People continue to believe: the connection between Vladimir Lenin and Inessa Armand was not fruitless

Every year, late at night, someone brings armfuls of carnations there and lights candles...

Gennady Charodeyev, Marijampole - Moscow

According to local historians, the captain of the Red Army, Andrey Armand, is the illegitimate son of... the leader of the world proletariat, Vladimir Lenin, and the fiery revolutionary Inessa Armand. The city authorities also insist on this, frankly, a sensational version, which has repeatedly stated that "they have documents attesting to the direct relationship of a Soviet officer to the names of two famous revolutionaries".

Who was actually buried in 1944 in a distant Lithuanian outback?

Krupskaya lost love

Getting to Marijampole from Vilnius is quite difficult - only minibuses go there twice a day. Hearing that a journalist from Moscow was interested in the grave of "Lenin's son," the driver of the "Rafik" grumbled disappointedly in broken Russian: "This is also news to me: everyone here has known this for a long time!" For many years, Nadezhda Krupskaya, "a faithful party comrade" and wife, walked hand in hand with Lenin. In conjugal devotion to a common cause, it was quite difficult to discern even a drop of love. But even Lenin in the end turned out to be powerless before the main human passion. Today it is no longer a secret for anyone that only thanks to Inessa Armand Ilyich managed to experience such moments of human joy that neither work, nor family life, nor power, nor revolution brought him.

Lenin and Krupskaya met Armand in 1909 in Paris. Historians are unanimous in opinion: all three had a strong sympathy for each other. Over time, Lenin began to experience more complex feelings for Inessa. Yes, he fell in love like a boy!

Armand turned out to be the complete opposite of Krupskaya. Nadezhda is shy and prim. Inessa is amorous and windy. Krupskaya could not have children, did not know how to cook, and preferred solitude to a noisy company. At the time of their acquaintance, Inessa had five children from two marriages, was an excellent housekeeper and was the soul of any company. Armand did not tolerate any hypocrisy or reticence. Her flared love for Ulyanov turned out to be passionate, impetuous and bright. According to party comrades, their romance "resembled a comet sweeping away everything in its path." At the same time, Nadezhda Konstantinovna adequately experienced her husband's hobby, trying not to sink to everyday scenes of jealousy and scandals. Although once, during the Polish period of emigration, in October 1913, she nevertheless raised the issue of divorce.

Krupskaya was beside herself when her husband and Armand played music for hours or ran away with her from home to the forest for a long time. One fine day, Armand, without explaining anything to anyone, hastily left Ulyanov's house. Evil tongues even then said that Inessa Fedorovna tried to hide the pregnancy in this way. According to rumors almost a century ago, having moved to Paris, Armand allegedly gave birth to a child from Lenin, who was named Alexander (according to another version, Andrey).

By the way, not one of the comrades in the struggle subsequently confirmed this fact in their memoirs, but did not deny it either. Be that as it may, a break occurred between Lenin and Armand, which both were painfully experienced. Inessa wrote to Ilyich from France:

“We parted, we parted, dear, with you! And it hurts so much. Only now I realized what a great place you here, in Paris, occupied in my life... Then I loved you very much. I would still do without kissing, just to see you, sometimes talk to you..."

Inessa's health was undermined in exile and prisons. But she died, having contracted cholera, in the Caucasus, where Vladimir Ilyich had sent her in 1920. Lenin and Krupskaya attended the funeral. Eyewitnesses recalled that it was scary to look at the leader, from grief he was literally on the verge of fainting.

The chairman of the Council of People's Commissars laid a wreath at the grave with the inscription: “Comrade. Inessa from V. I. Lenin".

The secret of love is buried here

“We have documents that give grounds to believe that Lenin’s son Andrey Armand is buried here”, - insisted the heads of the Marijampole Monument Protection Service, - It is also known that Captain Andrey Armand was seriously wounded in 1944 in battles with the Nazis near Vilkaviskis and died in a local hospital. Here he was buried.

Official documents of the war times really say that "the buried Andrey Alexandrovich Armand (1903-1944) is the son of Inessa Armand and Vladimir Ulyanov. Today these papers are kept in the city administration of Marijampole. But how this entry appeared in the registration book in the regional center, none of the locals can explain.

Ksavera Kitaite, a former radiologist at the local hospital, lives in Marijampole. She came to the grave of Andrey Armand very often together with her friend Honorata, who for many years headed the excursion bureau.

“She told me more than once that the son of Inessa Armand and Vladimir Lenin was buried in a mass grave”, - Kichaite recalled. - Once Honorata introduced two women from Russia, who introduced themselves as the wife and daughter of Andrey Armand. They, too, I remember well, talked about their relationship with Lenin.

“In April, flowers are brought to the mass grave, probably because they believe: the secret of the love of Lenin and Armand is buried here”, - suggested a representative of the Monument Protection Service of the Marijampole self-government. - But many are confused by the patronymic of Andrey Armand, carved on the monument - Aleksandrovich. We believe that Inessa Fedorovna gave her son the patronymic of her first husband and thus protected Lenin from unpleasant explanations with Krupskaya.

It is interesting that the military cemetery in Marijampole was visited several times by people who called themselves “relatives of Andrey Armand”. Between themselves, they allegedly spoke French, and were accompanied by KGB officers. And in the early 1990s, a whole delegation from Russia came here. The residents of Marijampole claim that the Russians begged the local authorities to allow them to open the grave in order to take DNA samples from the remains of the Guard of Captain Armand. But they were refused.

At the cemetery, attention is drawn to the fact that a separate monument was erected only to the Guard Captain Armand. A faded photograph on stone is almost impossible to see. Only the contours of an oblong male face with lush, most likely red hair have been preserved. It was not possible to establish the location of the original photograph.

And more about Inessa

It is known that Inessa Armand had five children. Alexander. He served in the Red Army. After the Civil War, he was in diplomatic work. From 1928 to 1964 he worked at the All-Union Thermal Engineering Institute in various positions. The further fate is unknown. Fedor. He was a pilot. Participated in the civil war. Member of the CPSU (b). Nothing else is known. Inessa. Party member since 1917. In 1918 she was elected secretary of the Youth Union of the City District of Moscow. From 1923 to 1931 she worked at the USSR Permanent Mission in Germany. Later she was an employee of the People's Commissariat for Foreign Affairs. Until 1961 she worked at the Institute of Marxism-Leninism under the Central Committee of the CPSU, in recent years - in a publishing house. Vera. She studied at the Higher Art and Technical Institute. From 1927 she worked at the Krasny Tekstilshchik factory as the head of the rationalization department. From 1938 she was engaged in decorative arts. The further fate is unknown. Andrew. There is no information in the archives.

Expert opinion

For a comment, "NI" turned to A.A. Alekseyev, scientist-historian, writer, author of books about Lenin.

- To answer the question of who Andrey Armand is, one must remember the fate of his mother - Inessa (Eliza) Fedorovna Armand. She was born on May 9, 1874 in Paris. Her father, Theodor Stefan, was a renowned opera singer. Mother, Natalie Wild, is a housewife. After the death of her husband, she was left with three small children without funds. In search of a way out of the dire financial situation, the aunt (teacher of French language and music), together with Inessa, emigrated to Russia. In Moscow, the girl received a good education. The very gifted Inessa, fluent in French, English and Russian and an excellent piano player, became a home teacher for children from wealthy Moscow families. In October 1893, she married the son of a merchant of the first guild, owner of factories in the Moscow region, Alexander Armand. For eight years of marriage, Inessa gave birth to two boys (Alexander in 1894 and Fedor in 1896) and two girls (Inessa in 1898 and Vera in 1901). Living in complete harmony and understanding with Alexander, Inessa unexpectedly left in 1902 ... to her husband's younger brother, Vladimir. In 1903, she gave birth to her fifth child, a boy, who was named Andryusha.

But a long life with Vladimir did not work out. After Inessa's exile for political activity, he followed her, although he suffered from tuberculosis. In the north, my husband's illness sharply worsened. Vladimir Armand was forced to urgently move to Switzerland for treatment. Inessa, having escaped from exile, went to her husband. Alas, the doctors were unable to save him. In early January 1909, Vladimir died.

Having buried her husband, Inessa decided to move to her native Paris. Her first husband, Alexander, took care of all five children at that time in Russia.

Inessa first met Vladimir Ulyanov in Paris in the spring of 1909. Before that, these two people had never met. In the year of Lenin's acquaintance with Armand, Inessa's youngest son Andrey was already 5 years old. So they are mistaken in Marijampole: Vladimir Ilyich could never have been the father of Andrey Armand.

After many years of searching, I was able to establish that after the death of his mother on September 24, 1924, Andrey - not without the support of the chairman of the Council of People's Commissars Lenin - received a higher education. Until 1935, he worked as a mechanical engineer at the Gorky Automobile Plant, then moved to Moscow. At the beginning of the war, he volunteered for the front with the Moscow militia. In 1944 he became a member of the All-Union Communist Party of Bolsheviks and soon died heroically in the battles for the liberation of Lithuania. Now we know that the captain of the Red Army, Andrey Armand, is buried in Marijampolė.