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Unlike many prominent figures of those times, Stalin never sought to protect his family from the war. In total, the leader had four children – two native sons and a daughter, as well as an adopted son.

Iosif sent his eldest son, Yakov, to the front right with the outbreak of war on June 22, 1941. The man did not manage to stay in battle for a long time – a month later he was captured by the Germans.

According to legend, the Fascists offered Stalin to exchange Yakov for the captured German officer Paulus, to which he replied that “one does not exchange soldiers for field marshals”. Stalin’s son spent two years in concentration camps before his psyche broke down and he tried to escape in the hope that he would be shot. And so it happened.

The youngest son, Vasily, built a brilliant career at the front, but his father was also strict with him. According to historians, the officer was offered the rank of general many times, but Iosif always crossed him off the list – he left him there only on the 12th time, considering that now his son was worthy of such an honour.

Source: Historical Facts, translated by Beorn And The Shieldmaiden