Is it true that Stalin apologized to Leo Zilber for his arrest?

The story is popular on the Internet that Stalin, handing the virus to Lev Zilber a prize of his name, personally apologized to him for his arrest and camps. We checked the reliability of this information.

Many authors consider the story of Stalin's apology to the brightest detail in the biography of Leo Zilber, which is reflected in the headlines of articles about him: ""Zilber, who defeated Stalin","How Stalin asked for forgiveness","Soviet scientist who personally apologized to Stalin"Etc. Texts about the confrontation of Zilber and Stalin, especially Popular on Facebook, where they recruit Hundreds And thousands reposts. Most publications say that in 1945, “Stalin personally apologized to the scientist and presented him with a prize of his name,” while some say that apologies were not personally brought, but in a letter from the Soviet leader.

Lev Zilber - a famous Soviet virologist and microbiologist, writer's elder brother Benjamin Kaverin. He suppressed flashes of typhoid fever in Dzerzhinsk, plague - In Nagorno -Karabakh and Ospa - in Kazakhstan, Studied tick -borne encephalitis. He was repeatedly arrested, and was always accused of trying to secretly infect the population with these dangerous diseases. The first two arrests were short -lived - colleagues and friends of the scientist managed to seek his release in just a few months. However, for the third time, in 1940, Zilber was still sent to the camps. Then the collective work about the encephalitis, in the work of which he took part, was presented to the Stalin Prize of the 1st degree, but the name of Zilber in the list of laureates, of course, was not. 

In conclusion, Zilber was “lucky” - he accepted the birth of the head of the camp, after which he was removed from general work and appointed the head of the infirmary (this story with reference to the oral stories of the scientist in the circle of friends is given in the book of the son of L. A. Zilber Lev Kiselev and Elena Levina "Lev Aleksandrovich Zilber, 1894–1966: Life in science"). So he was able to continue his scientific work - in particular, he invented the drug for Pellagra (illness developing from a lack of vitamins, which was suffered by almost all prisoners) from the lichen of the yagel (also known as “deer moss”), which was in abundance in the tundra, and also found a way to make alcohol out of the same lamb. After that he was transferred from a camp to Moscow, to Chemical sharashka (So ​​in colloquials called the research instructions and design bureaus, in which prisoners, engineers and equipment worked).

In parallel, all this time, Veniamin Kaverin, the ex -wife of Zilber, the creator of the first Soviet antibiotic Zinaida Ermoleva And his many colleagues continued to fight for the liberation of the scientist. The book of Kiselev and Levina gives the texts of several appeals they wrote to a variety of instances. However, the most important of them himself Zilber himself considered the letter addressed to Stalin personally. It was signed by nine laureates of the Stalin Prize, including an academician Nikolai Gamaley and chief surgeon of the Red Army Nikolai Burdenko. “The letter was transferred to the Kremlin at 10 a.m. on March 21 [1944], and on the same day, at the first hour of the morning, I was already free. It seemed clear that I was released by the direct order of I.V. Stalin, apparently, did not have time to prepare documents about the release, ”- He wrote Zilber in memories. However, then he added: “Many years later, I found out that this is not so. The letter of such prominent scientists made a commotion in the leading circles of the then KGB. It was probably not clear how I.V. Stalin would react to him. What if they get it. We decided to release and not transfer the letter to Stalin. This version was told to me by one of the military prosecutors, closely familiar with my business. But be that as it may, I was free. "

Authors of the book "Lev Aleksandrovich Zilber, 1894-1966: Life in science ”suggests that Nikolai Burdenko’s signature played a key role in the release of the scientist:“ He enjoyed the complete confidence of I. Stalin, in his working office there was a “turntable” - a direct wire to Stalin - the Supreme Commander, with whom the chief surgeon of his army could contact almost any time. <...> The fantastic haste with which Zilber was released can be explained by Beria’s fear, he knew that Burdenko could, on his own initiative, call the “turntable” and ask about Stalin’s reaction to the letter. Most likely, Stalin did not know anything about Zilber and his arrest, so the hit of such a letter directly to Stalin, and even more so Burdenko’s possible, could raise unwanted questions (“Why didn’t they agree?” Or “who ordered to arrest?”), So it was easier and safer to let Zilber out of the prison release, ”they write, saying that this is“ only an assumption, because this is just an assumption, because this "Operation" on the liberation of Zilber was most likely carried out only by oral orders. " 

This theory is indirectly confirmed by Kaverin's evidence. In the essay "The older brother"He writes that on the envelope of the very letter of Zinaida Ermolev (which was the initiator of his sending) indicated" Only one name: N.I. Burdenko. And this was a thoughtful step, because the commander in chief cannot but read the letters of the main surgeon of the army - on all fronts a general offensive. "

Contrary to what the authors of Internet publications write, the Stalin Prize Zilber received not in 1945, but in 1946. In 1945, he published a monograph "Epidemic encephalitis"(It was mostly written between his second and third arrests in 1939-1940), for which he was awarded the Stalin Prize of the 2nd degree. Resolution It was about it Published June 27, 1946. The solemn presentation of diplomas and honorary signs of the prize winners took place on October 21, 1946. As a rule Stalin prizes in the field of science, military knowledge and invention Handered Chairman of the Prize Committee Or his deputies, and this time was no exception. How Reported On that day, “Evening Moscow”, “Diplomas were awarded to the deputy chairman of the Stalin Prize Committee S.V. Kaftanov, Academician T. D. Lysenko and the scientific secretary of the Committee Professor K.F. Zhigach”. There are no information that Stalin was present at the ceremony in the press of those years. 

An apology from Stalin would be a rather noticeable event in the life of a scientist, and information about them would probably be preserved if not in his own memoirs, then in conversations with his brother. However, they have not a single mention of personal meetings with the leader, nor about the letters received from him. This story is not mentioned in the memoirs of friends and colleagues of Zilber, collected in the book “Lev Aleksandrovich Zilber, 1894–1966: Life in Science”. The earliest “verified” mention of Stalin’s apology was “verified” before Zilber is contained in Article of the Ukrainian magazine "Health of a child"published in the fifth issue for 2009. Unfortunately, the name of the author of this article in the archive of publications of the magazine is not indicated. 

Thus, evidence of Stalin’s apology to Leo Zilber - both oral and written - was not preserved either in the memoirs of the scientist himself, nor in his stories recorded by his brother, nor in the memoirs of his colleagues and scientists. Moreover, Zilber himself (with reference to a certain military prosecutor) believed that Stalin did not know about his conclusion and release.

Photo on the cover: Zilber in the laboratory. Fine from the book "Lev Aleksandrovich Zilber, 1894–1966: Life in Science"

Not true

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