Turning Point

U.S. Army Major Martin Manhoff had been in Moscow for more than a year when on March 5, 1953, after several days of ominous reports in the Communist Party mouthpiece Pravda, it was announced that Josef Stalin had died.

There is no written record in Manhoff's files of his reaction to the Soviet dictator's death. What the assistant army attaché did leave to history, however, was the only known independent footage of Stalin's funeral procession.

Manhoff's films, shot in full color, show hundreds of soldiers dressed in long trench coats forming a lengthy cordon for Stalin's body to be brought to Red Square. A procession of dozens of dignitaries — members of the Politburo and other high officials — is seen carrying massive funeral wreaths.