“THE DOCTORS’ PLOT” AND N.S. KHRUSHCHEV’S REPORT ON STALIN’S CULT OF PERSONALITY AT THE 20TH CONGRESS OF THE CPSU

The article examines the validity of the accusations against I.V. Stalin of organizing and falsifying the “doctors’ plot” of 1953, made in the report of N.S. Khrushchev at the 20th Congress of the CPSU. The article shows that Khrushchev’s arguments did not have any documentary evidences and, in essence, did not correspond to reality. Khrushchev slandered the doctor of the Kremlin hospital, L.F. Timashuk, actually presenting her as a snitch who sent false information to Stalin. Currently known documents suggest that the doctors and professors who participated in the treatment of A.A. Zhdanov, a member of the Politburo of the Central Committee of the VKP(b), did not just make a medical mistake in making a diagnosis, but purposefully shortened his life.