European Railroad Discussion > Marshall Stalin's Railway Carriage

Back in May I was in the Republic of Georgia on the Young Pioneer Tours Caucasus and Unrecognized Countries Tour. One of the places we visited in Georgia was Goris the birthplace of Ioseb Besarionis dze Jughashvili, later known as Stalin. Of course at the time of Stalins birth Georgia was part of the Czarist Russia. There is a fine museum honoring Stalin and amongst the collection is the railway carriage Marshall Stalin used during the Great Patriotic War. The car is open to the public a few hours a day and is well worth visiting.

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The second and third images are of Stalin's sleeping compartment and work area.

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His bath, dining and meeting table and car exterior.

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The photos are very interesting. In fact, I was quite surprised that this museum exists. I thought most people in former USSR were trying to forget him for the past six decades.
ALLEN

No. Not forgetting so much. My girlfriend's grandmother has a large photo of Stalin in her Moscow living room. Her second husband served in the Soviet Red Army while he was still the Soviet dictator. From what I can get from the translation, he still sees Stalin as a Russian hero. 

andersonb109 Wrote:
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> No. Not forgetting so much. My girlfriend's
> grandmother has a large photo of Stalin in her
> Moscow living room. Her second husband served in
> the Soviet Red Army while he was still the Soviet
> dictator. From what I can get from the
> translation, he still sees Stalin as a Russian
> hero. 

Stalin's defeat of the invading Germans caused many to look upon him fondly.
Unless they were one of the millions who were sent to the Gulags or were forcibly moved from one part of the Soviet Union to another because he didn't trust them.

Also keep in mind that Stalin was a native Georgian, and there is quite a bit of nationalistic support for him on those grounds alone.  Georgia was under tsarist rule, but Georgians were not Russians. 

(And even after 70 years spent together in the Socialist Worker's Paradise, they still aren't.)

Remember also that the adoration of megalomaniacal lunatics is hardly unknown in most parts of the world!
Pretty well all revered leaders have had their psychopathic aspects.

The interesting thing must be his choice of train, and what was later done with it. I wonder of the UK royal train will end up like the royal yacht, Sovereign, (as a rather tacky tourist show in Edinburgh).

spflow Wrote:
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> Sovereign,.

Britannia

86235 Wrote:
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> spflow Wrote:
> --------------------------------------------------
> -----
> > Sovereign,.
>
> Britannia

Sorry - I knew it was wrong but I couldn't remember the correct name It just goes to show that I was brought up badly!

I hope I'm not being too churlish, however - there' s no doubt that Stalin was really a bad guy, but my brother (born in 1944) was named after him.

spflow Wrote:
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> there' s no doubt that Stalin was really a bad
> guy, but my brother (born in 1944) was named after
> him.

Joseph or Marshal?

86235 Wrote:
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> spflow Wrote:
> --------------------------------
> > there' s no doubt that Stalin was really a bad
> > guy, but my brother (born in 1944) was named
> after
> > him.
>
> Joseph or Marshal?

Marshal is a military rank. The British refer to it as Field Marshal. The French and the Russians just use Marshal.

SOO6617 Wrote:
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> 86235 Wrote:
> --------------------------------------------------
> -----
> > spflow Wrote:
> > --------------------------------
> > > there' s no doubt that Stalin was really a
> bad
> > > guy, but my brother (born in 1944) was named
> > after
> > > him.
> >
> > Joseph or Marshal?
>
> Marshal is a military rank. The British refer to
> it as Field Marshal. The French and the Russians
> just use Marshal.

Joseph of course! Come on, we're British! We don't use silly names like "Marshal".

(You can see that the end of summer flippancy has got to us)

spflow Wrote:
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> Joseph of course! Come on, we're British! We don't
> use silly names like "Marshal".

Just checking :-)

My late great uncle was William Ewart Gladstone Shinkfield so you never know what crazy names parents bestow on their off spring.

86235 Wrote:
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> spflow Wrote:
> ------------------------------------------
> > Joseph of course! Come on, we're British! We
> don't
> > use silly names like "Marshal".
>
> Just checking :-)
>
> My late great uncle was William Ewart Gladstone
> Shinkfield so you never know what crazy names
> parents bestow on their off spring.

Ah but at least he got to have a Met electric loco named after him.

> parents bestow on their off spring.

off spring or offspring?
:-)

Stas Wrote:
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> off spring or offspring?
> :-)

Typical trainspotter pedantry!

Really fascinating material. I came back to this thread and looked at the images once again. One shudders to think of the thoughts that man had, and the documents he signed at that desk, while on board this car. In all likelihood both actions that aided the Allies' cause during World War II and led to the defeat of the Axis, and that also sealed the fate of uncounted numbers who were "disappeared" to the gulags.....or to who knows what fate.

Truly remarkable to see these images so filled with a palpable sense of history. And one that can send a cold shiver down the spine.

Thanks so much for posting them.

MC
Muskegon, Michigan USA