For which Frunze was killed. How and why did the Soviet military leader Mikhail Frunze die? The version of the writer Pilnyak
85 years ago, Mikhail Frunze died on the operating table. The debate about whether the famous military leader was stabbed to death by doctors or whether he died as a result of an accident does not subside to this day. Frunze's mother was sure that her son was killed, her daughter thinks differently ...
“Mikhail Frunze was a revolutionary to the marrow of his bones, he believed in the inviolability of the Bolshevik ideals,- says Zinaida Borisova, head of the Samara House-Museum M. V. Frunze. - After all, he was a romantic, creative nature. He even wrote poems about the revolution under the pseudonym Ivan Mogila: “... the cattle will be driven away by the deceiving women from the fooled women by a dealer - a godless merchant. And a lot of energy will be wasted, the blood from the poor will be raised by a cunning businessman ... "
“Despite his military talent, Frunze shot at a man only once - at the sergeant Nikita Perlov. He could not send more to a person ", - says Vladimir Vozilov, candidate of historical sciences, director of the Shuisky Museum. Frunze.
Once, because of the romantic nature of Frunze, several hundred thousand people died. During the hostilities in Crimea, he had a beautiful idea: "What if we offered white officers to surrender in exchange for a pardon?" Frunze officially addressed Wrangel: "Whoever wants to - will freely leave Russia."
“About 200 thousand officers then believed Frunze’s promise,” says V. Vozilov. - But Lenin and Trotsky ordered to destroy them. Frunze refused to obey the order and was removed from command of the Southern Front. "
“These officers were executed in a terrible way,” continues Z. Borisova. - They were built on the seashore, each hung a stone around his neck and shot in the back of the head. Frunze was very worried, fell into depression and almost shot himself. "
In 1925, Mikhail Frunze went to a sanatorium - to heal a stomach ulcer, which tormented him for almost 20 years. The commander was happy - he gradually got better.
“But then the inexplicable happened,” says historian Roy Medvedev. - The council of doctors recommended going for an operation, although the success of conservative treatment was obvious. Stalin added fuel to the fire, saying: “You, Mikhail, are a military man. Finally cut out your ulcer! "
It turns out that Stalin gave Frunze such a task - to go under the knife. Like, solve this issue like a man! There is no need to take the bulletin all the time and go to the sanatorium. I played on his pride. Frunze doubted. His wife later recalled that he did not want to go to the operating table. But he accepted the challenge. And a few minutes before the operation he said: "I do not want! I'm fine already! But Stalin insists ... " By the way, Stalin and Voroshilov visited the hospital before the operation, which indicates that the leader was watching the process.
Frunze was given anesthesia. Chloroform was used. The warlord did not fall asleep in any way. The doctor ordered to increase the dose ...
“The usual dose of such anesthesia is dangerous, and the increased dose could be fatal,- says R. Medvedev. - Fortunately, Frunze fell asleep safely. The doctor made an incision. It became clear that the ulcer had healed - there was nothing to cut out. The patient was stitched up. But chloroform caused the poisoning. 39 hours fought for Frunze's life ... In 1925, medicine was of a completely different level. And Frunze's death was attributed to an accident. "
Naughty minister
Frunze died on October 31, 1925, he was solemnly buried in Red Square. Stalin, in a solemn speech, sadly complained: "It is too easy for some to leave us"... Historians are still debating whether the famous military leader was stabbed to death by doctors on the operating table on Stalin's orders or died in an accident.
“I don’t think my father was killed, - admits Tatiana Frunze, daughter of the famous military leader. - Rather, it was a tragic accident. In those years, the system had not yet reached the point of killing those who could interfere with Stalin. Things like this did not start until the 1930s. ”
“It is quite possible that Stalin had thoughts of getting rid of Frunze,- considers R. Medvedev. - Frunze was an independent man and better known than Stalin himself. And the leader needed an obedient minister. "
“The legends that Frunze was stabbed to death on the operating table on Stalin’s order were launched by Trotsky,- V. Vozilov is sure. - Although Frunze's mother was convinced that her son was killed. Yes, the Central Committee was then almost omnipotent: it had the right to insist that Frunze go to the operation, and to forbid him to fly in airplanes: aviation technology was then very unreliable. In my opinion, Frunze's death was natural. By the age of 40, he was a deeply sick person - neglected stomach tuberculosis, peptic ulcer. He was severely beaten several times during his arrest, during Civil war he was concussed by an exploding bomb. Even if there had not been an operation, most likely, he would have died himself soon. "
There were people who blamed not only Stalin for the death of Mikhail Frunze, but also Kliment Voroshilov - after all, after the death of a friend, he received his post.
“Voroshilov was a good friend of Frunze,- says R. Medvedev. - Subsequently, he took care of his children, Tanya and Timur, although he himself already had an adopted son. By the way, Stalin also had an adopted son. Then it was widespread: when a major communist leader died, his children passed under the care of another Bolshevik. "
“Kliment Voroshilov took great care of Tatiana and Timur,- says Z. Borisova. - On the eve of the Great Patriotic War Voroshilov arrived in Samara to our museum and in front of the portrait of Frunze handed Timur a dagger. And Timur swore that he would be worthy of his father's memory. And so it happened. He made a military career, went to the front and died in 1942 in battle. "
Mikhail Frunze was born in 1885 into the family of a petty bourgeois paramedic and the daughter of a Narodnaya Volya. The place of his birth is Pishpek (as Bishkek was called at that time). In 1904, Frunze became a student at the St. Petersburg Polytechnic Institute, after which he joined the RSDLP. On January 9, 1905, he took part in the procession led by Georgy Gapon.
A few months after this event, Frunze wrote to his mother: “Dear mother! Perhaps you should put an end to me ... The streams of blood shed on January 9 demand reckoning. The die has been thrown, I give my all to the revolution. "
Review of the sentence
Frunze did not live long, but his life could be even shorter. The fact is that in connection with the attempted murder of a police officer, the revolutionary was arrested and sentenced to be hanged. However, Frunze managed to avoid such an outcome: the case was reviewed, and the death penalty was replaced by hard labor.
The military prosecutor of the Moscow military district court wrote in 1910 to the head of the Vladimir prison where Frunze was held: “This very day I sent the prosecutor of the Vladimir district court a sentence in the case of Mikhail Frunze and Pavel Gusev, whose death penalty was replaced by hard labor: Gusev for 8 years, and Frunze for 6 years. In reporting this, I consider it necessary to add that, in view of some information, it seems advisable to make a special observation so that Frunze in one way or another does not escape or exchange names during any transfer from one prison to another. "
Mikhail Frunze. (wikipedia.com)
"Hard labor, what a blessing!" - could exclaim in this situation Frunze, if, of course, by that time this poem of Pasternak had already been written. The prosecutor's fears were not unfounded: a few years later, Frunze managed to escape.
Death Riddle
It is difficult to say what exactly caused the death - or still the death - of Mikhail Frunze. There are several versions, each of which researchers find both refutation and confirmation. It is known that Frunze had serious stomach problems: he was diagnosed with an ulcer and sent for surgery. They wrote about this in party publications, and confirmation was also found in the personal correspondence of the Bolshevik. Frunze told his wife in a letter: “I am still in the hospital. There will be a new consultation on Saturday. I am afraid that the operation will not be denied. "
The People's Commissar was not denied the operation, but it didn’t get any better. After the operation, Frunze came to his senses, read a friendly note from Stalin, to which he was sincerely delighted, and after a while he died. Either from blood poisoning, or from heart failure. However, there are discrepancies about the episode with the note: there is a version that Stalin conveyed the message, but Frunze was no longer destined to familiarize himself with it.
Source: wikipedia.com
Few believed in the version of accidental death. Some were convinced that Trotsky had a hand in Frunze's death - only a few months had passed since the first replaced the second as People's Commissar for Military and Naval Affairs of the USSR. Others have unequivocally hinted at Stalin's involvement. This version found expression in Boris Pilnyak's Tale of the Unquenched Moon. Circulation of the magazine " New world”, On the pages of which the work appeared, was confiscated. More than ten years later, Pilnyak was shot. Obviously, "The Tale of the Unquenched Moon" played an important role in his case.
Frunze was buried on November 3, 1925 with all the honors: his remains are buried in the necropolis near the Kremlin wall.
Frunze through the eyes of Brusilov's wife
In the diary of the wife of General Alexei Brusilov, you can find the following lines, written down a month after the death of Frunze: “I would like to write down for memory a few details about the deceased Mikhail Vasilievich. From a distance, from the outside, according to rumors, I know what an unfortunate man he was, and it seems to me that he is subject to a completely different assessment than his other "comrades" in crazy and criminal political nonsense. It is obvious to me that retribution, karma was clearly manifested in his fate. A year ago, his beloved girl, it seems, is the only daughter, through childish negligence, gouged out her eye with scissors. She was taken to Berlin for the operation and barely saved her other eye, almost completely blind. "
or Murder in the operating room "Kremlin"
Few of the old Bolsheviks - professional revolutionaries - managed to prove themselves in the art of war. Mikhail Vasilyevich Frunze became famous on the fronts of the civil war by merit, unlike, say, Budyonny or Voroshilov, who were made heroes by propaganda.
January 26, 1925 M.V. Frunze replaced L.B. Trotsky at the posts of Chairman of the Revolutionary Military Council of the USSR and People's Commissar for Military and Naval Affairs of the USSR, and in February 1925 he became a member of the Council of Labor and Defense of the USSR.
As soon as he became the head of the People's Commissariat for Military Affairs and the Revolutionary Military Council of the USSR, the editorial "New Russian Leader" was published in the English weekly "The Airplane".
Having highly appreciated the military past of Mikhail Vasilyevich, the anonymous author found the origins of the gift of the commander in his genealogy, since Frunze is a descendant of the soldiers of the Roman Empire and the Don Cossacks. "... Frunze's career attracts attention," wrote the author. - First of all, let's note his Romanian blood ... Romanians are proud of their origin from that colony, which in ancient times was the advanced post of the Roman Empire against the Scythian hordes. Therefore, it is likely that the Romanians are still able to give a great military "genius ... On the other hand, Frunze's mother was a peasant girl from Voronezh. Today Voronezh is the center of the region bordering on the territory of the Don Cossacks in southern Russia, and it can be assumed that the girl had Cossack blood, and therefore she inherited her fighting qualities. The combination of Roman ancestors with Cossack blood can very easily create a genius. " "In this man," the author concluded, "all constituent elements Russian Napoleon ".
The article was read at the Central Committee. According to B. Bazhanov, the article aroused Stalin's anger, he angrily criticized it “within the troika” (Stalin-Kamenev-Zinoviev).
However, it quickly became clear that the new People's Commissar did not want to be an unquestioning executor of Stalin's orders, but had an independent opinion about what the Red Army should be like.
By September 1925, the emphasis of reforms in the RKKA shifted towards the introduction of rigid one-man command. "The previous system of dual power, caused by political considerations," makes it difficult to put "at the head of our units people who have sufficient independence, firmness, initiative and responsibility," said Mikhail Frunze. - It is necessary "to have a single, completely equal command staff, not dividing it in official relations into party members and non-party members."
Everyone knew that Frunze had been complaining of stomach pains for several years.
Stalin was unexpectedly interested in this.
On October 8, 1925, the participants of the council convened by order of the Politburo, chaired by the People's Commissar of Health of the RSFSR N.A. Semashko, having examined the commander, recommended surgical intervention. A letter from Frunze to his wife, who was then undergoing treatment in Yalta, has survived: “Well, at last the end of my ordeals has come. There will already be a telegram in my hands, notifying of its results. Now I feel absolutely healthy and even somehow funny not only to go, but even to think about the operation ... "
An old friend and long-term colleague of Frunze I.K. Hamburg recalled: “I persuaded Mikhail Vasilyevich to abandon the operation, because the thought of it oppresses him. But he shook his head in the negative:“ Stalin demands an operation; he says that we must once and for all get rid of stomach ulcers. I decided to go under the knife. C this business is over.
Hamburg writes: “I left the hospital that day with a heavy feeling, with some kind of anxiety. This was my last meeting with Frunze. performed an operation on him. The anesthesia had a bad effect on him, he did not fall asleep for a long time. I had to increase the dose. The heart could not withstand the large dose of anesthesia, and after a day and a half it stopped beating. On October 31 at 5:40 am MV Frunze died. " (Hamburg I. So it was ... - M., 1965, p. 182).
The newspapers of the Soviet Union mournfully reported:
“On the night of October 31, the chairman of the Revolutionary Military Council of the USSR, Mikhail Vasilyevich Frunze, died of heart paralysis after an operation. The USSR lost in the person of the deceased an experienced leader of the revolutionary people, seasoned in a revolutionary struggle, it lost a fighter who, all his life, from an underground circle to fierce battles in the civil war, was in the most dangerous and advanced posts.
The army and navy lost one of the best experts in military affairs, the organizer of the armed forces of the Republic, the direct leader of the victory over Wrangel and the organizer of the first victorious strike against Kolchak.
In the person of the deceased, a prominent member of the government, one of the best organizers and leaders of the Soviet state, descended into the grave "...
On November 3, 1925, Frunze was escorted on his last journey. Stalin delivered a short eulogy, remarking in passing: "Perhaps this is exactly what is needed for the old comrades so easily and so simply to descend into the grave."
In just three years, he will begin to send old comrades into exile, prisons and mass graves, first in hundreds, then in thousands and tens of thousands.
At the same time, this slip of the tongue - as it should be - was not even noticed.
But the shock of the death of one of the most famous party and state leaders caused bewilderment among many who remembered comrade Arseny in the underground and revolution, fought under his command in the civil war.
ON. Semashko at a meeting of the board of the Society of Old Bolsheviks in mid-November 1925, answering questions about the death of Frunze, said that the composition of the council was determined by the medical commission of the Central Committee of the RCP (b). Doctor V.N. Rozanov considered the operation completely unnecessary, but after a call to the Politburo, where Secretary General I.V. Stalin explained to him the need for radical treatment of the People's Commissariat for Military Affairs and stopped resistance.
According to V.D. Topolyansky in the essay "The Death of Frunze":
"V.N. Rozanov was assisted by Professor I.I. Grekov and A.V. Martynov, anesthesia was performed by A.D. Ochkin. The operation was attended by employees of the Kremlin's medical and sanitary department P.N. Obrosov, A.M. Kasatkin, A. Yu. Kanel and L.G. Levin. Anesthesia was given for 65 minutes. The patient had difficulty falling asleep before the operation and did not tolerate anesthesia well. For general anesthesia, they initially used ether, but then, due to sharp and prolonged excitement, they switched to chloroform anesthesia. They were able to start the operation only after half an hour. The operation lasted 35 minutes. Surgical intervention, judging by the surviving documents, was limited to revision of the abdominal organs at Frunze and dissection of part of the adhesions. No ulcers were found. There is no need to talk about an inept and negligent operation. In connection with a drop in pulse, they resorted to injections that stimulate cardiac activity, after the operation they fought with heart failure, in which a surgeon from the department of B.I. Rozanov took part. Neumann and Professor D.D. Pletnev. But the therapeutic effects were unsuccessful. Frunze died 39 hours later. 10 minutes after his death, in the early morning of October 31, I.V. Stalin, A.I. Rykov, A.S. Bubnov, I.S. Unshlikht, A.S. Yenukidze and A.I. Mikoyan. Soon they again gathered at the body of the deceased in the anatomical theater of the Botkin hospital. The projector recorded: the underdevelopment of the aorta and arteries found during the autopsy, as well as the preserved thymus gland, are the basis for the assumption of the instability of the body in relation to anesthesia. " (Questions of history, 1993, no. 6).
How competent was the anesthesiologist Ochkin? After graduating from the medical faculty of Moscow University in 1911 and 3 years of internship in the department of V.N. Rozanova worked as a surgeon at the Soldatenkovskaya hospital, by 1916 he had grown to a senior resident. In 1919-1921. served in the 1st Cavalry Army as the chief physician of the hospital. In 1922 he was invited to the medical and sanitary administration of the Kremlin.
All the surgeons who operated on Frunze and who were present at the operation died suddenly during 1934. Martynov was the first to die "from sepsis" in January. Before his death, he chaired a regional conference of doctors in Moscow and the Moscow region. Grekov died on February 11 "due to a weakening of cardiac activity" right at a meeting at the Leningrad Institute for Advanced Medical Studies. In May 1934, Rozanov suffered pulmonary edema, in October he died of "heart failure" in 1935. Gramshi's widow, Y. Kanel, who was dismissed from the post of chief physician of the Kremlin hospital, died in February 1936. Her daughters and son-in-law were repressed in 1939 In August 1937 Obrosov was arrested. Levin and Pletnev were also arrested in 1937 and executed in March 1938 in the case of the "anti-Soviet Trotskyist bloc".
According to the author of one of the biographies of M.V. Frunze, surgeon V.N. Rozanov was assisted by Professor B.L. Ospovat. Remembering her, he categorically stated: “As for the double dose of chloroform, administered to Frunze for pain relief, these are rumors and - no more. It was I, and no one else, who injected chloroform. And not a double rate, but the minimum required by the patient for pain relief. Mikhail Vasilyevich died not from the administration of chloroform, but from the general blood poisoning that followed after the operation. This happened not on the operating table, but in the ward, in the absence of Rozanov. This discouraged him. After all, when he left after the operation to rest, nothing foreshadowed trouble. Operation was successfully completed. Everything indicated that Frunze was saved. Will live and work. And when Rozanov was told that Frunze was bad, he immediately followed to the ward. But it was already too late "...
Data on Stalin's involvement in the death of the People's Commissar pushed B.A. Pilnyak to the creation of "The Tale of the Unquenched Moon". According to Pilnyak, the doctors knew for sure that his heart would not be able to withstand chloroform - it was almost no disguised murder. But on May 13, 1926, the Politburo of the Central Committee of the All-Union Communist Party (Bolsheviks) called his story "a malicious, counter-revolutionary and slanderous attack on the Central Committee and the party" and banned it.
According to historians R.A. Medvedev and V.D. Topolyansky, Frunze became one of the first Stalinist victims, discovering a long line of strange suicides, ridiculous poisoning, stupid deaths. Soon, under mysterious circumstances, Grigory Kotovsky, a friend of the People's Commissar, a revolutionary and a hero of the Civil War, was also killed. Frunze wanted to take him as his deputies.
Before the operation, Mikhail Frunze asked his visiting friends to transfer them to the Central Committee, so that he would be buried in Shuya.
His last will was ignored. The commander's grave, as you know, is located at the Kremlin wall on Red Square in Moscow.
Pictures from a photo album published in 1990:
Review of "Death in the operating room of the Central Committee" (Sergei Shramko)
Very important (necessary!) Memories - reminders for contemporaries and descendants ... "Near the tsar - near death" - they say among the people.
Frunze Mikhail Vasilyevich (party pseudonym - Arseny, Trifonych; born January 21 (February 2) 1885 - death October 31, 1925) - party, statesman and military leader, military theoretician. Chairman of the Revolutionary Military Council of the USSR and People's Commissar for Military and Naval Affairs. From 1904 to 1915, he was repeatedly arrested and exiled, twice was sentenced to death, after which he was commuted to life in exile for revolutionary activity.
During the Civil War, he was the commander of an army and a number of fronts. Since 1920 - commanded the troops of Ukraine and Crimea. Since 1924 - was the deputy chairman of the Revolutionary Military Council of the USSR, the people's commissar for military and naval affairs; along with this he was the chief of staff of the Workers 'and Peasants' Red Army and the Military Academy. Candidate member of the Politburo of the Central Committee of the Russian Communist Party (Bolsheviks).
Origin. early years
Mikhail Frunze, from the middle class, was born in the city of Pishpek (Kyrgyzstan) in the family of a military paramedic (father - Moldovan, mother - Russian). At the age of 12, the boy lost his father. His mother, left with five children, put all her efforts on their education. Mikhail graduated from high school with a gold medal. He entered the St. Petersburg Polytechnic Institute. Since 1904 - a member of the RSDLP.
Military and political activities
1916 - sent by the Bolsheviks to the Western Front, where he worked under the name Mikhailov in the institutions of the Zemsky Union, led the Bolshevik underground in Minsk. After the February Revolution, he was elected head of the people's militia of Minsk. 1917, August - appointed chief of staff of the revolutionary troops of the Minsk region, led the fight against the army on the Western Front.
In October, with a detachment of 2 thousand Shuya workers and soldiers, he took part in the October armed coup in Moscow. 1918, August - appointed military commissar of the Yaroslavl military district. He did a lot of work on the formation of the Red Army detachments and their training. He was the organizer of the suppression of a number of riots.
1919, February - Commander of the 4th Army, 1919, in May - June - in command of the Turkestan Army, and since March 1919, simultaneously commander of the Southern Army Group of the Eastern Front. During the counteroffensive of the Eastern Front, he carried out a number of successful offensive operations against the main forces, for which he received the Order of the Red Banner. 1919, July - commander of the troops of the Eastern Front, which liberated the Northern and Middle Urals. 1919, August 15 - commanded the Turkestan Front, whose troops completed the defeat of the southern group of Kolchak's army, took the South Urals and opened the way to Turkestan.
1920, September 21 - appointed commander of the newly created Southern Front and supervises the operation to defeat the troops in Northern Tavria and the Crimea, for which he is awarded the Honorary Revolutionary Weapon.
From December 1920 to March 1924, Mikhail Frunze was authorized by the RVSR in Ukraine, in command of the troops of Ukraine and Crimea, at the same time a member of the Politburo of the Central Committee of the CP (b) U and deputy chairman of the SNK of the Ukrainian SSR (since February 1922). For the defeat of the army of Wrangel, Petliura and the elimination of banditry in Ukraine, he was awarded the second Order of the Red Banner.
1924, March - Deputy Chairman of the Revolutionary Military Council of the USSR and People's Commissar for Military and Naval Affairs, and since April 1924 - simultaneously Chief of Staff of the Red Army and Chief of the Military Academy of the Red Army (later named after M.V. Frunze). 1925, January - Chairman of the Revolutionary Military Council of the USSR and People's Commissar for Military and Naval Affairs.
Personal life
The wife of Mikhail Frunze was named Sofya Alekseevna Popova (12.12.1890 - 4.09.1926, daughter of a People's Will). In the marriage, two children were born - daughter Tatyana and son Timur. After the death of their father in 1925 and their mother in 1926, the children lived with their grandmother Mavra Efimovna Frunze (1861 - 1933) 1931, after a serious illness of their grandmother, the children were adopted by a friend of their father Voroshilov, who received permission for adoption by a special by the resolution of the Politburo of the Central Committee of the All-Union Communist Party of Bolsheviks.
The mystery of Frunze's death
Frunze loved to drive fast: sometimes he gets behind the wheel himself or tells the driver to drive. In 1925, he had two accidents, and rumors were already circulating that it was no coincidence. The last of them happened in September: Mikhail Vasilyevich flew out of the car and hit a lamppost hard.
After the accident, the People's Commissariat of Military Affairs once again aggravated a gastric ulcer - he fell ill when he was in the Vladimir Central. Mikhail Frunze could not stand the subsequent operation. According to the official version, the cause of death is a combination of hard-to-diagnose diseases that lead to heart paralysis.
Few believed that this death was accidental. Some were sure that Frunze had a hand in death - only a few months had passed since the first replaced the second as People's Commissar for Military and Naval Affairs of the Soviet Union. Others have unequivocally hinted at Stalin's involvement.
A year later, the writer Boris Pilnyak puts forward a version that J.V. Stalin got rid of a potential competitor in this manner. By the way, shortly before the death of Frunze, an article was published in the English "Airplane" where he was called "the Russian Napoleon."
The party leadership learned about the article. According to the testimony of B.G. Bazhanov (Former secretary of Stalin), the leader of the peoples saw the future Bonaparte in Frunze and expressed his sharp discontent about this. Then he suddenly showed touching concern for Mikhail Vasilyevich, saying: "We absolutely do not follow the precious health of our best workers" whether not by force forced the commander to agree to the operation.
Bazhanov (and he was not the only one) believed that Stalin killed Mikhail Frunze in order to put his own man, Voroshilov, in his place. They say that during the operation, exactly the kind of anesthesia was used that Frunze could not bear due to the characteristics of the body.
Meanwhile, Frunze's wife could not bear the death of her husband: in despair, the woman committed suicide. He took up their children - Tanya and Timur.
Heritage
He carried out military reforms (reducing the size of the Red Army and building it on the basis of a mixed personnel-territorial principle). Author of military theoretical works.
The name of Frunze in Soviet times was borne by the capital of Kyrgyzstan (the former city of Pishpek, where Mikhail was born), one of the mountain peaks of the Pamirs, Navy ships, and a military academy. Many streets in cities and villages of the former Soviet Union, settlements were named after him.
« Mikhail Frunze was a revolutionary to the marrow of his bones, he believed in the inviolability of the Bolshevik ideals, - says Zinaida Borisova, head of the Samara House-Museum of M. V. Frunze... - After all, he was a romantic, creative nature. He even wrote poems about the revolution under the pseudonym Ivan Mogila: “... the cattle will be driven away by the deceiving women from the fooled women by a dealer - a godless merchant. And a lot of energy will be wasted, the blood from the poor will be raised by a cunning businessman ... "
I.I. Brodsky. "M. V. Frunze on maneuvers", 1929. Photo: Public Domain
“Despite his military talent, Frunze shot at a man only once - in police officer Nikita Perlov... He could no longer point a weapon at a person, ”says V Ladimir Vozilov, Candidate of Historical Sciences, Director of the Shuisky Museum. Frunze.
Once, because of the romantic nature of Frunze, several hundred thousand people died. During the hostilities in Crimea, he had a beautiful idea: "What if we offer white officers to surrender in exchange for a pardon?" Frunze officially turned to Wrangel: "Whoever wants to - will freely leave Russia."
“About 200 thousand officers then believed Frunze’s promise,” says V. Vozilov. - But Lenin and Trotsky ordered to destroy them. Frunze refused to obey the order and was removed from command of the Southern Front. "
“These officers were executed in a terrible way,” continues Z. Borisova. - They were built on the seashore, each hung a stone around his neck and shot in the back of the head. Frunze was very worried, fell into depression and almost shot himself. "
In 1925, Mikhail Frunze went to a sanatorium - to heal a stomach ulcer, which tormented him for almost 20 years. The commander was happy - he gradually got better.
“But then the inexplicable happened,” says historian Roy Medvedev... - The council of doctors recommended going for an operation, although the success of conservative treatment was obvious. Stalin added fuel to the fire, saying: “You, Mikhail, are a military man. Finally cut out your ulcer! " It turns out that Stalin gave Frunze such a task - to go under the knife. Like, solve this issue like a man! There is no need to take the bulletin all the time and go to the sanatorium. I played on his pride. Frunze doubted. His wife later recalled that he did not want to go to the operating table. But he accepted the challenge. And a few minutes before the operation he said: “I don’t want to! I'm fine already! But Stalin insists ... "By the way, Stalin and Voroshilov before the operation, they visited the hospital, which indicates that the leader was watching the process. "
Frunze was given anesthesia. Chloroform was used. The warlord did not fall asleep in any way. The doctor ordered to increase the dose ...
“The usual dose of such anesthesia is dangerous, and the increased dose could become fatal,” says R. Medvedev. - Fortunately, Frunze fell asleep safely. The doctor made an incision. It became clear that the ulcer had healed - there was nothing to cut out. The patient was stitched up. But chloroform caused the poisoning. 39 hours fought for Frunze's life ... In 1925, medicine was of a completely different level. And Frunze's death was attributed to an accident. "
Naughty minister
Frunze died on October 31, 1925, he was solemnly buried in Red Square. Stalin, in a solemn speech, sadly complained: "It is too easy for some to leave us." Historians are still debating whether the famous military leader was stabbed to death by doctors on the operating table on Stalin's orders or died in an accident.
“I don’t think my father was killed,” admits Tatiana Frunze, daughter of a famous military leader. - Rather, it was a tragic accident. In those years, the system had not yet reached the point of killing those who could interfere with Stalin. Things like this did not start until the 1930s. ”
“It is quite possible that Stalin had thoughts of getting rid of Frunze,” considers R. Medvedev. - Frunze was an independent person and better known than Stalin himself. And the leader needed an obedient minister. "
“The legends that Frunze was stabbed to death on the operating table by Stalin’s order were launched by Trotsky,” V. Vozilov is sure. - Although Frunze's mother was convinced that her son was killed. Yes, the Central Committee was then almost omnipotent: it had the right to insist that Frunze go to the operation, and to forbid him to fly in airplanes: aviation technology was then very unreliable. In my opinion, Frunze's death was natural. By the age of 40, he was a deeply sick person - neglected stomach tuberculosis, peptic ulcer. He was severely beaten several times during his arrest, during the Civil War he was concussed by an exploding bomb. Even if there had not been an operation, most likely, he would have died himself soon. "
There were people who blamed not only Stalin for the death of Mikhail Frunze, but also Kliment Voroshilov- after all, after the death of a friend, he received his post.
“Voroshilov was a good friend of Frunze,” says R. Medvedev. - Subsequently, he took care of his children, Tanya and Timur, although he himself already had an adopted son. By the way, Stalin also had an adopted son. Then it was widespread: when a major communist leader died, his children passed under the care of another Bolshevik. "
“Kliment Voroshilov took great care of Tatiana and Timur,” says Z. Borisova. - On the eve of the Great Patriotic War, Voroshilov arrived in Samara to our museum and in front of the portrait of Frunze handed Timur a dagger. And Timur swore that he would be worthy of his father's memory. And so it happened. He made a military career, went to the front and died in 1942 in battle. "
