Background
Allilueva, Svetlana was born in 1926 in Moscow. Daughter of Joseph Stalin and his second (Russian) wife, Nadezhda Sergeevna Allilueva.
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Svetlana Iosifovna Allilueva
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Career
Defected to the West in March 1967 from India, where she had been allowed to go with the ashes of her second husband, the Indian communist, Bradegh Singh. At the time her defection caused a sensation both in the West and in the Soviet Union. Burned her Soviet passport.
Condemned the Soviet authorities in a series of TV and newspaper interviews. Settled in Princeton, New Jersey. Wrote two books - Twenty Letters to a Friend, and Only One Year.
Disclosed her father’s private life, and that of his entourage in the Kremlin. Fell in love with Louis Fischer, a writer on Soviet affairs, a known womaniser and 30 years her senior (died in 1970). After the break-up with Fischer, went through a period of depression and loneliness.
In 1970 married the US architect William Wesley Peters and gave birth to a daughter, Olga, a year later. The marriage broke up in 1972. Moved to Cambridge, England in 1982 in order to send Olga to a local Quaker boarding school.
Felt very lonely and disillusioned with the West. In August 1984 returned to the Soviet Union, causing a second sensation. Took with her Olga, who spoke no Russian.
Was welcomed with enthusiasm by the Soviet authorities. Her Soviet citizenship was restored instantly. Soon discovered that her son’s letters to her were sent under Committee for State Security instructions.
Was made to live in the small Georgian town of Gori, her father’s birthplace, and not in Moscow where she had been born. Clashed with the Soviet authorities once more. Probably after Gorbachev’s personal intervention, was allowed to go back to America in November 1986.
Settled in Wisconsin, USA. November 1987.
