Papa Stalin the kind-hearted

On 14 April 1943, Joseph Stalin’s son Yakov dies in Sachsenhausen concentration camp.

Yakov Dzhugashvili was born in 1907 in the region of Georgia, then part of the Tsarist Russian Empire. During that time, his father, Iosib Dzhugashvili, later better known as Joseph Stalin, was still in his wild revolutionary days, robbing banks and avoiding the law. When his wife died of illness, Stalin moved to Moscow, leaving young Dzhugashvili to be raised by his dead wife’s family.

When he was 14, Dzhugashvili moved to Moscow to live with his now powerful father. It would be the beginning of a dark time for Dzhugashvili. Stalin was openly hostile toward the young boy and would hinder many of his son’s ambitions, sending him into a depression. When Dzhugashvili attempted to end his life by shooting himself in the chest, the bullet narrowly missed his heart, leaving Stalin to comment: ‘He can’t even shoot straight.’

When Germany invaded the Soviet Union in June 1941, Dzhugashvili served as a lieutenant with an artillery battery. His time at the front would be brief, as his unit soon found itself encircled during the Battle of Smolensk. Dzhugashvili and his battery were captured, disgracing Stalin, who demanded that all Red Army troops resist to the last.

A great propaganda opportunity presented itself for the Germans. They began distributing leaflets saying: ‘Why do you fight to the death when even the son of your leader has surrendered?’ But once his propaganda value had been drained, he was sent off to Sachsenhausen concentration camp. There was some hope for his release when Field Marshal Friedrich Paulus was captured at Stalingrad, but Stalin would not agree to a prisoner exchange, stating that he does ‘not trade field marshals for lieutenants’.

Dzhugashvili’s misery at Sachsenhausen comes to an end when he runs into the camp’s electrified fence, killing him on the spot. Whether he was trying to escape or committed suicide is unclear, but it is clear that the electrocution is what killed him and not the four shots the guard fired at Dzhugashvili’s entangled body.

Stalin was one of the shittiest person to ever live .

The man was scum and he died like scum. Thats all I need from the world.

Buying gifts? Capitalist pig

Stalin didn’t love his eldest son, the only one from the unhappy first marriage. He wasn’t raised by Stalin. They rarely talked. Before the war Jugashvili junior shot himself in the head in a suicide attempt after quarrel with his father, but survived. He finished a military academy and joined the army before the war because Stalin forced him to (he himself wanted to be an engineer).

The Paulus-Jugashvili exchange proposal myth is not supported by credible sources. The phrase “I don’t trade a soldier for a field marshal” comes from a soviet post-war film.

Son: *try to shoot himself in the head, survive*

Stalin: « Dumbass can’t even shoot straight… »

On one hand I admire the fact he doesn’t do nepotism but giving up a general for his son. On the other I’m not sure it was that hard of a decision.

I guess he didn’t like losers.

I do not think why Stalin gets mocked for that. It was the only right solution. It would have been corruption to do the exchange. Considering all the evil decisions fe did why mock him for the correct one.

You forgot the kids he had with a 14 year old while in exile in Siberia

If that was a person he cared enough about to even think about saving them, they wouldn’t have found themselves in that position. With all corruption that was main staple of USSR, saving of leader’s son wouldn’t be that much of a shock to the troops, especially because anyone caught talking about it would be dealt with, properly.

Stalin died the way he deserved it.

Dads with daughters vs dads with sons