9 ms·
‘I’m Stalin’s daughter’
- aflyax 11y ago“The marine guard on duty was about to tell her the pretty, neatly dressed woman that the embassy was closed when she handed him her passport. He blanched…” From what? Her name was Svetlana Iosifovna Alliluyeva. “Iosifovna” is not that an uncommon patronymic because “Iosif” is not that an uncommon a name.
- blahedo 11y agoThe fact that it was a Soviet passport, which meant that a) she was defecting and b) she had somehow gotten her passport away from the Soviet embassy.
- ptaipale 11y agoCouldn't a Soviet international passport contain the names of parents as well? I am sure the domestic passport had that information. For everyone in Soviet Union near the major population centers, a domestic passport was necessary. And for instance any "enemy of the people" (as defined by section §58 of Soviet penal code) status was recorded in not only the passport of the said enemy, but also his/her children's passports. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Passport_system_in_the_Soviet_Union https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Passport_system_in_the_Soviet_...
- TazeTSchnitzel 11y agoPerhaps in her case the information was missing.
- EGreg 11y agohe just enjoyed blanching
- crazypyro 11y agoThe Soviets maintained strict control over their passports, usually confiscating them at exit points and returning them right before re-entry, so a Soviet passport would be very uncommon and alarming.
- mhartl 11y agoIn a similar vein, I find it surreal to realize that Stalin's granddaughter is alive and well and living in Portland, Oregon [1]. [1]: http://www.oregonlive.com/portland/index.ssf/2011/11/portland_granddaughter_of_jose.html http://www.oregonlive.com/portland/index.ssf/2011/11/portlan...
- guard-of-terra 11y agoChildren of high-ranking nomenclature didn't want to live in "their" country and they don't want now. Most of Russian parliament members, high-ranking officers and oligarchs keep their families in London or Miami. Nobody in their right mind wants to live in Russia. That's where theories arise that Russia is just a cryptocolony of the UK and been that for 100 years.
- dang 11y ago> Nobody in their right mind wants to live in Russia. Xenophobic insults are not allowed on HN. You know this, since I've had to tell you before. If you do it again we will ban your account.
- guard-of-terra 11y agoThis is merely an observation. English is not my first language, but I assure you wasn't specifically aiming at insulting anybody. Unless observations hurt the observer, of course. P. S. I think I am a bit wrong: people who clearly are not in their right mind don't want to live in Russia either. There are of course people who are content to live in Russia right now or don't have much choice, but pretty much everybody eyes the possibility of escaping, if not for themself then maybe for their children or relatives. Russia is a nation of emigrants run by emigrants, using emigration as a reward for best achivers. P. P. S. This compares to prevailing number of people in e.g. Japan or USA, for whom emigration has literally never in their lives crossed their mind. I hope I got myself clear this time.
- dang 11y agoI have every respect for the learners of any language, but this response is evasive. That was obviously not an observation. It was a slur, and you can't do that here.
- guard-of-terra 11y agohttps://www.google.ru/search?ie=UTF-8&hl=ru&q=%22nobody%20in%20their%20right%20mind%22%20site%3Anews.ycombinator.com&gws_rd=ssl https://www.google.ru/search?ie=UTF-8&hl=ru&q=%22nobody%20in... Are all these slurs? If we read "nobody in their right mind" as "they're all batshit insane", we'll suddently see slurs against: prison guards, option holders excercising shares in certain fashion, developers preferring js to typescript, just from one page of search results. But I'm just trying to convey the prevailing line of thought in the society.
- eruditely 11y agoThe writing style of this article was horrible, something about it made it very difficult for me to pay attention.
- canttestthis 11y agoI disagree. I thoroughly enjoyed every bit of it. :)
- psykovsky 11y agoIt's a book excerpt, not an article.
- eruditely 11y agoThe writing style of this article was horrible, something about it made it very difficult for me to pay attention.
- acqq 11y agoFor the context, the books of Rosemary Sullivan: http://rosemarysullivan.com/books/ http://rosemarysullivan.com/books/ Specifically, she isn't Stalin's daughter. She wrote a book about Stalin's daughter Svetlana, called "Stalin’s Daughter," not "I'm Stalin's Daughter," the article title is certainly confusing. "With access to FBI, CIA, and Soviet government archives, as well as the close cooperation of Svetlana’s daughter, Rosemary Sullivan pieces together Svetlana’s incredible life in a masterful account of unprecedented intimacy." And it looks interesting.
- jokoon 11y agoNot that it has a direct relationship with the article, but I'm watching The Americans (the TV show), it's made by an ex CIA officer, and I have to tell, the intelligence world is pretty scary. I can't comprehend how those couples could live such lives. I can't see any other work that is so mind sucking. Although I have no idea how really accurate that show is, and I really have to look for clues about it.
- walshemj 11y agoThere where Soviet Illegals who hid in plain sight in both the USA and UK. Any history of the cold war will cover them and the is of course the more recent case Ana Chapman and the Illegal ring that got busted not that long ago.
- peter303 11y agoIt is common in history for a royal court to raise the princes and marry the daughters of their enemies. The Persians (Story of Esther), Egyptians (Moshe), Greeks (Helen), Romans (Herold), Mongols, Ottomans did this to name a few. Integration, hostages, aslyum politics are a few reasons. Stalins daughter is recent example in long tradition.