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It may sound even more incredible that the cadet who beat J. Stalin began to be defended by his commanders after the event, explaining that a misunderstanding occurred and that he was not even punished. Because in 1927. Stalin was not an almighty dictator at the time, as he later became. Then a sad fate awaited the person who raised his hand before him.
A Trotskyist who had to protect Stalin
1927 November 7 The USSR was preparing to celebrate the most important national holiday of the time, the tenth anniversary of the October Revolution (on why the October Revolution was held in November, read here)
An army parade was planned for the occasion. The country’s top leaders, including Stalin, intended to look at it from the roof of Lenin’s mausoleum.
Illustrations from Wikimedia Commons / Vladimir Lenin’s Mausoleum
To protect them from possible attacks, a squad of cadets studying at the Frunze Military Academy was dispatched to Moscow.
They were to help the officers of the OGPU (then the USSR’s political police) to monitor the USSR commanders. Among them was Yakov Okhotnikov, who then attacked Stalin.
Although he was a student, Ochotnikov had already seen hot and cold in his life. Yakov, thirty, was involved in the October Revolution and the Russian Civil War, and even held leadership positions.
However, after the war, Ochotnikov’s career was not very successful. He was a strong supporter of Lev Trotsky and refused to change or hide his views even when L. Trotsky in the 20th century. In the mid-1930s, Stalin lost his internal struggle within the Communist Party for power.
Ochotnikov was threatened with party sanctions due to “Trotskyist propaganda”. However, Roberts Eideman, the head of the Frunze Military Academy, sent him along with other cadets to Stalin.
Hitting the back with a fist
Mr. Ochotnikov and two other cadets, Vladimir Petrenko and Arkady Gelerem, were tasked with monitoring the party leaders as they stood on the platform on the roof of the mausoleum and watched the parade.
University of Pittsburgh / Stalin photo and others watch a demonstration of Lenin’s mausoleum
However, the plans were changed due to the fact that the three arrived late and arrived at the mausoleum on the run after the start of the parade.
As they ran towards the mausoleum, the OGPU official, unaware that it was not the strangers here, but the cadets whose help they expected, tried to block their path.
However, the trio pushed him away and he found himself on a platform where the group’s top commanders had already gathered.
The officers who were watching them, unaware that the cadets had come to help them, attempted to stop them by force. The fight started. The Soviet cream didn’t even notice what was going on behind them: the sounds of the fighting were overshadowed by the sounds of the parade.
Ochotnikov quickly withdrew from the fight and ran to the unsuspecting Stalin with his cheeks groaning. Unable to understand what was happening, he struck Stalin on the nape of the neck with his fist and at the same time shouted: “We have come to defend you. What’s going on here!?”
Now it is difficult to say exactly what prompted Ochotnikov to defeat Stalin: whether he was hostile to him and other cadets, or the desire to take revenge on Stalin for Trotsky.
Ochotnikov’s second attempt to attack Stalin was stopped by Ivan Jusis, a Lithuanian who was Stalin’s main bodyguard. The use of firearms in the mausoleum was strictly prohibited, so was I. He pulled out a knife and wounded Ochotnikov.
Who is Ivan You?
Where did the Lithuanian bodyguard come to Stalin? After World War I, many Lithuanians who studied or worked in Russian cities, such as Moscow or Saint Petersburg, stayed there during the Russian Empire.
Some of them, who studied in military schools, fought for the Bolsheviks in the Russian Civil War, and later even became commanders of the Red Army or held other positions.
The exact history of the life of I.Jusis is not known, but it is known that he was born in 1891. In the territory of Lithuania. One can guess that his Lithuanian name had to be Jonas Jusys or Jonas Jucys. There is information on the internet that he was born in the village of Aluoti, in the Kupiškis district, but it is unclear on what sources he is based.
He participated in the Russian Revolution on the Bolshevik side in 1918. He joined the Czech Republic and in 1923. he became OGPU Commissioner for Special Assignments. Specifically, this means that he became F. Dzerzhinsky’s bodyguard.
And from 1927. he began to personally protect Joseph Stalin and was his only bodyguard, traveling with Stalin everywhere. There are no high-quality photos of I.Jusis.
Photo from maxpark.com / Stalin and Kirov are ahead, followed by Ivan Yusis
I.Jusis is commemorated by the memories of Nikolai Vlasik, who became J.Stalin’s security guard after I.Jusis’ death. Furthermore, the American historian Stephen Kotkin, who wrote Stalin’s “Stalin” biography, briefly mentions I. Jus in him, based on his daughter’s memories.
According to the historian, it seems from the memories that I do. He was very close to Stalin, not only a bodyguard, but also a friend. J. Stalin completely trusted him.
“He loved picnics. (…) My father knew how to make sausages with bear meat in the Lithuanian style. Stalin liked them very much, “said Ada, the daughter of I. Jusis, quoted by the historian.
Kotkin also points out that I do. He lived in the same Kremlin palace as the highest Soviet elite.
In 1931, at the age of 40, I died of a heart attack.
The Pravda newspaper published a short obituary, which became one of the few sources of information in this regard. Without memories, blogs or anything. He did not leave. You can find more information about I.Jusis (in Russian) here.
Later he suffered a sad fate
Let’s go back to 1927. November 7 Semion Budion, Clemente Voroshilov, and other top army commanders who were nearby suppressed the fighting.
One might think that Ochotnikov’s fate after the blow to Stalin was determined, but it was not. Stalin was not yet the almighty and creepy “Father of the Nations” that he became in the 20th century. in the 1930s.
Eidemanis defended his cadets and explained that there had been a misunderstanding. On behalf of the cadets were also the commander of the USSR army, Mikhail Tuchachevsky, and another senior army commander, Jonah Jakir.
J. Stalin had to withdraw. His position was not yet so secure and the power so strong that he could engage in open conflict with the top commanders of the USSR army.
Ochotnikov received no punishment. After graduating from the military academy, he even headed the state institute responsible for planning military aircraft factories.
1932 he was accused of “counter-revolutionary activity” and expelled from the party. But even then, he was not sentenced to death, he was only exiled to Magadan in Russia’s Far East, where he ran a local factory.
However, Ochotnikov later became one of the first victims of Stalin’s “great cleansing”. 1936 he was arrested in Magadan in August 1937 and sentenced to death on March 8 for “organizing an attack on the lives of Stalin and Voroshilov”.
In June of the same year, all those who defended him, R. Eideman, J. Jakir and M. Tuchachevsky, were also sentenced to death on charges of espionage and treason.
It is true if it is unknown whether Ochotnikov was shot by direct order of Stalin or if he was the victim of “activity” by lower-ranking officials.
Based in Russia beyond the headlines.
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