Death in the Kremlin

Come to our free lecture and consider: did Stalin kill ‘Iron Felix’ Dzerzhinsky?

‘Iron Felix’ Dzerzhinsky - the infamous creator of the Soviet secret police, Lenin’s fearsome enforcer and the man who represented the last powerful impediment to Stalin’s seizure of power.

Was his death really the striking pattern of coincidence that it seemed or was a hidden predatory artist spinning the web?

• Speaker: Dr Iain Lauchlan
• Date/time: Thursday 29 August 2013, 2-3pm
• Venue: Meadows Lecture Theatre, School of History, Classics and Archaeology, Doorway 4, Old Medical School, Teviot Place, Edinburgh EH8 9AG.

Synopsis

This lecture explores the controversy surrounding the sudden demise of ‘Iron Felix’ Dzerzhinsky in 1926.

Dzerzhinsky was the infamous creator of the Soviet secret police, Lenin’s fearsome enforcer and the man who represented the last powerful impediment to Stalin’s seizure of power.

His death in the Kremlin had all the elements of a great theatrical production: timing, location, cast, murder, mystery and a twist in the tale.

It also had a significant beginning, middle and end, as all good stories should (though not necessarily in that order).

The events could almost have been scripted. In fact many observers found it difficult to believe that such a striking pattern of coincidence, portent and symbolism had been woven by accident alone and suspected that some hidden predatory artist was spinning the web.

Re-thinking the past

This lecture will show how new information from the Russian archives, including Dzerzhinsky’s autopsy report, reveals the identity of the stage manager of this death in the afternoon.

Free - no booking required

Seats will be allocated on a first-come-first-served basis.