The Fall of Stalin and the Strange “Bering” Cover-Up

In communist Russia, the Great Soviet Encyclopedia was a fixture in every home. It was a symbol of loyalty and the source of “reliable” information approved by the regime. But anyone leafing through certain editions might notice something unusual: an extremely long entry about the Bering Strait, stretching over twenty pages. Why were the Russians so fascinated by this patch of icy water between Alaska and Siberia? The answer lies in the final days of Joseph Stalin.

On January 13, 1953, the Soviet Union announced that a dangerous conspiracy against “the People’s Leader” had been uncovered. Nine doctors were accused of plotting to kill Stalin. Chief among them was his own physician, Dr. Miron Vovsi who was a Jew and along with other well-known Jewish doctors. They were accused of collaborating with the Jewish organization “Joint” to poison Stalin and other top Soviet officials.

This came only a year after the infamous “Prague Trials,” in which Jews were falsely accused of espionage and treason, leading to executions and long sentences in Siberia. Stalin’s paranoia was peaking. He had already eliminated many of his closest aides and now decided to stage a public show trial targeting Jewish doctors. Forced “confessions” were extracted, including claims that they had poisoned the Culture Commissar, Andrei Zhdanov. Under pressure, Jewish intellectuals signed a letter in Pravda condemning the doctors.

By February, the world was in uproar. Israel’s Prime Minister issued strong condemnations but had little power against the Soviet giant. The regime prepared for the trial.

On February 28, 1953, Stalin met with top officials — NKVD (later KGB) chief Lavrentiy Beria, party secretary Nikita Khrushchev, and Foreign Minister Molotov. They celebrated and drank heavily. That night, Stalin went to his room, ordering his guards not to disturb him. Morning came, but no one dared enter. All through the day and into the night of March 1, he remained unseen. Only on March 2 did Beria and a team of doctors finally check on him. He had suffered a massive stroke and lay near death. Beria, hoping to succeed him, ordered that no treatment be given.

When Stalin briefly opened his eyes, Beria kissed his hand, trying to secure his favor. But when Stalin closed them again, Beria cursed in Russian. It was the eve of Purim. Stalin died shortly afterward and for Jews, there was light, joy, gladness, and honor. The Jewish doctors were freed when it was revealed their “confessions” had been obtained through torture and that there was no evidence against them.

Some believe Beria himself poisoned Stalin during that last drinking session. Stalin’s body was autopsied, but the report mysteriously vanished. Whatever the truth, Beria quickly declared the doctors innocent and tried to win public favor. But within months, Khrushchev and other party leaders accused him of treason, and he was executed along with several associates.

Beria’s fall left the KGB with a problem: every home in Russia had an encyclopedia entry praising his achievements. How could the “traitor” remain in the nation’s most trusted reference book? The solution was both simple and absurd, the old pages were replaced with new ones. Special teams went house to house, tearing out the Beria entry and pasting over it with a long, harmless article about… the Bering Strait.

And that is why, to this day, some Soviet encyclopedias seem strangely obsessed with a stretch of frozen sea between Alaska and Siberia, a silent reminder of how quickly history can be rewritten.