Stalin's mother: How did Ekaterina Geladze live and was she happy?

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

Even at the time when Joseph Stalin became the leader of the country, little was known about his mother, Ekaterina Geladze (married to Dzhugashvili). She was modest and laconic, but at the same time ready to protect her only surviving child from all adversity, bad weather and unkind people. How did the woman who raised and brought up such an ambiguous personality like Joseph Stalin lived, and was she really happy?

Keke's childhood

The childhood of Ekaterina Geladze, born in 1858, was spent in Gambareuli, where her parents fled with their children from the cruel treatment of the landowner, whose serfs were. The town of Gambareuli was considered a place not suitable for living, for there were many swamps, but at the same time there was a lot of clay, which was in the hands of the potter father.

The older brothers Keke, as the girl was called at home, had already grown up, one was engaged in baking bricks, the other continued the work of his father. The head of the family passed away when his daughter was only 10 years old. Soon serfdom was abolished in Georgia (this happened much later than in Russia) and the mother with three children moved directly to Gori, where the family of their distant relatives lived. Soon on the site of Mate Nariashvili there was already a new hut, which was being built by the whole world.

After the climate change, Keke literally blossomed before our eyes: she got stronger, slightly recovered and even won the glory of a beauty among her friends. For several years the girl lived completely free, and when she was not yet 17 years old, a man approached the brothers, who actually played the role of a matchmaker. It turned out that Beso Dzhugashvili, a senior apprentice of a local shoemaker, had been looking at Kek for a long time.

Marriage

Keke had not yet thought about marriage at that time, but Gio's brother told the girl about Beso's desire to marry her. It was evident that he himself approves of the groom's candidacy and is only waiting for the consent of his sister. She didn't doubt it for long. Beso was considered one of the best suitors, some of the girl's friends tried very hard to take possession of the young man's heart, he also opted for the modest and even slightly shy Keke. Beso was also good-looking and considered a really good game.

The wedding was noisy and crowded, the newlyweds looked happy, the bride could not get enough of her handsome groom, however, as befits a real Georgian woman, she modestly lowered her eyes.

Beso turned out to be a very good husband: he took care of the family, could provide his wife and future heirs with everything they needed, and he was also a believer and every Sunday he certainly attended church. A year later, their firstborn appeared, but less than two months later, the son of Keke and Beso died. Then Beso began to drink, and the death of his second son completely crippled him.

Broken family

Five years after the wedding, a third son was born, Joseph, whom everyone called Soso. He grew up weak and sickly, but at the same time he desperately clung to life. The mother did not leave the baby for a minute, and when the son fell ill, the whole family went to perform the sacrifice ceremony. When Soso was born, his father promised to sacrifice a ram if the boy survived.

The boy survived, but the Keke and Beso family gradually fell apart. The father could no longer give up his addiction to alcohol, and their views on the upbringing of their only son turned out to be very different from his wife. Ekaterina Georgievna dreamed that her son would learn to read and write and become a priest in the future. Vissarion Ivanovich saw Soso as a craftsman, and considered his studies a waste of time.

When the boy was enrolled in a religious school, and even in the middle class, his father completely lost his temper. Every time he got drunk, Beso got angry and blamed his wife for all sins. And he even somehow took his son to his workshop by force, forcing him to make boots. Then the mother raised all the acquaintances who sympathized with her to their feet, returned her son to school, and the husband considered himself disgraced and left the family forever.

Keke took care of all the care of herself and her son. She did not shy away from any work: she washed and sewed, quilted blankets, and then was accepted into a sewing workshop, where she served for 17 years. Beso, who moved to Tiflis, soon realized how bad he was without a family and began to appease his wife, sent money for his son, promised to give up alcohol and begged his wife for forgiveness.

Despite the persuasion of the brothers, Keke was adamant. Soso was a good student, and my mother understood: it would be better for them to live together than her vulnerable and sensitive boy would see his father's drunken fights or refuse education. Later, Ekaterina Georgievna did everything for her son to enter the Tiflis Theological Seminary, where he was enrolled in full state support for successfully passing the exams.

Ruler's mother

There, in the theological seminary, Joseph Dzhugashvili met those who were called rebels, and he himself became one of them. When Joseph Stalin became one of the leaders of the young Land of Soviets, Ekaterina Dzhugashvili was transported from Gori to Tiflis, settling in a separate wing in a real palace. True, Stalin's mother occupied only one small room in it.

The son rarely pampered his mother with visits, and letters from him since he headed the country have not come very often. Usually the messages were short, more like a telegram: they had to write in Georgian, because my mother did not speak Russian. Stalin himself, who spoke Georgian fluently, had difficulty writing in his native language.

The last time the son saw his mother was two years before her death, visiting in the same room where she lived. Later, Ekaterina Dzhugashvili told reporters about this meeting with tears in her eyes, and the doctor who treated her recalled how Stalin asked her mother why she beat him in childhood. Upon learning that her beloved Soso had become a big man, she only cried because of her unfulfilled dream of a priest son. Ekaterina Georgievna did not see her grandchildren too often, although she loved them very much.

Ekaterina Georgievna Dzhugashvili died in June 1937. Stalin did not find the time to say goodbye to his mother, only sending a wreath to her grave, ordering to sign it in Georgian. Later, 18 letters from her son were found in the mother's belongings, which she carefully kept and, for sure, reread more than once …

The life of another mother, who gave birth and raised one of the bloodiest rulers in history, was not easy. Clara Pölzl's life is by no means easy, and her fate is not happy. Fortunately, she did not find the moment when her son turned into a real monster and became a symbol of evil for millions of people.