That’s not true. During those days, Stalin ran the country on a daily basis, receiving numerous visitors and issuing orders—all of which is documented. I could provide examples for each day, but that would involve a lot of translation work...
All right, let’s talk about the early days.
On the first day of the war, 16 people visited the leader’s office. Ten of them came two or more times.
Before leaving for his dacha, Stalin—who hadn’t slept for a day and a half—called the military registration office and asked that his three sons be drafted into the army immediately (including his adopted son, A.F. Sergeyev).
On June 23, Stalin arrived at the Kremlin at 3:20 a.m. and remained at his workplace until half past seven. He returned again at 6:45 p.m.
He received 13 people. (From the “Log of Visits to Comrade Stalin’s Office”). On the same day, the General Headquarters Staff (not yet the GKO) was established. But then along came “a certain professor” V.M. Zhukhrai, who wrote: “For three days—June 23, 24, and 25, 1941—Stalin lay flat on his back, saw no one, and ate nothing.”
June 24. The Politburo met for several hours. Eight important resolutions were adopted. Neither the military command, nor the party leadership, nor the overwhelming majority of the population yet fully grasped the full tragedy of the total German offensive. Stalin received 20 people. The Evacuation Council was formed.
June 25. From 1:00 a.m. to 5:00 a.m., Stalin received 11 people. He returned to his office at 7:40 p.m. and received 14 people. He received Beria, Vatutin, Voznesensky, and Admiral Kuznetsov twice.
June 26. From 12:30 p.m. to 11:20 p.m., Stalin received 19 visitors. By the most conservative estimates, Stalin made over fifty phone calls that day. (On other days, many more!) In general, however, the leader’s phone conversations were never recorded by anyone. And, of course, it goes without saying that Stalin could call any Soviet citizen at any time of day or night and get through to them! The issue of evacuating Lenin’s body has been resolved.
June 27. Several resolutions were adopted by the Central Committee of the All-Union Communist Party (Bolsheviks) and the Council of Ministers of the USSR: “On the Procedure for the Evacuation and Relocation of Personnel,” “On the removal from Leningrad of valuables and paintings from the Hermitage, the Russian Museum, and other museums,” “On the removal from Moscow of state reserves of precious metals, precious stones, the USSR diamond fund, and valuables from the Armory.” Meanwhile, the Red Army was retreating in all directions.
Needless to say, such reports from the front did little to lift the leader’s spirits. He ordered the creation of mobile control and blocking detachments on roads and at railway junctions, as well as for clearing the forests. Stalin personally went to inspect the bomb shelter for the country’s leadership at 43, Kirov Street. Stalin remained in the Kremlin from 4:30 p.m. until 2:40 a.m. the following day. The sixth day of the war (just like all the previous and subsequent ones) passed for the leader of the country, the party, and the army in the most intense labor.
June 28. Stalin summoned the members of the Politburo and, for the first time, spoke to them about his own address to the nation. He sensed that he could no longer put off explaining the situation to the country. The people were eagerly awaiting answers from the Communist leader to the questions of what was happening to them and how something had become possible that had previously been unthinkable.
Stalin had been in his office since 7:35 p.m. He left at 12:50 a.m. after a long conversation with V.N. Merkulov. The People’s Commissar of State Security reported that over five hundred people had been sent to the rear for sabotage operations. More than a dozen people had visited Stalin.
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Well, does all this sound like Khrushchev’s lies? He was the one who started this whole story about “Stalin’s panic.” Here’s what that scoundrel wrote:
“I know what a hero he (Stalin) was! I saw him when he was paralyzed with fear of Hitler, like a rabbit hypnotized by a boa constrictor. Beria told me that Stalin was completely crushed. He said exactly that. “I,” he said, “am stepping down from leadership”—and left. He left, got into a car, and drove off to a nearby dacha."
ivan, from omsk
