Stalin Endured Final Arctic Exile

Between 1902 and 1913, Georgian revolutionary Joseph Stalin was arrested seven times and exiled six times, escaping from exile five times. After his final arrest, authorities moved him to Kureika, a Siberian hamlet on the edge of the Arctic Circle, to prevent another escape. Over roughly the next two years, Stalin lived near Indigenous Tungus and Ostyak communities, joined them on fishing trips, and spent long periods in a one-man shelter on Polovinka Island. The February Revolution ended his Siberian exile in 1917.

Previous Fact Next Fact