For years, people in Russia talked about how Joseph Stalin had a “twin” who took his place in some instances. The decoy eventually spoke up decades after Stalin died.
Felix Dadaev, who used to be a dancer and juggler, was sent to work at the Kremlin as Stalin’s body double. Dadaev stayed quiet for more than fifty years because he was afraid that if he spoke up, he would be put to death.
But in 2008, when he was 88 years old and the Putin government seemed to be okay with it, he eventually wrote his memoirs. It says that he was one of four individuals hired to imitate the supreme leader, standing in for him in motorcades, at rallies, in newsreels, and so on.
Dadaev was born in the mountains of Dagestan, which is in the Caucasus. When his family relocated to Grozny, Chechnya, he started taking ballet training.
He had to fight in World War II, and during the Soviet recapture of Grozny in 1942, he was so gravely hurt that his family thought he was dead. He was one of seven people who were taken to a hospital, but he and another man were still alive.
He did live, though, and that “death” marked the start of a weird double life. Soon, Soviet intelligence officers saw that he looked like 60-year-old Stalin (which got him bullied in school). They started employing him to protect the actual Stalin from murder plots and boring public events.
Dadaev was a lot younger than Stalin, who was in his 60s, but war and make-up made him look like he was in his 60s.
Dadaev recalled, “We had all been through so much pain that I looked much older than I was.” Dadaev went to rallies and meetings all around the Soviet Union wearing the leader’s signature Red Army cap and heavy overcoat covered with medals. Stalin personally asked him to train.
He watched movies and lectures by Stalin to get better at copying the way he moved and spoke. Some people think that Alexei Diky, Soviet actor who represented Stalin in propaganda movies, taught Dadaev and other body doubles for Stalin.
(Photo credit: Russian Archives).
No Comments