The world was a vastly better place seventy-two years ago by Ioseb Besarionis dze Jughashvili (Stalin) no longer being in it. Beria, his chief butcher, would follow him by the end of the year, the guilty victim of a power struggle won by Nikita Sergeyevich Khrushchev, one of Stalin’s chief henchmen, who began the de-Stalinization program which set in motion forces not completely played out until the fall of the Soviet Union.
(Language advisory as to the below video.)
This event I believe occurred at the Fourth Moscow Conference in 1944:
In 1944, at a time when the Soviet Union bore the brunt of the struggle against Nazi Germany, it was important to convince Stalin that the Western democracies accepted him as an equal. “‘In the world of the future, for which our soldiers have shed their blood on countless fronts”, the British Prime Minister said in his bombastic style, “our three great democracies will demonstrate to all mankind that they, both in wartime and in peacetime, will remain true to the high principles of freedom, dignity, and happiness of the people. That’s why I attach such paramount importance to good neighbourly relations between a restored Poland and the Soviet Union. It was for the freedom and independence of Poland that Britain went into this war. The British feel a sense of moral responsibility to the Polish people, to their spiritual values. It’s also important that Poland is a Catholic country. We can’t allow internal developments there to complicate our relations with the Vatican…”
“How many divisions does the Pope of Rome have?” Stalin asked, suddenly interrupting Churchill’s line of reasoning.
Valentin Berezhkov, Stalin’s interpreter, in his memoirs recounted this.
The response of Pius XII I have been unable to source as to time and place, but it has become immortal: “You can tell my son Joseph that he will meet my divisions in heaven.”
I try not to wish hell on anyone, but if Stalin is the first person I run into at the resurrection, I will definitely be a bit concerned.
I recall reading once of a visionary whose name escapes me at the moment, who was asked by Christ to suffer great agonies for a night so that Stalin would have the opportunity to repent on his deathbed.
She agreed, and suffered as requested, but Christ told her afterwards that Stalin had refused to repent, and was lost.
(This is all firmly in the realm of private revelation–and unapproved private revelation, at that–but it would seem to be corroborated by accounts that Stalin spent his last hours shaking his fist and shouting angry defiance at God.)
(This is all firmly in the realm of private revelation–and unapproved private revelation, at that–but it would seem to be corroborated by accounts that Stalin spent his last hours shaking his fist and shouting angry defiance at God.)
That is blackening the coal. Stalin’s major stroke on March 1 left him unresponsive. According to his daughter, Svetlana, just before his death he opened his eyes and gestured with his left arm, but she wasn’t sure what he was gesturing to. His eyes, once again according to his daughter, seemed to indicate a fear of death.
The Death of Stalin is a magnificent movie. Steve Buscemi as Khruschev, the actor who played Beria and especially Jason Isaacs as Zhukov were terrific.
Pius XII “Tell my son Joseph he will meet my divisions in heaven.”
Or, maybe not…..
Penguins Fan:
I totally agree. The entrance of Zhukhov was magnificent.
The portrayal of Svetlana Alleluyeva was entertaining; I don’t know how accurate it was, though. (“Why are they [the doctors] lined up like that? Are they going to sing?”) In later life, she was popular with the National Review-style conservatives for her open profession of Christianity and implied criticism of her father.
The Court of the Red Czar is well written and very interesting. I think it was one of the main bases of this movie.
Michael Palin’s Molotov makes a comment about what they are doing to Beria-“Stalin would have loved this” that is both chilling and hilarious. What a great movie.
Don, I don’t know if this is right, but it looks like Stalin originally said that to Churchill, and Pius may have given his reply to Churchill in Rome on August 23, 1944.
August 23, 1944
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Interesting co-incidence. It was on that day that King Michael of Roumania arranged for the removal of Marshal Antonescu as premier and the departure of Roumania from the Axis.
Stalin starved the Ukrainians 193Os. It was known in Ukrainian as Holodomor (holod meaning hunger), ( omor meaning extermination)
CAM: Stalin said: “To kill one man is homicide. To kill 30,000,000 is a statistic.”