
‘I’m Stalin’s daughter’ - jbeales
http://news.nationalpost.com/full-comment/1002-ed-weston-ex4
======
acqq
For the context, the books of Rosemary Sullivan:

[http://rosemarysullivan.com/books/](http://rosemarysullivan.com/books/)

Specifically, she isn't Stalin's daughter. She wrote a book about Stalin's
daughter Svetlana, called "Stalin’s Daughter," not "I'm Stalin's Daughter,"
the article title is certainly confusing.

"With access to FBI, CIA, and Soviet government archives, as well as the close
cooperation of Svetlana’s daughter, Rosemary Sullivan pieces together
Svetlana’s incredible life in a masterful account of unprecedented intimacy."

And it looks interesting.

------
mhartl
In a similar vein, I find it surreal to realize that Stalin's granddaughter is
alive and well and living in Portland, Oregon [1].

[1]:
[http://www.oregonlive.com/portland/index.ssf/2011/11/portlan...](http://www.oregonlive.com/portland/index.ssf/2011/11/portland_granddaughter_of_jose.html)

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jokoon
Not that it has a direct relationship with the article, but I'm watching The
Americans (the TV show), it's made by an ex CIA officer, and I have to tell,
the intelligence world is pretty scary. I can't comprehend how those couples
could live such lives. I can't see any other work that is so mind sucking.

Although I have no idea how really accurate that show is, and I really have to
look for clues about it.

~~~
walshemj
There where Soviet Illegals who hid in plain sight in both the USA and UK.

Any history of the cold war will cover them and the is of course the more
recent case Ana Chapman and the Illegal ring that got busted not that long
ago.

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aflyax
“The marine guard on duty was about to tell her the pretty, neatly dressed
woman that the embassy was closed when she handed him her passport. He
blanched…”

From what? Her name was Svetlana Iosifovna Alliluyeva. “Iosifovna” is not that
an uncommon patronymic because “Iosif” is not that an uncommon a name.

~~~
ptaipale
Couldn't a Soviet international passport contain the names of parents as well?
I am sure the domestic passport had that information.

For everyone in Soviet Union near the major population centers, a domestic
passport was necessary. And for instance any "enemy of the people" (as defined
by section §58 of Soviet penal code) status was recorded in not only the
passport of the said enemy, but also his/her children's passports.

[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Passport_system_in_the_Soviet_...](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Passport_system_in_the_Soviet_Union)

~~~
TazeTSchnitzel
Perhaps in her case the information was missing.

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peter303
It is common in history for a royal court to raise the princes and marry the
daughters of their enemies. The Persians (Story of Esther), Egyptians (Moshe),
Greeks (Helen), Romans (Herold), Mongols, Ottomans did this to name a few.
Integration, hostages, aslyum politics are a few reasons. Stalins daughter is
recent example in long tradition.

------
guard-of-terra
Children of high-ranking nomenclature didn't want to live in "their" country
and they don't want now.

Most of Russian parliament members, high-ranking officers and oligarchs keep
their families in London or Miami. Nobody in their right mind wants to live in
Russia.

That's where theories arise that Russia is just a cryptocolony of the UK and
been that for 100 years.

~~~
dang
> _Nobody in their right mind wants to live in Russia._

Xenophobic insults are not allowed on HN. You know this, since I've had to
tell you before. If you do it again we will ban your account.

~~~
swombat
Hey dang. Sorry for wading in, but it is a public conversation thread after
all...

Personally, I don't find that to be a xenophobic slur. If someone said "nobody
in their right mind wants to live in Switzerland" or said that about the UK
(the country I grew up in and the country where I live), I would not feel
offended, but ask why they say that and take that merely as a strong
expression of opinion. Then I would discuss the opinion rather than the
statement.

Now, that being said, I don't feel any particularly strong attachment to the
institution of countries, any more than I do to religions, various *-isms, or
even programming languages! It's a big varied world out there and each of
those things have their pros and cons. I do feel strongly attached to the
ability for people to debate things and discuss disagreements in a civil
manner, particularly when they disagree strongly. I do wonder if we should
defend the right of people to be protected from having their nationalistic,
religious or other types of beliefs challenged, albeit in a very mildly
offensive way...

I think the OP statement could have been phrased better but I personally don't
see it as a xenophobic insult. To me that would be more something along the
lines of "those damn Russians, they bring organised crime wherever they
emigrate!"

"Russia is not a nice place to live" (an equivalent statement to the OP's) is
just a statement of opinion about a place...

It is entirely your choice what you do as you are the one with the
responsibility as moderator of HN, and I don't know everything that you know,
but I thought I'd put my opinion out there, hopefully not in an offensive
manner. Please feel free to use or ignore it as you please. Thanks for
reading!

~~~
dang
You're missing the context, which is that this user has posted things like
"Russia is the stupidest country" in the past. If it had been an isolated
statement it would be different, but it was anything but. And HN is obviously
not the place for this.

(On a silly note, your example of Switzerland is amusing because that's the
country comedians use to make bigotry sound absurd, such as in
[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i2XTuc6i1Uo](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i2XTuc6i1Uo),
or Orson Welles' legendary cuckoo clock rant in the Third Man:
[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PT6TYisX9oA&t=11s](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PT6TYisX9oA&t=11s)).

~~~
ScottBurson
At first I agreed with swombat, but on reflection (and after digging up the
thread you're referring to) I think you have a point.

I think you need to spell it out in more detail, though. I would put it this
way to someone like guard-of-terra: It's fine to say that _you_ don't want to
live in Russia, and it's fine to explain why. The politics, the institutions,
the culture are all fair game. It's also fine to express _as an opinion_ your
opinion that a lot of Russians would rather live somewhere else. But attacks
on _people_ , even Russians in general, are not okay. So for example, "No one
in their right mind would want to live there" says that anyone who likes it
there is not in their right mind. That's a personal attack.

~~~
guard-of-terra
As I've already pointed out, there's a lot of "no one in their right mind" on
HN and it is not usually considered an insult.

~~~
dang
That doesn't address the point at all, because the meaning is in the thought
you expressed, not a fixed phrase. Consider the difference between "no one in
their right mind would want a four-hour commute" vs. "no one in their right
mind would marry you". The first is not a slur. The second very much is.

~~~
guard-of-terra
Now that you used that particular example, I can finally see your point.
Sorry. I'll try to find more correct wording.

~~~
dang
Thank you!

~~~
swombat
Collaborative communication - HN at its best :-)

------
eruditely
The writing style of this article was horrible, something about it made it
very difficult for me to pay attention.

~~~
canttestthis
I disagree. I thoroughly enjoyed every bit of it. :)

