Lenin in the Mausoleum: the secrets of the mummy of the great leader

2024 Author: Seth Attwood | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-16 15:55

Almost a hundred years have passed since the day of Lenin's death and the placement of his embalmed body in a mausoleum specially built for this right on Red Square. During this time, many myths and secrets arose around the mummy of the leader of the October Revolution and the entire historical object, some of which will try to unravel the Kramol portal.

Why was the Mausoleum created?

Initially, they wanted to keep the body of the deceased leader in good condition, at least for the duration of the farewell. For this, a mixture of alcohol, formaldehyde and glycerin was injected into his body through the aorta. This brought the desired effect, but the farewell to Lenin was delayed, the number of seeing his body increased, and the question arose of what to do next with the corpse, which gradually began to crack.

At a meeting of the Politburo dedicated to the fate of the leader's body, scientists Boris Zbarsky and Vladimir Vorobyov put forward a proposal to carry out chemical embalming, thanks to which it was possible to keep the corpse in a presentable

form for many years. This idea did not like a number of influential party leaders, its especially ardent opponent was Trotsky, who saw in this an analogy with the veneration of church relics. Nevertheless, in the end, the body was still embalmed, and placed in the Mausoleum, and every two years, specialists subject it to a special solution, due to which it is preserved in proper condition.

According to official Soviet historiography, the final decision on the mummification of Lenin and the construction of the Mausoleum was made at the numerous requests of workers and ordinary party officials. However, a more likely version is that they tried to impose on the Soviet people a kind of ancient Egyptian cult, where Lenin would be instead of the deified pharaohs. And to some extent he succeeded.

See also: Why did Lenin arrive in a sealed carriage?

Lenin could have been frozen

When the question arose of how to preserve the body of the leader, in addition to embalming, other options were put forward. For example, a member of the Central Executive Committee Leonid Krasin proposed to carry out cryogenic freezing of Lenin. Dzerzhinsky and Molotov liked this idea, but they had to abandon it because it was not possible to provide uninterrupted power supply to the freezer at that time. This meant that any power outage could actually lead to the destruction of the body.

Lenin was to be cremated

If the party leadership had not made the decision to embalm the leader's corpse, he would most likely have been cremated. Back in 1919, Ilyich issued a decree stating that it is preferable to cremate the deceased. Trotsky was also in favor of this option. If it were carried out, then the ashes would be placed in the Kremlin wall.

Why not traditional burial?

According to one version, Lenin bequeathed to bury him in the cemetery next to his mother. However, Vladimir Ilyich was excommunicated during his lifetime, so there was no way to bury him in the land in accordance with Christian traditions.

Where did Lenin's mummy go during the war?

At the very beginning of the Second World War, the body of the leader was evacuated to Tyumen and placed in the building where the Tyumen State Agricultural Academy functions today. As employees of the educational institution said, the move did not go to the benefit of the mummy, and she began to grow moldy. However, academician Zbarsky was able to save her from this misfortune, and she was safely returned to the Mausoleum in 1947.

There is not a real Lenin in the Mausoleum

One of the CNET experts, A. N. Kolymkov, having carried out a detailed criminal-portrait examination of the available photographs of the young leader and his body after embalming, came to the conclusion that they depicted different people.

A version was put forward that the replacement of Vladimir Ilyich could take place in Germany. They say that he did not agree to become the head of a coup d'etat in Russia, and then he was eliminated by sending back his agent. There is also an explanation for the famous Leninist burr, which was simply a manifestation of a foreign accent. However, in order to consider this theory consistent, it is necessary to have evidence that in his youth Lenin had no speech defects. And so far no one can provide such evidence.

More about this: Who is in the Mausoleum?

Is Lenin alive?

There is a recording made on a film video camera, which shows how Lenin's body makes a movement with his hand, and then completely rises in the sarcophagus, and then falls back. This recording aroused the interest of American paranormal researchers, who confirmed its authenticity. After that, many tales and conjectures appeared that Lenin's body had long been showing signs of life, and at night Ilyich was walking around the Mausoleum. Naturally, it is hardly worth taking them seriously.

Read also: History of Joseph Stalin's secret funeral