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    Soviet & Eastern Block Quiz - 2009


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    Indeed:

    http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pavlik_Morozov

    "The most popular account of the story is as follows: born to poor peasants in Gerasimovka, a small village 350 kilometers north-east of Yekaterinburg (then known as Sverdlovsk), Morozov was a dedicated communist who led the Young Pioneers at his school, and a supporter of Stalin's collectivization of farms. In 1932, at age 13, Morozov reported his father to the political police (GPU). Supposedly, Morozov's father, the Chairman of the Village Soviet, had been "forging documents and selling them to the bandits and enemies of the Soviet State" (as the sentence read). The elder Morozov, Trofim, was sentenced to ten years in a labour camp, and later executed.[1] However, Pavlik's family did not take kindly to his activities: on September 3 of that year, his uncle, grandfather, grandmother and a cousin murdered him, along with his younger brother. All of them except the uncle were rounded up by the GPU and convicted to "the highest measure of social defense" - execution by a firing squad.

    Thousands of telegrams from all over the Soviet Union urged the judge to show no mercy for Pavlik's killers. The Soviet government declared Pavlik Morozov a glorious martyr who had been murdered by reactionaries. Statues of him were built, and numerous schools and youth groups were named in his honour. An opera and numerous songs were written about him. Gerasimovka's school, which Morozov attended, became a shrine and children from all over the Soviet Union went on school excursions to visit it.

    During the investigation of Trofim Morozov's case his wife Tatyana Morozova, Pavel's mother, stated that Trofim Morozov used to beat her and bring home valuables received as payment for selling forged documents. Pavel, who was only 13 at that time, just confirmed evidence given by his mother.

    It has been suggested since the collapse of the Soviet Union that Pavlik Morozov may not have been as perfect as it was supposed.

    In the mid-1980s Yuri Druzhnikov, a dissident writer expelled from the Soviet Writers' Union, performed an investigation, met with surviving eyewitnesses, and wrote a documentary book about Pavlik. Originally circulated in samizdat, it was published in the U.K. in Russian (Юрий Дружников, Доносчик 001, или Вознесение Павлика Морозова) in 1988 and soon thereafter translated into several languages. The first English translation appeared in 1996 under the title "Informer 001: The Myth of Pavlik Morozov." In his book, Druzhnikov disputes every aspect of the Soviet propaganda version of Pavlik's life. For example, different sources in Soviet literature listed different ages for Pavlik, when he was killed; in the Soviet textbooks, there were differing photographs of Pavlik all showing different boys; the fact that Pavlik was not a pioneer when he was killed. According to the Soviet source, Pavlik's grandfather was responsible for his murder; according to Druzhnikov, the grandfather was heartbroken about the death of Pavlik, organized the search when the boy went missing, and maintained his innocence during the trial. While not saying it outright, Druzhnikov hints that Pavlik was killed by a GPU officer, with whom Druzhnikov met while doing his research.

    Catriona Kelly in her 2005 book Comrade Pavlik: The Rise and Fall of a Soviet Boy Hero agrees with Druzhnikov that the official version of the account is almost wholly fictional, the evidence sketchy and based mostly on second-hand reports by alleged witnesses, and that Pavlik did not snitch on his parents and was murdered after a mundane squabble. Kelly also shows how the official version's emphasis shifted to suit the changing times and propaganda lines: in some accounts, Pavlik's father's crime was not forging the documents, but hoarding grain; in others, he was denounced not to the secret police, but to the school-teacher. In some accounts, the method of Pavlik's death was decapitation by saw. The one surviving photograph of him shows a malnourished child, who bears almost no resemblance to the statues and pictures in children's books. It has also been said that he was nearly illiterate and was coerced to inform on his father by his mother, after Pavlik's father deserted the family.

    Kelly, who had access to the official archives of the case, states that Druzhnikov's theory that Pavlik was killed by the GPU is unlikely. Druzhnikov accuses Kelly of extensive plagiarism from his book, and also of "dependence on those who have admitted her to archives", i.e. from employees FSB - successors of GPU.

    According to most recent research, Gerasimovka was described in the Soviet press as "kulak nest" because all villagers refused to join the kolkhoz, a state-controlled collective farm during the collectivization. Pavlik informed on neighbours when they did something wrong, including his own father who left the family for another woman.[1] Pavlik was not a Pioneer, although he wanted to be one. There is no evidence that the family was involved in the murder of the boy, which was probably a work of other teenagers with whom Pavlik had a squabble over a gun."

    The ball is now in you court Ilja.

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    Time for a few stats :

    Quiz 2009 :

    * 23 questions asked,

    * with 250 answers,

    * and viewed more than 2,810 times.

    Nb of good answers for the Quiz 2009 :

    * 6 : Christophe

    * 5 : Ilja (ilja559)

    * 3 : Auke (Ferdinand)

    * 2 : Alex (RedMaestro)

    * 1 : Christian (Zulus), Dan (Hauptman), Doc (Riley1965), Jim (JimZ), Simon (SU1977) & Wild Card

    Complete statistics since this Quiz has been launched (on 1 Nov. 2005) :

    * 243 questions asked,

    * with 3,029 answers,

    * This quiz has been viewed more than 39,250 times.

    * 46 Members of the Forum played, and 34 correctly answered at least 1 question :

    Nb of good answers :

    * 46 : Christophe

    * 42 : Christian (Zulus)

    * 17 : Frank (Knarf)

    * 14 : Jim (JimZ)

    * 12 : Auke (Ferdinand)

    * 11 : Bryan (Soviet), Dan (Hauptman) & Marc (Lapa)

    * 8 : Simon (Red Threat)

    * 6 : Belaruski, Carol I, Ed (Haynes) & Wild Card.

    * 5 : Alex (RedMaestro) & Ilja (ilja559)

    * 3 : Andreas (Alfred), Ivan (Piramida), Kim (Kimj) & Marco (marcotk).

    * 2 : Chuck (in Oregon), Gerd (Becker), Jan (vatjan) & Order of Victory.

    * 1 : Brendan (ANZAC), Charles (Hunyadi), Darrell, Daredevil, Dave (Navy FCO), Doc (Riley1965), Dudeman, Eddie (Taz), Filip (Drugo), Rick (Stogieman), Simon (SU1977) & Steen (Ammentorp).

    This is a great achievement. Thanks to all for your participation in this Quiz. :beer:

    Now, let's play for the 244th question, Ilja's !! :jumping::jumping:

    Cheers.

    Ch.

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    That looks like a young Kirill Meretskov.

    Not quite sure what happened to him on 23 June other than the fact that he was trying to come up with a plan to stop the german advance. Probably not being so successful got him accused of being a traitor by good old Beria leading him to imprisonment and torture. When Stalin realised he was short of competent generals :speechless:, he was released and when meeting Stalin, he was asked "How are you feeling?" :speechless1:

    Anyways, on 8 September 1945 he was awarded none other than the Order of Victory.

    Makes you wonder, time and again, how much better the Soviet Union might have faired against Germany had Stalin been less paranoid and had the purges not taken place.

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    WHO AM I?

    I am known, not for anything I did but for whom I was.

    I hide some secrets about my younger days and my story may not be known to many.

    Who will share my tale?

    Enjoy!

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    Who could she be?

    What secrets could she hide. If she had secrets she was evidently connected - otherwise the secret would not be worth keeping "secret".

    Zero effort so far. Zero hints.

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    Nadezhda Sergeevna Alliluyeva (Russian: Надежда Сергеевна Аллилуева) (1901 – November 9, 1932) was the second wife of Joseph Stalin.

    Nadezhda was the youngest child of Russian revolutionary Sergei Alliluyev and his wife Olga, a woman of German and Georgian ancestry. She first met Stalin as a child when her father, Sergei Alliluyev, sheltered him after one of his escapes from Siberian exile in 1911. [1] After the revolution, Nadezhda worked as a confidential code clerk in Lenin's office. She eschewed fancy dress, make-up and other trappings that she felt un-befitting of a proper Bolshevik. The couple married in 1919, when Stalin was already a 41 year old widower and father of one son born to his first wife, who died of typhus years earlier. Nadezhda and Joseph had two children together: Vasily, born in 1921, became a figher pilot (C.O. of 32 GIAP) at Stalingrad and Svetlana, their daughter, was born in 1926. According to her close friend, Polina Molotov, the marriage was strained, and the two constantly fought.

    After a public spat with Stalin at a party dinner, Nadezhda was found dead in her bedroom, a revolver by her side.[2] Regardless, the official announcement was that Nadezhda died from appendicitis. Two doctors, who refused to sign a certificate stating false conclusions about the cause of her death (Levin and Pletnev), were later convicted during the Trial of the Twenty-One and executed. Some claim the gun was found beside the hand she didn't use, apparently pointing to a framed suicide; many in Russia allege that Stalin killed her himself. [3] [4]

    Accounts of contemporaries and Stalin's letters indicate that he was deeply disturbed by the event. [5] [6]

    Today, she is much loved by some Russians; her grave at Novodevichy Cemetery is often covered in flowers, although it has also been vandalized on occasion.

    Her daughter Svetlana Alliluyeva later emigrated from the Soviet Union in a high profile defection to the United States, where she eventually published her autobiography which included recollections of her parents and their relationship.

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    Ilja, sorry to lead you on ...... but that was one story worth telling which is why I asked you to relate it.

    But its not the correct answer as it is not her.

    Keep searching. But I'll have to confirm back in the morning as I'm off to sleep!

    See ya.

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    Svetlana Alliluyeva :rolleyes:

    Stalin's daughter from Nadeshda (who defected to the USA in 1967 and is actually still alive)? Another scandal to the USSR but not so much a secret as her defection caused widespread public outcry.

    NO. Its not Svetlana.

    Incidentally when we mentioned Nadeshda earlier I failed to say that the 'romance' between Stalin and her started in 1917. With Stalin being born in 1878 and Nadeshda being born in 1901, that makes him 39 at the time and her 16 years old. Borderline marrying age for the times I'd say.

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    RECAP

    I am known, not for anything I did but for whom I was.

    I hide some secrets about my younger days and my story may not be known to many.

    - I am not Nadezhda Alliluyeva, 2nd wife of Stalin (16 years old when I married him at 39), probably murdered or possibly dead by suicide (framed?) with my casue of death put down as appedicitis!

    - I am not Svetlana Alliluyeva, daughter of stalin, and eventual defector to the USA.

    Yet I am linked to this man. Who am I?

    Who will share my tale?

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    I'll take a shot at it...

    In 1911 he (Stalin) was again exiled, during which he had an affair with his landlady Maria Kuzakova resulting in the birth of son Constantine.

    Could Maria be the lady in question? :unsure:

    Dan :cheers:

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