Fact # 1Joseph Stalin, whose real name was Ioseb Besarionis dze Jughashvili, was born in the city of Gori, Georgia in December 1879.
Fact # 2
As a young rebel, Ioseb Jughashvili, received the nickname Koba, the name of a famous Georgian bandit and rebel, before taking the name Stalin.
Fact # 3
The Russian word stalin means 'man of steel'.
Fact # 4
The Russian city of Volgograd, changed its name to Stalingrad during the tyranny of Stalin, city that returned to its original name in 1961.
Fact # 5
As a young man Stalin studied to become a priest, but was expelled from the seminary along with 20 of his comrades for "revolutionary activities".
Fact # 6
In 1903 Stalin joined the militant of the Bolshevik faction, Vladimir Lenin (the Bolsheviks would later call themselves Communists).
Fact # 7
The titles Stalin acquired during the years of his dictatorship were "Father of the Nations," "Brilliant Genius of Humanity," "Great Architect of Communism," and "Gardener of Human Happiness.
Fact # 8
The Soviet Union suffered more loss of life (20 million) during World War II than any other nation.
Fact # 9
But it lost more people due to political purges, hunger and disappearances (estimated between 30 and 35 million deaths during Stalin's reign of terror). The population of the former Soviet Union is now smaller than when Stalin began to rule.
Fact # 10
There has not been a dictator in the history of humanity who has caused so much suffering to his own people as is the case with Stalin.
Fact # 11
From 7 to 10 million people died from famine in Ukraine, intentionally provoked after 1932. This event is now known as the "Holodomor.
Fact # 12
Approximately 20 million people died in the Gulag prison camps.
Fact # 13
The average survival in the prison camps was one winter.
Fact # 14
Entire families were sent to prison camps (including babies and other small children).
Fact # 15
In Stalin's time it was a motive for arrest to refuse to become a spy against your friends and family.
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