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Government

Declassified: FBI Reveals How It Kept Tabs on Stalin’s Daughter After She Moved to Wisconsin

Nov. 19, 2012 11:24pm
FBI Releases Documents on Stalins Daughter Lana Peters, Svetlana Alliluyeva

An undated photo shows Soviet dictator Josef Stalin with his daughter Svetlana Alliluyeva. Alliluyeva, who changed her name to Lana Peters. (AP Photo/Courtesy Icarus Films)

(TheBlaze/AP) — Newly declassified documents show the FBI kept close tabs on Soviet dictator Josef Stalin’s only daughter after her high profile defection to the United States in 1967, gathering details from informants about how her arrival was affecting international relations.

The documents were released Monday to The Associated Press under the Freedom of Information Act following Lana Peters’ death last year at age 85 in a Wisconsin nursing home. Her defection to the West during the Cold War embarrassed the ruling communists and made her a best-selling author. And her move was a public relations coup for the U.S.

One April 28, 1967, memo details a conversation with a confidential source who said the defection would have a “profound effect” for anyone else thinking of trying to leave the Soviet Union. The source claimed to have discussed the defection with a Czechoslovak journalist covering the United Nations and a member of the Czechoslovakia “Mission staff.”

“Our source opined that the United States Government exhibited a high degree of maturity, dignity and understanding during this period,” according to the memo, prominently marked “SECRET” at the top and bottom. “It cannot help but have a profound effect upon anyone who is considering a similar solution to an unsatisfactory life in a Soviet bloc country.”

FBI Releases Documents on Stalins Daughter Lana Peters, Svetlana Alliluyeva

Svetlana Alliluyeva, only daughter of late Russian dictator Josef Stalin, steps off a plane at Kennedy International Airport in New York on April 21, 1967 after defecting from the Soviet Union. Upon her arrival she said, “I have come here to seek the self-expression that has been denied me for so long in Russia.” (AP Photo)

When she defected, Peters was known as Svetlana Alliluyeva, but she went by Lana Peters following her 1970 marriage to William Wesley Peters, an apprentice of famous architect Frank Lloyd Wright. Peters said her defection was partly motivated by the Soviet authorities’ poor treatment of her late husband, Brijesh Singh, a prominent figure in the Indian Communist Party.

“I have come here to seek the self-expression that has been denied me for so long in Russia,” she reportedly said upon arriving in the States.

Another memo dated June 2, 1967, describes a conversation an unnamed FBI source had with Mikhail Trepykhalin, identified as the second secretary at the Soviet Embassy in Washington, D.C.

The source said Trepykhalin told him the Soviets were “very unhappy over her defection” and asked whether the U.S. would use it “for propaganda purposes.” Trepykhalin “was afraid forces in the U.S. would use her to destroy relationships between the USSR and this country,” the source told the FBI.

FBI Releases Documents on Stalins Daughter Lana Peters, Svetlana Alliluyeva

(Photo: AP)

An unnamed informant in another secret memo from that month said Soviet authorities were not disturbed by the defection because it would “further discredit Stalin’s name and family.”

Stalin, a dictator held responsible for sending millions of his countrymen to their deaths in labor camps, led the Soviet Union from 1924 until his death in 1953. Stalin’s successor, Nikita Khrushchev, denounced him three years later as a brutal despot.

And even though Peters denounced communism and her father’s policies, Stalin’s legacy haunted her in the United States.

“People say, `Stalin’s daughter, Stalin’s daughter,’ meaning I’m supposed to walk around with a rifle and shoot the Americans,” she said in a 2007 interview for a documentary about her life. “Or they say, `No, she came here. She is an American citizen.’ That means I’m with a bomb against the others. No, I’m neither one. I’m somewhere in between.”

Another FBI source, reporting on a 1968 May Day celebration in Moscow, said “the general feeling” is that she defected “because she was attracted by the material wealth in the United States.”

FBI Releases Documents on Stalins Daughter Lana Peters, Svetlana Alliluyeva

(Photo: AP)

George Kennan, a key figure in the Cold War and a former U.S. ambassador to the Soviet Union and Yugoslavia, advised the FBI that he and Alliluyeva were concerned Soviet agents would try to contact her, a December 1967 memo reveals. The memo notes that no security arrangements were made for Peters and no other documents in the file indicate that the KGB ever tracked her down.

Many of the 233 pages released to the AP were heavily redacted, with the FBI citing exemptions allowed under the law for concerns related to foreign policy, revealing confidential sources and releasing medical or other information that is a “clearly unwarranted invasion of personal privacy.”

FBI Releases Documents on Stalins Daughter Lana Peters, Svetlana Alliluyeva

Lana Peters is photographed on a rural road outside of Richland Center, Wis., in 2010. (Photo: AP)

An additional 94 pages were found in her file but not released because the FBI said they contain information involving other government agencies. Those pages remain under government review.

More than half of the pages released to AP were copies of newspaper articles and other media coverage of her defection.

In one somewhat humorous exchange, a person whose name was redacted wrote directly to then-FBI Director J. Edgar Hoover asking that Hoover forward a letter on to “Joe Stalin’s daughter.” The author tells Hoover he can feel free to censor, alter or delete any portion of his letter to her as needed.

“I believe, Svetlana has given us (FREE NATIONS) the greatest opportunity to enlighten (and educate) the RUSSIAN people (and also those within the Communist controlled nations), as to what they are losing in continuing their impossible, or unacceptable present governmental system of Administration,” the letter to Hoover said.

The file contains Hoover’s terse three-sentence response denying his request, saying the FBI does not forward mail.

“I trust you will understand,” Hoover wrote.

Here is 1967 video of Peters speaking about her struggle with communism, and how, when she looked around her, the results weren’t as promised “theoretically.”  She also denounced her father’s murderous actions, but said the regime and the “ideology” as a whole should be blamed:

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Comments (26)

  • hades3
    Posted on November 20, 2012 at 11:08am

    Let me guess who was concerned about her defection effecting our “good’ relations with the Soviet Union, in the midst of the cold war. Only one weak, spinless grooup of leftist beuracrats would have these concerns, the same entity that stood by while Americans were slaughtered in Benghaz, the State Department. Too this day, they still bow too the enemies of the US.

    Report this comment

    hades3  
  • oldincarolina
    Posted on November 20, 2012 at 9:14am

    She is responsible for her life and her father is responsible for his . Leave her alone , unless she breaks the law.

    Report this comment

    oldincarolina  
  • fgarvin
    Posted on November 20, 2012 at 9:07am

    SO WHAT COUNTRY CAN WE NOW DEFECT TOO???? Her Dad murdered and maimed Russia like no other paranoid, ftard socialist and his daughter moves to the country they hated the most – USA – just to get away from her Dad’s screwups. So where are Barry and Michele’s girls going to move too?

    Report this comment

    fgarvin  
    • 702TruthSeeker
      Posted on November 20, 2012 at 12:32pm

      if my dad was responsible for deaths of millions of people i’d have a hard time ….. breathing… if you’re thinking of defecting, highly recommend australia

      Report this comment

      702TruthSeeker  
  • fgarvin
    Posted on November 20, 2012 at 9:01am

    Stalin was one sick, screwed up human being. I hope that diseased gene pool has been dissolved. Humans are NOT gods. But Stalin did do one thing very well – he brutally purged his government. We could learn those techniques from him.

    Report this comment

    fgarvin  
  • TROONORTH
    Posted on November 20, 2012 at 8:38am

    And didn’t Hitler have relatives in New York? Wonder if they got together to discuss the ‘good old days’ under a socialist dictatorship?

    Report this comment

    TROONORTH  
  • Gonzo
    Posted on November 20, 2012 at 8:34am

    A large portion of the 30 and under crowd in this country think communism is a viable alternative to capitalism. It’s amazing how quickly the left was able to rewrite history.

    Report this comment

    Gonzo  
  • jungle J
    Posted on November 20, 2012 at 7:48am

    only the sane understand…the rest are out killing, creating strife in the name of liberalism and or pretending to be good citizens

    Report this comment

    jungle J  
  • Ron Staiger
    Posted on November 20, 2012 at 7:22am

    Wisconsin?? Hmmm, would have thought it would be Illinois.

    Report this comment

    Ron Staiger  
  • Rational Man
    Posted on November 20, 2012 at 3:06am

    If authorities were going to keep track of “Stalin’s Daughters” today, they would need to make a national database of registered Democrats. They would have their hands full, to say the least!

    Report this comment

    Rational Man  
    • Small_Al
      Posted on November 20, 2012 at 5:02am

      Didn’t Stalin’s daughter join the Democrat party? Read fresh political commentary at: http://smallcraftadvisorychronicles.blogspot.com

      Report this comment

      Small_Al  
    • Walkabout
      Posted on November 20, 2012 at 8:51am

      Why not keep track of her.?

      She could defect & trash the Soviet Union. then she could reconsider & trash America (her real objective). Not everyone who defects is on the up & up.

      She appears to have been sincere in her defection. I don’t know about her leaning left. I do know she hated to be brainwashed & coerced.

      How much she would fight nudging a la Crass Sunstreen is hard to tell. Did she write on the subject?

      Report this comment

      Walkabout  
  • Apple Bite
    Posted on November 20, 2012 at 2:37am

    Proof that Joesph McCarthy was correct on his stance. If you think for a second that she was the only one in this country with a communist background, you’re a damn fool to be led to slaughter.

    Report this comment

    Apple Bite  
    • Thatsitivehadenough
      Posted on November 20, 2012 at 5:23am

      Not only was he right, but his information, most of it, was long known by members of the government who did nothing about it. That’s because the level of infiltration was HUGE. That was 60 years ago. Barack Obama is the result of no one doing anything about it then. Read this book: “Blacklisted By History” The untold story of Senator Joseph McCarthy. It’s a real eye opener. You’ll never sleep easy again. Because as bad as you might think it is now, it’s even worse.

      Report this comment

      Thatsitivehadenough  
  • Alisterbane
    Posted on November 20, 2012 at 12:17am

    oh she s dead .thank obama .

    Report this comment

    Alisterbane  
  • Alisterbane
    Posted on November 20, 2012 at 12:12am

    stalins daughter votes in amerika . obama bless amerika.

    Report this comment

    Alisterbane  
  • The-Monk
    Posted on November 20, 2012 at 12:05am

    So “that’s” what happened to Wisconsin?????

    OK FBI, your distraction is over…. back to the important things.

    Report this comment

    The-Monk  
  • soybomb315_II
    Posted on November 20, 2012 at 12:03am

    you mean the FBI was able to keep tabs on people before the Patriot Act? Then why do we need the Patriot Act?

    Report this comment

    soybomb315_II  
  • barber2
    Posted on November 19, 2012 at 11:58pm

    I wonder if our young people, and even those of Obama’s age who were influenced by Marxist/ Communist professors have even a clue about what all of this so-called Marxist utopia was really like to life under ? People fled over the Wall and risked being shot in broad day light. Big Brother is Bad News. Unfortunately, our young have not a clue about this. The current MSM is still selling old, dysfunctional Communist stock.

    Report this comment

    barber2  
  • RepubliCorp
    Posted on November 19, 2012 at 11:56pm

    Obama’s nanny

    Report this comment

    RepubliCorp  
  • marine249
    Posted on November 19, 2012 at 11:50pm

    let’s find out what happened and
    who lied about Benchauze

    Report this comment

    marine249  

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