What happened to Khrushchev's son? Khrushchev's tragedy: the death of his son and big politics

In March 1943, Guard fighter pilot Senior Lieutenant Leonid Khrushchev did not return from a combat mission. In April, Stalin signed a decree awarding him the Order of the Patriotic War, first degree, and decided to consider the officer not missing in action, but killed in battle. However, after the 20th Congress, at which Nikita Khrushchev spoke out against the “cult of personality” of the leader, someone began to intensively spread rumors about the betrayal of Leonid Khrushchev and his execution in the dungeons of the NKVD on Stalin’s personal orders.

Slanderous version

Leonid Khrushchev was born in 1919 from Nikita Sergeevich’s first wife, Efrosinya Vasilievna, who later died of typhus. The father loved his first-born, but did not spoil him; he tried to cultivate masculine qualities in him. In 1937, Leonid graduated from the Civil Air Fleet school in Balashov and worked as a pilot. During the Finnish War in February 1940, he voluntarily joined the Air Force. I met the Great Patriotic War as a fairly experienced pilot. According to commanders, he showed determination and courage in battle. He was wounded, but returned to duty again.

On March 11, 1943, Leonid Khrushchev flew out to intercept fascist bombers heading to bomb Moscow. Not far from Zhizdra, Leonid’s plane was shot down, and the pilot himself was allegedly captured. It was rumored that when Stalin found out about this, he ordered Khrushchev’s son to be kidnapped so that he “would not tell the enemy secret information about the life and everyday life of the Kremlin elite.” The then head of reconnaissance and sabotage work in the rear of the German army, Lieutenant General Pavel Sudoplatov, was allegedly assigned to head this operation. The action was a success. Leonid was taken to Moscow through one of the partisan detachments. Along the way, counterintelligence seemed to have collected testimony and documents proving his betrayal. The Moscow Military District Tribunal, rumor had it, sentenced Leonid to death. Nikita Sergeevich allegedly turned to Stalin with a request to review the case, but was refused. The sentence was carried out.

This version had a certain documentary basis - a report to the higher headquarters of the regiment commander in which Leonid Khrushchev served, Guard Major Golubov, published in the press. The gist of it is this.

On March 11, 1943, Guard Senior Lieutenant L. Khrushchev, paired with the guard's wingman, Senior Lieutenant V. Zamorin, carried out a combat mission and entered into battle with two Focke-Wulf-190s. According to Zamorin's report, during the battle Khrushchev's plane went into a tailspin, but was not shot down by the Nazis, so the pilot had the opportunity to use a parachute. Or maybe he even managed to pull the car out of a tailspin at the last moment and land it in occupied territory.

The version of Leonid Khrushchev’s capture is indirectly confirmed by the personal message of the commander of the 1st Air Army, Lieutenant General Khudyakov, to Nikita Sergeevich, which reports that the search he organized for the plane and pilot from the air, as well as through partisans, did not yield results.

Written "evidence"

After the removal of N.S. Khrushchev from power, the press published a lot of “evidence” in favor of the version of the capture of Leonid Khrushchev. I will cite just three that appeared in a very respected historical journal.

“For many years I was friends with the former commander of the 69th Infantry Division, and in the last years of his service, the deputy head of the Main Personnel Directorate of the USSR Ministry of Defense, Colonel General Ivan Aleksandrovich Kuzovkov. It's a shame he's already dead. I. A. Kuzovkov told me that N. S. Khrushchev’s son, Leonid, was captured by the Germans in 1943. At the urgent request of N. S. Khrushchev, I. V. Stalin agreed to exchange his son for a German prisoner of war. The exchange took place, but, as authorities established, when L.N. Khrushchev was in a filtration camp for former military personnel, he behaved badly in captivity and worked in the interests of Nazi Germany. Based on the totality of the crimes committed, L. N. Khrushchev was convicted by a military tribunal and sentenced to death.

After such a harsh sentence was passed, N.S. Khrushchev turned to I.V. Stalin with a request to pardon his son. Stalin answered him:

- Your son’s guilt has been proven, and I have neither legal nor moral rights to disagree with the decision of the military tribunal.

I. A. Kuzovkov told me that it was in retaliation for the refusal to pardon his son that N. S. Khrushchev subsequently started a fight against the cult of personality of I. V. Stalin. I. A. Kuzovkov worked in the Main Personnel Directorate of the USSR Ministry of Defense from December 1945 to April 20, 1969, was aware of all the events taking place in the Armed Forces of the USSR, and he could not deceive me for the sake of a catchphrase.

A. Andreev, Podolsk."

“The testimony of the leading pilot (direct commander L.N. Khrushchev) about his wingman’s exit from the “last battle” negates all the praises about him. And he was not shot down, and disappeared without a trace, and was not awarded posthumously. In addition, the writer Solzhenitsyn in the magazine “Literature of Kyrgyzstan” No. 10 mentions that L. N. Khrushchev died in a penal battalion, where heroes were not sent. And there is talk that he didn’t even make it to the penal battalion. Where is the truth?

I. V. Grachev, Klimovsk."

“Many years ago, one rather large KGB official (he and I were in the same deputy group, and for some reason he favored me) said that Khrushchev’s son was captured and “talked too much” there. Having learned about this, Stalin became furious and ordered it to be stolen, which was done. Khrushchev's son was tried and shot.

I got the impression that this comrade (now deceased) had something to do with this matter. Since the conversation was confidential, I haven’t told anyone about it in over twenty years. Due to the same confidentiality, I cannot even now name the name of that colonel (or general?). He always wore civilian clothes at parliamentary councils. I have no idea what kind of affairs he was in charge of; I, of course, did not ask him such questions.

R.I. Stepanova (Moscow)".

Archival documents

These and other “evidence” (in my opinion, completely unconvincing) forced us to once again carefully study the documents of the Central Archive of the Russian Ministry of Defense; namely, an alphabetical card for registering officers, where it should be written down on the basis of which L.N. Khrushchev was excluded from the lists of Air Force officers, an alphabetical card index for registering those convicted by military tribunals, etc. The following became clear.

In the alphabetical card index of officers (in the card of L.N. Khrushchev) it is indicated that he died on March 11, 1943.

In the alphabetical card index of those convicted by military tribunals of the 5th department of the TsAMO USSR, there is no card for L. S. Khrushchev.

Many who have allowed themselves to publicly doubt the honorable death of Khrushchev also operate on the fact that, they say, in the order to award the guard of Senior Lieutenant L.N. Khrushchev with the Order of the Patriotic War, 1st degree, the word “posthumously” did not appear, although everything happened after him death. And some doubters also point out that many pages from the personal file of N. S. Khrushchev’s son were replaced in the post-war period.

As for the fact that the order to award Guards Senior Lieutenant L.N. Khrushchev with the Order does not contain the word “posthumously,” the following can be stated. The award sheet for him was drawn up by the commander of the 18th Guards Fighter Regiment, Major Golubov, on April 3, 1943. The commander of the 303rd Fighter Aviation Division, Aviation Major General Zakharov, signed this document on April 4, 1943, that is, at a time when L. N. Khrushchev was not yet considered dead. Only on April 11, 1943, N. S. Khrushchev received a letter from the commander 1st Air Army, Lieutenant General S.A. Khudyakov, which said: “For a month we did not lose hope for the return of your son, but the circumstances under which he did not return, and the period that has passed since that time make the hour mournful conclusion that your son, Guard Senior Lieutenant Leonid Nikitich Khrushchev, died a heroic death in an air battle against the German invaders.” This is why the word “posthumously” is missing from the submission. The award sheet was issued a week before L.N. Khrushchev was officially declared dead. In addition, one of the archival documents states that “the award was presented.”

The Order of the Patriotic War, 1st degree, which was awarded to L.N. Khrushchev, was the only one of the orders of that time, according to the statute, in the event of the death or death of a serviceman, it was transferred to the family of the recipient along with the order book and was kept by her as a memory. This order No. 56428 was awarded as a keepsake to L.N. Khrushchev’s father, N.S. Khrushchev.

The opinion that many pages from L.N. Khrushchev’s personal file were replaced in the post-war period is a mistake. In the personal file, only the service record is available from the original documents. The rest of the documents are copies of original documents, which are stored here, in the TsAMO of the Russian Federation, as well as in the archive of the personnel department of the Russian Air Force. Each of them has a link to where it came from. In all likelihood, they were collected in a personal file either at the request of N.S. Khrushchev, or on someone else’s initiative, but nevertheless there is no doubt that these documents are reliable.

One cannot help but be alarmed by the fact that neither newspaper publications on this topic nor historical literature have ever cited archival documents of the military Themis. But even after the 20th Congress of the CPSU and the exposure of the “cult of personality,” many of them ceased to be secret, and a lot of rehabilitation work began. And Nikita Sergeevich would try to do everything to justify his son and make this public. Didn't. Why?

Memoirs of Sudoplatov

Even greater doubts arose after the publication of Pavel Sudoplatov’s memoirs. They directly say: “At the instigation of a number of journalists and some veterans of the security agencies, a mythical operation to capture Leonid Khrushchev in the German rear and his liquidation “for treason to the Motherland” is attributed to me.” In reality, nothing of the kind took place. There was an alert through the NKVD and SMERSH about his search. Indeed, the case of searching for the son of N.S. Khrushchev was under special control. However, his searches did not yield any results: After the war, N.S. Khrushchev paid significant attention to clarifying the fate of his son. No one saw how his son died, including the pilots who flew with him on a combat mission. State security agencies interviewed Soviet prisoners of war who were in filtration camps, but to no avail: “Next, Sudoplatov has another interesting, sensational quote: “Stalin personally decided to consider Leonid Khrushchev as killed during a combat mission, and not as missing in action. In those conditions, this was important for the political career of N.S. Khrushchev, ruled out the possibility of compromising one of the members of the Soviet leadership by this episode. Khrushchev’s son, unlike other missing persons, was soon awarded the Order of the Patriotic War, first degree.”

There was no reason for Sudoplatov to bend his heart in this case. After all, it was at the instigation of Nikita Sergeevich that this security officer served 15 years in camps after the 20th Congress. And, I think, he would not have “shielded” Khrushchev’s son in his memoirs.

After such testimony from Sudoplatov, the question could not help but arise: was Leonid Khrushchev even repressed or is this just a modern legend? I contacted the Main Military Prosecutor's Office with him. The necessary archival searches were carried out there, and soon the deputy head of the department for the rehabilitation of victims of political repression, Colonel of Justice Leonid Kopalin, reported: no case against L.N. Khrushchev had been found. That is, we can assume with a high degree of confidence that it never existed.

Son's explanations

The relatives of Leonid Khrushchev do not confirm this either. I had a chance to talk with his son Yuri. He reported some details not only of this story, but also of the Khrushchevs’ family life.

“I was always sure that my father Leonid Khrushchev died heroically, and rumors about his captivity and betrayal were a custom lie, invented to discredit Nikita Sergeevich. Bryansk search engines found the wreckage of a plane identical to the one on which my father flew, approximately at the site of his last battle. The remains of the pilot—or rather, his uniform—were also found. They correspond to the official list of clothing items worn by Leonid Khrushchev on his last flight. I hope that this will be another argument to refute the notions about the capture of my father.

— The press has repeatedly reported that after your father went missing, your mother was repressed. This is true?

“There’s a lot of confusion here too.” The fact is that my father had, so to speak, an official wife, Lyubov Illarionovna, and an unofficial one, my mother, Etinger Esfir Naumovna. My mother was never repressed. But Lyubov Illarionovna was in prison, for what - I don’t know.

— When and how were you informed about your father’s fate?

— In 1943, I already studied at the Suvorov School, where, by the way, I was placed not without the help of Nikita Sergeevich. And then they officially told me that my father had died.

— So rumors about his capture and work for the Nazis appeared much later, probably after the 20th Party Congress?

- Probably, although I did not specifically study the chronology of this lie.

— How was your relationship with Nikita Sergeevich? After all, it’s as if you turned out to be an illegitimate grandson?

— Nikita Sergeevich reacted, let’s say, very loyally to my birth. Both my mother and I were accepted by the family, went to visit them, and communicated quite closely. I know that my mother and Lyubov Illarionovna had a normal relationship. Nikita Sergeevich also treated her kindly. When my mother got sick, he helped put her in a good clinic and supplied her with medicines that were in short supply. I remember in the summer of 1945 I was on vacation with my mother at the dacha in Malakhovka. Some of my grandfather’s assistants found us and said that Nikita Sergeevich wanted to see me. They brought me on a plane and sent me to Kyiv, where my grandfather worked at that time. There I spent some time with my grandmother Nina Petrovna and Nikita Sergeevich, with their son Sergei, youngest daughter Alena and my half-sister Yulia. The warmest memories remain from those days. Later, when Nikita Sergeevich began working in Moscow, I often visited his dacha and apartment. Grandfather was a very busy man. Even on weekends, they brought him all kinds of government papers, he read them, gave some instructions. Therefore, I rarely communicated with my children and grandchildren. He was quite strict, he could give a good reprimand for wrongdoing. I remember I loved to ride a motorcycle recklessly. Someone reported to him - so my grandfather dispersed me. When I entered the Zhukovsky Academy, Nikita Sergeevich had a serious conversation with me: they say, look, if you don’t pass the exams, I won’t bother for you. In general, he raised us in the spirit that everyone should build their own destiny themselves, without exploiting the capabilities of influential relatives.

— Nevertheless, the very fact that you are Khrushchev’s grandson probably helped solve life’s problems?

“In some ways it may have helped, but in others it didn’t.” Let’s say, when I became a test pilot, they “held me back” for a long time: they didn’t give me serious assignments, they used me as a second pilot. As if they were taking care of it, afraid of responsibility in case of any troubles. After Nikita Sergeevich was removed from his post, it was as if they began to trust me more, to use me without fear, or something.

The wife puts an end to it

I managed to establish correspondence with Leonid Khrushchev’s wife, Lyubov Illarionovna, who lives in Kyiv. This is what she said in a letter: “I was repressed a few months after the death of Leonid - in July 1943. Sent to the Gulag without trial by Stalin’s “troika” for political reasons for a period of 5 years with the wording: “Suspicion of espionage connections with foreigners.” In 1956 she was completely rehabilitated.

Leonid never had an unofficial wife. There was a woman who gave birth to a child from an 18-year-old boy, and the child’s father, Leonid, and his family accepted this fact as noble people should. My life together with Leonid began 3 years after he broke up with Esther Etinger. I have always treated Esa well. Leonid introduced me to her, she visited our house, the relationship was the most friendly. Before Nikita Sergeevich was removed from power, we had never heard about Leonid’s capture. On the contrary, they were always convinced that he died a hero’s death in battle.”

Khrushchev's reign (1953-1964) is the only period in Soviet history that people remember with kind words. The hero of the article is Khrushchev’s son Leonid, whose biography is still the subject of dispute among historians who have not come to a consensus.

Parents

It is known for certain that the young man was born on the territory of modern Donbass - in the village of metallurgists Yuzovka, three days after the October Revolution. Date of birth - 11/10/1917. He was the youngest son of Nikita Sergeevich and Efrosinya Ivanovna Khrushchev (nee Pisarev). On February 7, 1914, in the documents of the St. Nicholas Church of Bakhmut district (Rutchenkovsky mine) there is a record of their official registration of marriage. Until Nikita Sergeevich retires, this union will be the only one documented.

Efrosinya was one of the five daughters of the owner of the house, with whom Khrushchev was “dining” at that time. Leonid barely remembered his father as a child. In 1918, he went to the Civil War to fight for the Bolsheviks, and his wife went to the Kursk province, to his parents. In 1920, she died of typhus, leaving her daughter Yulia, born in 1915, to her husband. and son. A photo of the woman can be seen in the article below. For Nikita Sergeevich, this was a heavy blow, from which he would recover only after 4 years, having created a new family.

Childhood

The children were left with their grandparents until their father took them in with him. His party career took off, and in 1931 Khrushchev moved to Moscow. Yulia and Nikita Sergeevich’s new wife, Nina Kukharchuk, have a good relationship, which cannot be said about Leonid. He actually grew up on the street, left to his own devices. After graduating from seven classes, he entered the Federal Educational Institution, and at 17 he began working at a factory.

Leonid Khrushchev enjoyed great success with women. By the age of twenty, he had already left two cohabitants, one with a child in her arms. Both were Jewish. He even signed with Rosalia Treivas, an actress, but his father pointedly tore up the marriage certificate. Esther Etinger, the daughter of an aircraft designer, in 1935 gave birth to his son Yuri, who all his life bore the patronymic and surname of Leonid Khrushchev. A year earlier, his father had been appointed First Secretary of the IGC, which provided his son with new opportunities.

"Youth - to the sky!"

Stalin's call to aviation had an effect on the “golden youth” of his time. The sons of the top officials studied at the VVA named after. Zhukovsky. It was very honorable, they were looked up to. With his education, Leonid Khrushchev could not apply for Zhukovka, but went to the Civil Air Fleet pilot school (Balashov). After graduating in 1937, he was enrolled in the academy, but did not sit down at his desk. In 1939, he voluntarily joined the Red Army, continuing his studies at EVASH (Engels Aviation School).

During the Soviet-Finnish War, he volunteered to go to the front, flying Ar-2 bombers. The air division commander gave an excellent description of the lieutenant who took part in the bombing

Myth one - first conviction

In 1938, my father (N.S. Khrushchev) was transferred to Ukraine, where he went with a promotion. A year later, Leonid married Lyubov Sizykh, a pilot of the Moscow flying club, and in January 1940, their daughter Yulia was born. The wife was reminiscent of her own husband in character: a fearless parachutist, dashingly handling a motorcycle. He was also known as brave and even reckless. He could cross the bridge supports in his arms from one bank of the Dnieper to the other. The young woman already had a child, but this did not stop Nikita Sergeevich from accepting his son’s choice.

It was during these years, according to the memoirs of Sergo Beria, that Leonid Khrushchev - the son of Nikita Khrushchev - got involved with criminals. The gang was engaged in robbery and was exposed on the eve of the war. Many were shot, and the son of the First Secretary of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of Ukraine allegedly received 10 years in prison. Thus was born the first myth, which does not find any documentary evidence. In the personal file of L. Khrushchev, stored in the archives of the Ministry of Defense of the Russian Federation (Podolsk), there is no mention of a criminal record in the original autobiography.

Beginning of the war

From the first day of the war, like other “Kremlin lieutenants” - the Mikoyan brothers, Timur Frunze, Vasily Stalin, the son of Nikita Sergeevich went to the front. For the first two months, the regiment flew without cover, losing most of its pilots. The German aces, who had completed flight practice in Europe, were opposed by yesterday's college graduates, who sat at the controls for the first time.

Among them, the already experienced and fearless Khrushchev stood out. Leonid fought in the 134th Air Regiment (46th Division), completing 27 combat missions in July alone. Having completed the task of destroying the bridge across the river, he was presented with a military award. To receive the Order of the Red Banner at the beginning of the war was a real rarity. On January 9, 1942, his plane was shot down and landed in neutral territory. The crew was rescued, but the pilot was seriously injured. As a result of an open fracture, the bone broke through the boot, and the hospital was preparing for surgery to amputate the leg.

Treatment in Kuibyshev

For the young man, life without heaven was impossible. Eyewitnesses say that he, threatening the doctors with a pistol, demanded that they refuse the operation. I spent two months in bed, but the young body coped. The lameness due to the fact that one leg has become slightly shorter than the other will remain with him until the end of his days. The pilot was sent to Kuibyshev, where the best luminaries of medicine were evacuated. The family also lived here. Nikita Sergeevich personally came from the front to visit his wounded son, whom he treated with special tenderness.

Leonid Khrushchev ended up in the same room with Ruben Ibarruri. In the hospital I met Stepan Mikoyan, who became the main eyewitness of his Kuibyshev period of life. According to Mikoyan, the wounded pilots often drank and made friends with the dancers of the Bolshoi Theater, which was evacuated to the city. At the end of rehabilitation, they found themselves involved in a drunken story with a tragic ending.

Myth two: second conviction

At one of the parties, young people staged a real game of Russian roulette. A naval officer, who learned that Leonid Khrushchev was a great shooter, suggested that he shoot a bottle on his head with a pistol. The shooter pierced the neck. The sailor was not satisfied with this, and he forced the pilot to repeat the attraction. The second shot hit Khrushchev directly in the forehead, killing the officer. tells this story from hearsay, without being an eyewitness to what is happening. His sister also spoke about the fact that his brother had some kind of dubious story

In the memoirs of N.S. Khrushchev’s opponents (all of them appeared after his death), it is said that Nikita Sergeevich personally begged Stalin for forgiveness for his son. But he was still sentenced to 8 years to serve his sentence at the front.

Was it or wasn't it?

Not a single journalistic investigation of this fact has been successful. There is no documentary evidence either. Rumors about the incident vary so much that it is impossible to draw any conclusions. All subsequent events violate the logic of imposing any punishment on the pilot, because in the fall of 1942 he was sent not to a penal battalion, but for retraining, retraining to become a fighter pilot. In November he passes the exam with a grade of “good” and receives command of a flight and shoulder straps of a senior lieutenant. Moreover, he arrives in the army with weapons, which would be confiscated if convicted.

Leonid Khrushchev, whose biography is the subject of close study today, continued to fight in the 18th air regiment, switching to the maneuverable Yak-7. He got practice by ferrying planes from a military plant to the front. Experts say that to master new technology, a pilot needs time, and during the war he did not have it.

Events of March 11, 1943

There is information that Khrushchev was transferred to Army Headquarters, but he refused. Heaven was his calling. During his service, he made 172 missions, but only 32 in a fighter (the flight time was only 4 hours 27 minutes). On March 11, 1943, two planes flew to the Zhizdra area to reconnaissance troops. In a pair he was the wingman. In the place of the leader - Art. Lieutenant Zamorin, who became the main witness to the events of the historical battle, from which the son of a prominent party leader was not destined to return.

The fighters met four Fokkers, attacking the Soviet pilots in pairs. Only the flight commander returned from a combat mission in a damaged fighter. The mystery of the death of Leonid Khrushchev is connected with two circumstances: changes in the testimony of I. Zamorin and the inability to find the remains of the Yak-7 aircraft due to swampy terrain and air combat over enemy territory.

Testimony of Ivan Zamorin

The first report was written by the senior lieutenant after visiting the regimental headquarters. In it, he indicated: while pursuing the Fokker, he let L. Khrushchev’s plane out of sight. I only saw how he went into a tailspin, rushing towards the ground. Later, the partisans organized a search for the remains of the aircraft, which were unsuccessful. First, the father was informed that his eldest son was missing. A month later, on the night of April 12, Stalin personally expressed his condolences to his comrade, informing him that there was no more hope. In June, the father received the Order of the Patriotic War, 1st degree, for his son (posthumously).

In the 80s, rumors began to spread about how Leonid Khrushchev came to the Germans. Allegedly, he survived and was captured, becoming a traitor. Rumors had appeared before, so after that an investigation was carried out into the death of the pilot (investigator S.I. Tokarev), during which no evidence of his betrayal was found. Zamorin changed his testimony, saying that his wingman saved him by throwing his Yak-7 across the fire attack of the Fokker. The plane actually disintegrated in the air. He explained his previous report: the regiment command was afraid of responsibility for not saving the son of a high-ranking official, so they preferred to present him as missing.

Version of betrayal

Military journalist I. Stadnyuk, historians G. Kumanev, N. Dobryukha, writer F. Chuev and some others adhere to the version that Leonid Khrushchev was shot. They refer to the fact that N. Khrushchev, during his reign, destroyed documents incriminating his son. Referring to the testimony of NKVD generals (V. Udilov), Molotov, the son of Beria, they describe how the pilot managed to eject after being captured by the enemy. There he began to give testimony that undermined the security of the country. Stalin ordered the SMERSH special group to kidnap the traitor. The operation was successful, and Khrushchev's son was taken to Moscow.

The father begged for forgiveness on his knees, but Stalin relied on the decision of the Politburo members, who sentenced the traitor to death. It was carried out. This explains N.S. Khrushchev’s hatred of members of the Central Committee: Beria is shot, the Shcherbakovsky district of Moscow is renamed, and Kaganovich, Molotov and Malenkov are sent into exile. An indirect confirmation of this version can be the arrest of Lyubov Sizykh in 1943 and her sending to camps on charges of espionage. It later became clear that these two events were in no way connected with each other.

Official version

Self-confident, stubborn and cheerful, the 25-year-old young man became a hostage of the confrontation between Nikita Khrushchev, the main author of the “thaw” of the 60s, and the NKVD generals, who did everything to tarnish the name of the former First Secretary. Drawing an analogy with the fate of Yakov Dzhugashvili, who was captured to the Germans, after the capture of the son of a high-ranking politician, one could expect a reaction from the fascists: propaganda leaflets, radio messages, any hype. But there are no sources from the German side confirming that the pilot was in captivity.

The stories of how Leonid Khrushchev was killed also differ. His execution is described in different ways by “eyewitnesses,” while Metrostroy employees found the wreckage of a Yak-7 aircraft, the number matching the Art. fighter. Lieutenant Data about this is stored in the archives of the city of Podolsk. On the mass grave in the city of Zhizdra, the name of Khrushchev is mentioned, which gives reason to talk about his burial in the area of ​​his death.

Afterword

His relatives and those who knew him personally do not believe in the betrayal of the young pilot. Son Yuri and granddaughter Nina demanded a public refutation of the information that is given in many publications without reference to any documents. Direct command, comrades in arms, including the technicians of the Yak-7 aircraft, give the most flattering characteristics to the pilot: Leonid Nikitovich Khrushchev was a brave and fearless man. He was eager to fight, without hiding behind the backs of his comrades, and I. Zamorin’s report is further confirmation of this. The hero's reputation is more important than the pursuit of cheap sensations. Carrying out additional research is a matter of honor for historians, who must put an end to the spread of speculation and rumors.

6. Leonid Khrushchev

In his new book “Generalissimo” V.V. Karpov paid attention to Khrushchev’s son:

“Amazing coincidences happen in life: the son of the future General Secretary of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union Khrushchev, Leonid Khrushchev, was captured by the Germans, just like Yakov Stalin, only a little later - in March 1943. The similarity of the situation begins and ends there ; everything that happened before and after the captivity is diametrically opposed: Leonid and Yakov are absolute antipodes in character, in actions and in beliefs.” Is it so? Let's try to figure it out.

The son of Nikita Sergeevich Khrushchev from his first marriage, Leonid Khrushchev, was born on November 10, 1917. He was two years old when his mother died. In 1932, he completed seven classes and entered the Federal Educational Institution. Then he worked as a mechanic at an X-ray plant, from where, on a Komsomol voucher, in December 1933 he was sent to study at the Balashov School of the Civil Air Fleet.

In 1937, Leonid Nikitovich, after graduating from school, studied in Ulyanovsk at advanced training courses for command personnel, worked for a month as an instructor at the Central Aviation Courses in Moscow, and then in Kyiv. In Moscow, Leonid married a girl from the Moscow Aero Club. She worked as a navigator-pilot. In February 1939, he was enrolled in the preparatory course at the command department of the Air Force Academy, and in 1940 he was transferred to the Engels Military Aviation School.

“He is an excellent student in theoretical subjects, the SB knows the material parts of the aircraft perfectly and operates it competently. He learns the flight program easily and retains it well. The piloting technique on the SB aircraft is excellent, the orientation is good.”

I think that these are not empty words, since Leonid Khrushchev has been flying since 1933. Before the war alone, his flight time was 1268 hours, of which on the U-2 - 600 hours, on the R-5 - 300 hours, on the UT-1 - 8 hours, on SB - 250 hours, on AR-2 - 110 hours.

Even judging by the time spent in the air, L.N. Khrushchev was a pilot, quite experienced for a lieutenant.

The Great Patriotic War for Leonid Khrushchev began in the 134th high-speed bomber aviation regiment. Already on July 16, 1941, he had 12 combat missions, and in an air battle on July 6, he bravely fought with enemy fighters. Came out of the battle with a riddled car. The commander of the 46th Air Division petitioned for Leonid Khrushchev to be awarded the Order of the Red Banner.

During the month of the war, when the regiment flew without cover, L.N. Khrushchev flew 27 combat missions, sometimes flying three or four times a day. On July 26, two flights and two crews from the 1st, 2nd and 3rd squadrons of the regiment flew to bomb an enemy airfield in the area of ​​the station. Izoga (3 km northwest of Chernukha station) and the destruction of infantry and artillery in the Hikalo area. Not finding enemy aircraft at the airfield, a flight of the 3rd air squadron bombed the airfield and machine-gunned airfield facilities and enemy infantry. The mission was completed, but upon returning they were attacked by eight Me-109s. As a result of the battle, 4 crews were lost. But the commander of one of them, Lieutenant Khrushchev, managed to land the damaged car, although he broke his leg during landing. Soon he was sent to the rear for treatment in a hospital.

A few months later, the commander and military commissar of the division again petitioned for the award of Leonid (ref. No. 0207 dated November 5, 1941):

“To the Commander of the Air Force of the Western Front. I ask you to nominate for the award the comrades listed below, who were presented on 14 - 17/VII - 41, but have not yet been noted due to the fact that the award material was stuck in the 22nd Army.

1. Lieutenant Khrushchev Leonid Nikitovich, has 27 combat missions, awarded the Order of the Red Banner...

In his book V.V. Karpov writes:

“From July 1, 1941 to March 1942, Leonid was undergoing treatment in Kuibyshev - he injured his leg when landing a plane and was in no hurry to go to the front - he walked perfectly on his own feet!”

As we have already said, L. Khrushchev carried out his 27th combat mission on July 26, 1941, and the writer Karpov took and deprived the pilot of almost a whole month of combat work.

Now let’s get acquainted with the memoirs of General Stepan Mikoyan, which are also quoted by V.V. Karpov:

“In Kuibyshev, I went for procedures at the clinic, where I met two senior lieutenants who were also undergoing outpatient treatment after being wounded: Ruben Ibarruri, the son of the leader of the famous Spanish Communist Party Dolores, and Leonid Khrushchev. Leonid Khrushchev was a good, kind comrade. We spent about three months meeting almost daily. Unfortunately, he liked to drink. At that time, a friend of his, who was sent to some enterprise and had a “blat” at a distillery, was living in a hotel in Kuibyshev at that time. They bought drinks there for the week and often drank them in their hotel room. Although I hardly drank, I went there often. There were other guests there, including girls. Leonid, even after drinking heavily, never became violent, he became even more good-natured and soon fell asleep. We met and became friends then with two young dancers from the Bolshoi Theater, which was evacuated there, Valya Petrova and Liza Ostrogradskaya. When I was no longer in Kuibyshev, a tragedy occurred there, which I learned about from a friend of Leonid, who came to Moscow, and then the story was confirmed by Valya Petrova, to whom this friend told immediately after the incident. According to his story, one day a sailor from the front was in the company. When everyone was very “under the weather”, in a conversation someone said that Leonid was a very accurate shooter. On a dare, the sailor suggested that Leonid shoot the bottle off his head. Leonid refused for a long time, but then he finally shot and knocked the neck off the bottle. The sailor considered this insufficient and said that it was necessary to get into the bottle itself. Leonid fired again and hit the sailor in the head. Leonid Khrushchev was sentenced to eight years to be served at the front (this was then the practice for convicted pilots). Having not fully recovered from his leg, he went to the front, having achieved retraining for the Yak-7B fighter...”

Further V.V. Karpov continues to mislead the reader: “... based on the document (the combat flight log), let’s say: March 11, 1943 was the first and last day of combat work for pilot Leonid Khrushchev. In the morning he flew out as part of a group of fighters, “Zamorin” did not fight himself, but guarded his student and observed his behavior.” Actually, there were no battles, but the whole group was on a training flight.”

Now let's take a look at how it really happened.

In February 1942, Lieutenant Khrushchev was awarded the Order of the Red Banner, and in March, after an absurd incident that has long gone down in our history, he was discharged from the hospital and sent to the 3rd separate training mixed air regiment. On April 4, 1942, by order of the USSR NKO No. 02520, he was awarded the next military rank of senior lieutenant. Until December, Leonid underwent a retraining program for the Yak-7 fighter, after which he was assigned to the command of the 1st Air Army (11/3/42 - completed the retraining program with an “excellent” rating, and on 12/4/42 he was tested in technology piloting. Overall rating "good"). It should be noted that L.N. Khrushchev was retraining from a high-speed bomber to a fighter, which, regardless of the pilot’s level of training, is not an easy task.

It was not easy for Leonid, with his experience and excellent technique of piloting a bomber. So to speak, move from the helm to the handle... That’s why the rating from excellent became good.

Nevertheless, he was assigned to the 18th Guards Fighter Aviation Regiment, which was based at the Khatenki airfield, 10 km north of the city of Kozelsk. Until March 11, 1943, which is mentioned by V.V. Karpov, senior lieutenant Khrushchev, from the moment of his arrival for further service in the unit, made 28 training flights with a flight time of 13 hours 01 minutes, 6 combat sorties to cover the troops of the 16th Army with a flight time of 4 hours 26 minutes and conducted 3 air battles. Once he even managed to get behind the “Fritz” and shoot him point-blank...

The commander of the 1st Air Army, General Khudyakov, offered Leonid a position in the Army Directorate, but he categorically refused.

So, on March 11, 1943, at 12.13, nine Yak-7Bs under the command of Guard Captain Mazurov took off to intercept enemy bombers. It flew out to prevent bombing of the advancing troops in the area of ​​Kozhanovka, Ashkovo, Nizhneye, Yasenok, Dynnoye, Zherebovka, 7 - 9 km north of Zhizdra. Five planes under the command of Mazurov were flying at an altitude of 2000 m, four planes under the command of Guard Junior Lieutenant Lyapunov were flying at an altitude of 2500 m. When approaching the front line, the guidance radio station reported: “There are no enemy aircraft, be careful.” After 3 - 5 minutes, up to 10 Fokkers (FV-190) appeared in the air, which, under the cover of haze, began to carry out group attacks. Having entered the battle, our fighters divided into three groups. Guards Art. Lieutenant Zamorin (leader) and Guards. Art. Lieutenant Khrushchev (wingman) entered into battle against two Focke-Wulf-190s, paired against pair at an altitude of 2500 m, gradually pushing them back into enemy territory. Zamorin attacked and shot down one FV-190 with fire from 50 - 70 m. The follower Khrushchev was on the right at that time, covering the leader. He was attacked by a second Fokker. The rest were engaged in an air battle at that time: a pair of Khodakovsky in the Zhizdra area with 2 FV-190s (both were shot down) and five Yakovs and 4 FV-190s (one shot down) in the Akimovka area. When Zamorin saw that Khrushchev's plane was attacking the FV-190, he opened fire at an angle and pursued the enemy diving south while continuing to attack.

After a failed attack by a German pilot, Khrushchev suddenly went to the ground from a coup at an angle of 65 - 70°. According to Zamorin, Leonid could have pulled the handle and gone into a tailspin. Most likely, an error in the technique of piloting a fighter let Leonid down. After all, he had very little flight time on it: total - 17 hours 27 minutes. However, many took advantage of this moment, this mistake of Leonid.

Now they (including V.V. Karpov) claim that Leonid Khrushchev went towards the enemy and disappeared without a trace. Finding himself in captivity (?), he actively collaborated with the enemy, then, on Stalin’s orders, he was kidnapped, tried and shot.

But believe me, all this is nothing more than fiction, nonsense, gossip, etc. At the same time, not a single document is provided, because there are none!

Firstly, if L.N. Khrushchev was captured by the Germans, they would have trumpeted this literally right away. There would be leaflets and photographs. The German propaganda machine would not miss such a chance.

Secondly, it was almost impossible to exchange or kidnap a famous prisoner of war. In just a few days he would have ended up in Germany, where such a possibility was practically excluded.

Thirdly, on April 3, 1943, the commander of the 18th Guards IAP Guards. Major Golubev signed the award sheet for Khrushchev. On April 4, Major General Zakharov, commander of the 303rd IAD, put his signature on this document. Ultimately, the Order of the Patriotic War, 1st degree No. 56428, was awarded to Leonid’s father N.S. for safekeeping. Khrushchev. None of this would have happened if Leonid had been a traitor.

Fourthly, 17 years later, in the territory of the Zhizdrinsky district of the Kaluga region, a search was conducted for the crash sites of Soviet Army aircraft during the Great Patriotic War. Specifically, from December 6 to December 15, 1960, a search was carried out for the remains of pilots in this area. According to the report to the Air Force Commander, Air Force Chief Marshal K.A. Vershinin, “35 crash sites of Soviet aircraft were found, 30 were inspected on the spot (the rest were not inspected as they were clearly unsuitable in terms of the types of machines, timing and distance).”

Consequently, I was looking for N.S. Khrushchev did not find his son’s plane. This list could be continued, but how can you brand a dead person and elevate him to the rank of a traitor combat pilot, without having absolutely no documentary evidence!

Apparently, Leonid Khrushchev was not captured.

Nikita Khrushchev's report on exposing the cult of personality had an indelible effect on the country. But why did he actually decide to do this: was it a family tragedy or big politics? How did Leonid Khrushchev die, and what is hidden behind the rumors about his desertion? The Moscow Trust TV channel prepared a special report.

"Golden Child"

Rada Khrushcheva had just finished 4th grade at that time. The holidays have begun, and the family moves to a dacha 20 km from the city.

“My father was not in Kyiv, I thought that he was traveling around the Ukrainian regions, but it turns out he was in Moscow,” says daughter N.S. Khrushchev Rada Adzhubey.

Nikita Khrushchev returns to Kyiv with only a few hours left before the war. His daughter Rada recalls that their government dacha unwittingly served as a landmark for the Germans when they flew to the capital.

Leonid Khrushchev

“These were three large white houses, the roofs were covered with camouflage netting. We saw a formation of bombers flying and turning towards Kyiv,” recalls Adzhubey.

During these days, Rada's elder brother, bomber pilot Leonid, was not at home - he was at the location of his unit. By the beginning of the war, he was one of the most experienced here: after air force school in 1940, he volunteered for the Soviet-Finnish war and managed to fly dozens of combat missions.

Historian-publicist Nikolai Dobryukha has been researching the fate of the son of Secretary General Nikita Khrushchev for many years.

“I am one of the few to whom senior state security officials revealed many secrets and helped obtain unique documents. KGB Chairman Vladimir Semichastny, whom I helped write and publish reflections in central newspapers, spoke directly with Nikita Sergeevich about Leonid,” says Dobryukha.

Leonid is Khrushchev's son from his first marriage. His mother died early, and his father soon ends up in the Civil War, where he serves in the Red Army.

“The boy grew up without a father and without a mother, was left to his own devices and had sufficient material opportunities. This had a bad impact on his fate. When Khrushchev was the first secretary of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of Ukraine, Leonid got involved with bandits and took part in robberies. He was very brave, and there was a case when he, holding onto the bridge supports, moved from one bank of the Dnieper to the other,” says Nikolai Dobryukha.

"Missed"

When the Great Patriotic War began, Leonid was already in the rank of lieutenant. In the first week he makes 12 combat missions. But he soon fell out of action - on July 27, 1941 he had to make an emergency landing.

Hero of the Soviet Union, test pilot Stepan Mikoyan met Leonid in the hospital, which was located in the rear in Kuibyshev.

“I was injured as a result of the landing - a broken leg, burns, and after the hospital I was sent for outpatient treatment, where we met,” Mikoyan recalls.

On the podium of the V.I. Lenin mausoleum (from left to right) N.S. Khrushchev, I.V. Stalin, V.M. Molotov and N.M. Shvernik. Photo: ITAR-TASS

Despite the fact that both are children of the country's ruling elite, they are meeting for the first time. Mikoyan pays attention to Khrushchev because he is in a pilot’s uniform. It turns out that Leonid has been in the hospital for more than a year.

“They sat down in no man’s land, killed the shooter, and they pulled him out with difficulty, because the Germans could have intercepted him. In the field hospital they wanted to cut off his leg, but he wouldn’t let it, threatening the doctor with a pistol,” says Stepan Mikoyan.

The leg is healing slowly: soil got into the wound and infection began. He is often visited by his family, who were just evacuated to Kuibyshev. Rada adored her brother. To entertain her, he often talked about his flights.

“As strange and funny as it may seem, they flew to bomb Berlin unaccompanied. It was suicide. Most of their planes were destroyed at the airfields, and those that remained could not resist the German Messerschmitts,” says Rada Adzhubey.

Unexpectedly, Leonid was presented with the Order of the Red Banner. The order was signed after that emergency flight, when he was able to reach the neutral zone and was not captured. Leonid goes with his whole family to Moscow to receive the award. Stepan Mikoyan learns much later from his friends about what will happen to Leonid at the party. Leonid himself, when they meet again in Moscow, will not say a word about this. From this moment on, white spots appear in the biography of N.S.’s son. Khrushchev.

“During one of the sprees, there was a lot of drinking, and they began to compete to see who was the better shooter. Leonid boasted that he could knock a bottle off a person’s head. They appointed some officer, and he accidentally killed him. Leonid was put on trial,” says Nikolai Good belly.

He still continues to serve in the army, and even receives a transfer to an elite fighter aircraft.

“Due to the fact that the son of such a high-ranking leader, the case was deliberately confused, and he was given only 8 years. But such documents actually exist in the Samara regional archive. There is no direct evidence that it was Leonid who shot. But, nevertheless, all the group that took part in that party was arrested, there was a trial,” says Dobryukha.

Deserter or hero?

The fact that Leonid was not put on trial is considered by the historian Nikolai Dobryukha to be a personal merit of his father. He begged for his son to atone for his guilt.

“Khrushchev, on his knees, begged Stalin to spare his son, even grabbed Stalin by the legs, and he ordered the guards to call doctors for Khrushchev, saying that he had lost his composure, fearing for the fate of his son,” Dobryukha claims.

When Stepan Mikoyan heard the story about the fatal shot, he was surprised: this is not how he remembered Leonid.

“I must say that he loved to drink, but he became even kinder than he had been, did not swear and quickly fell asleep,” says Mikoyan.

Khrushchev is not sent to a penal battalion. He is retraining from a bomber to a fighter and is eager to go into battle.

“There were such cases during the war. We had one pilot in our regiment who, for a drunken brawl, received several years of service at the front. And he flew with us and fought, although he was convicted. So this was the norm for officers then,” - says Stepan Mikoyan.

It took Leonid less than 3 months to study, and after that he managed to fly only 7 combat missions.

“A fighter can fly on anything, but the opposite is not always the case. Apparently, Leonid did not fully master the new things when he ended up in a fighter regiment. I was in another regiment then, and the pilot Kolya Zhuk was sent to us, who had previously served with "Leonid. He said that Khrushchev was chasing a German plane, and at that time a German attached himself to his tail, fired a burst, Leonid turned over and began to dive down," says Mikoyan.

Leonid Khrushchev

This happened near the city of Zhizdra, Kaluga region, on March 11, 1943. The remains of the plane could not be found; the area was completely covered with swamps. Nikolai Dobryukha knows another version of those events. It was told to him by Ivan Stadnyuk, a front-line correspondent, screenwriter of the films “Maxim Perepelitsa” and “I Serve the Soviet Union!”

“Stadnyuk said that he saw documents that clearly stated that Leonid, who was shot down (or not shot down, but flew over to the side of the Germans), was kidnapped from captivity and brought to trial. The court, despite Khrushchev’s appeal to Stalin, did not acquit him, and Leonida shot. That is, it was an execution. I have not seen such documents, they are classified," Dobryukha claims.

Disputes among historians do not subside. The wording “missing in action” was the most terrible during the war. Andrei Svitenko adheres to the official version of the death of Khrushchev Jr.

“As Serpilin said in the person of Anatoly Papanov in the film, “I’m not afraid of death, I can’t go missing.” If there is such a wording, suspicions are immediately born that he has joined the enemy’s camp,” explains Svitenko.

Central Archive of the Ministry of Defense. All documents from the war period are stored here. Olga Chasovitina has been working in this repository for 30 years, where reports, orders, award certificates and lists of Soviet pilots are collected. There is no separate case of Leonid Khrushchev here. His documents in the chronicle of military operations are included in the general list; they were declassified back in the early 60s.

“We keep primary sources: documents of regiments, divisions. Nothing disappeared from us and it was impossible to correct anything. If some matter is needed, a decree is drawn up with a number and date, and then the matter is returned,” says Chasovitina.

“He was awarded on February 20, 1942. Because of his injury, he was in the hospital, the paperwork took a long time, and the awarding happened later. He was not in the regiment, although the commander of the 134th regiment petitioned for him to return to them. But he went for retraining ", says Olga Chasovitina.

Revenge of the Fallen

1956 XX Congress of the CPSU. Speech by Secretary General Nikita Khrushchev. At first, the text does not foreshadow anything; Khrushchev makes a report on the debunking of the cult of personality at the end of the congress, when it is already officially completed. This happens on February 25th in a closed meeting. The most curious thing is that Stalin’s name was not directly mentioned.

“The motivation for this report was hostility towards Stalin, he never hid it. He constantly talked about him, over the many years of acquaintance he had something to say - he assessed his moral qualities, wrote about “games at court” - how they put a tomato on someone who got up from his chair , and he sat on him, they laughed like that. Such artless morals reigned. And things are more serious, young people need to know what kind of country we live in, that leaders always slept with a suitcase ready, always ready to be taken away from 2 to 4, like this was usually done,” says Andrey Svitenko.

XX Congress of the CPSU, 1956. Photo: ITAR-TASS

Stalin's repressions affected almost every second family in the Soviet Union. Khrushchev's report caused a lot of noise, although it was not published anywhere until Perestroika. Its contents were transmitted orally.

“Yes, this was not any revenge on Stalin, he was his student, comrade-in-arms, he was brought up in this. But he found the strength to take this step,” says Rada Adzhubey.

Would Khrushchev have decided to take such a step if there had been incriminating evidence against him? In the inner circle, since the death of Stalin, there has been a struggle for power. Leonid's plane has not yet been discovered - this is a reason to undermine the authority of the current Secretary General. But no one will use it.

“Only those who have no idea what Stalin and Khrushchev were, their relationship, can believe in this. There were many rumors about Leonid’s death. His daughter, Yulia, sent a request to the prosecutor’s office, but a letter came from there that nothing like that happened” - says Adzhubey.

The death of Leonid Khrushchev affected the service of his friend Stepan Mikoyan. He is less often taken to the front line. The “golden youth” will be secretly protected from bullets.

“When my brother died, Timur Frunze, Leonid Khrushchev, I was on the North-Western Front. And Stalin took care of his son Vasily and me. And I didn’t understand why they didn’t take me, I thought that I was less prepared than other pilots But after the war, Vasya himself told me about this,” recalls Mikoyan.

All unofficial versions of Leonid's fate have one weak point. Why didn’t the enemy take advantage of the desertion of the son of the then leader of Ukraine?

“Here is Yakov Dzhugashvili - millions of copies of leaflets were scattered about him. And about Molotov’s son, that he was in captivity. But here - nothing,” says Andrei Svitenko.

The search for Leonid Khrushchev's plane is still ongoing. It seems that only his discovery can put an end to this story. And yet, Leonid’s wife was arrested after he disappeared. Nikita Khrushchev will raise his daughter as his own. She will call him father in front of everyone. And the younger sister Rada believed for a long time that one day her brother would return.

“I’m walking home from school late in the evening (I studied in the third shift), and I think: when I come, his leather jacket is hanging on a hanger...” says Rada Adzhubey.