Hero Of The Soviet Union Jakov Iosifovich Dzhugashvili.

[desantnik]

I was impressed that the museum's Russian-language tour was more objective than I thought I thought it would be. The tour guide said there were two versions of Yakov's concentration camp death, the Russian version that he was executed and that German version that he committed suicide. Apparently the death was witnessed by four or five prisoners, and they all had different versions.

[deValcourt]

Originally Posted by desantnik

I was impressed that the museum's Russian-language tour was more objective than I thought I thought it would be. The tour guide said there were two versions of Yakov's concentration camp death, the Russian version that he was executed and that German version that he committed suicide. Apparently the death was witnessed by four or five prisoners, and they all had different versions.

And then there's the third version that he was shot while trying to escape - the more heroic version derived from documents seized by the US Department of Defense and presented to Yakov's daughter, Galina, who rejected this explanation and presented the fourth version - that he was never captured by the Germans at all, but was killed in action in 1941. Either the NKVD(GB)-MGB history re-writing departments are very skilled or she lived her entire life in sad denial.:(

One thing though about the objectivity of the tour; perhaps Stalin's Georgian roots make him less loathsome there than anywhere else. Just a thought.:)

Phillip