One of the grandsons of Soviet leader Josef Stalin has been found dead in the Russian capital Moscow, ambulance officials say.
The body of Yevgeny Dzhugashvili, 80, was found close to his home in the city. The cause of death is unclear.
Mr Dzhugashvili was an outspoken defender of his grandfather's legacy, frequently using the courts to do so.
In 2015 he lost a case relating to the 1940 Katyn massacre of Polish prisoners at the European Court of Human Rights.
The court rejected a complaint brought by Mr Dzhugashvili over an article accusing the Soviet leader of being a "bloodthirsty cannibal".
Published in the Russian newspaper Novaya Gazeta, the article said Soviet leaders including Stalin were "bound by much blood" by ordering the execution of about 20,000 Polish prisoners of war at Katyn.
Mr Dzhugashvili argued that the article blackened his grandfather's reputation and was defamatory. He took his case to the European court after various courts in Russia threw it out.
31 comments
technically, Stalin wasn't cannibal, unless there is documentation I'm not aware of. I know that in other cases convicted criminals won libel suits against papers that claim they commit other crimes with no proof.
on the other hand, avoiding eating the victims is a very low bar, and there are enough other atrocities with Stalin's name on.
Mr Dzhugashvili argued that the article blackened his grandfather's reputation and was defamatory. He took his case to the European court after various courts in Russia threw it out.
While I can understand it is difficult acepting your greatfather was a murderous tyrant, I don't think suing persons for saying it will make things better.
@niv
technically, Stalin wasn't cannibal, unless there is documentation I'm not aware of.
The term "cannibal" could have been used as an homonym of "savage, barbarian."
I'm amazed anyone thinks Stalin has a reputation to defame any more. It's not even a new thing, party leadership was trying to distance itself from him the moment he was cold in the ground.
@niv
technically, Stalin wasn't cannibal,
There's a certain allowance for hyperbole, I think, especially when it's clearly being used as a rhetorical device and not a literal list of charges. And I don't know if there are any idiomatic meanings in Russian that don't translate well.
Mr Dzhugashvili argued that the article blackened his grandfather's reputation and was defamatory.
Yeah, even simply reporting facts tends to do that when you're a mass murdering tyrant. Pretty much the only way to not blacken his grandfather's reputation would be to completely lie about the things he did. Or maybe this ass would've liked to take his grandfather to court for ruining his own reputation.
@Uilleam
I'm a distant cousin of Donald Trump
Really?
@myself: that'll teach me to do maths while distracted.
Yevgeny Dzhugashvili reportedly died this year, aged 80. that would have him born in 19*36*, not 26.
Josif Dzhugashvili aka Stalin was born, claims wikipedia, in 1878. that would put 58 years between his birth and his grandson's, for a 29 year average generation gap; still not unreasonable.
and it's personally embarrassing that i can do this math better when inebriated than when sober.
@Senomaros
Yyyup. His mother was a Scotswoman of Clan MacLeod of Lewis, which happens to be the clan my own mother belongs to. I doubt he's a particularly close relative, hence "distant" cousin, but it's still close enough for me to occasionally contemplate phoning him up in 2017 and going "hey Don, it's your cousin from Mom's homeland, mind giving me a million quid?"
I know stalin did a lot of monsterous things, but he is still respected in many ( though certainly not all parts of Russia.) Strangely enough, I have several Russian freinds in the United States who still speak respectfully of him at the very least.I know you can't deny that he was an almost inhuman leader l, and certainly a tyrant, but is hard not to sympathise with a man whose grew up in the shadow of STALIN of all people,and who likely had to defend his families reputaion all throughout his life. At the very least Yevegeny's behavior may be understandable despite being wrong, and I'm certain people who make light of Stalins rule are not uncommon in Russia.
@Anon-e-moose : But... you forgot? That's the wrong murdering dictator you have there.
@Shepard Solus: I have to agree. I've never understood the idea that you have to stick by your family no matter what, even if they're objectively lousy people. (I'd make a bad Confucian, I guess.) I especially can't understand how anyone would think that would mean you'd have to defend their reputation against genocide .
@Jamaican Castle
Well, they haven't forgotten: thus they preserved Hitler's ultimate death factory as a memorial to the Six Million, and why the rest of the world must never forget; and not just what happened there .
What Stalin, as well as the likes of Pol Pot did.
Many years ago, I used to wonder why there were so many documentaries & series on WWII. These days, frankly, I'm glad there's so many; and more besides, since then.
There are some in this world who would do well to watch them. Dslugashvile i hasn't.
Yevgeny wasn't alone. There are actually lots of Russians who think Stalin was Father Christmas.
Russian government tries to make itself look reasonable and humane by admitting war crimes to old to do anything about, while lying about ongoing oppression and atrocities. Betcha by this afternoon Russia Today TV will be implying that the Black Sea plane crash was caused by "Western agents."
What is fundie about the news of someone's demise? The man himself may have had some particularly extreme views in life but this discusses none of them in detail beyond tragically misguided familial loyalty to a deservedly hated tyrant.
If this were a scathing critique of exactly which intolerant suppression of free thought the man defended in life I'd be less squeamish about kicking them while the topsoil settled but what is available is more guilt by association than anything else.
Respect the dead. We all join them some day.
@ Shepard Solus
Feels like kicking around somebody without the physical ability to fight back and that doesn't sit right with me. Everybody deserve a chance to defend themselves, even assholes. Even talking shit behind someone's back is more of a fair chance. For anyone that's never heard of this guy until learning he died not only is that a chance they've never given him but it's picking a fight specifically because he can't defend himself which is basically the definition of a bully. If you called him a shit when he was alive, sure, keep calling him that when he's dead but waiting like a vulture to peck a dead guy to oblivion when you learned he was dead before you learned what his opinions were is just a really shit way to go about it. The views separate from him? Sure, fair game. But you don't need to parade his corpse around to do it. If this post were about anything he said while alive rather than his death specifically that would be enough for me to consider it fair game but as it stands it's just empty gloating over the fact he's dead and not about idiocy he displayed in life.
@#2001532
Everybody deserve a chance to defend themselves, even assholes
Maggie Thatcher (*spit *). Joseph McCarthy. Josef Fritzl. Timothy McVeigh. Eric Robert Rudolph. Mao. Pol Pot. Kim Il-Sung/Jong-dead . Idi Amin. Saddam Insane. Hitler. Gaddafi. Castro. Stalin. To name but a few.
What was stopping them from being like Nelson Mandela? Because the victims of their unjustifiable thinking couldn't defend themselves, therefore inferior subhumans deserve everything they get. Even after death.
Justify being an asshole .
Thatcher (*spit *)? The basis of my more than infinite hatred of everything - and everyone - right-wing and/or tyrannical: Asshole . Ding Dong, the Witch is Dead. What was stopping her from being her diametric opposite: Barbara Castle?. As with Maggie (*spit *) I shall celebrate when Donald Fart & Mike Penis die.
What are you going to do about it?
What is stopping Wiggy from being the diametric opposite?
There's the actual 'Mandela Effect', especially in politics: not being an asshole.
@ Anon-e-moose I shall celebrate when Donald Fart & Mike Penis die.
They tell me it will happen, but they don't say when.
Confused?
So were we! You can find all of this, and more, on Fundies Say the Darndest Things!
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