Tag #147180 - Interview #77954 (Miron Manilov)

The Twentieth Party Congress [41] was where Khrushchev [42] exposed Stalin's cult of personality and his crimes. It was a shock to me. I had a good diction, and a baritone voice, so I was asked to read the text of Khrushchev's report at the general meeting of the teachers. I saw the text for the first time. I was given the brochure with the text a couple of minutes before the meeting for me to look through. The teachers were sitting at the desks, and I was reading the report from the pulpit. The teachers were sitting with bated breath like schoolchildren. Certain emotions were expressed on their faces. I could see what they felt.

I believed in everything told by Khrushchev and things were clear to me. At that time I came to understand what a dreadful role Stalin played in the history of our country, how many deaths he had on his conscience. Even the war could have been avoided if there had been another person in Stalin's place no matter what we used to think regarding the war which had been won due to him. Even if it couldn't have been admonished, it would have been won with much less casualties. So much sorrow was in our lives due to Stalin's anti-Semitism.