On the anniversary of Lenin's death (January 21 1924 New Style) , I began to read about Vladimir Lenin (actual name Ulyanov) and fantastic facts and secrets soon emerged- I was interested of course because he is alleged to have directed the execution of the Romanov Family on July 16/17 1918. The actual killing was carried out by the Ural Soviet branch of Bolsheviks in Ekaterinburg, later named Sverdlovsk after the leader of that division, Jakob Sverdlov- the actual Commandant who led the firing squad was Yakov Yurovsky by telegrams indicate the orders came directly from Moscow and Lenin. I had not realized that there was an assassination attempt on Lenin only a few weeks later, on August 30, 1918- by a woman named Fanya Kaplan (far left) who was infuriated by the ouster of Kerensky's Provisional Government and called Len "a traitor to the revolution". Fanya shot and wounded Lenin seriously and was herself executed Sept 3, 1918 with a great deal of scathing publicity. it is also thought the neck and chest wounds contributed to his death 5 years later. second from left image is a painting of Lenin being shot by Fanya. Third photo is his wife Nadya, and last but not least, his mistress, Inessa Armand.
Back story:
One of Lenin's brothers,Alexsander, the eldest, was the first to be a militant Bolshevik and was part of an attempt to assassinate the Tsar Alexander III (Nicholas's father) on the exact anniversary of the successful assassination of Nicholas II's grandfather Alexander II (The Tsar Liberator), the Tsar who might have saved Russia from the revolutions had he been allowed to live. The brothers changed the course of history-not just Russia's but the world's. In a sense, the assassinations were a family affair. Lenin's older brother was caught, imprisoned and executed- woken in the middle of the night by his executioners- just as the Romanovs would be- and hanged by the neck until he strangled to death (this was prior to more humane method of hanging, with the trap door, which quickly broke the condemned man's neck. Lenin was 17, at the time and home alone with his young brother and sister. He was radicalized and soon joined militant Bolshevik organizations. The most amazing facts and secrets concern his ill health and romantic life, which may have been inter-connected. Lenin is said to have died from strokes brought on by syphilis. As his father died of a stroke, Lenin may have had a predisposition. He also suffered from two rare but terrible illnesses- Erysipelas (St.Anthony's Fire- a hideous and then potentially fatal fiery red facial rash) and a hearing condition, hypertussis, that was extremely painful, similar to Beethoven's in which ordinary sounds were amplified and defeated other sounds, such as music and conversation and were excruciating to have resounding in his head- all the time. Beethoven was also suspected of having syphilis, and this fits. Lenin's love life was complex: He married Nadya Krupskaya, of titled but impoverished parentage but lived with her in a menage a trois with the more comely mistress Inessa Armand. When Issen died in 1923, Lenin grieved and it was felt this loss accelerated his decline: he had his mistress buried in the Kremlin Wall. The Kremlin Necropolis included other notables- including Jacob Sverdlov, and as a centerpiece in a special monument tomb: Lenin himself, where he lies, famously rotting.
