A Personal Lesson from Stalin's daughter

Written By: Jim Swanson  |  Posted: Monday, January 16th, 2012

            News of the death of Josef Stalin's only daughter on November 22nd stirred up many memories, both good and bad, to the older generation. Some would remember Stalin's aiding Hitler and then the Allies in World War II. Many recall his brutal purgings in the Soviet Union and his daughter's escape to America in 1967 followed closely by her best-selling book, Twenty Letters to a Friend. The book is a collector's item today. She succumbed to colon cancer in Richland Center, Wisconsin at age 85.

            Though going by Lana Peters, she was best known as Svetlana Alliluyeva. Svetlana had a troubled life, largely because she lived constantly in the shadow of her father. "He loved me and he wanted me to be with him and become an educated Marxist," she said in a 2010 interview. For those unfamiliar with that shadow, a quick snapshot of her father.

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