Stalin's best kept secret

CNN Shqipëria has finally obtained a copy of an extremely rare document, one that for a long time was considered to be among the best kept secrets of the KGB. It is a letter written by Stalin sometime between 1951 and 1952. The date and the addressee have been erased from the original document, either by Stalin himself, or by some other authority in the KGB. Here is an English version of the original letter written in Russian.  

I am pe Korçe. My family name is Visari, but when we moved to Georgia, the Russians who worked in  government offices started to distort it. They called me Visaronovich. I didn’t like Visaronovich. I preferred Visari – which in Albanian means The Treasure. I was brought up to think of myself as a real treasure. Every time someone called me Visaronovich I refused to answer and insisted on my original name, Visari. But they wouldn’t listen, mostly the Russians, but also some Georgians and others. Georgians also called us Jugashvilli, because we came from the Jug, i.e. the south. I got really mad. They wouldn’t let me use my real name. I used to get home and tell my father: “S’të len’ të thuash as emrin tënd, bre, S’të len’.” (They don’t let me use my real name). My father laughed and said: “There is nothing you can do. S’të len”. From that time on, whenever I was asked my name, I yelled: “S’të len’.” Later on in life, when I got involved with the Communist movement, my comrades asked me: “What do you want us to call you?” I said: “S’të len.” They laughed and wrote that down as my name. From that time I became known as Stalin. That’s not exactly “S’të len”, but it was OK. It reminds me of who I am and who they are. Those Russians. No wonder so many of them ended up in gulags, or worse.

A copy of the original document

Joseph Vissaronovich Jugashvilli, Stalin                                                  CNN Shqipëria