Comments on: "You can't regret your fate, although I do regret my mother didn't marry a carpenter."

"You can't regret your fate, although I do regret my mother didn't marry a carpenter."

zarq — Mon, 28 Nov 2011 14:16:22 -0800

Growing up, she was a beloved celebrity in her home country. Thousands of girls were named after her. So was a bestselling perfume. But Josef Stalin's "Little Sparrow," his only daughter, (born Svetlana Stalina) defected to the United States in 1967. Upon arriving in New York, she promptly held a press conference that surprised the world, denouncing her father's regime. Svetlana became a naturalized US citizen, moved to Taliesin West, married an American, changed her name to Lana Peters, then returned to the Soviet Union in 1984, declaring that she had not been free "for one single day" in the U.S., only to once again return to America in 1986. She lived out her remaining days in a small town in Wisconsin. Mrs. Peters passed away from colon cancer on November 22nd, at the age of 85.

Mentioned in several of the above links: the 2007 documentary film, Svetlana About Svetlana. Trailer. More. She wrote two bestselling autobiographies. The Wisconsin State Journal article included 3 images.

By: nadawi

nadawi — Mon, 28 Nov 2011 14:22:56 -0800

this is utterly fascinating and full of things i didn't know.

By: ocherdraco

ocherdraco — Mon, 28 Nov 2011 14:25:00 -0800

Agreed. Well done, zarq!

By: zarq

zarq — Mon, 28 Nov 2011 14:33:43 -0800

Thanks! I'm almost embarrassed to admit that I spent nearly an hour trying to find information on 'Svetlana's Breath' perfume online, and only came up with a few measly articles that mostly joked about what it probably smelled like: "Too many celebrity perfumes have already fallen by the wayside, not least Michael Jackson's Heartbeat – which appropriately enough has been discontinued – and Lost in Showbiz's all-time favourite celebrity scent, Svetlana Stalin's Svetlana's Breath, presumably advertised under the slogan "Feel Stalin's Breath on your neck, as indeed an estimated 1 million Russians did shortly before being executed in the Great Purge." ... "Anyone who pops a bottle of that into a woman's stocking this week, thereby drawing parallels between their partner and the Soviet dictator, is a brave man who'll probably spend the rest of the festive season in the shed with a Pot Noodle and a black eye."
I couldn't even find an image of the bottle, or an ad campaign! Google-fu fail.

By: infinite intimation

infinite intimation — Mon, 28 Nov 2011 14:36:48 -0800

Great post. Thank you. She always seems such a confusing character. If history is a flowing river full of twists and turns, constantly flowing and in flux, being written, rewritten, and over-written; Ioseb Besarionis dze Jughashvili (Georgia on my mind [the man from the backwater who tried and tried to show his world that he could be more Russian than Russians]), a family that nearly immeasurably altered the course many times, so many radical changes in the flow stemming from one source. What a fascinating figure from time.

By: the young rope-rider

the young rope-rider — Mon, 28 Nov 2011 14:40:06 -0800

Awesome! WOW. I love this kind of stuff. Should've saved it for December ;)

By: nadawi

nadawi — Mon, 28 Nov 2011 14:44:45 -0800

i've spent the last 20 minutes reading about her early life and then falling into a google/wiki hole about Olgivanna Lloyd Wright. and now i'm starting a wiki hole about Aleksei Kapler.

By: Knappster

Knappster — Mon, 28 Nov 2011 14:44:52 -0800

LIFE had a profile of Svetlana in 1967.

Once and once only did my father strike me, but immediately afterward he became apologetic and told me, "Now look, Svetlana, what you have done to me. You have made me behave like a beast."

By: Knappster

Knappster — Mon, 28 Nov 2011 14:51:26 -0800

And from the Sept. 15, 1967 issue, excerpts from her first memoir.

By: zarq

zarq — Mon, 28 Nov 2011 14:53:42 -0800

Knappster, those are fantastic! Thank you!

By: kiltedtaco

kiltedtaco — Mon, 28 Nov 2011 15:03:14 -0800

I'm confused. Taliesin West is a home built by Frank Lloyd Wright that was used by many of his architects. How did she move there?

By: zarq

zarq — Mon, 28 Nov 2011 15:07:15 -0800

Wikipedia has an explanation, but it's not properly cited.

By: timsteil

timsteil — Mon, 28 Nov 2011 15:18:11 -0800

By: philip-random

philip-random — Mon, 28 Nov 2011 15:18:22 -0800

METAFILTER: utterly fascinating and full of things i didn't know.

By: Mei's lost sandal

Mei's lost sandal — Mon, 28 Nov 2011 15:23:22 -0800

Wow that's very interesting, thanks. In the '70's at The Evergreen State College, we had a visiting speaker in architecture who was of Russian heritage, and who had lived and worked for many years at Taliesin West, though I cannot recall her name. All I can think is ??? According to the Wiki article there were many Russian connections there.

By: Capt. Renault

Capt. Renault — Mon, 28 Nov 2011 15:32:53 -0800

For a life which was probably doomed from the start, she did fairly well. Safe journey, Mrs. Peters.

By: mandymanwasregistered

mandymanwasregistered — Mon, 28 Nov 2011 15:38:19 -0800

Frank Lloyd Wright's second (I think) wife was Russian. I assume that's the connection. The "small town in Wisconsin" link has an interview with her where she talks a little about that.

By: spicynuts

spicynuts — Mon, 28 Nov 2011 15:41:22 -0800

Let's be honest... svetlana was his only LEGITIMATE daughter. We are talking about an ex-gangster/bank robber and a known lothario here

By: MCMikeNamara

MCMikeNamara — Mon, 28 Nov 2011 15:53:26 -0800

I'm almost embarrassed to admit that I spent nearly an hour trying to find information on 'Svetlana's Breath' perfume online, I hope it's only an "almost embarassed' -- I only wish I'd done something so interesting today. This is a truly great post -- definitely one for the "how did I not know this?" file -- and also the "there's only been ONE movie about her?" file. The screenplay writes itself before I even clicked a link.

By: stet

stet — Mon, 28 Nov 2011 15:54:43 -0800

. for Ms. Peters And now for a random anecdote: On a trip to the grocery store when I was about twelve or so, I met a woman staying with a neighbor of ours. She was wearing a Led Zeppelin shirt and, as most young women are to a twelve-year-old heterosexual boy, quite striking. My mother offhandedly mentioned that she was Stalin's granddaughter. Obvious horseshit it seemed, especially coming from the woman who assured me that the heat tiles on the space shuttle were literally held on with dried Cream O' Wheat cereal. Especially unlikely for someone in Madison, Wisconsin of all places. Given that the neighbor she was visiting was a friend and protege of Wright's who worked and studied at Taliesin... Dang. Myth confirmed. Also, I'm pretty sure my Mother bought me a bratwurst on that trip to the store as well. Memories.

By: ShutterBun

ShutterBun — Mon, 28 Nov 2011 16:00:18 -0800

: .

By: peacheater

peacheater — Mon, 28 Nov 2011 16:01:08 -0800

I'm confused. Taliesin West is a home built by Frank Lloyd Wright that was used by many of his architects. How did she move there? From the NYTimes article: But she seemed to find new vibrancy in 1970, when she married William Wesley Peters. Mr. Peters had been chief apprentice to the architect Frank Lloyd Wright and, for a time, the husband of Wright's adopted daughter. Wright's widow, Olgivanna Wright, encouraged the Peters-Alliluyeva marriage, even though the adopted daughter was Mrs. Wright's biological daughter from a previous marriage. That daughter was also named Svetlana, and Mrs. Wright saw mystical meaning in the match. The couple lived with Mrs. Wright and others at Taliesin West, the architect's famous desert compound in Scottsdale, Ariz. There, Ms. Peters began chafing at the strict communal lifestyle enforced by Mrs. Wright, finding her as authoritarian as her father.

By: kiltedtaco

kiltedtaco — Mon, 28 Nov 2011 16:06:47 -0800

Clears that up! Very interesting.

By: dhartung

dhartung — Mon, 28 Nov 2011 17:21:44 -0800

Wright's second (I think) wife was Russian Third, and Serbian, actually, born in what is now Montenegro. Taliesin West is a home built by Frank Lloyd Wright that was used by many of his architects. Taliesin and Taliesin West are run by the Wright Foundation, which was in the hands of his widow Olgivanna in the 1960s and curiously like a cult or a commune, depending on your point of view. Wright, who was originally from Richland Center (thus the siting of Taliesin), had a tumultuous life with many interesting sidebars; this connection, though posthumous, is not surprising in that context.

By: twoleftfeet

twoleftfeet — Mon, 28 Nov 2011 18:07:49 -0800

The thing with Stalin's children; apparently none of them were especially happy with him. The oldest, Yakov, never got along with his father, at one point shooting himself over an argument involving his Jewish fiancée (when Yakov survived, Stalin said "He can't even shoot straight.") After Yakov was captured by the Germans during WWII, Stalin refused to trade a captured German for him, leaving his son to die in a concentration camp. Stalin stopped visiting the next two, Vasily and Svetlana, after their mother died. Vasily ended up a chronic alcoholic and toward the end of his life was placed under house arrest after attempting to go to China. Stalin never spoke with his presumed illegitimate child Konstantin. Konstantin was at one point accused of being an American spy and dismissed from the Communist Party. So, yeah, Stalin was an asshole, even at home.

By: gubo

gubo — Mon, 28 Nov 2011 19:04:22 -0800

I found references to a Soviet-era perfume called "Svetlana" here and here. I wonder if someone tried to look up dukhi ("perfume") in a dictionary and found the word dukh, which can be translated "breath," turning dukhi Svetlana "Svetlana perfume" into "Svetlana's breath."

By: rainy

rainy — Mon, 28 Nov 2011 19:50:58 -0800

I wonder if someone tried to look up dukhi ("perfume") in a dictionary and found the word dukh, which can be translated "breath," turning dukhi Svetlana "Svetlana perfume" into That's what I thought, too, because "Svetlana's breath", translated into Russian, sounds even odder than in English. Soviet products would generally have fairly straightforward names, nothing too fancy or weird. The most famous (I think) fragrance was called "Red Moscow", and that's the only one I can think of.

By: Slinga

Slinga — Mon, 28 Nov 2011 19:58:58 -0800

Very interesting. I guess this is where Svetlana Tubes got their name.

By: peacheater

peacheater — Mon, 28 Nov 2011 21:17:50 -0800

Why? Svetlana is a pretty common Russian name.

By: arcticseal

arcticseal — Tue, 29 Nov 2011 00:27:17 -0800

Fascinating post zarq, thanks.

By: Houstonian

Houstonian — Tue, 29 Nov 2011 05:13:23 -0800

I think I can help with the perfume. Svetlana's Breath was renamed and marketed as Moscow Nights after Svetlana's relationship with Brajesh Singh. It is described as "spicy" and like "a petunia in heat." The bottle was packaged in a black and gold box.

By: maniabug

maniabug — Tue, 29 Nov 2011 05:35:28 -0800

Spicynuts: eponysterical

By: spicynuts

spicynuts — Tue, 29 Nov 2011 07:42:40 -0800

Spicynuts: eponysterical I don't get it. What does Stalin's promiscuity have to do with my username?

By: miyabo

miyabo — Tue, 29 Nov 2011 08:00:56 -0800

This is an utterly incredible story. I think the most amazing part is how she completely dropped off the radar for 25 years, when her life story could have sold gazillions of books and an Oscar-winning movie.

By: spicynuts

spicynuts — Tue, 29 Nov 2011 08:17:32 -0800

Well, she did write two auto-biographies. Also, remember the McCarthy Trials? I'm sure not a lot of writers/directors/what-have-you wanted to step anywhere near that cesspool again, regardless of how calm the surface appeared after a decade or so. There are still scars. Seen any Hitler bio-pics lately?

By: malocchio

malocchio — Tue, 29 Nov 2011 13:03:20 -0800

We are talking about an ex-gangster/bank robber and a known lothario here At first glance, I read that as being a "known luthier." (Which would have been awesome..."Yes, Ivanovich, the bank robbery is on for tonight, but first...I simply must restring this lute before we proceed.")

By: wilful

wilful — Tue, 29 Nov 2011 15:50:47 -0800

Let's be honest... svetlana was his only LEGITIMATE daughter. We are talking about an ex-gangster/bank robber and a known lothario here There are quite a few oddities about this statement. Firstly, there are no known records of other illegitimate children, so it's just rampant speculation. Secondly, he's not a known 'lothario'. Thirdly he wasn't a gangster, he was a revolutionary. Fourthly gangsters and bank robbers aren't known to have a predilection for extramarital sex that I'm aware of. Fifthly you seem to be trying to cast aspersion on his character by saying he's a gangster/bank robber, while missing, gosh I don't know, the deaths of tens of millions of russians under his totalitarian rule..

By: Houstonian

Houstonian — Wed, 30 Nov 2011 04:49:05 -0800

I think spicynuts calls Stalin a bank robber because he organized the Tiflis bank robbery. And calling him a lothario might be in reference to his affair with a 13-year-old orphaned girl, Lidia Pereprygina which resulted in two illegitimate children (in addition to Konstantin). Also Alvasi Talakvadze, Ludmilla Stal, Natasha Kirtava, Pelageya Onufrieva, Serafima Khoroshenina, Stefania Petrovskaya, another orphan Tatiana Slavatinskaya, and Valentina Lobova. A lot of this is in Montefiore's award-winning Young Stalin. He caused the death of thousands and organized a bank robbery and had lots of sex with lots of women.

By: John Cohen

John Cohen — Wed, 30 Nov 2011 09:15:29 -0800

He caused the death of thousands That's like saying Hitler caused the death of dozens.

By: Abiezer

Abiezer — Fri, 02 Dec 2011 23:02:12 -0800

Tea with Stalin's daughter.