Nadezhda Alliluyeva-Stalina

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Nadezhda Sergeyevna Alliluyeva (Надежда Сергеевна Аллилуева) (1901 – November 9, 1932) was the second wife of Joseph Stalin.

Nadezhda was the daughter of revolutionary Sergei Alliluyev and his wife Olga. She first met Stalin as a child when her father Sergei Alliluyev offered him shelter upon his escape from prison in 1908. After the revolution, Nadezhda worked as a confidential code clerk in Lenin's office. She eschewed fancy dress, make-up and other trappings that she felt un-befitting of a proper Bolshevik. The couple married in 1919, when Stalin was already 41 years old. According to her close friend, Polina Molotov, the marriage was strained, and the two constantly fought.

After a public spat with Stalin at a party dinner, Nadezhda was found in her bedroom, a revolver by her side, dead by apparent suicide, though some accounts claim that the firearm was much larger, supporting claims that Stalin murdered her after the argument. She is much loved by some Russians; her grave at Novodevichy Cemetery is often covered in flowers. Her grave has also been vandalized, however, probably by enemies of her husband.

Her daughter Svetlana Alliluyeva later emigrated from the Soviet Union and became a noted author.