, Slonim district, Grodno province. - 1967 ). Born into a poor peasant family. Belarusian. In CP with 11.18 .

Education: parochial school, Bobynichi 1910 .

Day laborer at the landowner, Slonim district 09.12-01.13 ; digger on the Samara-Zlatoust railway d., station Zhukatovo, Ufa province. 01.13-10.14 ; laborer at the paper mills of Kofman and Furman, Yekaterino-Slav, Nizhny Island, Dneprovsk 10.14-03.15 .

In the army: ml. non-commissioned officer 167 infantry. Ostroh regiment 03.15-03.17 ; platoon com. 251 spares infantry shelf 03.17-11.17 .

Policeman of the Petrovsky Police Commissariat, Moscow 11.17-02.18 .

In the Red Army: pom. com. company 33 Worker Rogozhsko-Simonovsky infantry. shelf 02.18-09.19 .

In the bodies of the Cheka-OGPU-NKVD-MGB from 09.19: collaborator OO; full and Art. full active department of operas. otd. OGPU USSR 01.11.26-01.05.29 ; Art. full 2nd Op. otd. OGPU USSR 01.05.29-01.01.30 ; pom. early 5th department of opera. otd. OGPU USSR 01.01.30-01.07.31 01.07.31-? (ref. 02.33 ); pom. early 1 department of opera. otd. OGPU USSR 1933-01.11.33 ; pom. early 4th department of opera. otd. OGPU USSR 01.11.33-10.07.34 ; pom. early 4th department of opera. otd. GUGB NKVD USSR 10.07.34-? ; early department 1 department GUGB NKVD USSR ?-19.11.38 ; early 1 sec. GUGB NKVD USSR 19.11.38-26.02.41 ; early 1 sec. (guards) NKGB USSR 26.02.41-31.07.41 ; early 1 sec. NKVD USSR 31.07.41-19.11.42 ; 1 deputy early 1 sec. NKVD USSR 19.11.42-12.05.43 ; early 6 ex. NKGB USSR 12.05.43-09.08.43 ; 1 deputy early 6 ex. NKGB-MGB USSR 09.08.43-15.04.46 ; early Ex. protection number 2 of the Ministry of State Security of the USSR 15.04.46-25.12.46 ; early Ch. ex. protection of the MGB of the USSR 25.12.46-29.04.52 ; deputy early Ex. Bazhenov ITL MVD 20.05.52-15.12.52 .

Arrested 15.12.52 ; was under investigation 01.55 ; condemned by the VKVS of the USSR 17.01.55 under Art. 193-17 "b" of the Criminal Code of the RSFSR for 10 years of exile and deprived of the rank of general and awards; exiled to Krasnoyarsk, where he stayed until 1956 ; under the amnesty, the period of exile was reduced by half. Pardoned Post. PVS USSR from 15.15.56 , released from serving a sentence with the removal of a criminal record; military rank has not been restored.

Ranks: Major GB 11.12.35 ; Art. Major GB 26.04.38 ; commissioner GB 3rd rank 28.12.38 ; lieutenant general 12.07.45 .

Awards: badge "Honorary worker of the Cheka-GPU (XV)" 20.12.32 ; badge "Honorary worker of the Cheka-GPU (XV)" 16.12.35 ; Order of the Red Star 14.05.36 ; Order of the Red Banner 28.08.37 ; medal "XX years of the Red Army" 22.02.38 ; The order of Lenin 26.04.40 ; Order of the Red Banner 20.09.43 ; Order of the Red Banner 03.11.44 ; The order of Lenin 21.02.45 ; Order of Kutuzov 1st class 24.02.45 ; The order of Lenin 16.09.45 .

From book: N.V. Petrov, K.V. Skorkin
"Who led the NKVD. 1934-1941"

Three months before his death, I. Stalin repressed the head of his guard, General Vlasik, who had served him faithfully for a quarter of a century

On January 17, 1955, the Military Collegium of the Supreme Court of the USSR, chaired by Colonel of Justice V.V. Borisoglebsky and members of the court, Colonels of Justice D.A. Vlasik Nikolai Sidorovich and found him guilty of committing a crime under Art. 193-17, paragraph "b" of the Criminal Code of the RSFSR (abuse of official position under especially aggravating circumstances).
According to the verdict, Vlasik H.C. was subjected to exile "to a remote area of the USSR" for a period of five years, deprived of the military rank of "lieutenant general", four medals, two badges of honor "VChK-GPU", and later, on the basis of an excited petition of the All-Union Committee of the USSR Armed Forces before the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet of the USSR , deprived of nine orders: three orders of Lenin, four - the Red Banner, orders of the Red Star, Kutuzov I degree and the medal "XX years of the Red Army".
It was also "confiscated and turned into state revenue property acquired by criminal means."
On June 28, 2000, by a decision of the Presidium of the Supreme Court of the Russian Federation, chaired by V.M. Lebedev, this sentence was canceled and the criminal case against Vlasik N.S. terminated due to lack of corpus delicti.
Before me is an autobiography from the personal file of Nikolai Sidorovich Vlasik, head of security of I.V. Stalin in the period from 1927 to 1952

See the original material on the site "Top Secret": http://www.sovsekretno.ru/articles/id/3335/.
Born May 22, 1896 in Western Belarus in a poor peasant family. This clarification - "in a poor peasant family", as well as "in the family of a worker", "in the family of a farm laborer" - in the first years of Soviet power was, as it were, a start for a career. Someone used this as a "cover" for a non-proletarian biography. Vlasik wrote the true truth. At the age of three, he lost his parents: first his mother died, and then his father. He graduated from three classes of a rural parochial school. At the age of 13, he began his career: he worked as a laborer at a construction site, as a bricklayer, and later as a loader at a paper mill. At the beginning of 1915 he was called up for military service, participated in the First World War. He was noted by the commanders, for bravery in battle he was awarded the St. George Cross. In 1916 he was wounded, after the hospital he was promoted to non-commissioned officer and appointed commander of a platoon of the 25th Infantry Regiment in Moscow. In the first days of the revolution, together with his platoon, he went over to the side of the Soviet government, became a member of the regimental committee.
In 1918, in the battles on the Southern Front near Tsaritsyn, Vlasik was seriously wounded. Then he was sent to the Special Department of the Cheka to Dzerzhinsky, from there - to the Operations Department of the OGPU. The service zeal of the young commander was noticed. And in 1927, he was instructed to lead the special guards of the Special Department of the Cheka, the Kremlin, members of the government and Stalin's personal guards.
But he also had to be responsible for the medical care of the country's leadership, the material support of their apartment and dacha facilities, the supply of food and special rations, the construction and repair of the offices of the Central Committee and the Kremlin, and the organization of recreation for Stalin, his relatives and children in country dachas and in the south. And even control the study and behavior of Stalin's children, who in 1932 were left without a mother. Documents are still kept in Stalin's personal fund, from which it is clear that Vlasik, through the employees appointed by him, followed Stalin's children, showing, frankly, maternal care.
But that was far from all. Organization of demonstrations and parades, preparation of Red Square, halls, theaters, stadiums, airfields for various propaganda actions, movement of members of the government and Stalin around the country on various vehicles, meetings, seeing off foreign guests, their protection and provision. And most importantly - the safety of the leader, whose suspicion, as you know, exceeded all reasonable limits. For ingenuity, Stalin praised Vlasik more than once and generously showered him with awards. After all, it was Vlasik who came up with such a method of protection as a cavalcade of ten to fifteen absolutely identical ZIS cars, in one of which I.V. was sitting, and in the rest - "faces similar to him." On rare flights, he prepared not one aircraft, but several, and in which of them to fly, Stalin himself determined at the very last moment. This is also security. Checking for the presence of poisons in food and, in general, controlling Stalin's nutrition - this was an easy task for Vlasik - a special laboratory worked.
In short, the chief of security had more than enough cases, and for all the years the leader had no troubles, although there were emergency situations around him, and often: “blocs”, “centers”, sabotage, sabotage, the death of Menzhinsky, Kuibyshev, Gorky and his son Maxim, an attempt to poison Yezhov with mercury vapor, the murder of Kirov, Ordzhonikidze, the death of Chkalov.
By the summer of 1941, Vlasik already had the rank of general. During the war, worries increased, respectively, and the staff grew - up to several tens of thousands of people. Vlasik was entrusted with the evacuation of the government, members of the diplomatic corps and people's commissariats. The Main Directorate of Security selected working premises and apartments for the government in Kuibyshev, provided transport, communications, and established supplies. Vlasik was also responsible for the evacuation of Lenin's body to Tyumen and his protection. And in Moscow, with his apparatus, he provided security at the parade on November 7, 1941, at a solemn meeting that was held at the Mayakovskaya metro station the day before. In short, you can’t call his service “honey”. And then there are the “small” questions.
Secret
DEPUTY HEAD OF THE 1st DEPARTMENT
NKVD USSR
COMMISSIONER OF STATE SECURITY
3rd RANK
Comrade VLASIK N.S.
Conclusion on the state of health of Colonel STALIN Vasily Iosifovich
comrade V.I. STALIN was taken to the Kremlin hospital on 4/4/43 at 11 o'clock because of shell fragment wounds.
The wound of the left cheek with the presence of a small metal fragment in it and the wound of the left foot with damage to its bones and the presence of a large metal fragment.
At 2 p.m. on April 4, 1943, under general anesthesia, prof. A.D. Ochkin performed an operation to excise damaged tissues and remove fragments.
The foot injury is a serious one.
In connection with the contamination of wounds, antitetanus and antigangrenous serums were introduced.
The general condition of the wounded is quite satisfactory.
Head of the Lechsanupra of the Kremlin (Busalov)
Before reporting to his father about his son, N.S. Vlasik forced the Air Force command to submit a report on the circumstances of Vasily Stalin's injury.
It didn't take long to wait.
SECRET. Ex. #1
Report on an emergency in the 32nd Guards IAP (fighter aviation regiment. - Ed.)
The incident occurred under the following circumstances:
April 4, 1943 in the morning, a group of flight personnel, consisting of the commander of the regiment, Colonel Stalin V.I., Heroes of the Soviet Union, Lieutenant Colonel Vlasov N.I., Captain Baklan A.Ya., Captain Kotov A.G., Captain Garanin V.I. ., captain Popkov V.I., captain Dolgushin S.F., flight commander senior lieutenant Shishkin A.P. and others, as well as the armaments engineer of the regiment, Captain Razin E.I. went to the Selizharovka River, located 1.5 km from the airfield, to fish.
Throwing grenades and rockets into the water, they jammed the fish, collecting it from the shore with a net. Before throwing a rocket projectile, the engineer of the regiment, captain Razin, first set the detonator ring to maximum deceleration (22 seconds), turned the windmill, and then threw the projectile into the water. So they personally threw 3 rockets. Preparing to throw the last rocket, engineer-captain Razin twisted the chickenpox as much as possible, and the shell instantly exploded in his hands, as a result of which one person - Captain Razin - was killed, Colonel Stalin V.I. and captain Kotov A.G. seriously injured.
With this report, the faithful Nikolai Sidorovich went to the leader, and he burst out with an order:
TO THE COMMANDER OF THE RED ARMY AIR FORCE MARSHAL OF AVIATION comrade. NOVIKOV I ORDER:
1) Immediately remove the commander of the aviation regiment, Colonel STALIN V.I. and not to give him any command posts until my order.
2) To announce to the regiment and the former commander of the regiment, Colonel Stalin, that Colonel Stalin is being removed from the post of commander of the regiment for drunkenness and revelry, and for the fact that he spoils and corrupts the regiment.
3) Execution to convey.
People's Commissar of Defense
I. Stalin
May 26, 1943
But there were more serious things. First of all, three conferences of the heads of the participants in the anti-Hitler coalition: Tehran (28.XI - 1.XII. 1943), Yalta (4-11.II.1945) and Potsdam (17.VII - 2.VIII.1945).
And always Vlasik was next to Stalin - he disguised himself as a photojournalist. For the successful holding of the conference in Tehran, Vlasik was awarded the Order of Lenin, for the Crimean Conference - the Order of Kutuzov I degree, for the Potsdam Conference - the Order of Lenin.
The war is over. The service continued. By decision of the Central Committee in 1947, funds were allocated for the construction and reconstruction of state dachas in the Crimea, Sochi, Gagra, Sukhumi, Tskhaltubo, Borjomi, on Lake Ritsa and in the Moscow region. And again, all this was entrusted to N.S. Vlasik. Note: a person with a three-year education. But the Main Directorate had its own financiers, accountants, construction specialists. So Vlasik himself, with his three classes, did not even try to figure it all out.
And trouble awaited him not here. As you know, he obeyed the leadership of the NKGB, and then the MGB, which means that the notorious Beria, Merkulov, Kobulov, Tsanava, Serov, Goglidze. But Vlasik was closer than all of them to Stalin, and the leader sometimes consulted with him on the affairs of the MGB. This became known surrounded by Beria. And it could not but cause irritation, especially since Vlasik often spoke negatively about his superiors.
In 1948, the commandant of the "Near Dacha" Fedoseev was arrested. The investigation was conducted under the direction of Serov. Under torture, Fedoseev testified that Vlasik wanted to poison Stalin.
Then came the Doctors' Plot. Testimony appeared that, together with the doctors, Vlasik wanted to organize the treatment of A. Zhdanov and hatched the goal of killing Stalin. In May 1952, a deep audit of the financial and economic activities of the security department unexpectedly began. The commission, in addition to specialists, included Beria, Bulganin, Poskrebyshev. Everything drunk, eaten and squandered was "hung" on Vlasik and his deputy Lynko. Reported to Stalin. Lynko was arrested, and Vlasik was sent to the Urals, to the city of Asbest, to the post of deputy head of the Bazhenov forced labor camp of the USSR Ministry of Internal Affairs. Later, the general recalled in his diaries that "papakhas flew" from the heads of so many of his subordinates.
For six months - until December 1952 - he worked in Asbest and "bombed" Stalin with letters in which he swore his innocence and devotion. And on December 16, he was summoned to Moscow and arrested on the "case of doctors", accusing him of covering up the "hostile actions" of professors Yegorov, Vovsi and Vinogradov.
As you know, the "case of doctors" was terminated after the death of Stalin and all those arrested were released - all except Vlasik. More than a hundred times he was interrogated during the investigation. Both espionage, and the preparation of terrorist attacks, and anti-Soviet agitation and propaganda were blamed. Moreover, for each of the charges he was threatened with a considerable period.
They “pressed” 56-year-old Nikolai Sidorovich in Lefortovo subtly - they kept him in handcuffs, a bright lamp burned in the cell all day and night, they didn’t let him sleep, calling him for interrogations, and even behind the wall they constantly played a record with heart-rending children’s crying. They even staged an imitation of execution (Vlasik writes about this in his diary). But he kept himself well done, did not lose his sense of humor. In any case, in one of the protocols, he gives such “confessional” testimony: “I really cohabited with many women, drank alcohol with them and the artist Stenberg, but all this happened at the expense of my personal health and in my free time from service.”
He continues to be kept in Lefortovo. And they are already accused of having a relationship with the constructivist artist V. Stenberg, who allegedly engaged in espionage, decorating festive events on Red Square.
On June 26, 1953, Beria, Kobulov, Goglidze, Merkulov were arrested and on December 23 of the same year they were shot. The KGB was headed by I. Serov, who promised, even during the life of Beria, to wipe Vlasik into powder. This figure is ambiguous. For example, Beria's son Sergo writes: “I knew Ivan Alexandrovich Serov very well, who headed the KGB of the USSR in 1954-1958. He was an impeccably honest man who did a lot to strengthen the rule of law. Serov brilliantly graduated from the Frunze Military Academy and was placed at the disposal of the new People's Commissar of the NKVD. He spoke Japanese. Those who served under the command of the Hero of the Soviet Union, Colonel-General I.A. Serov, remembered him as a talented, very courageous and extremely educated person.
And the Deputy Minister of the Ministry of State Security V. Ryasnoy assessed the Colonel-General a little differently: “... Brandy whip, which the world has not seen. Everywhere he will sneak, find, deceive, steal. With the help of Beria, he ensured that he was not very loaded with work. As for sucking up to the higher authorities, Serov is indispensable, a very cunning person in this respect.
In short, under Serov, Nikolai Sidorovich Vlasik was kept under arrest. They dragged me every other day, and mostly at night, for interrogations. Counter-revolutionary, that is, political, crimes have disappeared by themselves, theft "from the master's table" - too. There was also such an episode.
After the Potsdam Conference in 1945, Vlasik, among other junk given to him as a gift from the Red Army, took a horse, two cows and one bull out of Germany in the echelon of the NKVD. And he delivered all this living creatures to Belarus to his sister Olga.
After his arrest in 1952, they began to deal with this. It was found out that in 1941 his native village of Bobynichi, Baranovichi region, was captured by the Germans. The house in which the sister lived was burned down, half the village was shot, the sister's eldest daughter was driven away to work in Germany (she never returned from there), the cow and the horse were taken away. Olga with her husband Peter and two children went to the partisans, and then, when the Germans were driven, she returned to the plundered village. So Vlasik delivered from Germany to his sister, as it were, part of her own good.
This was reported to Stalin, and he, looking at Ignatiev, who was reporting, said: “What are you, oh ... or what ?!”
Vlasik himself recalled this at the end of his life. I don’t know if this was actually the case, but if so, then we must pay tribute to the leader: he was right.
By the way, Potsdam is the residence of the Prussian kings. Germany was very lucky that Vlasik, leaving there, satisfied only his “livestock” interest, and was not carried away, say, by the works of Rembrandt.
From the verdict:
“... Vlasik, being the head of the Main Directorate of Security of the Ministry of State Security of the USSR, using the special confidence of the Soviet Government and the Central Committee of the CPSU, abused the trust placed in him and his high official position ...” And then the accusations follow:
"1. Morally decomposed, systematically drunk, not having a sense of political vigilance, showed promiscuity in everyday relationships.
2. While drinking with a certain Stenberg, he became close to him and divulged secret information to him and others. From Stenberg's apartment, he negotiated by phone with the head of the Soviet Government, as well as official conversations with his subordinates.
3. Deciphered three secret agents in front of Stenberg. Showed him his undercover file.
4. Communicating with persons "not inspiring political confidence" who maintained ties with foreigners, Vlasik gave them passes to the stands of Red Square.
5. He kept official documents in his apartment, in particular, the Potsdam plan and the security system for the entire area of the Potsdam Conference (1945) applied to it, as well as a memorandum on the work of the Sochi Department of the Ministry of Internal Affairs during the special period of 1946, the schedule of government trains and others documentation".
That was the end of the accusation. And the investigation went on for more than two years!
Qualification - p. "b" Art. 193-17 of the Criminal Code of the RSFSR (as amended in 1926).
"St. 193-17. a) Abuse of power, abuse of power, inaction of power, as well as negligent attitude towards the service of a person of the commanding staff of the Workers 'and Peasants' Red Army, if these acts were committed systematically, or for selfish reasons or other personal interest, as well as if they had as their consequence the disorganization of those entrusted to him forces, or the case entrusted to him, or the disclosure of military secrets, or other grave consequences, or even if they did not have the indicated consequences, but obviously could have them, or were committed in wartime, or in a combat situation, entail: with or without strict isolation for a period of at least six months;
b) the same acts, in the presence of SPECIALLY aggravating circumstances, entail:
THE HIGHEST MEASURE OF SOCIAL PROTECTION;
c) the same acts, in the absence of the signs provided for in paragraphs "a" and "b" of this article, entail: the application of the Rules of the Disciplinary Regulations of the Workers 'and Peasants' Red Army.
But the data from the criminal case of Vlasik, more precisely, from the protocol of the court session of January 17, 1955:
"The question of the court. What brought you and Stenberg closer together?
Vlasik. Of course, the rapprochement was based on joint drinking and dating women.
Court question. Did he have a comfortable apartment for that?
Vlasik. I rarely visited him.
Court question. Did you issue passes to Red Square to a certain Nikolaeva, who was connected with foreign journalists?
Vlasik. I just now realized that I committed a crime with this.
Court question. Did you give tickets to the stands of the Dynamo stadium to your cohabitant Gridusova and her husband Shrager?
Vlasik. gave.
Court question. Did you keep secret documents in your apartment?
Vlasik. I was going to compile an album in which the life and work of comrade would be reflected in photographs and documents. I.V. Stalin.
Court question. How did you acquire the radiogram and receiver?
Vlasik. They were sent to me as a gift by Vasily Stalin. But then I gave them to the dacha "Middle".
Court question. What can you say about the fourteen cameras and lenses you had?
Vlasik. Most of them I received through my career. I bought one Zeiss apparatus through Vneshtorg, Comrade Serov gave me another apparatus ... "
The evidentiary part of the verdict is interesting. She is simply unique.
“Vlasik’s guilt in committing these crimes is proven by the testimony of witnesses interrogated in court, materials of the preliminary investigation, material evidence, as well as Vlasik’s partial confession of guilt.” And that's it.
The sentence is ten years of exile. Under the amnesty of March 27, 1953, this period was reduced by half, that is, to five years. This is stated here, in the verdict.
And the fact that Vlasik spent more than two years in Lefortovo? It does not count? And if it counts, then how? There is not a word about this in the verdict.
Until May 17, 1956, for some reason, he was in custody, and this is another year and four months. True, already in the "remote area of the USSR" - in Krasnoyarsk. By way of pardon (the Decree of the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet of the USSR on May 15, 1956 was signed by Klim Voroshilov) was released from custody and from further punishment.
Returning to Moscow, Vlasik asks for an appointment with the Prosecutor General Rudenko - he did not accept him. He sends a petition for rehabilitation to the Party Control Commission (CPC) N. Shvernik, then A. Pelshe - again a refusal. The support of marshals G. Zhukov and A. Vasilevsky did not help either.
His apartment on Gorky Street (in the house where the Tchaikovsky Concert Hall is located) was turned into a communal apartment. All property was removed during the investigation.
On June 18, 1967, N.S. Vlasik died of lung cancer, having achieved nothing.
In 1985, the Chief Military Prosecutor A. Gorny refused the repeated appeal of his daughter about the posthumous rehabilitation of her father.
Today, justice seems to be restored, but again there are problems. For about a year, Vlasik's daughter Nadezhda Nikolaevna received calls and letters of explanation from the Commission for Rehabilitation and from the FSB that her father had been convicted not under Art. 58 of the Criminal Code of the RSFSR (state crime), and according to Art. 193-17 of the Criminal Code of the RSFSR (a simple military crime), as a result, N.S. Vlasik is allegedly not a victim of political repression, just like his daughter is not a victim.
What to say to all this? Article 3 of the Law "On Rehabilitation" of October 18, 1991 states: "Subject to rehabilitation are persons who, for political reasons, were: a) convicted of state and other crimes."
N.S. Vlasik was convicted for “other” crimes. For political or non-political reasons? I don't think there can be two opinions here.
Nikolai Sidorovich Vlasik did not shoot and did not sign execution lists, he did not participate in "twos", "troikas", "special meetings", he served in good faith until he fell between a rock and a hard place.

http://www.sovsekretno.ru/articles/id/3335/

Stalin's bodyguard. The real story of Nikolai Vlasik

During the years of perestroika, when a wave of all kinds of accusations rained down on almost all people from the Stalinist entourage in the advanced Soviet press, the most unenviable fate fell to General Vlasik. The long-term head of Stalin's guard appeared in these materials as a real lackey who adored his master, a watchdog, ready to attack anyone at his command, greedy, vengeful and mercenary.

Among those who did not spare negative epithets for Vlasik was Stalin's daughter Svetlana Alliluyeva. But the bodyguard of the leader at one time had to become practically the main educator for both Svetlana and Vasily. Nikolai Sidorovich Vlasik spent a quarter of a century next to Stalin, protecting the life of the Soviet leader. Without his bodyguard, the leader lived for less than a year.

From the parochial school to the Cheka

Nikolai Vlasik was born on May 22, 1896 in Western Belarus, in the village Bobynichi in a poor peasant family. The boy lost his parents early and could not count on a good education. After three classes of the parochial school, Nikolai went to work. From the age of 13 he worked as a laborer at a construction site, then as a bricklayer, then as a loader at a paper mill.

In March 1915, Vlasik was drafted into the army and sent to the front. During the First World War, he served in the 167th Ostroh Infantry Regiment, and was awarded the St. George Cross for bravery in battle. After being wounded, Vlasik was promoted to non-commissioned officer and appointed commander of a platoon of the 251st infantry regiment, which was stationed in Moscow.

During the October Revolution, Nikolai Vlasik, a native of the very bottom, quickly decided on his political choice: together with the entrusted platoon, he went over to the side of the Bolsheviks. At first he served in the Moscow police, then he participated in the Civil War, was wounded near Tsaritsyn. In September 1919, Vlasik was sent to the bodies of the Cheka, where he served in the central apparatus under the command of the Felix Dzerzhinsky.

Master of security and life

Since May 1926, Nikolai Vlasik served as a senior authorized officer of the Operational Department of the OGPU. As Vlasik himself recalled, his work as Stalin's bodyguard began in 1927 after an emergency in the capital: a bomb was thrown into the commandant's office building on Lubyanka. The operative, who was on vacation, was recalled and announced: from that moment on, he was entrusted with the protection of the Special Department of the Cheka, the Kremlin, government members at dachas, walks. Particular attention was ordered to be given to the personal protection of Joseph Stalin.

Despite the sad story of the assassination attempt on Lenin, by 1927 the protection of the first persons of the state in the USSR was not particularly thorough. Stalin was accompanied by only one guard: a Lithuanian Yusis. Vlasik was even more surprised when they arrived at the dacha, where Stalin usually spent his weekends. One commandant lived at the dacha, there was no linen, no dishes, and the leader ate sandwiches brought from Moscow.

Like all Belarusian peasants, Nikolai Sidorovich Vlasik was a solid and well-to-do man. He took up not only the protection, but also the arrangement of Stalin's life. The leader, accustomed to asceticism, at first was skeptical about the innovations of the new bodyguard. But Vlasik was persistent: a cook and a cleaner appeared at the dacha, food supplies were arranged from the nearest state farm. At that moment, there was not even a telephone connection with Moscow at the dacha, and it appeared through the efforts of Vlasik.

Over time, Vlasik created a whole system of dachas in the Moscow region and in the south, where well-trained personnel were ready at any moment to receive the Soviet leader. It is not worth talking about the fact that these objects were guarded in the most careful way. The security system for important government facilities existed even before Vlasik, but he became the developer of security measures for the first person of the state during his trips around the country, official events, and international meetings.

Stalin's bodyguard came up with a system according to which the first person and the people accompanying him move in a cavalcade of identical cars, and only the bodyguards know which one the leader is driving in. Subsequently, such a scheme saved a life. Leonid Brezhnev who was assassinated in 1969.

Irreplaceable and especially trusted person

Within a few years, Vlasik turned into an indispensable and especially trusted person for Stalin. After death Nadezhda Alliluyeva Stalin entrusted his bodyguard with the care of the children: Svetlana, Vasily and adopted son Artyom Sergeev. Nikolai Sidorovich was not a teacher, but he tried his best. If Svetlana and Artyom did not cause him much trouble, then Vasily was uncontrollable from childhood. Vlasik, knowing that Stalin did not give up to children, tried, as far as possible, to mitigate the sins of Vasily in reports to his father. But over the years, the “pranks” became more and more serious, and it became more and more difficult for Vlasik to play the role of a “lightning rod”.

Svetlana and Artyom, as adults, wrote about their "tutor" in different ways. Stalin's daughter in "Twenty Letters to a Friend" described Vlasik as follows: " He headed all his father's guards, considered himself almost the closest person to him, being himself incredibly illiterate, rude, stupid, but noble ...»

“He had a job all his life, and he lived near Stalin”

Artyom Sergeev in "Conversations about Stalin" spoke differently: " His main duty was to ensure the safety of Stalin. This work was inhuman. Always the responsibility of the head, always life on the cutting edge. He knew very well both friends and enemies of Stalin ... What kind of work did Vlasik have in general? It was work day and night, there was no 6-8-hour working day. All his life he had work, and he lived near Stalin. Next to Stalin's room was Vlasik's room...»

For ten or fifteen years, Nikolai Vlasik turned from an ordinary bodyguard into a general heading a huge structure responsible not only for security, but also for the life of the first persons of the state. During the war years, the evacuation of the government, members of the diplomatic corps and people's commissariats from Moscow fell on Vlasik's shoulders. It was necessary not only to deliver them to Kuibyshev, but also to place them, equip them in a new place, and think over security issues. The evacuation of Lenin's body from Moscow is also the task that Vlasik performed. He was also responsible for security at the parade on Red Square on November 7, 1941.

Assassination attempt in Gagra

For all the years that Vlasik was responsible for Stalin's life, not a single hair fell from his head. At the same time, the head of the leader’s guard himself, judging by his recollections, took the threat of assassination very seriously. Even in his declining years, he was sure that the Trotskyist groups were preparing the assassination of Stalin.

In 1935, Vlasik really had to cover the leader from bullets. During a boat trip in the Gagra region, fire was opened on them from the shore. The bodyguard covered Stalin with his body, but both were lucky: the bullets did not hit them. The boat left the firing zone. Vlasik considered this a real assassination attempt, and his opponents later believed that it was all a production. As it turns out, there was a misunderstanding. The border guards were not informed about Stalin's boat trip, and they mistook him for an intruder.

Cow abuse?

During the Great Patriotic War, Vlasik was responsible for ensuring security at conferences of the heads of the countries participating in the anti-Hitler coalition and coped with his task brilliantly. For the successful implementation conferences in Tehran Vlasik was awarded the Order of Lenin, for Crimean conference- Order of Kutuzov I degree, for the Potsdam- Another Order of Lenin. But the Potsdam Conference became a pretext for accusations of misappropriation of property: it was alleged that after its completion, Vlasik took various valuables from Germany, including a horse, two cows and one bull. Subsequently, this fact was cited as an example of the irrepressible greed of the Stalinist bodyguard.

Vlasik himself recalled that this story had a completely different background. In 1941, the Germans captured his native village of Bobynichi. The house where my sister lived was burned down, half the village was shot, the sister's eldest daughter was driven away to work in Germany, the cow and the horse were taken away. My sister and her husband went to the partisans, and after the liberation of Belarus they returned to their native village, from which little was left. Stalin's bodyguard brought cattle from Germany for relatives. Was it abuse? If you approach with a strict measure, then, perhaps, yes. However, Stalin, when this case was first reported to him, sharply ordered that further investigation be stopped.

Opala

In 1946, Lieutenant General Nikolai Vlasik became the head of the Main Security Directorate: an agency with an annual budget of 170 million rubles and a staff of many thousands. He did not fight for power, but at the same time he made a huge number of enemies. Being too close to Stalin, Vlasik had the opportunity to influence the leader's attitude towards this or that person, deciding who would get wider access to the first person, and who would be denied such an opportunity. A lot of high-ranking officials from the country's leadership passionately wanted to get rid of Vlasik. Compromising evidence on Stalin's bodyguard was scrupulously collected, drop by drop undermining the leader's confidence in him.

In 1948, the commandant of the so-called "Near Dacha" was arrested. Fedoseev, who testified that Vlasik intended to poison Stalin. But the leader again did not take this accusation seriously: if the bodyguard had such intentions, he could have realized his plans a long time ago.

In 1952, by decision of the Politburo, a commission was established to verify the activities of the Main Directorate of the Ministry of State Security of the USSR. This time, extremely unpleasant facts have surfaced that look quite plausible. The guards and personnel of the special dachas, which had been empty for weeks, staged real orgies there, plundered food and expensive drinks. Later, there were witnesses who assured that Vlasik himself was not averse to relaxing in this way.

On April 29, 1952, on the basis of these materials, Nikolai Vlasik was removed from his post and sent to the Urals, to the city Asbestos, deputy chief Bazhenovsky correctional labor camp of the Ministry of Internal Affairs of the USSR.

"Cohabited with women and drank alcohol in his spare time"

Why did Stalin suddenly back down from a man who honestly served him for 25 years? Perhaps it was all the fault of the leader's growing suspicion in recent years. It is possible that Stalin considered the waste of state funds for drunken revelry too serious a sin. There is also a third assumption. It is known that during this period the Soviet leader began to promote young leaders, and openly told his former associates: "It's time to change you." Perhaps Stalin felt that the time had come to replace Vlasik as well. Be that as it may, very difficult times have come for the former head of the Stalinist guard.

In December 1952, he was arrested in connection with the Doctors' Plot. He was blamed for the fact that the statements Lydia Timashuk, who accused the professors who treated the first persons of the state of sabotage, he ignored. Vlasik himself wrote in his memoirs that there was no reason to believe Timashuk did not have: " There was no data discrediting the professors, which I reported to Stalin».

In prison, Vlasik was interrogated with prejudice for several months. For a man who was already well over 50, the disgraced bodyguard held firm. I was ready to admit "moral decay" and even embezzlement, but not conspiracy and espionage. " I really cohabited with many women, drank alcohol with them and the artist Stenberg, but all this happened at the expense of my personal health and in my free time from service", - so sounded his testimony.

Could Vlasik extend the life of the leader?

On March 5, 1953, Joseph Stalin passed away. Even if we discard the dubious version of the murder of the leader, Vlasik, if he had remained in his post, he could well have extended his life. When the leader became ill at the Near Dacha, he lay for several hours on the floor of his room without help: the guards did not dare to enter Stalin's chambers. There is no doubt that Vlasik would not have allowed this.

After the death of the leader "doctors' case" closed. All of his defendants were released, except for Nikolai Vlasik. Did not bring him freedom and collapse Lavrenty Beria in June 1953. In January 1955, the Military Collegium of the Supreme Court of the USSR found Nikolai Vlasik guilty of abuse of office under especially aggravating circumstances, sentenced under Art. 193-17 p. "b" of the Criminal Code of the RSFSR to 10 years of exile, deprivation of the rank of general and state awards. In March 1955, Vlasik's term was reduced to 5 years. He was sent to Krasnoyarsk to serve his sentence. By a decree of the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet of the USSR of December 15, 1956, Vlasik was pardoned with the removal of a criminal record, but he was not restored to military rank and awards.

“Not a single minute did I have in my soul anger at Stalin”

He returned to Moscow, where he had almost nothing left: his property was confiscated, a separate apartment was turned into a communal one. Vlasik knocked on the thresholds of offices, wrote to the leaders of the party and government, asked for rehabilitation and reinstatement in the party, but was refused everywhere. Secretly, he began to dictate memoirs in which he talked about how he saw his life, why he did certain things, how he treated Stalin.

« After the death of Stalin, such an expression as “the cult of personality” appeared ... If a person who is the leader of his affairs deserves the love and respect of others, what is wrong with that ... The people loved and respected Stalin. He represented the country, which led to prosperity and victories, - wrote Nikolai Vlasik. - Under his leadership, a lot of good things were done, and the people saw it. He enjoyed great prestige. I knew him very intimately... And I affirm that he lived only in the interests of the country, the interests of his people » .

« It is easy to accuse a person of all mortal sins when he is dead and can neither justify nor defend himself. Why, during his lifetime, no one dared to point out to him his mistakes? What hindered? Fear? Or were there no such errors that should have been pointed out? What Tsar Ivan IV was formidable for, but there were people who cared for their homeland, who, not fearing death, pointed out to him his mistakes. Or were brave people transferred to Rus'?"- so thought the Stalinist bodyguard.

Summing up his memoirs and his whole life in general, Vlasik wrote: “Having not a single penalty, but only encouragement and awards, I was expelled from the party and thrown into prison. But never, not for a single minute, no matter what state I was in, no matter what bullying I was subjected to while in prison, I did not have anger in my soul against Stalin. I understood very well what kind of atmosphere was created around him in the last years of his life. How difficult it was for him. He was an old, sick, lonely man ... He was and remains the most dear person to me, and no slander can shake the feeling of love and the deepest respect that I always had for this wonderful person. He personified for me everything bright and dear in my life - the party, the homeland and my people.

Posthumously rehabilitated

Nikolai Sidorovich Vlasik died on June 18, 1967. His archive was seized and classified. Only in 2011, the Federal Security Service declassified the notes of the person who, in fact, stood at the origins of its creation. Relatives of Vlasik have repeatedly made attempts to achieve his rehabilitation. After several refusals, on June 28, 2000, by a decision of the Presidium of the Supreme Court of Russia, the 1955 sentence was canceled, and the criminal case was dismissed "due to the lack of corpus delicti".

Nikolay Vlasik

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FOREWORD

The authors of this book were close to Stalin for many years, observed his life and were at the center of the most important political events.
The head of Stalin's personal guard, Nikolai Sidorovich Vlasik, was born on May 22, 1896 in the Belarusian village of Bobynichi. From the age of thirteen he worked at a construction site, then at a paper mill. During the First World War he was called up for military service. For his bravery he was awarded the St. George Cross of the 1st degree. After being wounded in 1916, Vlasik was sent to Moscow to the 25th reserve regiment - in the rank of non-commissioned officer, platoon commander. During the days of the February Revolution, a young officer joins his regiment with the rebels - without firing a shot. Since October 1917, Vlasik has been working in the bodies of the newly created Soviet police. In 1918, as part of the 393rd Rogozhsko-Simonovsky Regiment, he was sent to the Southern Front, to the 10th Army defending Tsaritsyn. After being wounded and subsequently treated in a Moscow hospital, Vlasik was assigned to the 1st Soviet Infantry Regiment. In the same year he joined the ranks of the RCP(b). The next year, 1919, marked a new turn in the biography of Nikolai Sidorovich: upon the mobilization of the party, he was sent to work in the Special Department of the Cheka, at the disposal of F. E. Dzerzhinsky, where the young security officer takes an active part in operations to eliminate the counter-revolutionary underground in the USSR (in particular, cadet), carries out the responsible instructions of the leaders of the Soviet counterintelligence.
In 1927, an event takes place that determined the fate of N. S. Vlasik for many years: after the famous explosion in the commandant's office building on Lubyanka, he was entrusted with organizing the protection of the Special Department of the OGPU, the Kremlin, members of the Soviet government and personal protection of I. V. Stalin. Since that time, the life and work of Vlasik is closely connected with the personality of Stalin, his activities, life, character traits. For almost a quarter of a century in various positions related to ensuring the protection of the Soviet government and Stalin personally, Nikolai Sidorovich went through all the steps of the career ladder of one of the important sectors of the domestic state security system. Since 1938, Vlasik became the head of the I department of the General Guard of the government. From 1947 to 1952, he directed the work of the Main Security Directorate of the MGB.

* * *

The “man behind his back” accompanied Stalin on his trips around the city, at airfields, in theaters, at parades and official events, on vacation trips, at conferences and meetings with heads of foreign countries - such, as you know, is the “specificity” of this responsible and difficult profession, especially when it comes to protecting a great statesman, the leader of a world superpower. In addition, given that the Main Directorate of Security of the MGB was subordinate to a large staff, and also this department had a whole complex of buildings, state dachas, outbuildings in different parts of the immense power, had an extensive structure (in fact, an autonomous "ministry" in the system of the Soviet State Security), it is not difficult to imagine how much responsibility was assigned to the head of this organization and how much weight the "man under Stalin" had in the highest Kremlin circles.
The Soviet government highly appreciated the services of N. S. Vlasik to the country. He was awarded three Orders of Lenin (2 of them for ensuring the protection of participants in the Tehran and Potsdam conferences), four Orders of the Red Banner of Labor, the Order of Kutuzov I degree (for the protection of participants in the Yalta Conference), the Order of the Red Star, five medals.

* * *

Vlasik was always devoted to Stalin. But he was not betrayed in a lackey way - which was alien to this courageous man - but sincerely betrayed, knowing what responsibility lies with him. This sincere and reverent attitude to his duties was sometimes expressed in excessive anxiety, acute feelings about even the most insignificant mistake made by one of his subordinates (Vlasik recorded such “incidents” very emotionally and self-critically in his diary). Such concern for the life and health of Stalin can hardly be explained by the usual bureaucratic desire to curry favor or fear of possible punishment for a mistake. Here we can rather talk about a particularly reverent attitude to the task entrusted: after all, it was about the head of a great state, the Leader of the Soviet people. It should be noted that Stalin also trusted the head of his security department, to a certain extent, of course.
At the end of the 40s, N. S. Vlasik made, however, two significant blunders: firstly, he did not give way to the letter of L. F. Timashuk about the wrong, leading to death, treatment of A. A. Zhdanov. This omission of Vlasik came to light later, in the early 50s, when the proceedings of the famous "doctors' case" began, during which many facts of the anti-state activities of its defendants were revealed. The second mistake of N. S. Vlasik was that he got involved in political intrigues, the purpose of which was to eliminate L. P. Beria from Stalin's entourage.
The denouement came soon. April 29, 1952 Vlasik was removed from office on charges of abuse of office, December 16, 1952 was arrested.
He spent three years in prison. His trial took place in 1955, already under Khrushchev. Stalin was not alive, but Vlasik did not renounce the leader, like many "Khrushchevites", so his fate was sealed. According to the verdict of the court N.S. Vlasik was sent into exile in Siberia. He was released only under an amnesty; Vlasik returned to Moscow, in the last years of his life he worked on his memoirs.

* * *

Rybin Aleksey Trofimovich was an employee of the personal guard of I.V. Stalin since 1931. Alexei Rybin guarded Stalin in the Kremlin, at the dacha, on vacation; later he was appointed commandant of the Bolshoi Theatre.
Rybin's memoirs of Stalin are distinguished by liveliness and immediacy, they contain many interesting details showing the leader at home and in everyday life. In addition, Rybin supplements his notes with the memoirs of other people who knew and saw Stalin, and conducts a historical investigation of some controversial episodes from his life.
Georgy Alexandrovich Egnatashvili was the head of the security of the member of the Politburo of the Central Committee of the All-Union Communist Party of Bolsheviks N.M. Shvernik. Georgy Egnatashvili was friends with Stalin's eldest son, Yakov, and knew Stalin's family well, including his mother.
The theme of Stalin's relatives and relations in his family is continued by Artem Fedorovich Sergeev. He was the son of a prominent figure in the Bolshevik Party, one of Stalin's closest associates, Sergeev Fedor Andreevich. After the tragic death of his father, Artem was brought up in the family of Joseph Stalin, was friends with his youngest son Vasily.
Memoirs of A.F. Sergeev show I.V. Stalin during family holidays, in communication with friends, with children; touch on the topic of Stalin's personal attachments.
IN application The memoirs of Yakov Ermolaevich Chadaev are used for the book. During the Great Patriotic War, he was the manager of the affairs of the Council of People's Commissars, saw I.V. Stalin in work and in relations with subordinates. The assessment of Stalin's business qualities is supplemented in Chadaev's memoirs by an assessment of the top leaders of the Soviet state. It seems interesting to compare these notes with the memoirs of N.S. Vlasik.
(The biographical essay on N.S. Vlasik used materials from Alexei Kozhevnikov, Candidate of Historical Sciences.)

Notes of N. S. Vlasik

BRIEF FOREWORD

HOW I WAS APPOINTED TO STALIN

In 1927, a bomb was thrown into the building of the commandant's office on Lubyanka. At that time I was in Sochi on vacation. The authorities urgently called me and instructed me to organize the protection of the Special Department of the Cheka, the Kremlin, as well as the protection of government members at dachas, walks, trips, and pay special attention to the personal protection of Comrade Stalin. Until that time, only one employee was with Comrade Stalin, who accompanied him when he went on business trips. It was the Lithuanian Yusis. He called Yusis and went with him by car to a dacha near Moscow, where Comrade Stalin usually rested. Arriving at the dacha and examining it, I saw that there was a complete mess. There was no linen, no dishes, no staff. There lived one commandant at the dacha.
As I learned from Yusis, Comrade Stalin came to the dacha with his family only on Sundays and ate sandwiches that they brought with them from Moscow.

STALIN'S FAMILY, RHYTHM OF LIFE, LIFE

Comrade Stalin's family consisted of his wife, Nadezhda Sergeevna, the daughter of the old Bolshevik S. Ya. Alliluyev, whom Comrade Stalin met when he was hiding in his family in an apartment in Petrograd, and two children - Vasya's son, a very lively and impetuous boy of five years old, and daughter Svetlana two years old. In addition to these children, Comrade Stalin had an adult son from his first marriage with Ekaterina Svanidze, Yakov, a very sweet and modest person, remarkably similar to his father in conversation and manners. Looking ahead, I will say that he graduated from the Institute of Railway Transport and lived on a scholarship, sometimes in need, but never turned to his father with any requests. After graduating from the institute, to the remark of his father that he would like to see his son in the military, Yakov entered the Artillery Academy, which he graduated from before the war. In the very first days of the war, he went to the front. Near Vyazma, our units were surrounded, and he was taken prisoner.
The Germans held him captive in the camp until the end of the war, in the camp and killed him, allegedly while trying to escape. According to the former French Prime Minister Herriot, who was with him in this camp, Yakov behaved with exceptional dignity and courage. After the end of the war, Herriot wrote about this to Stalin.
In the apartment in the Kremlin, where Stalin lived with his family, there was a housekeeper Karolina Vasilievna and a cleaner. They received food from the Kremlin canteen, from where K.V. brought lunch in vessels. By order of the authorities, in addition to the guards, I had to arrange the supply and living conditions of the guarded.
I began by sending linen and crockery to the dacha, arranging for the supply of food from the state farm, which was under the jurisdiction of the GPU and located next to the dacha. He sent a cook and a cleaner to the dacha. Established a direct telephone connection with Moscow.
Yusis, fearing Comrade Stalin's dissatisfaction with these innovations, suggested that I myself report everything to Comrade Stalin. This is how my first meeting and first conversation with Comrade Stalin took place. Before that, I had only seen him from afar, when I accompanied him on walks and on trips to the theater.
Comrade Stalin lived with his family very modestly. He walked in an old, badly worn overcoat. I offered Nadezhda Sergeevna to sew him a new coat, but for this it was necessary to take measurements or take the old one and make exactly such a new one from it in the workshop. It was not possible to remove the measure, as he flatly refused, saying that he did not need a new coat. But we still managed to sew him a new coat.
His wife, Nadezhda Sergeevna, a very modest woman, rarely made any requests, dressed modestly, unlike the wives of many responsible workers. She studied at the Industrial Academy and paid much attention to children.

* * *

I wanted to know (and I needed it) the tastes and habits of Comrade Stalin, the peculiarities of his character, and I looked at everything with curiosity and interest.
Comrade Stalin usually got up at 9 o'clock, had breakfast and at 11 o'clock was at work in the Central Committee on Staraya Square. He dined at work, they brought him to his office from the dining room of the Central Committee. Sometimes, when Comrade Kirov came to Moscow, they went home together to dine. Comrade Stalin often worked until late at night, especially in those years when, after Lenin's death, the struggle against the Trotskyists had to be intensified.
He also worked on his book Questions of Leninism in his office at the Central Committee, sometimes staying late into the night. He often returned from work on foot along Art. Molotov. We went to the Kremlin through the Spassky Gates. Sunday spent at home with his family, usually went to the country. Comrade Stalin went to the theater more often on Saturdays and Sundays together with Nadezhda Sergeevna. We visited the Bolshoi Theatre, the Maly Theatre, the Theater. Vakhtangov, went to see Meyerhold to watch Mayakovsky's play Bedbug. With us at this performance, I remember, were comrades Kirov and Molotov, comrade Stalin loved Gorky very much and always watched all his plays that were shown in Moscow theaters. Often, after work, Comrade Stalin, together with Molotov, went to watch movies in Gnezdnikovsky Lane. Later, a viewing room was set up in the Kremlin. Comrade Stalin loved cinema and attached great importance to it as propaganda.
In the autumn, usually in August-September, Comrade Stalin and his family went to the south. He spent his holidays on the Black Sea coast, in Sochi or Gagra. He lived in the south for two months. Resting in Sochi, he sometimes took Matsesta baths.
During the whole vacation he worked very hard, received a lot of mail. To the south, he always took one of the employees. In the 1920s, a cipher clerk traveled with him, starting in the 1930s, a secretary. Business meetings also took place during the holidays. So, in the late 40s, K. Gottwald and E. Hoxha came to him. Before his appointment to Poland, K. K. Rokossovsky came to his dacha in Gagra.
Comrade Stalin read a lot, followed political and artistic literature.
Entertainment in the south was boat trips, movies, bowling alleys, the towns he liked to play in, and billiards. The partners were employees who lived with him in the country.
Comrade Stalin devoted much time to the garden. While living in Sochi, he planted many lemon and tangerine trees in his garden and he himself always watched their growth, rejoicing when they were well received and began to bear fruit.
He was very worried about the incidence of malaria among the local population. And on the initiative of Comrade Stalin, large plantings of eucalyptus trees were carried out in Sochi. This tree is known to have valuable properties: it grows unusually fast and dries out the soil, destroying breeding grounds for malaria.
Molotov, Kalinin, Ordzhonikidze often came to Comrade Stalin's dacha, who at that time also rested on the Black Sea coast. Comrade Kirov came to visit.

* * *

In 1933, Comrade Stalin's wife tragically died. I. V. deeply experienced the loss of his wife and friend. The children were still small, Comrade Stalin, due to his employment, could not pay much attention to them. I had to transfer the upbringing and care of the children to Karolina Vasilievna. She was a cultured woman, sincerely attached to children.
Svetlana was calm and obedient, which could not be said about Vasya, a very active and playful boy. He gave a lot of trouble to his teachers. When the children grew up and both were already studying, part of the responsibility for their behavior fell on me.
The daughter, her father's favorite, studied well and was modest and disciplined. The son, gifted by nature, studied reluctantly at school. He was too nervous, impetuous, he could not work diligently for a long time, often to the detriment of his studies and, not without success, was carried away by something extraneous, like horse riding. Reluctantly, he had to report to his father about his behavior and upset him. He loved children, especially his daughter, whom he jokingly called "mistress", which she was very proud of. He treated his son strictly, punished for pranks and misconduct. The girl, outwardly resembling a grandmother, Comrade Stalin's mother, was somewhat reserved and silent in character.
The boy, on the contrary, was lively and temperamental, very sincere and sympathetic. In general, children were brought up very strictly, no pampering, excesses were allowed. The daughter grew up, graduated from the institute, defended her dissertation, has a family, works, brings up children. She changed her father's surname to her mother's surname. Subsequently, she went abroad to see off her husband on his last journey and to the beat and stayed. The fate of the son was more tragic. After graduating from an aviation school, he became a participant in the war, commanded, and not bad, an aviation regiment. After the death of his father, he was arrested and sentenced to 8 years. After serving his sentence, he was released completely sick. He was retained his military rank and was given a pension, but he was offered to give up his father's surname, to which he did not agree.
After that, he was exiled to Kazan, where he soon died, in March 1962, at the age of 40.

THE MURDER OF S. M. KIROV

I especially want to talk about Kirov.
Most of all, Stalin loved and respected Kirov. He loved him with some kind of touching, tender love. Comrade Kirov's visits to Moscow and to the south were a real treat for Stalin. Sergei Mironovich came for a week or two. In Moscow, he stayed at Comrade Stalin's apartment, and I.V. literally did not part with him.
S. M. Kirov was killed on December 13, 1934 in Leningrad. Kirov's death shocked Stalin. I went with him to Leningrad and I know how he suffered, experienced the loss of his beloved friend. Everyone knows what a crystal-clear man S.M. was, how simple and modest he was, what a great worker and wise leader he was, everyone knows.
This vile murder showed that the enemies of Soviet power had not yet been destroyed and were ready at any moment to strike from around the corner.
Comrade Kirov was killed by the enemies of the people. His killer, Leonid Nikolaev, stated in his testimony: "Our shot was supposed to be a signal for an explosion and an offensive inside the country against the CPSU (b) and Soviet power." In September 1934, an attempt was made on Comrade Molotov, when he made an inspection tour of the mining regions of Siberia. Comrade Molotov and his companions miraculously escaped death.

ATTEMPT ON STALIN

In the summer of 1935, an attempt was made on Comrade Stalin. It happened in the south. Comrade Stalin was resting at a dacha not far from Gagra.
On a small boat, which was transported to the Black Sea from the Neva from Leningrad by Yagoda, Comrade Stalin took walks on the sea. He had only security with him. The direction was taken to Cape Pitsunda. Having entered the bay, we went ashore, rested, ate, walked, having been on the shore for several hours. Then they boarded the boat and went home. There is a lighthouse on Cape Pitsunda, and not far from the lighthouse on the shore of the bay there was a border guard post. When we left the bay and turned in the direction of Gagra, shots rang out from the shore. We were being fired upon.
Quickly putting Comrade Stalin on the bench and covering him with myself, I ordered the minder to go out to sea.
We immediately fired a burst of machine gun fire along the shore. The firing on our boat stopped.
Our boat was small, river and completely unsuitable for sailing on the sea, and we had a great chat before we landed on the shore. The sending of such a boat to Sochi was also made by Yagoda, apparently not without malicious intent - on a big wave it would inevitably capsize, but we, as people not versed in maritime affairs, did not know about this.
This case was referred for investigation by Beria, who was at that time the secretary of the Central Committee of Georgia. During interrogation, the shooter stated that the boat was with an unfamiliar number, it seemed suspicious to him and he opened fire, although he had enough time to find out everything while we were on the shore of the bay, and he could not see us.
It was all one ball.
The assassination of Kirov, Menzhinsky, Kuibyshev, as well as the assassination attempts mentioned above, were organized by the right-wing Trotskyist bloc.
This was shown by the trials of Kamenev and Zinoviev in 1936, the trial of Pyatakov, Radek and Sokolnikov in 1937, and the trial of Yagoda, Bukharin and Rykov in 1938. This tangle was unraveled and thus neutralized the enemies of Soviet power before the war. They could be the "fifth column".

MILITARY CONSPIRACY

Among the many accusations brought against Comrade Stalin after his death, perhaps the most significant is the accusation of the physical destruction of a group of military leaders of the Red Army headed by Tukhachevsky.
They have now been rehabilitated. At the 22nd Congress, the Communist Party of the USSR declared their complete innocence to the whole world.
On what basis were they rehabilitated?
They were convicted according to the documents. After 20 years, these documents were declared fake ... But how should Comrade Stalin react to a document that convicted Tukhachevsky of treason, handed over by a friend of the Soviet Union, President of Czechoslovakia Benes? I do not admit the thought that other evidence was not collected besides this. If all the military leaders, as it is now claimed, were innocent, then why did Gamarnik suddenly shoot himself? I have never heard of such cases when innocent people were shot while waiting for arrest. After all, revolutionaries, always living under the threat of arrest, never committed suicide. In addition, this group of military men was not shot, like 26 Baku commissars, without trial or investigation. They were convicted by the Special Military Tribunal of the Supreme Court.
The trial, it is true, took place behind closed doors, since the testimony at the trial had to deal with military secrets. But the court included such authoritative people known throughout the country as Voroshilov, Budyonny, Shaposhnikov. The report on the trial indicated that the defendants had pleaded guilty. To cast doubt on this message means to cast a shadow on such unsullied people as Voroshilov, Budyonny, Shaposhnikov.
Speaking about this process, I would like to dwell on the personality of the head of the military group Tukhachevsky. Personality, of course, very bright. A lot has already been written about him, in particular, such a venerable writer as L. Nikulin wrote a book about him. I would like to say a few words about this book and another book - by Michael Sayers and Albert Kahn "Secret War against Soviet Russia". I want to dwell on the characterization of Tukhachevsky given by the authors of these books.
Their characteristics are exactly the opposite. Which of them is right? Who to believe? I personally met with Tukhachevsky, I knew him. It was known about him that he came from a noble landlord family, graduated from the Cadet Corps and the Alexander Military School. But I never heard that his mother was a simple illiterate peasant woman. Nikulin writes that he received information about Tukhachevsky's childhood from a friend of his acquaintance, who tracked down a 90-year-old man who worked in his youth on the estate of Tukhachevsky's father. I recorded a conversation with him and sent it to Nikulin.
The source seems to me to be of little authority.
There is no doubt that Tukhachevsky was a highly educated person. Neither appearance, nor gestures, nor demeanor, nor conversation - nothing indicated in him a proletarian origin, on the contrary, blue blood was visible in everything.
Nikulin writes that Tukhachevsky was not a careerist, but according to other sources, after graduating from the Alexander School, Tukhachevsky said: “Either I will be a general at thirty years old, or I will shoot myself.” The French officer Remy Ruhr, who was in captivity along with Tukhachevsky, characterized him as an extremely ambitious person who stops at nothing.
Subsequently, in 1928, Remy Ruhr wrote a book about Tukhachevsky under the pseudonym Pierre Fervac.
Tukhachevsky escaped from German captivity and returned to Russia on the eve of the October Revolution. He first joined the former officers of the tsarist army, then broke with them.
Sayers and Kahn write that to his friend Golumbek, when asked what he intended to do, Tukhachevsky replied: “Frankly speaking, I turn to the Bolsheviks. The White Army is unable to do anything. They don't have a leader."

* * *

In 1918 Tukhachevsky joined the party. A cultured man, an educated military man and certainly a talented commander, Tukhachevsky quickly moved into the forefront of the leaders of the Red Army. The Bolsheviks had few such people, and they needed them. Tukhachevsky's calculation was correct. After the end of the Civil War, Tukhachevsky became one of Frunze's closest assistants at the headquarters of the Red Army. And in 1925, after the death of Frunze, he was appointed to the post of chief of staff of the Red Army.
Here is what Sayers and Kahn write about this period of Tukhachevsky's activity: “While working at the headquarters of the Red Army, Tukhachevsky became close to the Trotskyite Putna, who successively held the positions of military attache in Berlin, London, Tokyo, and the head of the Political Directorate of the Red Army, Jan Gamarnik, whom Sayers and Kahn call personal friend of the Reichswehr generals Sokt and Hammerstein.
Nikulin writes that all the accusations against Tukhachevsky were based on slander. To do this, they took advantage of the official trips of the marshal and his comrades abroad, meetings that had a purely business character.
And here is what Syers and Kahn write about one such trip.
In early 1936, Tukhachevsky, as a Soviet military representative, traveled to London for the funeral of King George V. Shortly before his departure, he received the coveted title of Marshal of the USSR. He was convinced that the hour was near when the Soviet system would be overthrown and the “new Russia”, in alliance with Germany and Japan, would rush into the battle for world domination. On the way to London, Tukhachevsky stopped briefly in Warsaw and Berlin, where he talked with Polish colonels and German generals. He was so sure of success that he almost did not hide his admiration for the German militarists.

Among those who did not spare negative epithets for Vlasik was Stalin's daughter Svetlana Alliluyeva. But the bodyguard of the leader at one time had to become practically the main educator for both Svetlana and Vasily.

Nikolai Sidorovich Vlasik spent a quarter of a century next to Stalin, protecting the life of the Soviet leader. Without his bodyguard, the leader lived for less than a year.

From the parochial school to the Cheka

Nikolai Vlasik was born on May 22, 1896 in Western Belarus, in the village of Bobynichi, into a poor peasant family. The boy lost his parents early and could not count on a good education. After three classes of the parochial school, Nikolai went to work. From the age of 13 he worked as a laborer at a construction site, then as a bricklayer, then as a loader at a paper mill.

During the October Revolution, Nikolai Vlasik, a native of the very bottom, quickly decided on his political choice: together with the entrusted platoon, he went over to the side of the Bolsheviks.

At first he served in the Moscow police, then he participated in the Civil War, was wounded near Tsaritsyn. In September 1919, Vlasik was sent to the bodies of the Cheka, where he served in the central apparatus under the command of Felix Dzerzhinsky himself.

Master of security and life

Since May 1926, Nikolai Vlasik served as a senior authorized officer of the Operational Department of the OGPU.

As Vlasik himself recalled, his work as Stalin's bodyguard began in 1927 after an emergency in the capital: a bomb was thrown into the commandant's office building on Lubyanka. The operative, who was on vacation, was recalled and announced: from that moment on, he was entrusted with the protection of the Special Department of the Cheka, the Kremlin, government members at dachas, walks. Particular attention was ordered to be given to the personal protection of Joseph Stalin.

Despite the sad story of the assassination attempt on Lenin, by 1927 the protection of the first persons of the state in the USSR was not particularly thorough.

Stalin was accompanied by only one guard: the Lithuanian Yusis. Vlasik was even more surprised when they arrived at the dacha, where Stalin usually spent his weekends. One commandant lived at the dacha, there was no linen, no dishes, and the leader ate sandwiches brought from Moscow.

Like all Belarusian peasants, Nikolai Sidorovich Vlasik was a solid and well-to-do man. He took up not only the protection, but also the arrangement of Stalin's life.

The leader, accustomed to asceticism, at first was skeptical about the innovations of the new bodyguard. But Vlasik was persistent: a cook and a cleaner appeared at the dacha, food supplies were arranged from the nearest state farm. At that moment, there was not even a telephone connection with Moscow at the dacha, and it appeared through the efforts of Vlasik.

The security system for important government facilities existed even before Vlasik, but he became the developer of security measures for the first person of the state during his trips around the country, official events, and international meetings.

Stalin's bodyguard came up with a system according to which the first person and the people accompanying him move in a cavalcade of identical cars, and only the bodyguards know which one the leader is driving in. Subsequently, such a scheme saved the life of Leonid Brezhnev, who was assassinated in 1969.

Irreplaceable and especially trusted person

Within a few years, Vlasik turned into an indispensable and especially trusted person for Stalin. After the death of Nadezhda Alliluyeva, Stalin entrusted his bodyguard with the care of the children: Svetlana, Vasily and his adopted son Artyom Sergeyev.

Nikolai Sidorovich was not a teacher, but he tried his best. If Svetlana and Artyom did not cause him much trouble, then Vasily was uncontrollable from childhood. Vlasik, knowing that Stalin did not give up to children, tried, as far as possible, to mitigate the sins of Vasily in reports to his father.

But over the years, the “pranks” became more and more serious, and it became more and more difficult for Vlasik to play the role of a “lightning rod”.

Svetlana and Artyom, as adults, wrote about their "tutor" in different ways. Stalin's daughter in "Twenty Letters to a Friend" described Vlasik as follows: “He headed all his father’s guards, considered himself almost the closest person to him, being himself incredibly illiterate, rude, stupid, but noble ...”

“He had a job all his life, and he lived near Stalin”

Artyom Sergeev in "Conversations about Stalin" spoke differently: “His main duty was to ensure the safety of Stalin. This work was inhuman. Always the responsibility of the head, always life on the cutting edge. He knew very well both friends and enemies of Stalin ... What kind of work did Vlasik have in general? It was work day and night, there was no 6-8-hour working day. All his life he had work, and he lived near Stalin. Next to Stalin's room was Vlasik's room ... "

During the war years, the evacuation of the government, members of the diplomatic corps and people's commissariats from Moscow fell on Vlasik's shoulders. It was necessary not only to deliver them to Kuibyshev, but also to place them, equip them in a new place, and think over security issues. The evacuation of Lenin's body from Moscow is also the task that Vlasik performed. He was also responsible for security at the parade on Red Square on November 7, 1941.

Assassination attempt in Gagra

Vlasik considered this a real assassination attempt, and his opponents later believed that it was all a production. As it turns out, there was a misunderstanding. The border guards were not informed about Stalin's boat trip, and they mistook him for an intruder.

Cow abuse?

But the Potsdam Conference became a pretext for accusations of misappropriation of property: it was alleged that after its completion, Vlasik took various valuables from Germany, including a horse, two cows and one bull. Subsequently, this fact was cited as an example of the irrepressible greed of the Stalinist bodyguard.

Was it abuse? If you approach with a strict measure, then, perhaps, yes. However, Stalin, when this case was first reported to him, sharply ordered that further investigation be stopped.

Opala

In 1946, Lieutenant General Nikolai Vlasik became the head of the Main Security Directorate: an agency with an annual budget of 170 million rubles and a staff of many thousands.

He did not fight for power, but at the same time he made a huge number of enemies. Being too close to Stalin, Vlasik had the opportunity to influence the leader's attitude towards this or that person, deciding who would get wider access to the first person, and who would be denied such an opportunity.

A lot of high-ranking officials from the country's leadership passionately wanted to get rid of Vlasik. Compromising evidence on Stalin's bodyguard was scrupulously collected, drop by drop undermining the leader's confidence in him.

In 1948, the commandant of the so-called "Near Dacha" Fedoseev was arrested, who testified that Vlasik intended to poison Stalin. But the leader again did not take this accusation seriously: if the bodyguard had such intentions, he could have realized his plans a long time ago.

On April 29, 1952, on the basis of these materials, Nikolai Vlasik was removed from his post and sent to the Urals, to the city of Asbest, as deputy head of the Bazhenov forced labor camp of the USSR Ministry of Internal Affairs.

"Cohabited with women and drank alcohol in his spare time"

Why did Stalin suddenly back down from a man who honestly served him for 25 years? Perhaps it was all the fault of the leader's growing suspicion in recent years. It is possible that Stalin considered the waste of state funds for drunken revelry too serious a sin. There is also a third assumption. It is known that the Soviet leader during this period began to promote young leaders, and openly said to his former comrades-in-arms: "Time to change you". Perhaps Stalin felt that the time had come to replace Vlasik as well.

Be that as it may, very difficult times have come for the former head of the Stalinist guard.

In December 1952, he was arrested in connection with the Doctors' Plot. He was blamed for the fact that he ignored the statements of Lydia Timashuk, who accused the professors who treated the first persons of the state of sabotage.

Vlasik himself wrote in his memoirs that there was no reason to believe Timashuk: “There was no data discrediting the professors, which I reported to Stalin”.

In prison, Vlasik was interrogated with prejudice for several months. For a man who was already well over 50, the disgraced bodyguard held firm. I was ready to admit "moral decay" and even embezzlement, but not conspiracy and espionage. “I really cohabited with many women, drank alcohol with them and the artist Stenberg, but all this happened at the expense of my personal health and in my free time,” his testimony sounded.

Could Vlasik extend the life of the leader?

After the death of the leader, the "case of doctors" was closed. All of his defendants were released, except for Nikolai Vlasik. The collapse of Lavrenty Beria in June 1953 did not bring him freedom either.

In January 1955, the Military Collegium of the Supreme Court of the USSR found Nikolai Vlasik guilty of abuse of office under especially aggravating circumstances, sentenced under Art. 193-17 p. "b" of the Criminal Code of the RSFSR to 10 years of exile, deprivation of the rank of general and state awards. In March 1955, Vlasik's term was reduced to 5 years. He was sent to Krasnoyarsk to serve his sentence.

By a decree of the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet of the USSR of December 15, 1956, Vlasik was pardoned with the removal of a criminal record, but he was not restored to military rank and awards.

“Not a single minute did I have in my soul anger at Stalin”

Secretly, he began to dictate memoirs in which he talked about how he saw his life, why he did certain things, how he treated Stalin.

“After Stalin’s death, such an expression appeared as“ the cult of personality ”... If a person who is the leader of his affairs deserves the love and respect of others, what’s wrong with that ... The people loved and respected Stalin. He personified a country that he led to prosperity and victories,- wrote Nikolai Vlasik. — A lot of good things were done under his leadership, and the people saw it. He enjoyed great prestige. I knew him very closely... And I affirm that he lived only for the interests of the country, the interests of his people.”

“It is easy to accuse a person of all mortal sins when he is dead and can neither justify nor defend himself. Why, during his lifetime, no one dared to point out to him his mistakes? What hindered? Fear? Or were there no such errors that should have been pointed out?

What Tsar Ivan IV was formidable for, but there were people who cared for their homeland, who, not fearing death, pointed out to him his mistakes. Or were brave people transferred to Rus'? - so thought the Stalinist bodyguard.

Summing up his memoirs and his whole life in general, Vlasik wrote: “Having not a single penalty, but only encouragement and awards, I was expelled from the party and thrown into prison.

But never, not for a single minute, no matter what state I was in, no matter what bullying I was subjected to while in prison, I did not have anger in my soul against Stalin. I perfectly understood what kind of atmosphere was created around him in the last years of his life. How difficult it was for him. He was an old, sick, lonely man ... He was and remains the most dear person to me, and no slander can shake the feeling of love and the deepest respect that I always had for this wonderful person. He personified for me everything bright and dear in my life - the party, the motherland and my people.

Posthumously rehabilitated

Relatives of Vlasik have repeatedly made attempts to achieve his rehabilitation. After several refusals, on June 28, 2000, by a decision of the Presidium of the Supreme Court of Russia, the 1955 sentence was canceled, and the criminal case was dismissed "due to the lack of corpus delicti".

Nikolai Sidorovich Vlasik. Born May 22, 1896 in Bobynichy, Slonim district, Grodno province - died June 18, 1967 in Moscow. Head of Stalin's security in 1931-1952. Lieutenant General (1945).

Nikolai Vlasik was born on May 22, 1896 in the village. Bobynichi, Slonim district, Grodno province (now Slonim district, Grodno region).

Comes from a poor peasant family.

By nationality - Belarusian.

At the age of three, he remained an orphan: first his mother died, and soon his father.

As a child, he graduated from three classes of a rural parochial school. From the age of thirteen he began to work. At first he was a laborer for the landowner. Then - a digger on the railroad. Next - a laborer at a paper mill in Yekaterinoslav.

In the days of the October Revolution, being in the rank of non-commissioned officer, together with a platoon, he went over to the side of Soviet power.

In November 1917, he entered the service of the Moscow police.

Since February 1918 - in the Red Army, a participant in the battles on the Southern Front near Tsaritsyn, was an assistant company commander in the 33rd working Rogozhsko-Simonovsky infantry regiment.

In September 1919, he was transferred to the bodies of the Cheka, worked under direct supervision in the central office, was an employee of a special department, a senior authorized officer of the active department of the operational unit. From May 1926, he worked as a senior commissioner of the Operational Department of the OGPU, from January 1930 - an assistant to the head of the department there.

In 1927, he headed the Kremlin's special guards and became the de facto chief of guards.

This happened after the emergency, about which Vlasik wrote in his diary: “In 1927, a bomb was thrown into the building of the commandant's office on Lubyanka. At that time I was in Sochi on vacation. The authorities urgently called me and instructed me to organize the protection of the Special Department of the Cheka, the Kremlin, as well as the protection of government members at dachas, walks, on trips, and pay special attention to the personal protection of Comrade Stalin. Until that time, with Comrade Stalin, there was only an employee who accompanied him when he went on business trips. It was a Lithuanian - Yusis. Calling Yusis, we went by car with him to a dacha near Moscow, where Stalin usually rested. Arriving at the dacha and examining it, I saw that there was a complete mess. There was no linen, no dishes, no staff. There lived one commandant at the dacha.

“By order of the authorities, in addition to the guards, I had to arrange the supply and living conditions of the guarded. I began by sending linen and crockery to the dacha, arranging for the supply of food from the state farm, which was under the jurisdiction of the GPU and located next to the dacha. He sent a cook and a cleaner to the dacha. Established a direct telephone connection with Moscow. Yusis, fearing Stalin's dissatisfaction with these innovations, suggested that I myself report everything to Comrade Stalin. This is how my first meeting and first conversation with Comrade Stalin took place. Before that, I only saw him from afar, when I accompanied him on walks and on trips to the theater, ”he wrote.

The official name of his position has changed several times due to constant reorganizations and reassignments in the security agencies:

From the mid-1930s - head of the department of the 1st department (protection of senior officials) of the Main Directorate of State Security of the NKVD of the USSR;
- from November 1938 - head of the 1st department in the same place;
- in February-July 1941, the 1st department was part of the People's Commissariat for State Security of the USSR, then it was returned to the NKVD of the USSR;
- from November 1942 - first deputy head of the 1st department of the NKVD of the USSR;
- since May 1943 - head of the 6th department of the People's Commissariat of State Security of the USSR;
- since August 1943 - the first deputy head of this department;
- from April 1946 - head of the Main Security Directorate of the USSR Ministry of State Security;
- since December 1946 - head of the Main Directorate of Security.

Nikolai Vlasik for many years was Stalin's personal bodyguard and lasted the longest in this post.

Coming to his personal guard in 1931, he not only became her boss, but also adopted many of the everyday problems of the Stalin family, in which, in essence, Vlasik was a family member. After the tragic death of Stalin's wife, Nadezhda Alliluyeva, he was also a teacher of children, practically performed the functions of a majordomo.

Svetlana Alliluyeva wrote sharply negatively about Vlasik in the book Twenty Letters to a Friend. At the same time, he was positively assessed by Stalin's adopted son Artyom Sergeev, who believed that the role and contribution of N. S. Vlasik was not fully appreciated.

Artem Sergeev noted: “His main duty was to ensure the safety of Stalin. This work was inhuman. Always the responsibility of the head, always life on the cutting edge. He knew very well both friends and enemies of Stalin. And he knew that his life and the life of Stalin were very closely linked, and it was no coincidence that when he was suddenly arrested a month and a half or two before Stalin's death, he said: “I was arrested, which means that soon there will be no Stalin”. And, indeed, after this arrest, Stalin lived a little. What kind of work did Vlasik have in general? It was day and night work, there was no 6–8 hour working day. All his life he had work, and he lived near Stalin. Next to Stalin's room was Vlasik's room ... He understood that he was living for Stalin, in order to ensure the work of Stalin, and therefore the Soviet state. Vlasik and Poskrebyshev were like two props for that colossal activity, not yet fully appreciated, that Stalin led, and they remained in the shadows. And Poskrebyshev was treated badly, even worse - with Vlasik.

Since 1947, he was a deputy of the Moscow City Council of Workers' Deputies of the 2nd convocation.

In May 1952, he was removed from the post of head of Stalin's security and sent to the Ural city of Asbest as deputy head of the Bazhenov forced labor camp of the USSR Ministry of Internal Affairs.

Arrest and exile of Nikolai Vlasik

The first attempt to arrest Vlasik was made in 1946 - he was accused of wanting to poison the leader. Even for a while he was removed from office. But then Stalin personally figured out the testimony of one of the employees of the MGB and again reinstated Vlasik in his post.

Nikolai Vlasik was arrested on December 16, 1952, in connection with the case of doctors he was arrested, because he "provided treatment for members of the government and was responsible for the trustworthiness of the professors."

Until March 12, 1953, Vlasik was interrogated almost daily, mainly in the case of doctors. Later, an audit found that the accusations against the group of doctors were false. All professors and doctors have been released from custody.

Further, the investigation into the Vlasik case was conducted in two directions: the disclosure of secret information and the plunder of material values. After Vlasik's arrest, several dozen documents marked "secret" were found in his apartment.

In addition, he was charged with the fact that, while in Potsdam, where he accompanied the government delegation of the USSR, Vlasik was engaged in hoarding.

The following data speaks of the scale of the hoarding: during a search in his house, they found a trophy service for 100 people, 112 crystal glasses, 20 crystal vases, 13 cameras, 14 photographic lenses, five rings and a “foreign accordion” (this was recorded in the search protocol).

It was established that after the end of the Potsdam Conference in 1945, he took three cows, a bull and two horses out of Germany, of which he gave his brother a cow, a bull and a horse, his sister a cow, and his niece a cow. The cattle was delivered to the Slonim district of the Baranovichi region by train of the Security Department of the USSR Ministry of State Security.

They also remembered that he gave his cohabitants passes to the stands of Red Square and government theater boxes, and connections with persons who did not inspire political confidence, in conversations with whom he disclosed secret information "concerning the protection of the leaders of the party and government."

On January 17, 1955, the Military Collegium of the Supreme Court of the USSR found him guilty of abuse of office under especially aggravating circumstances, sentencing him under Art. 193-17 p. "b" of the Criminal Code of the RSFSR to 10 years of exile, deprivation of the rank of general and state awards.

Under an amnesty on March 27, 1955, Vlasik's term was reduced to five years, without loss of rights. Sent to serve exile in Krasnoyarsk.

By a decree of the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet of the USSR of December 15, 1956, Vlasik was pardoned with the removal of a criminal record, but he was not restored to military rank and awards.

In his memoirs, he wrote: “I was severely offended by Stalin. After 25 years of impeccable work, without any reprimand, but only encouragement and awards, I was expelled from the party and thrown into prison. For my boundless devotion, he gave me into the hands of enemies. But never, not for a single minute, no matter what state I was in, no matter what bullying I was subjected to while in prison, I did not have anger in my soul against Stalin.

In recent years he lived in the capital. He died on June 18, 1967 in Moscow from lung cancer. He was buried at the New Donskoy Cemetery.

On June 28, 2000, by a decision of the Presidium of the Supreme Court of Russia, the 1955 verdict against Vlasik was canceled and the criminal case was dismissed "due to the lack of corpus delicti".

In October 2001, the awards confiscated by court order were returned to Vlasik's daughter.

Nikolai Vlasik (documentary)

Personal life of Nikolai Vlasik:

Wife - Maria Semyonovna Vlasik (1908-1996).

Adopted daughter - Nadezhda Nikolaevna Vlasik-Mikhailova (born 1935), worked as an art editor and graphic artist at the Nauka publishing house.

Nikolai Vlasik was fond of photography. He owns the authorship of many unique photographs of Joseph Stalin, members of his family and inner circle.

Bibliography of Nikolai Vlasik:

Memories of I. V. Stalin;
Who led the NKVD, 1934-1941: a reference book

Nikolai Vlasik in the cinema:

1991 - Inner circle (as Vlasik -);

2006 - Stalin. Live (as Vlasik - Yuri Gamayunov);
2011 - Yalta-45 (as Vlasik - Boris Kamorzin);
2013 - The son of the father of peoples (in the role of Vlasik - Yuri Lakhin);
2013 - Kill Stalin (as Vlasik -);