1 00:00:00,120 --> 00:00:01,960 Speaker 1: This Day in History Class is a production of I 2 00:00:02,040 --> 00:00:16,480 Speaker 1: Heart Radio, Hello and welcome to This Day in History Class, 3 00:00:16,480 --> 00:00:20,200 Speaker 1: a show that proves it's never too late to make history. 4 00:00:21,120 --> 00:00:25,239 Speaker 1: I'm Gay Bluesier, and today we're looking at the unusual 5 00:00:25,400 --> 00:00:38,600 Speaker 1: afterlife of the father of the Soviet Union. The day 6 00:00:38,880 --> 00:00:47,080 Speaker 1: was January four. The embalmed body of Vladimir Illiott Lenin, 7 00:00:47,560 --> 00:00:51,920 Speaker 1: communist revolutionary and founder of the Soviet Union was put 8 00:00:51,960 --> 00:00:56,120 Speaker 1: on public display in Red Square in the center of Moscow. 9 00:00:57,280 --> 00:01:01,240 Speaker 1: The leader of the Bolshevik Revolution had died three days 10 00:01:01,280 --> 00:01:04,800 Speaker 1: earlier at the age of fifty three, and although his 11 00:01:04,880 --> 00:01:08,440 Speaker 1: will stipulated that he be laid to rest alongside his 12 00:01:08,520 --> 00:01:13,480 Speaker 1: mother in a St. Petersburg cemetery, the Soviet government decided 13 00:01:13,520 --> 00:01:18,720 Speaker 1: to ignore that request. Instead, on the night of January 14 00:01:18,319 --> 00:01:23,679 Speaker 1: twenty three, they enlisted an architect named Alexei Shuseev to 15 00:01:23,800 --> 00:01:26,960 Speaker 1: design and build a tomb for Lenin so that his 16 00:01:27,120 --> 00:01:31,280 Speaker 1: many admirers would have a chance to say goodbye. He 17 00:01:31,360 --> 00:01:34,720 Speaker 1: was given just three days to complete the task, with 18 00:01:34,760 --> 00:01:37,720 Speaker 1: the intention being to place the tomb in Red Square 19 00:01:37,840 --> 00:01:41,399 Speaker 1: next to the Kremlin Wall. Shu Sev got to work, 20 00:01:41,640 --> 00:01:45,920 Speaker 1: and by January seven he had constructed a cubicle wooden 21 00:01:46,000 --> 00:01:50,840 Speaker 1: tomb to serve as a temporary resting place. Lennon's coffin 22 00:01:51,080 --> 00:01:54,680 Speaker 1: was placed inside it at four pm that day, and 23 00:01:54,760 --> 00:01:59,800 Speaker 1: almost immediately a cavalcade of mourners arrived to pay their respects. 24 00:02:00,560 --> 00:02:04,559 Speaker 1: Within the first six weeks, more than one hundred thousand 25 00:02:04,600 --> 00:02:09,120 Speaker 1: people visited the tomb. The initial plan was only to 26 00:02:09,200 --> 00:02:13,080 Speaker 1: display Lenin's body before his funeral and then to bury 27 00:02:13,160 --> 00:02:16,480 Speaker 1: him in accordance with his final wishes, but the Russian 28 00:02:16,520 --> 00:02:21,200 Speaker 1: people wouldn't stand for that. The government reportedly received over 29 00:02:21,280 --> 00:02:25,680 Speaker 1: ten thousand telegrams asking that Lenin's body be preserved in 30 00:02:25,720 --> 00:02:29,040 Speaker 1: a more permanent fashion so that he could remain visible 31 00:02:29,120 --> 00:02:34,280 Speaker 1: to future generations. In response to that public outcry, Soviet 32 00:02:34,360 --> 00:02:37,520 Speaker 1: leaders agreed to look into the prospect of preserving the 33 00:02:37,600 --> 00:02:42,560 Speaker 1: body long term. The cold Russian winter had kept Lenin's 34 00:02:42,600 --> 00:02:45,880 Speaker 1: corpse in decent enough condition, but if it was to 35 00:02:45,919 --> 00:02:50,639 Speaker 1: be displayed year round on an ongoing basis, researchers would 36 00:02:50,639 --> 00:02:55,040 Speaker 1: have to get creative. Soviet leaders entrusted the task to 37 00:02:55,120 --> 00:03:02,600 Speaker 1: anatomist Vladimir Vorobiev and to biochemist Boris Zabarski. Together, they 38 00:03:02,639 --> 00:03:06,640 Speaker 1: embarked on an embalming experiment that stretched from late March 39 00:03:06,840 --> 00:03:12,320 Speaker 1: to late July in n Their efforts were complicated by 40 00:03:12,320 --> 00:03:16,040 Speaker 1: the fact that the doctor who had performed Lenin's autopsy 41 00:03:16,160 --> 00:03:20,200 Speaker 1: had already severed the body's major arteries and other blood vessels. 42 00:03:20,919 --> 00:03:24,119 Speaker 1: It would have been much easier to administer embalming fluids 43 00:03:24,120 --> 00:03:28,400 Speaker 1: throughout the body with an intact circulatory system, but that 44 00:03:28,520 --> 00:03:32,760 Speaker 1: particular luxury was sadly off the table. To get around 45 00:03:32,760 --> 00:03:37,080 Speaker 1: the problem, researchers at the so called Lenin Lab developed 46 00:03:37,160 --> 00:03:42,160 Speaker 1: new micro injection techniques that used individual needles to deliver 47 00:03:42,280 --> 00:03:46,040 Speaker 1: embalming fluids two different parts of the body. They also 48 00:03:46,080 --> 00:03:49,600 Speaker 1: devised a double layered rubber suit to keep a thin 49 00:03:49,760 --> 00:03:53,720 Speaker 1: layer of embalming fluid on Lenin's body at all times. 50 00:03:54,160 --> 00:03:58,200 Speaker 1: The rubber suit was concealed beneath his regular clothes. With 51 00:03:58,280 --> 00:04:02,040 Speaker 1: these new measures in place, Lenin's body was returned to 52 00:04:02,080 --> 00:04:06,520 Speaker 1: public display that August, this time in a larger, upgraded tomb. 53 00:04:07,480 --> 00:04:10,640 Speaker 1: Five years later, once it was clear that public interest 54 00:04:10,720 --> 00:04:15,040 Speaker 1: in Lenin's remains wasn't fading, the government commissioned a permanent 55 00:04:15,080 --> 00:04:20,520 Speaker 1: mausoleum to replace the temporary structure. The current red granite 56 00:04:20,560 --> 00:04:25,520 Speaker 1: and black labradorite step pyramid tomb was once again designed 57 00:04:25,520 --> 00:04:28,600 Speaker 1: by Alexei Shusev and was open to the public in 58 00:04:28,760 --> 00:04:33,279 Speaker 1: nineteen thirty. The Soviet leader's body has remained there for 59 00:04:33,400 --> 00:04:37,240 Speaker 1: nearly a century, with occasional exceptions during times of war 60 00:04:37,560 --> 00:04:41,200 Speaker 1: and of course, when the body is removed for periodic maintenance. 61 00:04:42,160 --> 00:04:46,520 Speaker 1: Generations of Russian scientists have spent that time refining their 62 00:04:46,520 --> 00:04:52,880 Speaker 1: preservation techniques. Unlike traditional mummification and other embalming methods, the 63 00:04:53,000 --> 00:04:58,200 Speaker 1: Lenin Labs priority isn't to maintain the original biological matter 64 00:04:58,360 --> 00:05:02,040 Speaker 1: of the body. Instead, head its focus is to preserve 65 00:05:02,080 --> 00:05:06,840 Speaker 1: the body's physical form, its look, weight, shape, and color. 66 00:05:07,520 --> 00:05:12,159 Speaker 1: To that end, they've occasionally used plastics and other materials 67 00:05:12,200 --> 00:05:16,240 Speaker 1: to replace parts of the original flesh, meaning that less 68 00:05:16,279 --> 00:05:19,640 Speaker 1: and less of the real Lenin exists as the years 69 00:05:19,680 --> 00:05:24,279 Speaker 1: go by. What does remain of him gets re embalmed 70 00:05:24,360 --> 00:05:27,799 Speaker 1: once every other year. This one and a half month 71 00:05:27,880 --> 00:05:33,800 Speaker 1: process involves submerging the body and separate solutions including formaldehyde, 72 00:05:34,040 --> 00:05:40,440 Speaker 1: potassium acetate, alcohol, and hydrogen peroxide, among many others. During 73 00:05:40,480 --> 00:05:44,680 Speaker 1: this time, Lenin's clothes are washed and neatly pressed, and 74 00:05:44,800 --> 00:05:48,080 Speaker 1: every few years he gets a nice new suit. When 75 00:05:48,080 --> 00:05:51,480 Speaker 1: his body is put back on display, it still requires 76 00:05:51,520 --> 00:05:54,960 Speaker 1: a bit of upkeep. Every week, a mild bleach is 77 00:05:55,000 --> 00:05:57,640 Speaker 1: applied to the skin in order to combat the build 78 00:05:57,680 --> 00:06:00,640 Speaker 1: up of fungus and mold that would otherwise is discolor 79 00:06:00,760 --> 00:06:04,719 Speaker 1: the body. To help with these efforts, the bulletproof glass 80 00:06:04,760 --> 00:06:08,719 Speaker 1: sarcophagus is kept at a steady temperature of sixteen degrees 81 00:06:08,760 --> 00:06:13,159 Speaker 1: celsius or sixty one degrees fahrenheit with a humidity of 82 00:06:13,279 --> 00:06:18,360 Speaker 1: eighty to the group responsible for all of this maintenance 83 00:06:18,520 --> 00:06:22,160 Speaker 1: briefly lost its funding in the nineteen nineties following the 84 00:06:22,200 --> 00:06:24,919 Speaker 1: fall of the Soviet Union, but they were able to 85 00:06:25,000 --> 00:06:28,760 Speaker 1: keep things running with private contributions until the new Russian 86 00:06:28,800 --> 00:06:33,280 Speaker 1: government began supplying money again. As you might imagine, the 87 00:06:33,360 --> 00:06:37,200 Speaker 1: Russian public's view of Lenin and the perpetual display of 88 00:06:37,240 --> 00:06:41,440 Speaker 1: his corps has shifted considerably over the years. In fact, 89 00:06:41,720 --> 00:06:46,360 Speaker 1: a seventeen poll revealed that fifty eight percent of Russians 90 00:06:46,400 --> 00:06:50,880 Speaker 1: now favor the removal of Lenin from public display. Whether 91 00:06:50,920 --> 00:06:54,160 Speaker 1: you're feelings toward the man are that of love, hate, 92 00:06:54,440 --> 00:06:58,880 Speaker 1: or indifference, the indefinite display of his dead body is 93 00:06:58,880 --> 00:07:02,560 Speaker 1: a disturbing fate for anyone, especially since we know for 94 00:07:02,640 --> 00:07:06,200 Speaker 1: a fact that it's not what he wanted. It remains 95 00:07:06,240 --> 00:07:09,240 Speaker 1: to be seen whether Lennon's body will ever be laid 96 00:07:09,279 --> 00:07:12,960 Speaker 1: to rest for good, but in the meantime, the display 97 00:07:13,040 --> 00:07:18,280 Speaker 1: stands as a fascinating macaw glimpse into Soviet culture and 98 00:07:18,360 --> 00:07:24,760 Speaker 1: what it once held sacred. I'm Gabelusier, and hopefully you 99 00:07:24,840 --> 00:07:28,040 Speaker 1: now know a little more about history today than you 100 00:07:28,080 --> 00:07:31,880 Speaker 1: did yesterday. If you have a second and you're so inclined, 101 00:07:32,160 --> 00:07:36,200 Speaker 1: consider following us on Twitter, Facebook, and Instagram at t 102 00:07:36,480 --> 00:07:40,480 Speaker 1: d I HC show. You can also leave us a 103 00:07:40,520 --> 00:07:43,520 Speaker 1: review on Apple Podcasts, and you can write to us 104 00:07:43,760 --> 00:07:47,920 Speaker 1: at this Day at I heart media dot com. Thanks 105 00:07:47,920 --> 00:07:50,800 Speaker 1: to Chandler Mays for producing the show, and thanks to 106 00:07:50,880 --> 00:07:53,960 Speaker 1: you for listening. I'll see you back here again tomorrow 107 00:07:54,200 --> 00:08:04,440 Speaker 1: for another day in History Class. Yeah. For more podcasts 108 00:08:04,480 --> 00:08:07,440 Speaker 1: from I Heart Radio, visit the iHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, 109 00:08:07,480 --> 00:08:09,160 Speaker 1: or wherever you listen to your favorite shows.