The Brain Institute (Institut Mozga) was established in 1926 to study the

brains of infleuntial people, and reflected Stalin’s predilection for quack science. They have

scores of brains on hand, including Maxim Gorky, Andrei Sakharov, Sergei Eisenstein, and of

course the great Stalin himself. The Lenin and Stalin brains were sliced up into tens of thousands

of sections with a microtome, and fixed to slides for study (which didn’t turn up much). At the

time, slicing seemed the thing to do, but with contemporay medical technology the brains would

be easier to examine intact. In fact, in their current condition they are of not much use. However,

the Brain Institute has been left with some superb collectables. Forget having a hunk of the Berlin

Wall, a Lenin or Stalin brain sample would be the ultimate Cold War trophy item. The Institute

should get into the swing of capitalism and figure out a way to get those slides on HSN or QVC

right away. But they’ll have to have some kind of proof of authenticity, I wouldn’t want to order

Stalin and get Zinoviev or some other hapless purgee.

BTW, those interested in more details on Lenin’s preservation should check out Ilya Zbarsky’s Lenin’s Embalmers, a first-hand account of the process. Andrew Stuttaford mentioned it in the Corner last July 13 with a link to a review of a play based on the story.

The Soviet Period is such an endless

source of the weird and tragic.