We continue our story about the fate of the children of Soviet leaders. After the Iosifovichs, it was the turn of the vast Nikitich clan - the offspring Nikita Sergeevich Khrushchev.

Nikita Khrushchev surpassed his predecessor Joseph Stalin both in the number of marriages and in the number of children.

Nikita Sergeevich had three wives, and five children, or even six, if you count his adopted granddaughter Yulia.

In his first marriage with Efrosinya Pisareva, who died in 1920, Khrushchev had two children - daughter Julia And son Leonid.

Leonid: missing in action

The fate of Nikita Sergeevich's eldest son, Leonid Khrushchev, has long been the reason for various historical speculations.

A graduate of the factory training school, Leonid Khrushchev was 17 years old when his son was born, who was named Yuri. Yuri's mother was Esther Etinger, with whom Leonid was not even married. Nevertheless, he recognized the child, at the insistence of Nikita Sergeevich.

Khrushchev generally actively intervened in his son’s life. He divorced Leonid from his first wife Rosa Treivas.

Leonid Khrushchev graduated from the Civil Air Fleet pilot school, and then retrained as a military pilot. He took part in the Soviet-Finnish war as a bomber pilot.

In 1939, Leonid married a second time - his chosen one was Lyubov Sizykh. She was five years older than her husband, but at the same time she was very suitable for him. Lyuba jumped with a parachute, drove a motorcycle, but was much more balanced than the emotional Leonid, and knew how to calm him down.

Rada and Leonid Khrushchev. Photo: RIA Novosti / Pavel Gapochka

In 1940, the couple had a daughter, who was named Julia.

With the beginning of the Great Patriotic War, Leonid Khrushchev went to the front. In July 1941, his plane was shot down and the pilot himself was seriously wounded. After recovery, he returned to the front. In the fall of 1942, Leonid was sent for retraining as a fighter pilot.

In December 1942, he arrived at the 18th Guards Fighter Aviation Regiment, where he managed to complete 28 training and 6 combat missions.

On March 11, 1943, Leonid Khrushchev’s plane did not return from a combat mission. The search for the crash site, to which the partisans were involved, did not yield any results. A month and a half later, he was removed from the unit’s lists as missing in action.

According to conspiracy theories, Leonid Khrushchev was sentenced to death for a certain crime. Despite Nikita Khrushchev's pleas, his son was shot on Stalin's orders.

There is no evidence of this. In addition, the pilot was posthumously presented with the Order of the Patriotic War, 1st degree - it is doubtful that such a gesture could have been carried out in order to hide the execution for a crime.

Yulia Jr.: how Khrushchev’s granddaughter became his adopted daughter

The disappearance of her husband at the front hit Lyubov Sizova. She was accused of espionage, since among her acquaintances were the wives of foreign diplomats, and was sentenced to five years followed by exile, from which she returned only in 1956.

Granddaughter Yulia was adopted by Nikita Sergeevich. Until the age of 17, Yulia Jr. considered her grandparents to be her parents.

Nikita Khrushchev with his granddaughter and adopted daughter Yulia. Photo from a family album from 1967. Photo: RIA Novosti / Andrey Solomonov

Yulia Leonidovna Khrushcheva graduated from the Faculty of Journalism of Moscow State University, worked at the Press Agency, and later headed the literary department of the Ermolova Theater.

In the 2000s, she spoke at various levels in defense of Nikita Khrushchev, her grandfather and adoptive father.

On June 8, 2017, 77-year-old Yulia Khrushcheva died in the area of ​​the Michurinets platform of the Kyiv direction of the Moscow Railway.

Julia Sr.: the quiet life of a laboratory chemist

Much less is known about the life of Yulia Nikitichna Khrushcheva, the daughter of the Soviet leader from her first marriage.

If Nikita Khrushchev's second wife, Marusya, whose marriage lasted only a few months, did not affect the lives of Leonid and Yulia in any way, then the third wife, Nina Kukharchuk became their full-fledged stepmother. If Leonid’s relationship with his father’s new wife did not work out, then Julia accepted her.

Khrushchev's eldest daughter dreamed of becoming an architect, entered a university, but fell ill with tuberculosis. Due to long treatment I had to leave my studies.

Subsequently, Yulia Khrushcheva worked as a laboratory chemist. became her husband director of the Kyiv Opera Viktor Gontar. The couple lived amicably, but they had no children. Yulia Nikitichna Khrushcheva died in 1981 at the age of 65.

Yulia Khrushcheva (second from left) with family members (from left to right): Rada Adzhubey (Khrushcheva), her daughter Ksenia and Ivan Adzhubey (Rada’s son). Photo: RIA Novosti / Andrey Solomonov

Rada: whole life in “Science and Life”

In his marriage to Nina Kukharchuk, Nikita Khrushchev had three daughters and a son. The first girl, Nadezhda, died in infancy. In 1929, Rada Nikitichna Khrushcheva was born, later better known as Rada Khrushcheva-Adzhubey.

Rada graduated from school in Kyiv with a gold medal, then studied at Moscow State University, first at the Faculty of Philology, and then transferred to journalism.

While still studying, Rada married her classmate Alexey Adzhubey, who, during the reign of his father-in-law, would first become the editor-in-chief of Komsomolskaya Pravda and then Izvestia. In those days there was a saying in the USSR: “Don’t have a hundred rubles, but get married like Adzhubey.”

Rada herself worked at the journal Science and Life, becoming deputy editor-in-chief in 1956.

After the resignation of Nikita Khrushchev, the Rada and her husband also fell into disgrace. However, they did not expel her from Science and Life. She worked in the editorial office until 2004. Rada Nikitichna Adzhubey died on August 11, 2016 at the age of 87.

Sergei: rocket scientist and Hero of Socialist Labor moved to the USA and became a political scientist

Nikita Khrushchev's second son, Sergei, was born in 1935. At the age of six he suffered a severe fracture hip joint, because of which he spent a year in a cast. This did not stop Sergei Khrushchev from living a full life. Like sister Rada, Sergei Nikitich graduated from school with a gold medal.

In 1958, Khrushchev graduated from the Faculty of Electrical Vacuum Engineering and Special Instrumentation of the Moscow Power Engineering Institute with a degree in Automatic Control Systems. He was hired by the design bureau of the legendary rocket and space technology designer Vladimir Chelomey.

Sergei Khrushchev. Photo: RIA Novosti / Anton Denisov

Khrushchev developed projects for cruise and ballistic missiles and participated in the creation of landing systems spaceships, Proton launch vehicle.

During the reign of his father, Sergei Khrushchev first became a laureate of the Lenin Prize, and then a Hero of Socialist Labor.

Subsequently, Khrushchev’s son worked as deputy director of the Institute of Electronic Control Machines (INEUM), deputy general director of NPO Elektronmash.

In 1991, Sergei Khrushchev was invited to the United States to lecture on the history of the Cold War. The conditions offered to him turned out to be so good that Sergei Nikitich retrained from a design engineer to a political scientist and remained to live in the USA.

Today, 83-year-old Sergei Khrushchev continues to speak in both the American and Russian press, commenting on the topic of the day.

By 2019, only Sergei Nikitich remained alive among Khrushchev’s children.

Elena: Khrushchev’s youngest daughter was killed by lupus

Even less is known about Nikita Khrushchev’s youngest daughter, Elena, than about the eldest, Yulia.

She was born in 1937. According to the memoirs of her brother Sergei, Elena fell ill with a serious illness as a child - systemic lupus. Her whole life turned into a struggle for a full existence. Khrushchev's guards recalled that Lena was very fragile and ate little, sometimes limiting her breakfast to one slice of sausage.

Despite all the problems, she was able to get higher education, got a job, got married. The disease caught up with her in 1972, a year after her father's death. Elena Nikitichna Khrushcheva passed away at the age of 35.

The personal lives of many of these famous political and public figures were once under seven seals - practically nothing was known about their families and children. But, as time passed, many descendants themselves or with the help of a journalistic investigation lifted the veil of secrecy.
The last direct descendant of V.I. Lenin and his niece Olga Dmitrievna Ulyanova(daughter of Ulyanov’s brother Dmitry) died in 2011. However, Dmitry Ulyanov also had an illegitimate son, whom he later admitted
The descendants of this branch of the Ulyanovs live in Russia today. In particular, Lenin's great-grandson - Evgeny Ulyanov. He works as a programmer and lives in Moscow with his wife and daughter, Lenin’s great-great-granddaughter.
Another interesting detail regarding the related intricacies of the Ulyanov family. Lenin's maternal grandfather Alexander Blank (born Srul Blank) was married to Anna Grosshopf, from this marriage 8 children were born, including Maria, Ulyanov's mother

The Grosshopf family is rich and noble. And among them there are many famous personalities, including Field Marshal Walter Model, General Hasso Manteuffel, former German President Richard von Weizsäcker.
It is noteworthy that all information about Lenin’s Jewish and German roots was carefully classified during Soviet times.
In 2016, Stalin's grandson Evgeny Dzhugashvili died, through Stalin’s son Vasily, leaving behind his great-grandson Vissarion Evgenievich and Yakov Evgenievich, as well as his great-great-grandson Joseph. Stalin’s granddaughter through his daughter Svetlana, Chris, also lives in the United States

Yakov Evgenievich Dzhugashvili, famous public figure

Georgy Malenkov- Soviet statesman and party leader, Chairman of the Council of Ministers of the USSR. In fact, he led the USSR from March to September 1953. Son Andrey Georgievich

Andrey Georgievich Malenkov - Soviet and Russian scientist, specialist in the field of biophysics; Doctor of Biological Sciences, Professor, Honorary Vice-President of the Russian Academy of Natural Sciences; initiator of the creation and chairman of the section of the Russian Academy of Natural Sciences “Noosphere knowledge and technologies”; Director of Science and Head of Noospheric Programs at MAGERIC. Supervisor " Medical center treatment of oncological and chronic diseases, Academician of the Russian Academy of Natural Sciences Malenkova A.G.”
Grandchildren of Georgy Malenkov- Anastasia with her son and Dmitry with his father

Son of the former first secretary of the CPSU Central Committee Nikita Sergeevich Khrushchev– Sergei Nikitich Khrushchev

in 1991 he went to Brown University (USA) to lecture on the history of the Cold War, in which he now specializes. Remained a permanent resident in the United States, currently lives in Providence, Rhode Island, and has American citizenship. He is a professor at the Thomas Watson Institute of International Studies at Brown University.
Great-granddaughter of the first secretary of the CPSU Central Committee Nikita Khrushchev, Professor of International Relations at the New School in New York, Senior Research Fellow at the Institute of World Policy, Director of the Russia Project Nina Khrushcheva

Grandchildren - Nikita Sergeevich Khrushchev (junior). Born into the family of Sergei Nikitich Khrushchev and Nikita Alekseevich Adzhubey, the eldest grandson of Khrushchev, the son of Alexei Ivanovich Adzhubey, the legendary editor-in-chief of Izvestia. Both died.

Brezhnev's grandchildren.

Leonid Yuryevich Brezhnev graduated from the Chemistry Department of Moscow State University and tried his hand at business. He was involved in the production of drugs at a pharmaceutical company. He was married four times, has two daughters, Alina and Maria, and a son, Yuri.
Andrei Yuryevich Brezhnev graduated from MGIMO, worked at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, and also worked at the Ministry of Trade of the USSR. After his dismissal, he changed several places, and was even a co-owner of a small pub on Krasnaya Presnya. Then - deputy general director of Salavattrans LLC.
Brezhnev's granddaughters- Victoria Brezhneva and Galina Filippova. Both lived their lives in poverty, Galina spent more than 10 years in a mental hospital, today she lives in the Moscow region

Grandchildren Yu.V. Andropova Tatyana Igorevna Andropova is a choreography teacher in Miami. Her brother, Konstantin, also lives in the USA

Chernenko's son In Soviet times, Albert was the secretary of the Tomsk City Committee of the CPSU, and his other son, Vladimir, was an assistant to the chairman of the USSR State Committee for Cinematography.

Today Albert Konstantinovich Chernenko is a Doctor of Philosophy, Doctor of Law, Professor
Irina Virginskaya- the only daughter of M.S. Gorbachev. She often travels around the world, including periodically visiting the USA. The office of the Gorbachev Foundation is located here, where Irina works as vice president.

Gorbachev's granddaughter - Ksenia

Ksenia graduated from MGIMO (international journalist), worked as a PR specialist in a large company, for some time was a fashion editor in the authoritative glossy magazine L "Officiel. She is married to the former concert director Abraham Russo, lives with her husband and daughter Sasha Gorbacheva (Gorbachev's great-great-granddaughter) in Germany.
Gorbachev's second granddaughter - Anastasia Virginskaya, married, graduated from MGIMO, works in the editorial office of an Internet portal

We all remember the famous photograph of Nina Khrushcheva, wife of Nikita Khrushchev, with Jacqueline Kennedy.

Looking at this photo, only the lazy one didn’t kick Khrushchev’s wife. Of course, external comparison was far from being in her favor. Especially in comparison with fashion trendsetter Jacqueline Kennedy, who had all the leading designers of that time at her service. But, by the way, Nina Khrushcheva is wearing the same dress or suit. And here it looks more solid. It is clear that the fabric is not cheap, but the colors are disappointing.

We all know the sad fate of Jacqueline, her husbands, and her children. But we know practically nothing about Nina Khrushcheva, who remained in the shadow of her husband all her life, quietly and calmly taking care of the house and raising her children. Having accidentally stumbled upon an article in Ogonyok about the fate of the children of the first leaders of the USSR, I decided to trace the life and fate of Nina Khrushcheva and her children with Nikita Khrushchev.

Khrushchev - a rarity among members of the Politburo - was a father of many children, raising five children. As a very young man in Yuzovka (now Donetsk), he married Efrosinya Ivanovna Pisareva, a beautiful red-haired woman. She died in 1919 from typhus, leaving Nikita Sergeevich with two children - Yulia and Leonid. He married again to Nina Petrovna Kukharchuk, a calm woman with a strong character, who gave birth to three children - Rada, Sergei and Elena.

Elena was in poor health and died at the age of 35.

Leonid Khrushchev, a military pilot, died at the front.

Yulia Khrushcheva (1916-1981) - was married to the director of the Kyiv Opera, and was a chemist by profession.

Information about Rada and Sergei will be below.

A little about Nina Petrovna Khrushcheva, née Kukharchuk.

Nina Kukharchuk was born into a Ukrainian family in the village of Vasilev in the Kholm region, which at that time was part of Russian Empire. Her father, Pyotr Vasilyevich, was an ordinary peasant. Mother - Ekaterina Grigorievna Bondarchuk - also came from a simple peasant family.

Nina Kukharchuk met Nikita Khrushchev in 1922 in Yuzovka. There she worked as a teacher at the district party school. There they began to live virtually as a family. And they would register their marriage only after Khrushchev retired, in 1965.

When Nina Khrushcheva became the “first lady” of the state, she participated in Khrushchev’s foreign trips, met with top officials of other states and their wives, which was not accepted in the USSR before her. Nina Khrushcheva was fluent in Russian, Ukrainian, Polish and French. Wikipedia says she also studied English language, but the degree of proficiency in it is not indicated. But I found a photo in which John Kennedy says something to Nina Khrushcheva, and she smiles knowingly. So, it is possible that she spoke English quite well after all.

Nikita Sergeevich and Nina Petrovna were good parents, and they had a happy family. Nina Petrovna survived Nikita Sergeevich (died in 1971) and daughter Elena. She lived at a state dacha in Zhukovka and had a pension of 200 rubles.

In the photo - Nina Khrushcheva with US President Dwight Eisenhower and his wife in the USA, 1959.

Photos from other events. In my opinion, she looks quite decent on them. No worse than others.

In the photo: The Khrushchev family in 1959, during a visit to the USA. From left to right - N. P. Khrushcheva, USSR Ambassador to the USA Mikhail Menshikov, Nelson Rockefeller, N. S. Khrushchev, Rada Khrushchev and Sergei Khrushchev.

Now a little about the two most famous children of the Khrushchevs: Rada and Sergei. They have achieved a lot in this life. There is no doubt that their parents gave them a good start. But, as we know, no parental status will help if the parents did not care for the child and if he does not have the abilities. And Nina Khrushcheva, that same woman in a simple cotton dress, was able to raise worthy and good children.

Rada Khrushcheva(pictured right).

I listened to interviews with her several times. She was an intelligent and educated woman. She lived a decent life. She died this year at the age of 87.

Rada graduated from school with a gold medal in Kyiv. After graduating from school, she entered the Faculty of Philology of Moscow State University, and subsequently transferred to the established Faculty of Journalism, which she graduated in 1952. While studying, she met Alexei Adzhubey, whom she married in 1949. In this marriage she gave birth to three sons (Nikita, Alexei and Ivan). She and her husband maintained an excellent relationship while they were together. Alexey Ivanovich treated his wife kindly and tenderly.

Khrushchev's Rada always behaved modestly. No one would have thought that she was the daughter of the owner of the country. All her life she worked at the journal Science and Life, headed the department of biology and medicine, then became deputy editor-in-chief. Deciding that a journalistic education was not enough, she graduated from the Faculty of Biology of Moscow University.

In 1956, she was appointed deputy editor-in-chief of the magazine. During her work, the magazine became one of the best popular science magazines in the Soviet Union. After Khrushchev was removed from his post, her husband fell into disgrace and began working as a department editor in the Soviet Union magazine, as well as publishing in various publications under a pseudonym. Rada Adzhubey continued to work in the editorial office of the magazine until 2004.

True, for more than twenty years her name was not mentioned in the list of the magazine's editorial board...

Sergei Khrushchev

Second child of Nina and Nikita Khrushchev A Soviet and Russian scientist, publicist, Doctor of Technical Sciences, professor, Hero of Socialist Labor.

In 1952 he graduated from Moscow school No. 110 with a gold medal, graduated from the Faculty of Electrical Vacuum Engineering and Special Instrumentation of the Moscow Power Engineering Institute with a degree in Automatic Control Systems. He worked at the Chelomey Design Bureau as deputy head of department, deputy director of the Institute of Electronic Control Machines (INEUM), and deputy general director of NPO Elektronmash.

When his father was fired, Sergei Nikitich Khrushchev also lost his favorite job. He did a great job - he persuaded his father to dictate his memoirs. Nikita Sergeevich's four-volume notes are an invaluable source on the history of the Fatherland.

In 1991, S. N. Khrushchev was invited to Brown University (USA) to lecture on the history of the Cold War, in which he now specializes. Remained a permanent resident in the United States, currently lives in Providence, Rhode Island, and has Russian and American (since 1999) citizenship. He is a professor at the Thomas Watson Institute of International Studies at Brown University.

He published a number of his own books with memories of historical events that he witnessed, and with his own balanced assessment of what happened: “Pensioner of Union Significance”, “Birth of a Superpower”. In his works he adheres to a clear anti-Stalinist position. Currently working on books about “Khrushchev’s reforms.” Books translated to 12 foreign languages. One of the screenwriters of the film "Gray Wolves" (Mosfilm, 1993).

He is divorced from his first wife, Galina Shumova. The second wife, Valentina Nikolaevna Golenko, lives with Sergei Nikitich in the USA. The eldest son Nikita, a journalist and editor of Moscow News, died on February 22, 2007 in Moscow. The youngest son Sergei lives in Moscow.

Khrushchev's reign (1953-1964) is the only period in Soviet history, which 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 young man life without sky 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 affair 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 he didn’t have it during the war years.

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, persistent and cheerful, the 25-year-old young man became a hostage in the confrontation between Nikita Khrushchev, the main author of the “thaw” of the 60s, and the NKVD generals, who did everything to tarnish his name former First secretary Drawing an analogy with the fate of Yakov Dzhugashvili, who was captured by 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 kind of 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.

N. S. Khrushchev with his first wife E. I. Pisareva.

For the first time, Nikita Khrushchev married at the age of 20 to the beautiful Efrosinya Pisareva, who gave her husband two children of the same age, Yulia and Leonid. The son was only three years old when Nikita Sergeevich’s first wife died of typhus. Yulia and Leonid were initially raised by their grandmother, and after their father’s marriage to Nina Kukharchuk they began to live in his new family. Later, Khrushchev's family was replenished with three more children.

Nikita Khrushchev's eldest daughter, Yulia, immediately accepted her stepmother. She never called her mom, only Nina Petrovna, but the relationship between them was very warm. Julia dreamed of becoming an architect and even entered a specialized institute, but her health did not allow her to graduate. Julia fell ill with tuberculosis, she had to undergo treatment for a long time, but she had to forget about her studies. On the eve of the Great Patriotic War, the young woman underwent a complex lung operation, which allowed her to live another 40 years.

Yulia worked as a chemical laboratory assistant and was married to Viktor Petrovich Gontar, who worked as the director of the Kyiv Opera House. They lived a happy life together, but the couple had no children. Julia passed away at the age of 65, outliving her father by only 10 years.

Unlike his older sister, Leonid was never able to establish a normal relationship with his stepmother. They were very different: calm and conflict-free Nina Petrovna and explosive emotional Leonid. He was capable of any pranks and hooliganism. Perhaps it was because of this that rumors and speculation constantly arose around him.

After graduating from school, the young man entered the college and began working as a mechanic at a factory. However, after Nikita Khrushchev was transferred to Moscow, Leonid entered the Balashov school civil aviation. The young cadet was very attractive, which allowed him to enjoy success with women. His first wife was Rosa Treivas, but his daughter-in-law did not come to the court of her influential father and the marriage was immediately dissolved.

At the same time, Nikita Khrushchev demanded that his son recognize the child born to Esther Etinger. The son of Leonid and Esther, Yuri, later became a test pilot, but died in 2003 after an accident.

Leonid's second legal wife in 1939 was Lyubov Sizykh. She was amazingly suited to her husband, jumped with a parachute, and masterfully drove a motorcycle. But at the same time, Lyubov had a more rational approach to life and managed to slightly curb the violent temper of her husband. Her son from her first marriage was already growing up, and soon after the marriage their joint daughter, Julia, was born. At this time, Nikita Sergeevich was already the first secretary of the Central Committee of the Communist Party (Bolsheviks) of Ukraine.

Rumors about Leonid’s involvement in gangster groups involved in robberies are associated with this period. Some historians insist that Leonid Khrushchev was subject to criminal prosecution for this. Others argue that nothing of the kind happened, since not a single document was found according to which Leonid Khrushchev was prosecuted for criminal or any other crimes. The only mention of this is only in Sergo Beria’s book “My Father - Lavrenty Beria”. Khrushchev’s relatives all unanimously claim that Leonid’s connection with dubious individuals and his participation in crimes is an outright lie. Historians have never reached a consensus on this matter.

Be that as it may, but your military service Leonid Nikitovich started back in the Finnish war, and from the first days of the Great Patriotic War he was already at the front, sitting at the controls of a bomber. He fought heroically and was awarded the Order of the Red Banner. After being wounded, he was sent for treatment to Kuibyshev, where Nikita Khrushchev’s entire family was located at that time. In the fall of 1942, Leonid Khrushchev accidentally killed a sailor, shooting on a dare at a bottle standing on the latter’s head.

He was sentenced to 8 years to serve his sentence at the front; a similar practice was used then. Returning to the front, Leonid Nikitovich switched to a fighter and fought bravely again. In March 1943, upon returning from a combat mission, Leonid Khrushchev's plane was shot down. The area where the fighter fell was forested and swampy. Attempts to find the crash site were unsuccessful, and a month and a half later, Leonid Khrushchev was declared missing.

The fact that Leonid’s body was not found also became the basis for speculation and provocations. They even claimed that Leonid Nikitovich surrendered and then began to collaborate with the Germans. However, a witness to the crash of Khrushchev’s plane, pilot I. A. Zamorin, claims that Nikita Sergeevich’s son saved his life by exposing his car to the armor-piercing blow of the Fokker, which crumbled right in front of the rescued man’s eyes.

Leonid's wife Lyubov Sizykh was arrested shortly after his death on charges of espionage. Among her acquaintances were numerous wives of foreign diplomats, and she herself allowed herself to go to a restaurant in the company of the French consul. After the arrest of his daughter-in-law, Nikita Khrushchev adopted his granddaughter Yulia, but the girl’s half-brother was sent to an orphanage. And even when he ran away and appeared on the threshold of the apartment where Nina Kukharchuk and her children lived in Kuibyshev, Anatoly was still returned to the shelter.

Until the age of 17, Yulia considered Nikita Sergeevich and Nina Petrovna her parents. She graduated from the Faculty of Journalism of Moscow State University, worked at the Press Agency, and later headed the literary department of the Ermolova Theater. She defended the honor and dignity of her grandfather at all levels, when, already in the post-perestroika period, hard-hitting programs and articles about him began to appear. She died in 2017 after being hit by a train.

The daughter of Nikita Khrushchev and Nina Kukharchuk, Rada, was born two years after their first girl, Nadezhda, died. Rada graduated from the Faculty of Journalism of Moscow State University, and while still a student she married her classmate Alexei Adzhubey, who later became editor-in-chief of the Izvestia newspaper. Having come to work for the magazine “Science and Life”, I decided to get a second higher education and graduated from the Faculty of Biology of Moscow State University. Having gone through all the steps of the career ladder, she became deputy editor-in-chief and worked at Science and Life until 2004.

The second son of Nikita Sergeevich at one time graduated from the Moscow Energy Institute, became a rocketry designer, defended his doctoral dissertation and received the title of Hero of Socialist Labor. In 1991, he was invited to the United States to give a course of lectures on the history of the Cold War. There Sergei Nikitovich was offered profitable terms for work and life. He decided to stay in America forever.

True, after emigrating, he no longer studied science, but became a political scientist. Nowadays he is a professor at the Institute of International Studies and lives in Providence.

Nikita Sergeevich’s youngest daughter was very ill almost from childhood. At that time, they did not yet know how to treat systemic lupus, but Elena desperately fought her disease. She worked at the Institute of World Economy and International Relations and was married. She died at 35, a year after her father's death.