Tag #142316 - Interview #95224 (Ferdinand Chernovich)

Stalin’s death in March 1953 became a nation-wide sorrow. People were mourning as if their closest person died. People were crying in the streets, without hiding tears. I did not mourn over Stalin’s’ death. At that time I understood that he was not as good as he was deemed to be. I had fear though. Beriya came to power after Stalin’s death. I was confident that Jews would be even more fiercely persecuted and there would be dreadful times. But I was pleasantly disillusioned. Beriya gave an order to release arrested doctors-poisoners. Beriya was not at power for a long time. He was arrested as a state criminal and sentenced to capital punishment.