Josef Stalin’s legendary 102-year-old doppelgänger body double, Felix Dadaev, who impersonated the Soviet leader in parades, motorcades, and even Yalta, has died
Josef Stalin’s legendary body double – who took the place of the Soviet dictator amid his fears of assassination – has died aged 102. Military actor Felix Dadaev impersonated the Soviet ruler after training by notorious secret service chief Lavrenty Beria to mimic the tyrant in every way.
The doppelgänger rose to the rank of Lieutenant General in the Red Army. He died this week and was buried at Podolsk, near Moscow.
Dadaev would take the place of Stalin in motorcades, newsreel footage and Red Square military parades. He was even flown as a decoy to the wartime conference at Yalta where Winston Churchill, Franklin Roosevelt and the Soviet leader plotted Nazi Germany’s downfall in World War II.
For decades Dadaev’s role was a state secret with only a handful of living officers knowing of his existence. He even kept his story from his wife and children fearing that disclosure of his secret mission would result in his execution.
Trained at Stalin’s personal request, his body double wore his trademark Red Army cap and heavy overcoat encrusted with medals, attending events across the USSR while the real dictator remained in the Kremlin.
There are widespread rumours that Vladimir Putin uses the same ploy, deploying trained lookalikes at key events.
Stalin – who ruled the USSR for a quarter of century until his 1953 death – was pathologically paranoid about being killed by plotters and political rivals. Some say Putin is stalked by the same fear.
Up to four Stalin doubles were deployed but Dadaev was the most famous, and the last lookalike secretly authorised as a stand-in.His role was only confirmed long after the collapse of the Soviet Union.
Dadaev, who was an “honoured artist” in the USSR, said: “Even when I was young my friends joked I looked like Stalin. By the time my make-up and training was complete, I was like him in every way – except perhaps my ears. They were too small.”
He made his mark as a talented dancer, juggler and illusionist but was sent to fight in the war.
After he was unmasked he said: “I was wounded in 1942 and my family were sent a note saying I had been killed in battle.
“I was one of seven ‘corpses’ delivered to the hospital but me and another guy were still alive. I’ve still got the note to this day, but of course my relatives thought I was dead throughout the war.”
Soviet secret services used the fact Dadaev was officially dead to their advantage. One evening in 1943 after a concert he was sent by a secret plane to Moscow.
He was delivered to a cottage near the capital where NKVD secret service chiefs explained what they wanted from him – to forge a new identity as Josef Stalin.
Speaking about how he was approached, he said: “I was flattered of course. Proud to look like the leader. Proud to think what my friends who teased me about looking like him when I was young would say now.”
Beria, Stalin’s feared chief of secret police, oversaw his transformation. He had to be “fattened up” to resemble the Kremlin monster.
Although in his early 20s, the impersonator said make-up and the effects of four years at war meant that he could still pass himself off as a 60 year old Stalin.
He said: “We had all experienced so much suffering during the war that I looked much older than I really was. I grew up early.”
For months he was prepared for his role, watching movies of Stalin and forced to perfect the mimicry, moves and intonations of his voice under the eagle eye of NKVD specialists.
He added: “Many were shocked with the resemblance. Later I reached absolute likeness in behaviour and voice imitation of Stalin. I had a make-up artist, but he couldn’t be with me all the time.
“So I learnt to do it all by myself. But that wasn’t the most difficult thing for me. My ability to copy Stalin’s manners, voice and walk was far more important.
“My height, voice and nose looked absolutely the same. It’s only my ears that look different, but my make-up did the rest.”
He came face to face with the real Stalin only once.
He revealed: “I only met him for five minutes. He smiled and gave me an approving nod and that was it. Stalin was very afraid of attempts on him, spies surrounded him.
“Every trip was thoroughly planned. For example, doubles were often substituted for the leader on the way to airport. Several cars were used to distract anyone watching. I often took those trips. I even marched instead of him down Red Square.
“It was a sportsman’s day parade. Everyone was sure it was Stalin himself.”
Fearing assassination by the Germans, as well as his own generals and the Americans, body double Dadaev was flown to Yalta for the famous “Big Three,” conference in February 1945.
Stalin, Churchill and Roosevelt determined the fate of post-war Europe and brought hostilities to a speedy end.
Dadaev said: “Two flights were arranged, with one of them aimed to distract everyone’s attention. At the set time I got into the car and was escorted to the airport.
“Nobody ever wrote about it, no one knows about it. I was a decoy to draw the attention of foreign intelligence.
“Stalin was already in Yalta. But it didn’t work. Two attempts were made in Yalta to kill the real Stalin. By then, I was back in Moscow.
“Our intelligence failed. Seven high ranking intelligence officers lost their posts. They were lucky to lose just that.”
For the latest breaking news and stories from across the globe from the Daily Star, sign up for our newsletter by clicking here .
#Stalins #body #double #dead #decades #paranoid #dictators #place
