Can you imagine living with yourself knowing you were killing thousands of people everyday? Or the fact that you were putting thousands others in work camps every day? Even the fact that you were ruining the lives of millions of people? Joseph Stalin killed over 40 million people and put over 9.5 million others in work camps. Joseph Stalin was a cruel man with a very sad life.
Stalin was born in Gori, Georgia on December 21st, 1879. His true namewas Iosif Dzhugashvili. He was one of four children in four years. However, all three of his other siblings died very young. He was prone to bad health, but somehow managed to survive. Due to the fact he had so many health issues, his mother was very protective of him. She even gave him the nickname “Soso” when he was a young boy. However, he also had another nickname, “Pocky”. He was given this name after he contracted small pox at age seven and was permanently scarred. Because of this his mother tended to be even more protective of him.
Stalin's father, Vissarini Ivanovich Djugashvili, was a successful devoted businessman when Stalin was first born. He worked as a cobbler. However, Vissarini was an alcoholic. Due to his addiction, his business failed and he became an abusive husband and father. At one point Stalin was so angry with his father that he almost killed his father by throwing a knife at him. Many people believe the actions of Stalin's father are what caused Stalin himself to be such a bitter and cruel man.
Despite Stalin's health issues and bad home life, when he was ten years old, his mother managed to get him enrolled in a church school. Stalin did quite well in school. When he was sixteen he received a scholarship to the Tiflis Theological seminary. While he was there he did well educationally, but after missing his final exams, being disrespectful to teachers, and committing a number of rebellious acts including reading illegal literature, trying to convert his classmates to Marxism, and forming a Social Democratic study circle, he was expelled . However, it is recorded in the seminary's records that he could not pay his tuition.
While Stalin was still enrolled in the seminary, he joined a secret organization called Messame Dassy. The members of this society were supporters of Georgian Independence from Russia. The people he met in the organization taught Stalin about the ways of Karl Marx. This was the cause of many of Stalin's beliefs and actions.
In about 1904, Stalin married a beautiful woman named Ekaterina Svanidze. Ekaterina died about three years later of tuberculosis. She left Stalin with one son, Yakov Iosifovich Dzhugashvili. Stalin did not treat Yakov well at all. In 1920 Yakov attempted suicide and failed. Stalin's response to his sons attempt was “ha he can't even shoot straight”. Later, while Yakov was serving in the Red Army during World War 2 he was captured by the Germans. When they offered to trade Yakov for a field marshal, Stalin turned them down stating, “You have in your hands not my only son Yakov but millions of my sons. Either you free them all or my son will share their fate.”. Yakov eventually ended up committing suicide in the concentration camp where he was being held.
Stalin married his second