The Mystery of Vladimir Bekhterev’s Death: What Happened to the Academician After the Conversation with Stalin
It is known from Russian history that most of the court physicians who treated Russian sovereigns were foreigners and ended their lives tragically. It is dangerous to heal kings. With the advent of Soviet power, the situation did not change. Less than 24 hours after V.M. Bekhterev gave Stalin a disappointing diagnosis of “paranoia”, the outstanding scientist mysteriously died.
Fatal Challenge
In December 1927, a congress of psychiatrists and neurologists was held in Moscow. One of the speakers was the director of the Institute for the Study of the Brain and Mental Activity, an outstanding Russian scientist V.M. Bekhterev. However, as soon as the medic arrived in the capital, he was unexpectedly summoned to the Kremlin. A well-known neurologist should have consulted J. V. Stalin about his worries about his withering hand. There was nothing unexpected in this challenge, since Bekhterev was a scientist recognized all over the world. In one of his works, he noted that suggestion and hypnosis could be used to successfully treat the withered, the paralyzed, and the pretended dead. Despite the fact that before the revolution Bekhterev was a privy councilor, major general of the medical service of the army of the Russian Empire, head of the Imperial Military Medical Academy, after the Bolsheviks came to power, he was not touched, allowing him to continue his scientific activities. Trust in the scientist was so high that Vladimir Mikhailovich, whose opinion was previously listened to by Nicholas II, was invited several times to Gorki to see the dying V.I. Lenin.
It is difficult to say how Stalin’s consultation with Stalin actually took place on that fateful December day, since they communicated one-on-one. Nevertheless, according to popular rumor, when Bekhterev was leaving the leader’s office, the word “paranoia” reached those present in the reception room. Obviously, during the consultation on neuropathology, the interlocutors smoothly moved on to the topic of psychiatry, and V.M. Bekhterev, who was distinguished by the rare feature of telling the truth to his eyes, gave J.V. Stalin a disappointing diagnosis, confirmed by time. Of course, it was impossible to leave alive a scientist who was able to divulge his conclusions about the health of Stalin, who was gaining political power. The chief’s fears were not unfounded. When Bekhterev arrived late for the congress, he recklessly declared as an excuse that he had watched a “dry-handed paranoid.” These words turned out to be fatal for the scientist.
Beware of stale sandwiches
Only 24 hours after his visit to Stalin, the scientist, who was in good health, suddenly fell ill and died. According to the official version of the incident, on the eve of his visit to the Bolshoi Theater, Bekhterev was poisoned, presumably by stale sandwiches. This was reported by Izvestia. According to the official article in the newspaper, V.M. Bekhterev, returning from the theater in the evening of December 23, 1927, felt unwell. The next day, Professor Buturmin was summoned to him, who stated a stomach disease. It is noteworthy that Buturmin’s closest colleague turned out to be the doctor of the Central Committee of the All-Union Communist Party (Bolsheviks) Pogosyants. It was during the forced operation with his participation to remove the ulcer of M.V. Frunze that the latter died under mysterious circumstances. Later, in a strange way, the People’s Commissar A.D. Tsyurupa, whose treatment was entrusted to Buturmin, left this light.
Returning to the suspicious death of Bekhterev, we would like to add that the diagnosis made by Buturmin looks rather unprofessional – just a stomach disease, without specification. What was it: gastritis, ulcer, colic, poisoning? Given the scientist’s quick death, it can be assumed that poisoning took place… Poison. Interestingly, the assembled council of Kremlin doctors unequivocally decided to give the body of the scientist to cremation: after this procedure, it is no longer possible to prove poisoning. This was done against the wishes of the scientist’s family, whose members were subsequently repressed.