Where was Lenin's body taken from the Mausoleum during the Great Patriotic War and how it was preserved

2024 Author: Richard Flannagan | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-15 23:55

The Great Patriotic War was not a reason to break the tradition of changing the guard at the Mausoleum on Red Square. This ceremony was a kind of symbol of inviolability and an indicator that the people are not broken and are still loyal to their ideals. The townspeople, and the whole world, did not even suspect that the Mausoleum was empty, and the incorruptible body of the leader was taken deep into the rear. The operation was so secret that nothing was known about it until the 1980s, when the “secret” stamp was removed. So where was the leader's body taken out, and why was it so carefully concealed?

What could not be risked

A week after the German attack on the USSR, a special commission was created to deal with the issue of ensuring the safety of Vladimir Ilyich's body. The German side was well aware of how much damage can be inflicted on the general morale of the Red Army by destroying the Mausoleum along with its contents. Red Square was remade beyond recognition, building plywood houses, a second floor was built above the Mausoleum, completely remaking the city architecture. The fact that somewhere in this area there should be Red Square and the Mausoleum could be guessed only by reconstructing the scheme of the city along the bend of the river. But camouflage was not a sufficient measure, and it was impossible to risk comrade Lenin.

The created commission considered a variety of options. It was proposed to fill the mausoleum with sand for two meters, at least its central part. That is, in fact, to bury the body, but experts have come to the conclusion that this will still not save the embalmed body in the event of a bomb hit. There was only one option - evacuation deep into the rear.

Professor Boris Zbarsky was urgently summoned to the leadership. Comrade Molotov, who at that time held the post of the first deputy of the government, set a difficult task for the scientist - to prepare Lenin's body for evacuation. The choice fell on Zbarsky not by chance, he had already participated in the embalming of the body and was the head of the special laboratory at the Mausoleum. That is, it was Zbarsky who at that time was responsible for the natural preservation of the body and coped with his duties quite successfully. But the concept changed and Zbarsky had to meet new requirements.

They had to go to Tyumen, Zbarsky and the staff of his laboratory had to go along with the object, for the safety of which they were responsible. This was the most reasonable decision, because the professor had to personally monitor the state of the mummy and decide on the spot about the need for emergency measures.

Another commission was promptly set up to check the Moscow-Tyumen special flight train. Every bolt and every screw was checked, an act was drawn up on the technical condition of the train, and this was done by the security officers, and not by the employees of the railway, as was usually the case, even if it was about special flights. A total of three trains were equipped. In the first there was a guard and she was driving about one line ahead, then the second main train with the body of the leader followed. He was accompanied by laboratory staff and other working personnel. The third was again guarded.

The second train was equipped with special shock absorbers and devices to maintain a low temperature and the required level of humidity. Zbarsky stopped the train several times in order to make sure that the installations were in good working order. By this time, Lenin's body had already lain in the mausoleum for 17 years without any displacement, but here he had to be transported first by car, and then by train, and for quite a long time. In the mausoleum, the temperature is stable no higher than 16 degrees, and outside the train window, plus 37. One has only to guess at what risk those who took responsibility for transporting the mummy were taking.

Meeting in Tyumen

The stops of the special flight were also secret, even the station management was notified after the train stopped on the platform. In Tyumen, there were no "special" industrial and military facilities, therefore, such a great attention to secrecy in the protection of the facility gave rise to a lot of rumors. The residents of Tyumen were sure that Katyushas were being made in their city, but several months were enough for the whole city to know that the leader had been brought to them. It's funny, but the security officers themselves declassified the information, when they ordered a suit in the style of the 20s without trying on in a local atelier. However, there are several options as to where the information leak came from.

In general, the journey through the whole country passed without any incident, but on the spot everything was ready to meet the valuable cargo. However, even the first secretary of the city committee did not know what exactly was being taken to Tyumen. He was only warned that an extremely important object would be evacuated from Moscow to them. This was not surprising; during the war years, more than 20 industrial enterprises were transported to Tyumen alone.

The fact that this most "important object" - the leader of the socialist revolution became known only after arrival. The train was put under guard on a dead-end platform and they began to inspect several empty buildings that could be suitable for a temporary mausoleum. As a result, we settled on an old building, which was located in the center of the city, but was fenced off with a high fence. Here the opinion of both Professor Zbarsky and the head of the security was important, therefore the choice was entirely their area of responsibility.

The body was placed in the building of the former school, Zbarsky immediately settled, who arrived with his family - he had to ensure the safety of the body for the period of evacuation. This task was not easy and extremely responsible at the same time. The strictest secrecy and constant security were another part of the plan to preserve the body of the leader. For this, internal guards were formed from the guard of the Kremlin, the external guard was entrusted to the Tyumen "security guards". A whole military unit was sent from Moscow to ensure the safety of the leader's body.

It turns out that the ceremony of changing the guard took place both in Moscow at the empty Mausoleum and in Tyumen in the dungeons of the building without witnesses. Nobody should have known that the Mausoleum is actually empty. The temporary mausoleum also has its own unique history. It is more than a hundred years old and initially it housed a real school, later it began to bear the name of Aleksandrovsky, after the Tsarevich visited it, after that a technical school of the same direction was opened here, which later became a higher educational institution. Prominent figures, including revolutionaries, and creative personalities received their education here.

Lenin was moved to the second floor. To maintain the temperature regime, two windows were closed up, while Zbarsky tirelessly monitored the state of the body and reported to Stalin daily about the situation and the safety of the leader's body. He was ordered to report on all emergencies. Moreover, everything fell into the category of an emergency, even a snowball thrown into the window of the building.

Zbarsky, being an intelligent and educated person, could not sit idly by, the available job for a person of his qualifications was clearly insufficient. He asked to work in a school, motivating it by the fact that he wants to benefit the country, at least such, since he cannot fight. Zbarsky began to teach mathematics in high school, the guys were delighted with the new teacher, with his open-mindedness and erudition. Many of Zbarsky's graduates have chosen mathematics as their main subject for admission to educational institutions. But he transferred his teacher's salary to the defense fund, thereby helping to bring victory closer, at least this way, from the rear.

By the way, it was Zbarsky and his pedagogical activity that became one of the reasons for revealing the secret of the evacuation of Lenin's body. Many then wondered what a man like Zbarsky had forgotten in Tyumen, and even came from Moscow. Despite the fact that he tried to behave like an ordinary school teacher, such a "frock coat" was clearly too tight for him, and this could not go unnoticed. In addition, among the schoolchildren there were those who were evacuated from Moscow, they told that Zbarsky participated in the embalming of Comrade Lenin. It was then that everything fell into place.

However, such rumors quickly stopped, apparently the Tyumen people understood that this was not a secret from them, but their common one, for the preservation of the symbol of the revolution and the eternally living Lenin. In addition, it was a great honor to have a second Mausoleum in the city.

Zbarsky and his colleagues all the years carried this burden of responsibility on their shoulders, resolved everyday issues. So during this period there were power outages in the city, a separate cable was laid to the school building directly in order to provide the necessary climate.

Return to Moscow

When it became clear that the end of the war was near and Victory was not far off, a special commission arrived in Tyumen in 1943. She is convinced that Lenin's body has actually remained unchanged and that Ilyich's appearance is exactly the same as the Soviet people remember him.

The order to return the body of Vladimir Ilyich to the Mausoleum was issued at the end of March 1945. So, Tyumen kept the body of the leader for three years and nine months. The body was brought back in April, but Stalin signed the decree on the opening of the Mausoleum for visiting only in September.

The visitors of the Mausoleum had no idea that the leader had made such a long journey. But those who ensured its safety never received any thanks from their homeland, however, nothing ordinary. Zbarsky, despite the fact that in addition to a huge contribution to the preservation of the mummy, he was also an academician of medical sciences, laureate of the Stalin Prize, Hero of Socialist Labor, was arrested and spent more than two years behind bars. He fell under the amnesty in 1953, he was even rehabilitated, but after that he did not live long. At the time when the secrecy was removed from the case, the professor was no longer alive, so many of the nuances and secrets remained secret for posterity.

For a long time, the building of the former school did not have any markings that this was the second mausoleum. Indeed, the information was secret. But the school guard constantly complained that they heard a bursting voice at night, that doors were swinging open on their own, and other oddities.

Back in 1964, the Tyumen secretary wrote a letter to the Central Committee of the CPSU asking for permission to install a memorial plaque on the building, and in the office where Lenin's body was kept, to create a cabinet of Marxism-Leninism. What was the answer to this letter - it is not known, it is quite possible that it remained unanswered, because changes were taking place in the country, Khrushchev left his post, whether to the memorial plaques in Tyumen.

However, Tyumen officials did not lose hope, in 1986 a similar letter was sent to Mikhail Gorbachev. Moreover, the letter was signed by Kuptsov - the city committee, under which these truly historical events took place. In the same letter, Kuptsov reported important and hitherto unknown facts about how the arrangement of the temporary mausoleum took place, what exactly they paid attention to. Gorbachev did not remain indifferent and less than a month later an answer came with … a refusal. Moscow officials refer to the fact that the documents on the transportation of Lenin's body are classified "secret", and it was more than 40 years ago, and therefore it is impossible and inexpedient.

An answer of this kind did not suit, especially considering the fact that the country is full of buildings with memorial plaques stating that Lenin was here, although he ran there for almost a couple of minutes. And here is such an important event, cult for the whole country. But how would the Soviet people reacted to the fact that the authorities preferred to play it safe and took Comrade Lenin out of the capital. Wouldn't it be considered a betrayal?

Now there is a memorial plaque on the wall of the university, and in the building itself there is “Lenin's room”. By the way, everything has gone so far that opinions are even being discussed about returning the body of the leader of the socialist revolution back to Tyumen.

The consequences of a long journey

Despite the fact that the special commission in 1943 did not find any changes on the mummies, experts are sure that such transportation and being in a non-specialized room could not pass without a trace. Back in 1942, mold was discovered on the mummy, and the most dangerous one is black. According to the regulations, such an object with black mold must be burned or etched with hydrochloric acid. It would be unthinkable to do this with the symbol of communism. Therefore, Soviet scientists have worked a miracle. Or they just didn't have a choice.

We tried everything and found a way to defeat the infection, because in 1943 the commission did not find a single flaw on the mummy and considered that it was preserved in its original form.

Some Tyumen experts believed that it was black mold that was to blame for the fact that they were not allowed to open the Lenin Museum in such a cult building, they say, they did not monitor the valuable object well. Many of these petitioners did not quite understand that the country was changing, and its values also changed.

In any case, the evacuation of the mummy is a unique example of how it was possible to preserve a valuable heritage for the people, and without stirring up unnecessary panic, informing that Vladimir Ilyich was evacuated. The specialists of that period had enough professionalism and character to complete this risky venture successfully.