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Near-death experience

by Rory MacLean

In 1989 I began to write a sensible book on eastern Europe. Then a revolution tore down the Berlin Wall. Fifty years of totalitarianism - first under fascism and then communism - ended almost overnight

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They embalmed Lenin the day after he died, Styopa told us, "with disinfecting liquid - a mixture of formalin and medical spirit - via the aeorta. His brain was removed and preserved in the Lenin Museum. It weighed, as I recall, 1340 grams, a little smaller than normal."

After the war Styopa was engaged as a senior technician.

"When I began, the body was in a poor state." His expertise was the use of electricity. "In the early days they had few technical resources. Now our laboratory on Krasin Street is the most advanced in the world."

He worked closely with plastic surgeons and skin-graft specialists. A new partial-vacuum glass sarcophagus helped inhibit decay but Styopa's shock treatment reversed it.

"Once every two or three months a high voltage charge was applied to keep up the tone. But the first time we tried it I overestimated the power needed. Lenin suddenly sat up from the table, his arms shook and his lips started to quiver. I thought he was going to speak. It was quite a shock. After that we reduced the voltage."




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