THE CURSE OF TAMERLANE

In the mid-thirties, Stalin decided to make his kindred spirit, the cruel tyrant Tamerlane, a national hero.  A scientific expedition was sent to Uzbekistan to conduct excavations of Tamerlane's tomb. But a warning was issued:  "A bloody war awaits those who disturb the ashes of the great conqueror.”  The day the tomb was opened was June 21, 1941…and on June 22, Hitler invaded the Soviet Union.