marry again?

MONTEFIORE: Yes, then he married Nadia.

LAMB: I mean, but after that?

MONTEFIORE: No. There were a lot of stories that he married a Jewish wife, the sister of
Kaganovich, one of his closest -- closest colleagues who was Jewish. And this was put around by the Nazis.
But in fact, he was surrounded by Jewish women, you know, throughout the `30s, but he didn`t marry again.
He started an affair with his sister-in-law after Nadia`s death and when that finished he then began a secret
affair with his housekeeper, Valechka.

LAMB: How was it secret and when did you find out about it?

MONTEFIORE: Well, that`s fascinating. I mean, no one had really -- no one had really found out
much about Valechka, but in fact she was a smiling, easygoing, very discrete peasant womanwho adored
Stalin and she looked after Stalin`s -- all his appetites, his daughter said. She looked after his cooking, she
looked after -- she folded up his underwear, which she was very proud of. He liked everything kept very
tidy. He ironed his tunics, and she was always smiling, and she never discussed politics with him unless he
asked her.

And there were various moments in the history of this amazing country when he did actually
consult Valechka. For example, when he was about to leave Moscow in October, 1941, great moment,
decisive moment of the war, and a moment which could have changed the whole history of our time. He
said to her, "what do the common people say, Valechka, what is everyone saying, should we leave
Moscow?" She said, "absolutely not," she said. And