Konstantin Kuzakov Leningrad Military Mechanical Institute Alexander Svanidze Maria Alexander Konstantin arrest Great Purge
After Nadezhda's death, Stalin became increasingly close to his sister-in-law Zhenya Alliluyeva; Montefiore believed that they were lovers. There are unproven rumours that from 1934 onward he had a relationship with his housekeeper Valentina Istomina. Montefiore also claimed that Stalin had at least two illegitimate children, although he never recognised them as being his. One of them, Konstantin Kuzakov, later taught philosophy at the Leningrad Military Mechanical Institute, but never met Stalin. The other, Alexander, was the son of Lidia Pereprygina; he was raised as the son of a peasant fisherman and the Soviet authorities made him swear never to reveal that Stalin was his biological father. Stalin was also complicit with the persecution of several relatives of his former wives such as Maria and Alexander Svanidze who were arrested and eliminated during the Great Purge.
