One of the most powerful photos that were taken during World WarII


 One of the most powerful photos that were taken during World WarII is about that dry, weak man who is being put upon by the Nazis. They laughed at him, not knowing--or perhaps they could know quite well--that it was not any prisoner. He was Jakov Josifovich Džugašvili, the eldest son of JosephStalin. His biography is full of allusions to tragedy and inhumanity.

Jakov never had cordial relation with his father. He shot himself after a bad argument between them. He was only wounded, and the reaction of Stalin did not leave but harsh: he could not even shoot straight.


At the time the war had broken out, Jakov was a lieutenant in the artillery of the Red Army. He was taken war captive by the Germans in the year 1941. They believed that he might be a useful bargaining tool. At some time, they volunteered to trade him with Field Marshal Friedrich Paulus, the German commander who was taken captive at Stalingrad. Stalin not only refused, but also wrote, I do not sell a man the service of a general, and cooler still, I do not have a son.


This demonstrated the violent approach of Stalin: it is said that the capture of any Soviet soldier was not in his eyes victim but a traitor. Soldiers that had been captured and returned were frequently punished or taken to prison camps or even killed. Even being the son of Stalin, Jakov was not an exception.


The cause of his death was Sachsenhausen concentration camp. What exactly he did is uncertain, but the Germans said he ran into the electric fence on April 14 1943, and was electrocuted. When Stalin received the news his emotional reaction was that of mounting cold: he had at last behaved like a man.


The story of Jakov is a sad reflection of how cruel the Nazi regime and merciless rule of Stalin is even within his very family.

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