Page "Joseph Stalin" Paragraph 114

Stalin's son Yakov, whom he had with his first wife Ekaterina Svanidze, shot himself because of Stalin's harshness toward him, but survived.

After this, Stalin said " He can't even shoot straight.

" Yakov served in the Red Army during World War II and was captured by the Germans.

They offered to exchange him for Field Marshal Friedrich Paulus, who had surrendered after Stalingrad, but Stalin turned the offer down, stating " You have in your hands not only my son Yakov but millions of my sons.

Either you free them all or my son will share their fate.

" Afterwards, Yakov is said to have committed suicide, running into an electric fence in Sachsenhausen concentration camp, where he was being held.

Yakov had a son Yevgeny, who is recently noted for defending his grandfather's legacy in Russian courts.

Yevgeny is married to a Georgian woman, has two sons, and grandchildren.