Early and Personal LifeJoseph Stalin was born Josef Vissarionovich Djugashvili into a poor family and grew up an only child. His father was a shoemaker, his mother a laundress. He was beat by his alcoholic father as a child. He got a scholarship to a seminary, where he first began to research communist beliefs. As he became an adult, his beliefs did not waver. He did many demonstrations and strikes, and was arrested many times. He was even sent to exile in Siberia, which he later did to the Baltic people. He became a loyal member of the Bolshevik party (the extreme Communist party).
|
|
Facts
Joseph Stalin pictured with two of his children, Vassili and Svetlana.
Stalin had two wives, the first dying of typhus, and the second committed suicide. He had one child named Yakov with his first wife, who died as a prisoner in Germany during WWII. He had two other children (pictured) with the second wife. Stalin also became a biological father to many children out of wedlock. |
Prisoners working at a labor camp.
20 million people died at the hands of Stalin's brutal reign, and Between Shades of Gray claims that the Baltic Lands lost a third of their people due to the genocide. |
Joseph Stalin dictating.
While Stalin was part of the Allies during World War II, he was very similar to Hitler - who was on the Axis - in that he blamed other nationalities for his problems and wanted to get rid of them to start anew. |
Joseph Stalin in his uniform.
Stalin not only changed his name, but his birthday. He was born on either December 18 or 6, 1878, but later changed it to December 21, 1879. |