Pupil of the Bail Prison, the mysterious politician of the Stalin era Sergo Ordzhonikidze

Grigory Ordzhonikidze was born in 1886 in Georgia, in the village of Goresha in Kutaisi province. After two years of primary education, his relatives moved him to Tiflis, where from 1901 to 1905 he completed medical assistant school.

From these years, Grigory Ordzhonikidze began to engage in revolutionary activities and eventually became known as "Sergo." Sergo Ordzhonikidze and Stalin, then known by the pseudonym "Koba," met in 1907 in the revolutionary city of Baku, in Bailov prison, in cell number 3, where a strong friendship developed between them. Even when Stalin was in power, they addressed each other informally.

Their friendly relationship was so close that on the night of Stalin's wife Nadezhda Alliluyeva's suicide, Ordzhonikidze and Kirov stayed in Stalin's apartment until morning. Ordzhonikidze, who actively participated in the 1917 revolution, became one of the founders of Soviet power in Armenia and Georgia.

In 1922, Sergo Ordzhonikidze was appointed the first secretary of the Transcaucasian Regional Party Committee. He worked in this position until 1926. Ordzhonikidze was one of Lenin's closest associates in the creation of the USSR. His role in establishing Soviet power in the Transcaucasus was considered especially significant. On October 20, 1922, at a meeting in Tiflis, Central Committee member Kobakhidze insulted Ordzhonikidze, calling him "Stalin's donkey." Ordzhonikidze responded to this insult with a slap. The incident was reported to Lenin.

Although Lenin wanted to severely punish Ordzhonikidze for the physical assault, Stalin prevented this. The investigation of the case was entrusted to Dzerzhinsky, known as "Iron Felix," who, on Stalin's instructions, resolved the issue in Ordzhonikidze's favor. In 1932, Ordzhonikidze was appointed People's Commissar of the newly created People's Commissariat of Heavy Industry of the USSR. According to researchers, Ordzhonikidze made an exceptional contribution to the development of the USSR's economy. Thanks to Ordzhonikidze's intense work in mechanical engineering, aviation industry, construction, and commissioning of new factories, the USSR achieved the highest indicators.

Ordzhonikidze, being a very close person to Stalin, in his last years did not agree with his methods of "eliminating" old Bolsheviks and sometimes opposed him. Therefore, his death still remains mysterious. Although it was officially reported that he died of a heart attack, according to another version, Sergo committed suicide.

More details in the Baku TV report: