23 Facts About Kato Svanidze

Ekaterine "Kato" Svanidze was the first wife of Joseph Stalin and the mother of his eldest son, Yakov Dzhugashvili.

Kato Svanidze's brother Alexander was a confidant of Stalin, then still known by his birth name of Ioseb Jughashvili, and introduced him to Svanidze in 1905.

The family moved to Baku to avoid arrest, though Kato Svanidze got quite ill there and returned to Tiflis in 1907, dying shortly after her return, likely from typhoid or tuberculosis.

Kato Svanidze's death had a profound effect on Stalin, who deeply cared for Svanidze.

Kato Svanidze abandoned Yakov to be raised by the Svanidze family, and rarely saw them again, fully immersing himself in his revolutionary activities.

Ekaterine Kato Svanidze was born in Baji, Georgia, a small village in Racha, a region of Georgia, which was then part of the Kutais Governorate within the Russian Empire.

Kato Svanidze's parents were Svimon, a railway worker and landowner, and Sephora Dvali, both descendants of an impoverished minor Georgian nobility.

Kato Svanidze had two sisters, Aleksandra and Maria, and a younger brother, Alexander.

Much like Jughashvili's mother, Keke Geladze, Kato Svanidze was very devout and insisted on a religious wedding in a church, which the atheist Jughashvili accepted.

Kato Svanidze continued to actively help the Bolsheviks, and in November 1906 hosted a contact from Moscow.

Kato Svanidze was jailed while Dvali, charged with making bombs, was sentenced to death.

On 18 March 1907, Kato Svanidze gave birth to a son, Iakob, with both Jughashvili and his mother present for the birth.

Kato Svanidze tried to find a job, but with a small child to care for it was impossible to do so.

The stress of worrying about Jughashvili, as well as the isolation and warm climate took a toll on her health, and Kato Svanidze soon fell ill.

Kato Svanidze's family invited her to move back to Racha, which has a much milder climate, to recover and be with people she knew, but Svanidze was reluctant to abandon her husband.

However, on the 13-hour journey back to Georgia, Kato Svanidze drank some contaminated water, and likely contracted typhoid.

Kato Svanidze was then buried at a church in the Kukia district of Tiflis.

Kato Svanidze died and with her died my last warm feelings for humanity.

Kato Svanidze left Tiflis and returned to Baku, abandoning 8-month-old Iakob to be raised by his Svanidze relatives.

Kato Svanidze was brought to Moscow in 1921 to live with his father; it proved a difficult transition for Iakob, who only spoke Georgian and did not understand Russian, and was treated poorly by his father.

Kato Svanidze demanded Alyosha admit he was a German spy, but Alyosha refused.

Alyosha and Maria's son, Ivan Kato Svanidze, was briefly married to Stalin's only daughter, Svetlana Alliluyeva.

Kato Svanidze filed for divorce in 1959; Soviet law required the divorce decree be printed in the newspaper along with their home addresses.