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One Night in Winter

If your children were forced to testify against you, what terrible secrets would they reveal?Moscow 1945. As Stalin and his courtiers celebrate victory over Hitler, shots ring out. On a nearby bridge, a teenage boy and girl lie dead.But this is no ordinary tragedy and these are no ordinary teenagers, but the children of Russia's most important leaders who attend the most exclusive school in Moscow.Is it murder? A suicide pact? Or a conspiracy against the state?Directed by Stalin himself, an investigation begins as children are arrested and forced to testify against their friends – and their parents. This terrifying witch-hunt soon unveils illicit love affairs and family secrets in a world where the smallest mistakes can be punished with death.

Simon Sebag Montefiore

Историческая проза18+

Simon Sebag MontefioreONE NIGHT IN WINTER

To my parents April and Stephen and my son Sasha, the oldest and the youngest

Not a soul knew about it and … probably no one would ever know. He was leading a double life: one was undisguised, plain for all to see and known to everyone who needed to know, full of conventional truths and conventional deception, identical to the lives of his friends and acquaintances; and another which went on in secret. And by some strange, possibly fortuitous chain of circumstances, everything that was important, interesting and necessary for him, where he behaved sincerely and did not deceive himself and which was the very essence of his life – that was conducted in complete secrecy.

Anton Chekhov, ‘The Lady with the Little Dog’

<emphasis>List of Characters</emphasis>

Major characters are underlined; historical characters are marked with an asterisk*

THE CHILDREN AND THEIR PARENTSThe Romashkin family

Constantin Romashkin, scriptwriter and poet, married to:

Sophia ‘Mouche’ Gideonovna Zeitlin, film star

Serafima Romashkina, 18, their only child

Sashenka Zeitlin, Sophia’s cousin, arrested 1939, fate unknown

The Satinov family and household

Hercules (Erakle) Satinov, Politburo member, Central Committee Secretary, Deputy Chairman of the Council of Ministers, married to:

‘Tamriko’, Tamara Satinova, English teacher at School 801

Mariko Satinova, 6, their daughter

Satinov’s sons by an earlier marriage in Georgia:

‘Vanya’, Ivan Satinov, pilot, killed 1943

David Satinov, 23, pilot

‘George’, Georgi Satinov, 18

Marlen Satinov, 17, School Komsomol Organizer

Colonel Losha Babanava, Comrade Satinov’s chief bodyguard

Valerian Chubin, Comrade Satinov’s aide

The Dorov family

Genrikh Dorov, Chairman, Central Control Commission, and Minister of State Control, married to:

‘Dashka’, Dr Daria Dorova, Minister of Health, cardiologist

Their children:

Sergei Dorov, 20, army officer

‘Minka’, Marina Dorova, 18, schoolfriend of Serafima

Demian Dorov, ‘the Weasel’, 17, Organizer of Young Pioneers

‘Senka’, Semyon Dorov, ‘the Little Professor’, 10

The Blagov family

‘Nikolasha’, Nikolai Blagov, 18

Ambassador Vadim Blagov, his father, diplomat

Ludmilla Blagova, his mother

The Shako family

Rosa Shako, 18, schoolfriend of Serafima

Marshal Boris Shako, her father, Soviet Air Force Commander

Elena Shako, her mother

The Titorenko family

Vladimir Titorenko, 17

Ivan Titorenko, his father, Minister of Aircraft Production

Irina Titorenka, his mother

The Kurbsky family

Andrei Kurbsky, 18, a newcomer to the school

Peter Kurbsky, his father, Enemy of the People, arrested in 1938, sentenced to twenty-five years ‘without right of correspondence’

Inessa Kurbskaya, his mother

THE TEACHERS OF THE JOSEF STALIN COMMUNE SCHOOL 801

Kapitolina Medvedeva, Director (headmistress) and history teacher

Dr Innokenty Rimm, Deputy Director, political science/Communist morals teacher

Benya Golden, Russian literature teacher

Tamara Satinova, English teacher (see Satinov family above)

Apostollon Shuba, physical education teacher

Agrippina Begbulatova, assistant teacher

THE LEADERS

Josef Stalin,* Marshal, General Secretary (Gensec) of the Communist Party, Chairman of the Council of Ministers, Supreme Commander-in-Chief, the Master, the Instantsiya

‘Vaska’, Vasily Josefovich Stalin,* 24, his son, air force officer, ‘Crown Prince’

Svetlana Stalina,* 19, his daughter, student

Vyacheslav Molotov,* Foreign Minister, Politburo member

Lavrenti Beria,* secret policeman, Minister of Internal Affairs (NKVD/MVD) 1938–45, Deputy Chairman of Council of Ministers, Politburo member

Georgi Malenkov,* Politburo member

Andrei Vyshinsky,* Deputy Foreign Minister

‘Sasha’, Alexander Poskrebyshev,* Stalin’s chef-de-cabinet

Vsevolod Merkulov,* Minister of State Security (MGB)

Victor Abakumov,* Chief of Military Counter-intelligence (SMERSH: Death to Spies), then Minister of State Security (MGB)

THE GENERALS

Marshal Georgi Zhukov,* Deputy Supreme Commander

Marshal Ivan Konev*