Konstantin Kuzakov

Who was Konstantin Kuzakov?

Konstantin Stepanovich Kuzakov was possibly the illegitimate second child of Joseph Stalin. Konstantin's mother was Maria Kuzakova, who was Stalin's landlady during his 1911 exile in Solvychegodsk, with whom he had an affair. His mother was still pregnant when Stalin left his exile.

Konstantin was enrolled into Leningrad University, possibly with the discreet help of his father. In 1932, the NKVD forced him to sign a statement promising never to reveal the truth of his parentage.

For a while, he taught philosophy at the Leningrad Military Mechanical Institute. Afterward, he got a job in the Central Committee's apparat in Moscow. He served as a colonel during World War II. In 1947, while working for Andrei Zhdanov, a very close ally of Stalin, he and his deputy were accused of being American spies. While he was never officially introduced to his possible father, Konstantin claimed that on one occasion while working in the Kremlin he said, "Stalin stopped and looked at me and I felt he wanted to tell me something. I wanted to rush to him, but something stopped me. He waved his pipe and moved on." Although Stalin prevented his arrest, he was nonetheless dismissed from the Communist Party.