In the history of the Soviet state, Nikolai Sidorovich Vlasik is known as the head of the personal guard of Joseph Stalin, who devoted 25 years of his biography to serving the leader of the Soviet Union.
Childhood
Nikolai Vlasik was born in 1896 in a small Belarusian village in the Grodno province. Parents were peasants, the family lived very poorly. As a 13-year-old boy, Kolya had to go to work. He took up adult work in order to somehow help his parents, he was a laborer, a digger.
Nikolai Vlasik had no education, only three classes of study at a local church school. Despite this, he achieved great success in his career, made a significant contribution to organizing the security of leading government officials, in particular Joseph Stalin.
Military service
In the spring of 1915, the young man was called up to serve as an infantryman in the Ostrog regiment. For military distinctions during the First World War, Nikolai Sidorovich was awarded the St. George Cross. During the period of revolutionary actions, Vlasik went over to the side of the Soviets. He briefly worked in the metropolitan police, then joined the army. He fought heroically on the fronts of the Civil War, fought at Tsaritsyn, and commanded a company.
Career
Since 1918, Nikolai Sidorovich Vlasik began a rapid career growth. He joined the Bolshevik Party, served in the Cheka, later renamed the OGPU, held the position of senior department.
In 1927, a special security structure was created, headed by the operative Vlasik. Four years later, he became the personal bodyguard of Stalin and his family. When Stalin became a widow, Nikolai took upon himself the responsibility of raising his children, actively resolving everyday issues. He developed a special security system for the country's leader, in fact Vlasik was the leader's shadow. It is worth noting his idea of transporting government leaders in a cavalcade of similar-looking vehicles. Only the confidants knew in which of them the leader was.
End of career
Among Stalin's entourage, in addition to loyal people, there were also enemies. The main such "well-wisher" was Beria, Vlasik stood in his way. Beria organized conspiracies, collected incriminating evidence against Nikolai Sidorovich, did so to arouse Stalin's suspicions of his personal bodyguard. In turn, Vlasik devoted every second of his life to the security of the head of state.
Beria achieved his goal, and in the late spring of 1952, the leader transferred his personal bodyguard to the post of deputy head of a labor camp in the Urals. This was followed by arrest and imprisonment in the "Doctors' Case". After all, the head of the Kremlin guard ensured the "reliability of the professors", which treated members of the government. After long daily interrogations, Vlasik was sent to a colony for 10 years and deprived of his services to the Motherland.
A year after Vlasik's dismissal from the guard, Stalin died. Under the amnesty of 1953, the term of exile was reduced to half, and after another three years Nikolai was released.
Personal life
The general married in 1934 to Maria Semyonovna Kovbasko. Soon the couple had a daughter, Nadezhda. Nikolai paid little attention to his family, work was paramount. I rarely saw my wife and daughter. Often Vlasik had to spend the night in the next room near the leader's bedroom.
In addition to military service, Nikolai was fond of photography. His works are associated with relatives and friends of Stalin.
last years of life
Vlasik spent the last years of his life in the capital of Russia. Doctors diagnosed him with lung cancer and Nikolai Sidorovich left the world in 1967. At the end of his life, he wrote a book of memoirs, in which he shared with readers the milestones of his life and impeccable work. Despite all the hardships endured, Vlasik did not feel evil towards Stalin, but he could not understand why the leader, to whom he was truly devoted, put him into the hands of enemies.
33 years after Vlasik's death, the sentence was canceled. The daughters were returned the well-deserved titles and awards of their father, and the name of the general was rehabilitated.
