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# Artist Valery Yurlov recalls the crush at Stalin's funeral in Moscow
- URL: https://theparnassian.com/en/a-potom-kogda-stalina-khoronili-ia-prokhodil-mimo-groba/
- Published: 2025-03-06T10:00:07.000Z
- Updated: 2026-10-02T18:40:32.000Z
- Author: Alexandr Radayev
- Tags: Archive, Moscow, Society, People

And then, when Stalin was being buried, I walked past the coffin. There was a terrible crush, and I reached the coffin only because I walked over people's heads. Quite literally. I was with a friend, a former soldier, who knew the area very well, since he lived nearby. The main crush was from the Stanislavsky Theatre towards the House of Unions. But we came out of Stoleshnikov Lane. He said: "Shall we go over the heads?" And so we went straight over shoulders and heads, holding on to the walls. People simply stood there, frightened to death, with no idea what was happening. And they stood so tightly, head to head, that there was no other way to get through. But we did not go very far, three buildings, until we reached a cordon where lorries were parked, and there they were already letting people through calmly, two or three at a time. And we jumped down. Though I lost my shoes. It was March, and I was in my socks, wet and cold. I found some newspapers and wrapped my feet in them. But I walked past Stalin barefoot.

We went there because it was interesting to see. Moscow was absolutely empty: all the way to Red Square there was nobody, only lorries standing about. And in the lane a monstrous number of people had gathered; they could not move, because the line advanced slowly while new people kept coming and coming. I learned later that there was a crush on the Garden Ring side as well. I would have been crushed there. And I survived only thanks to my friend, a strong man who had been through the front.

*Recalled by the artist* [Valery Yurlov](https://theparnassian.com/vchera-v-zapadnom-kryle-novoi-tretiakovki-otkrylas-vystavka-nyne-zhivushchego-patriarkha-sovetskogo-nonkonformizma-valeriia-iurlova-opyty-umozreniia/?ref=theparnassian.com) *in an interview with* [Moskvich Mag](https://moskvichmag.ru/gorod/posle-vojny-moskva-byla-sovershenno-pustoj-hudozhnik-valerij-yurlov-o-moskve-1940-1990-h/?ref=theparnassian.com)