77 years ago, Comrade Stalin was awarded the title Hero of Labor. He accepted this award ... and was proud of it. He refused to receive the star of the hero of the USSR. Why...? Because - Man.
The highest award for Labor, from the Peoples of Russia.
On December 20, 1939, for exceptional services in organizing the Communist Party, creating the Soviet state, building a socialist society in the USSR and strengthening friendship between peoples, Comrade Stalin was awarded the title of Hero of Socialist Labor.
Why Stalin refused the title of Hero Soviet Union.
I want to write not even about a historical moment, but just a hint at one moment in our history, which still remains unnoticed.
Starting from the Civil War in the USSR, awards "for battle and for work" were established. Stalin could not refuse to award them, since this would be a disregard for state awards, although Stalin himself never wore orders, making an exception only for the star of the Hero of Socialist Labor, which from the moment he was awarded this title in 1939, from time to time appears on his chest. In total, before the war, he had three orders - the Order of Lenin and two Red Banners.
During the war, he began to command all front-line operations and received five more awards - one Order of Lenin, two Orders of Victory, one of the Red Banner and the Order of Suvorov 1st degree (as for another Order of Lenin, I will tell about it separately). That is, Stalin, like all marshals of the USSR, accepted the awards due to him, since he was obliged to accept them, and, most likely, agreed that he deserved them.
Marshal Timoshenko, who for a year and a half on the eve of the war was People's Commissar (Minister) of Defense, fought well during the war and was awarded six orders - one Order of Lenin, one Order of Victory, three Orders of Suvorov 1st degree and one Red Banner. That is, he was awarded even more orders than Stalin.
Marshal Voroshilov, from 1925 to the beginning of 1940 was the people's commissar of defense. During the war he was awarded three orders - one Order of Lenin, one Order of Suvorov 1st degree and one Red Banner.
The title of Hero of the Soviet Union began to be awarded to military leaders from the moment this award was established, Zhukov, for example, had this title for Khalkhin Gol, marshals Kulik and Timoshenko for the Finnish war, and General Stern for leading troops in Spain for fulfilling international duty. That is, conferring the title of Hero of the Soviet Union to the highest command staff of the Red Army was already an established practice. Accordingly, during the Great Patriotic War, the assignment of this rank to senior military leaders was continued, but already in a sharply increased number. Some were awarded this title twice (Marshals Rokossovsky, Zhukov), and at the end of the war and following its results, the title of Hero of the Soviet Union was generally awarded with a chokh, and those who, in conscience, were supposed to be shot were included in the lists of awarded generals.
However, Marshals Timoshenko and Voroshilov were not awarded this title either during the war or following its results. It turns out that Stalin, approving the lists of those submitted for the title of Hero of the Soviet Union, simply crossed out these generals, although throughout the war he agreed with awarding them with military orders. For example, Stalin three times presented Timoshenko to be awarded the highest commander's order of Suvorov, 1st degree (Zhukov has only two of them, Stalin has one), introduced Timoshenko to the unique Order of Victory, that is, he believed that Timoshenko deserved these orders. But I didn't consider him a hero. Why??
Another moment. Not a single commissar (later "member of the military council") became a Hero of the Soviet Union. Although such political workers as Khrushchev, Brezhnev and, especially, Mekhlis, cannot be accused of cowardice. Commissar Poppel, who fought out the remnants of his corps 800 km along the rear of the Germans, wrote that such an instruction regarding the commissars had been received since the beginning of the war.
So why, in Stalin's understanding, pre-war people's commissars and, in general, all commissars are not heroes?
I think that's the point.
By June 22, 1941, the Red Army had everything from the Soviet people to defeat the Germans - excellent human material (even Zhukov considered the main factor in the victory of the young Soviet soldier), quite modern weapons and equipment, and, most importantly, all this in quantities that exceeded the weapons and equipment of the Germans. The Red Army had enough ammunition, fuel and equipment. But in 1941 she suffered shameful defeats, gave the Germans vast territories of the USSR and almost 40% of the population. Was Stalin tormented by the question why? I think that I tormented from the beginning of the war and the rest of my life. And I think that he saw the reason for these defeats in the abomination that the cadre command staff of the Red Army showed in the war - he saw massive meanness, betrayal, cowardice, inability to fight and contempt for the life of soldiers. The cadre command staff of the Red Army preserved and preserved all this infamy inviolable from the tsarist officers, and at the beginning of the war this tsarist officer abomination in the Red Army remained uneradicated.
And the ministers of defense and commissars were responsible for the quality of the personnel command staff of the army.
But why did Stalin never mention this in a single word? Because nothing like this could be spoken aloud during the war and immediately after it. Start talking about this general-officer meanness or even shoot for it during the war, and confidence in the command staff will collapse, respectively, the army will not exist, but even with the victory over the Germans and the Japanese, the military threat to the USSR constantly remained, in view of the superiority of the United States in the atomic weapons.
But what about Stalin himself? He is the leader, is it not his fault in such a composition of the command of the Red Army? Yes, he was a leader, yes, he was responsible for everything. And, if I understand correctly, Stalin understood and accepted this guilt.
When, immediately after the end of the war with the Germans, all front commanders signed a collective petition to the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet to award their commander-in-chief the title of Hero of the Soviet Union, the Supreme Soviet of the USSR granted this request - awarded this title to Stalin with the award of the Golden Star and the Order of Lenin. But Stalin categorically refused to accept the signs of these awards, and for the first time they appeared only on pillows near his coffin. (Later, the artists began to paint on his portraits both a star and another Order of Lenin, but during his lifetime, Stalin not only did not wear them, but did not receive them either). Stalin did not consider himself a Hero of the Soviet Union.
(Yu. Mukhin)
I draw your attention to the fact that even here they could not do without lies. Order No. 270 clearly condemns those who surrendered, and not those who were captured ... All military personnel who were captured and released from it passed through filtration camps. So, in total, according to the results of the war, over 90% of Soviet servicemen released from captivity, having successfully passed the necessary checks, returned to service or were sent to work in industry. The number of those arrested was about 4% and about the same number sent to penal battalions ...
And as always, the icing on the cake:
Georgy Shakhov
For those to whom it was all thoroughly interesting to know, perhaps not a curiosity. But for those who encountered such a "truth" by chance, it's just like amazing fact it turns out.
Stalin did not consider himself a Hero. And it is right. A hero is a specific act, in a specific place... who does in the Name of People what the absolute majority... is not capable of. Later, freeloaders (mostly Jews) defiled this Title, starting to reward each other in order to amuse their own ego. A typical example today is the title of academician ... 90% of which, the essence is scum-mold ... no right to this once honorary title ... they do not have. In the State, there are probably a couple of awards left, which the Jews have not yet turned into tsatski ... I think these are the Order of Victory and the Order of St. Andrew the First-Called with Swords. Yes, sir...
| Death mask of I.V. Stalin | ||
| On the grave near the Kremlin wall | ||
| On the grave (view 2) | ||
| Bust in Mirny | ||
| In Digora (North Ossetia) | ||
| Bust in the museum of the city of Sumy | ||
| Image in the Tsey Gorge | ||
| Bust in the museum of the city of Putivl | ||
| Bust in Vladikavkaz | ||
| Bust in s. Elkhotovo | ||
| Bust in Art. Zmeyskaya | ||
| Memorial plaque in Vologda | ||
| Bust in Vladimir | ||
| Memorial plaque in Makhachkala | ||
| Bust in Lipetsk |
Stalin (Dzhugashvili) Iosif Vissarionovich - Secretary of the Central Committee of the All-Union Communist Party (Bolsheviks), Moscow.
Born on December 6 (18), 1878 (official date long time was considered December 9 (21), 1879) in the city of Gori, Gori district, Tiflis province (now the Shida Kartli region, Georgia) in the family of a handicraft shoemaker. In 1894 he graduated from the Gori Theological School and entered the Tiflis (now Tbilisi) Orthodox Seminary, from which he was expelled in 1899 for revolutionary activities, went into an illegal position, became a professional revolutionary. Member of the RSDLP/VKP(b)/CPSU since 1898.
During the period of underground revolutionary activity, he was repeatedly arrested and exiled.
At the 2nd All-Russian Congress of Soviets on October 26 (November 8), 1917, I.V. Stalin was elected to the first Soviet government as People's Commissar for Nationalities (1917-1922); at the same time, in 1919-1922, he headed the People's Commissariat of State Control of the RSFSR, reorganized in 1920 into the People's Commissariat of the Workers' and Peasants' Inspection (RKI).
During the Civil War and foreign military intervention of 1918-1920, I.V. Stalin carried out a number of responsible assignments of the Central Committee of the RCP(b) and the Soviet government: he was a member of the Revolutionary Military Council (RVS) of the Republic, one of the organizers of the defense of Petrograd, a member of the PBC of the Southern, Western, Southwestern fronts, a representative of the All-Russian Central Executive Committee in the Council of Workers 'and Peasants' Defense.
After the end of the Civil War, he participated in the struggle of the party for the restoration of the national economy, for the implementation of a new economic policy, for strengthening the alliance of the working class with the peasantry.
After the death of V.I. Lenin, from January 1924 I.V. Stalin participated in the development and implementation of the policy of the All-Union Communist Party of Bolsheviks, plans for economic and cultural development, measures to strengthen the country's defense capability and conduct the foreign policy of the party and the Soviet state.
By decree of the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet of the USSR of December 20, 1939, for exceptional services in organizing the Bolshevik Party, creating the Soviet state, building a socialist society in the USSR and strengthening friendship between the peoples of the Soviet Union, he was awarded the title of Hero of Socialist Labor with the award of the Order of Lenin. After the Hammer and Sickle gold medal was established on May 22, 1940, I.V. Stalin was awarded this insignia for number 1.
On May 6, 1941, Stalin assumed the duties of Chairman of the Council of People's Commissars of the USSR (since 1946 - Chairman of the Council of Ministers of the USSR). From the beginning of the war, he was the Chairman of the State Defense Committee, People's Commissar of Defense and Supreme Commander of all the Armed Forces of the USSR.
On the second day of the war, June 23, 1941, I.V. Stalin became a member of the Headquarters of the High Command, and on June 30, 1941, he headed the formed emergency wartime body - State Committee defense (GKO). From July 10, 1941 I.V. Stalin began to lead the Headquarters of the Supreme High Command, from July 19, 1941 he served as People's Commissar of Defense of the USSR, and on August 8, 1941 he was appointed Supreme Commander of the Armed Forces of the USSR. In the hands of I.V. Stalin concentrated all the fullness of state, party and military power. March 6, 1943 I.V. Stalin was given military rank Marshal of the Soviet Union.
Decree of the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet of the USSR of June 26, 1945 to the Marshal of the Soviet Union Stalin Joseph Vissarionovich, who led the Red Army in the difficult days of defending our Motherland and its capital Moscow, who led the fight against Nazi Germany with exceptional courage and determination, was awarded the title of Hero of the Soviet Union with the Order of Lenin and the Gold Star medal.
June 27, 1945 I.V. Stalin was awarded the highest military rank - Generalissimo of the Soviet Union.
As head of the Soviet government I.V. Stalin took part in the Tehran (from November 28, 1943 to December 1, 1943), Crimean (from February 4 to February 11, 1945) and Potsdam (from July 17 to August 2, 1945) conferences of the leaders of the three powers - the USSR, the USA and Great Britain .
In the post-war period, he continued to hold the post of People's Commissar of Defense (from 03/15/1946 - Minister Armed Forces) until March 3, 1947. The post of General Secretary of the Central Committee of the Party and Chairman of the Council of People's Commissars (since 03/15/1946 - the Council of Ministers) of the USSR held until his death.
I.V. Stalin died on March 5, 1953 at the Near Dacha in the Kuntsevsky District of the Moscow Region (now part of Moscow). He was buried in Moscow on Red Square. From March 9, 1953 to October 31, 1961, the sarcophagus with the body of I.V. Stalin was next to the sarcophagus of V.I. Lenin in the Mausoleum. On the night of October 31 to November 1, 1961, by decision of the XXII Congress of the CPSU, the remains of I.V. Stalin are buried next to the Mausoleum.
Bust I.V. Stalin installed in the Central Museum of the Great Patriotic War on Poklonnaya Hill in Moscow. The exposition of the Central Museum of the Armed Forces of the Russian Federation has a stand dedicated to I.V. Stalin. In the year of the 60th anniversary of the Victory of the Soviet people over Nazi Germany, the monuments to I.V. Stalin were installed in the cities of Mirny (Yakutia), Digora ( North Ossetia). Name I.V. Stalin in 1933-1956 was worn by the Military Academy of Armored and Mechanized Troops of the Red Army.
Museums dedicated to the life and work of I.V. Stalin, were previously opened and are currently operating in Narym (Tomsk region), Solvychegodsk (Arkhangelsk region), Rzhev (Tver region), Gori (Georgia).
I.V. Stalin was a member of the Politburo of the Central Committee of the All-Union Communist Party of Bolsheviks (1919-1952), the Presidium of the Central Committee of the CPSU in (1952-1953), a member of the Executive Committee of the Comintern (1925-1943), a member of the All-Russian Central Executive Committee (since 1917), the Central Executive Committee of the USSR (since 1922), a deputy of the Supreme Council of the USSR of the 1st-3rd convocations.
Awarded 3 Orders of Lenin (12/20/1939; 06/26/1945; 12/20/1949), 2 Orders of Victory (07/29/1944; 06/26/1945), 3 Orders of the Red Banner (11/27/1919; 12/13/1930; 06/04/1944) , the Order of Suvorov, 1st degree (11/06/1943), medals "XX years of the Red Army" (1938), "For the defense of Moscow" (06/20/1944, "For the victory over Germany in the Great Patriotic War 1941-1945" (1945), "For the victory over Japan" (1945), "In memory of the 800th anniversary of Moscow" (1947), the Order of the Red Star of the 1st degree of the Bukhara People's Socialist Republic (08/18/1922). He was awarded foreign awards: the Order of the Tuva Arat Republic (1943); the title of Hero of the Mongolian People's Republic with the award of the Order of Sukhe Bator and the Gold Star medal (12/17/1949), the Order of Sukhe Bator (1945), the MPR medal "For the Victory over Japan" (1945), the medal "25 Years of the Mongolian People's Revolution" "(1946); Czechoslovak orders white lion I degree(1945), White Lion "For Victory" I degree (1945), 2 Military Crosses of 1939 (1943; 1945).
Compositions:
Works, vol. 1-13, M., 1949-51 ;
Questions of Leninism, 11th ed., M., 1952;
On the Great Patriotic War of the Soviet Union, 5th ed., M., 1950. - (M.: "Kraft +", 2002.);
Marxism and questions of linguistics, M., 1950;
Economic problems of socialism in the USSR, M., 1952.The original version of the biography was compiled by N.V. Ufarkin
Sources
Joseph Vissarionovich Stalin, real name - Dzhugashvili. The man who got the country with a plow and a scythe and left it with a nuclear bomb. There is only one question - at the cost of what did he do all this? At the cost of intelligence, money, political relationships?! No no and one more time no! All innovations and developments were carried out under pain of death or torment in the cellars of the Lubyanka. But why did people themselves not want to develop something new, to work for the good of the country? And all because for those great inventions that during all this time were invented on the territory of the USSR, people received meager wages, terrible living conditions and the fear that they could immediately kill him for divulging secrets. Do you think that Lenin wanted to see Stalin as his successor? No. Stalin's demeanor forced Lenin to reconsider his appointment, and in an addendum to the "Letter to the Congress" dated January 4, 1923, Lenin stated:
“Stalin is too rude, and this shortcoming, which is quite tolerable in the environment and in communications between us communists, becomes intolerable in the position of general secretary. Therefore, I suggest that the comrades consider a way to move Stalin from this place and appoint another person to this place, who in all other respects differs from Comrade. Stalin with only one advantage, namely, more tolerant, more loyal, more polite and more attentive to comrades, less capriciousness, etc. This circumstance may seem like an insignificant trifle. But I think that from the point of view of preventing a split and from the point of view of what I wrote above about the relationship between Stalin and Trotsky, this is not a trifle, or it is such a trifle that can become decisive.
Stalin's only merit in front of the USSR is the victory in the Second World War, but how many deaths and sufferings we got this victory because of the wrong tactical decisions of Stalin and his gang! According to experts, if Stalin had waged a more tactical war, then the number of victims could have been reduced by 5-6 million!
And what about the useless deaths of 18 million people who were repressed in the 1930s? For what? More than 40% of these people were killed or torn to pieces in the basements of the KGB simply because they did not please the neighbors in some way.
Stalin's policy was too tough and bloody, such an impression is created that he thought:
“Ta, many people in Russia will not be depleted!”
And why was it necessary to destroy faith, the main support of the Russian people since ancient times? And most importantly, what they replaced it with - the fear of repression and executions!
Why why. These questions won't help. But the opinion of the people is this - According to a public opinion poll on February 18 - 19, 2006 (Public Opinion Foundation), 47% of Russian residents considered Stalin's role in history positive, 29% - negative. Only in one socio-demographic group, among citizens with higher education, the historical figure of Stalin was perceived positively less often than negatively (39% and 41%). 59% believed that "in Stalin's times, mostly innocent people ended up in camps and prisons", 12% - "mostly those who deserved it." Among citizens under the age of 35, 39% had a positive attitude towards Stalin and 30% negatively. At the same time, 38% believe that now Stalin and his activities are "denigrated", and 29% - "assessed objectively"
Quite frankly, it's an extremely ridiculous myth. The fact is that Stalin did not suffer from a craving for awards. And everyone knew it well. It seems that this happened due to one circumstance. Our scribblers are very fond of attributing all their vile traits to the one in respect of whom the authorities give the command “face”. Here they were ordered to comprehensively throw mud at Stalin - and they are trying. They invent all kinds of dirt, if only to please the authorities and snatch a fatter piece from it. Under Stalin, they could not do this. To curry favor with Stalin, the famous poet Osip Mandelstam, for example, scribbled more than fifty laudatory poems about him. I even wrote an ode. Did not help. Especially when the ode appeared. With this, Mandelstam finally brought Stalin out of patience and an order was given to send him away from the capital, to Vladivostok (note, not to the logging, but to the capital of the Soviet Far East). Stalin did not tolerate sycophants, more precisely, he hated them with a fierce hatred. Because he believed that "a helpful bastard is worse than an enemy." The same was true with awards, especially military ones.
Marshal of the Soviet Union Alexander Mikhailovich Vasilevsky wrote in his famous book “The Work of All Life”: “Stalin firmly entered the military history. His undoubted merit is that under his direct leadership as the Supreme Commander-in-Chief, the Soviet Armed Forces withstood defensive campaigns and brilliantly carried out all offensive operations. But he, as far as I could observe him, never talked about his merits. And he had fewer awards than the commanders of the fronts and armies.
What awards did Stalin have, who had been at the helm of power in the USSR for more than 30 years? After all, the great ones are not without human weaknesses - they are also living people. In the paintings and photographs of many famous historical figures - both state, political and military - all are depicted with a huge number of various awards. Our marshals and generals, especially during the military period, are literally hung from head to toe with all sorts of awards. Their ceremonial tunics weigh almost one and a half pounds. But on Stalin's tunic, only one modest star of the Hero of Socialist Labor always gleamed. He received it in 1939 along with the first Order of Lenin. It is interesting to note the following in this connection. Unlike Hitler, who fundamentally wore only one of his two Iron Crosses, that is, a purely militaristic order, on his tunic, Stalin preferred to wear only the star of the Hero of Socialist Labor, thus clearly emphasizing the peaceful orientation of his activity at the head of state and party.
As for the awards, Stalin had 14 of them in all. His first award was the Order of the Red Banner, which he received on the initiative of Lenin and on the basis of the decision of the All-Russian Central Executive Committee of November 27, 1919 “for services on the fronts civil war". Stalin received the second Order of the Red Banner (then it was not yet divided into combat and labor) in February 1930 - the Central Executive Committee of the USSR took into account numerous petitions from a number of organizations, general meetings of workers, peasants and Red Army soldiers and awarded Stalin "for merits on the fronts of socialist construction ". By the way, the wording is very remarkable - it turns out that both among the people and at the top everyone perfectly understood that the large-scale socialist transformations carried out under the leadership of Stalin, in essence, is a war for the construction of socialism. It is unlikely that all of them were wrong, for it was really a war. Resistance to these changes was fierce. In total, Stalin had three Orders of the Red Banner.
The Presidium of the Supreme Soviet of the USSR awarded Stalin the Order of Suvorov, 1st class, on November 6, 1943 "for proper guidance Operations of the Red Army in the Patriotic War against the Nazi Invaders and the Successes Achieved. Pay attention to the date. By that time, it was already clear even to the blind that a radical turning point in the war had already occurred a long time ago - the great victories in the Battle of Stalingrad and in the battle on Kursk Bulge were the clearest proof of that. By that time, marshals and generals had washed their well-deserved (and some undeserved) military and other orders and medals more than once, and Stalin received the military order only on November 6, 1943.
On June 20, 1944, the Chairman of the Executive Committee of the Moscow City Council of Workers' Deputies, on behalf of the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet of the USSR, presented the first medal to Stalin in the Kremlin - "For the Defense of Moscow". The wording of the decree was as follows - "for the leadership of the heroic defense of Moscow and the organization of the defeat German troops under Moscow". Again, pay attention to the date of awarding this medal - by that time, the military leaders awarded with such a medal, who took part in the defense of Moscow and in the defeat of the Nazi troops near Moscow, had sobered up more than once after numerous libations about such an award. And Stalin had just received it on June 20, 1944.
By the way, there is one notable incident associated with this medal, which took place at a lesser-known banquet for the high command, which took place before the famous Victory Banquet. According to the book “Fathers-commanders. Stars on shoulder straps - stars on graves "to the description of Yu. I. Mukhin, the situation was as follows:" Marshal Zhukov was at the same table with Supreme Commander, but not a word was said in his personal honor. It seemed strange to everyone present. Senior commanders began to give signs to him (that is, Zhukov. - A.M.) break signal. Zhukov asked Stalin to take a break. The leader gave permission. He himself smoked a pipe at the table, and everyone went into the smoking room. Here, the commanders of the fronts asked Marshal Zhukov to start a short speech so that they could continue the toast in honor of the First Marshal of Victory.
Zhukov began his speech-toast like this: “If I were asked when during the entire war it was the hardest for me, I would answer that in the autumn and winter during the defense of Moscow, when the fate of the Soviet Union was practically decided.”
Having listened silently to this tirade of Zhukov, Stalin suddenly interrupted him with the words: “Here you are, Comrade Zhukov, remembering the defense of Moscow. It is true that it was a very difficult time. This was the first victorious battle of our army in the defense of the capital. Do you know that many of its defenders, even the generals who were wounded and distinguished themselves in battles, turned out to be unrewarded and cannot receive them, as they became disabled!“
Zhukov replied to this reproach as follows: “Comrade Stalin, like you, I was also not awarded for this battle, although almost all the employees of the General Staff were awarded the Orders of Lenin (Shaposhnikov, Antonov, Vatutin, Shtemenko and others). I fully admit that I made a miscalculation in this matter, and we will correct it.
Here Stalin hit the table with his fist so hard that the crystal leg of the tall wine glass broke off, and red wine spilled onto the tablecloth. The leader, interrupting Zhukov, said: "But at the same time, you did not forget to reward your bl ... she." There was a deathly silence, during which Stalin got up, left the table and never returned.
Stalin's third medal was "For the Victory over Germany in the Great Patriotic War of 1941–1945", and the first was the medal "20 Years of R.K.K.A.".
On July 29, 1944, the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet of the USSR awarded Stalin the highest Soviet military order "Victory" with the wording "for exceptional services in organizing and conducting offensive operations Red Army, which led to the largest defeat of the German army and a radical change in the situation on the front of the struggle against the Nazi invaders in favor of the Red Army. The Presidium of the Supreme Soviet of the USSR awarded Stalin the second Order of Victory on June 26, 1945 with the wording "for exceptional services in organizing all the Armed Forces of the Soviet Union and their skillful leadership in the Great Patriotic War, which ended in complete victory over Nazi Germany." In the Soviet Union, only three people were twice awarded the Order of Victory - Marshals of the Soviet Union I. V. Stalin, A. M. Vasilevsky and G. K. Zhukov.
The day after the award of the second Order of Victory, on June 27, 1945, Marshal of the Soviet Union Joseph Vissarionovich Stalin was awarded the title of Hero of the Soviet Union with the Order of Lenin (second) and the Gold Star medal as "leading the Red Army in the difficult days of defense of our Motherland and its capital, Moscow, who led the fight against Nazi Germany with exceptional courage and determination. On the bust by the sculptor Yatsyno, Stalin is depicted in an open overcoat, and on the tunic two stars of the Hero of Socialist Labor and the Soviet Union are visible, which in reality never happened.
Stalin never wore the Star of the Hero of the Soviet Union, not considering himself worthy of this title, since he believed that since he personally did not take part in the hostilities at the front and did not perform any feats at the front, he did not have the right to such a title. By the way, having learned about this award, he expressed extremely sharp dissatisfaction with this and uttered a harsh word about the overly agile people who arranged the issuance of such a decree - “toadies”.
Simultaneously with the assignment of the title of Hero of the Soviet Union, on the written submission of the front commanders, Stalin was awarded the highest military rank - Generalissimo of the Soviet Union. By the way, along the way, they also wanted to establish the Order of Stalin, but Joseph Vissarionovich was outraged to the core by such flattery and categorically rejected such a proposal.
In 1949, in connection with the anniversary - the 70th anniversary - Stalin was awarded the third Order of Lenin. This was the last award in his life.
A total of 9 orders and 5 medals - 14 awards, including not a single foreign one. Frankly speaking, in comparison with the many-pood "iconostases" of the same marshals and generals of the Victory - it is extremely not dense. Well, and if we compare it with the unforgettable Leonid Ilyich Brezhnev, who had 120 awards, Comrade Stalin was completely deprived, as he himself ordered himself to be called in response to attempts to address him as "Comrade Generalissimo of the Soviet Union."
That's how Stalin "loved to reward himself." And of the available awards, he most of all valued the title of Hero of Socialist Labor. Because there was a creator!
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