Is Stalin’s Mother’s Grave Evidence that She was Jewish?

Since I’ve been arguing against the idea – somewhat popularized by the best-selling ‘Europa: The Last Battle’ – that Stalin was of jewish ancestry (1) I’ve addressed quite a few different myths and/or bad arguments as to this claim such as the claim he spoke Yiddish, (2) the Weisman ‘B’nai Brith Messenger’ claim, (3) that he drunk a ‘L’Chaim’ toast at his daughter’s wedding, (4) that Stalin’s two wives were jewish (5) and that Stalin had a third jewish wife named Rosa Kaganovich. (6)

One of the few claims that I have left in regard to this particular argument is in many ways of one the silliest which is that someone somewhere has put together an infographic of Stalin’s mother’s – Ketevan ‘Keke’ Geladze - grave and claimed that it was a ‘jewish design’ and uses ‘jewish symbols’.

I am going to address those claims here, but it is well to remind ourselves that as far as Stalin’s many biographers are concerned his mother was not jewish either in descent or in religion.

‘She, too, was both the offspring of serfs and a striver. Her surname was common in southern Ossetia, leading to the speculation that she also had Ossetian blood, but like Beso’s, her native tongue was Georgian. Keke’s father, a bricklayer and serf who gardened for a wealthy Armenian and lived in a village outside Gori, married another serf, but he seems to have passed away before (or right after) Keke was born.’ (7)

Indeed, Keke was a devout Russian Orthodox Christian to the end of her life. (8)

Now let’s look at the argument that her gravestone in Mtatsminda Pantheon in Tbilisi that was constructed in 1937 after she died.

This is what it looks like (front and side view):

The claim is that is a ‘jewish grave’ because it uses jewish grave symbology notably the ‘draped urn’ which is held to be uniquely or at least generally jewish and thus is evidence both that Keke was jewish and that thus – because Stalin had a role in designing/approving his beloved mother’s gravestone – that Stalin was aware he was jewish as well even if the world was not.

Evidence for this is adduced by post examples of jewish graves from Russia with a similar – although not the same – motif. I have added an example of such ‘draped urn’ jewish gravestones from Russia below:

The problem for those who make this argument is that while the draped urn is not uncommon as a symbol used on jewish graves; (9) it is actually jews copying a common nineteenth and early twentieth century European fashion in gravestones with ‘draped urns’ being a common sight in non-jewish cemeteries right across Europe and North America with easy to find examples including the below:

Atlanta, Georgia:

Bradford, England:

London, England:

Ballarat, Australia:

Now the point is very simple: the ‘draped urn’ is an utterly ubiquitous symbol in cemeteries and graveyards throughout the world and the symbolism is simple enough.

As ‘GravelySpeaking’ explains regarding the symbolism of ‘draped urns’:

‘The monument in the photograph is of a draped urn. This particular urn is a dramatic example of this symbol, cast in bronze and freestanding. For the most part, the urns are found on top of columns and mausoleums, ornaments. The draped urn represents the clothing of the deceased being shed to move from the Earthly realm to the Heavenly realm.

Like most funerary symbols, even nuances make a difference to their meaning. For instance, if the drape on the urn is fringed, the drapery represents a shroud symbolizing sorrow, the motif that represents a veil that separates the Earth and Heaven, life and death.’ (10)

And in an earlier article ‘GravelySpeaking’ also adds:

‘The monument in the photograph is of a draped urn. This particular urn is a dramatic example of this symbol, cast in bronze and freestanding. For the most part, the urns are found on top of columns and mausoleums, ornaments.

The urn, of course, is a container used to hold the ashes or the cremated remains of the dead. In this case, the urn is draped. The drapery either represents a shroud representing death and sorrow, or can also be a motif that reperesents a veil that separates the earth and Heaven. The urn was an almost ubiquitous 19th Century symbol found in nearly every American cemetery.’ (11)

For extra evidence I quote ‘Golden Charter Funeral Plans’ about the ‘draped urn’ symbolism on gravestones:

‘The Draped Urn is an extremely common symbol in many Victorian graveyards. The urn itself is a representation of those used to carry the remains of the dead and is a commonly associated symbol with death. The fabric, however, is added to symbolise the veil separating the living and the dead and the thin boundary that separates them. In addition, the draped fabric can also suggest protection for the soul on its journey to the afterlife.’ (12)

While the cemetery in Arnos Grove in London also contains commentary on the ‘draped urn’:

‘The urn was actually used in ancient burial grounds as a storage vessel for ashes and bones after cremation. In the Victorian era the urn became a symbol for death and sadness. Urns were not used for burial and as cremation was not legal then, they were not used for remains either. They usually sat on top of a monument as an expression of the death of the body but not the soul. Some are carved with drapery which represented veil between life and death. This reflects death customs. Victorians would drape items in the house when a person died. This could include the clock (which was also stopped), the mirrors and even the door knobs.’ (13)

Now we can immediately see the ‘draped urn’ on grave which is the only alleged evidence that Stalin’s mother Keke was jewish is revealed to simply be a common nineteenth/early twentieth century gravestone symbol referencing the ‘passing of the veil’ between this life and the next.

It also makes a lot of sense as a gravestone for Keke given her strong Russian Orthodox beliefs combined with Stalin’s militant atheism – whose ‘League of Militant Atheists’ who were blowing up and desecrating churches at this time was indeed headed by a jew named Yemelyan Yaroslavsky (born Minei Izrailevich Gubelman) – in that the ‘draped urn’ is a quasi-religious symbol – as Stalin would hardly have allowed her grave to have an Orthodox cross – and represents the passing of the soul between this life and the next.

Hence it is a good compromise.

So no Stalin’s mother’s grave isn’t evidence that she was jewish in the slightest!

References

(1) See my article: https://karlradl14.substack.com/p/was-joseph-stalin-jewish

(2) See my article: https://karlradl14.substack.com/p/did-joseph-stalin-speak-yiddish

(3) See my article: https://karlradl14.substack.com/p/debunking-the-david-weissmanbnai

(4) See my article: https://karlradl14.substack.com/p/did-joseph-stalin-drink-the-lchaim

(5) See my article: https://karlradl14.substack.com/p/were-stalins-wives-jewish

(6) See my article: https://karlradl14.substack.com/p/was-rosa-kaganovich-joseph-stalins

(7) Stephen Kotkin, 2015, ‘Stalin’, Vol. 1, 1st Edition, Penguin: New York, p. 16

(8) Ibid., p. 21

(9) For example, see: https://jewish-funeral-home.com/everything-to-know-about-a-jewish-cemetery/

(10) https://gravelyspeaking.com/2018/01/16/the-ubiquitous-urn/

(11) https://gravelyspeaking.com/2011/03/30/draped-urn/

(12) https://www.goldencharter.co.uk/news-and-info/2019/deciphering-cemetery-symbols/

(13) https://arnosvale.org.uk/secrets-and-symbols-the-grave-language-of-the-victorian-cemetery/