Masha and Dasha: The Tragic Story

Written by Margot Cleverly

Maria and Daria Krivoshlyapova, known as Masha and Dasha, came into the world on January 3, 1950, as conjoined twins fused in the lower part of their bodies. Immediately after birth, they were taken from their mother, who was told that the children had died. In reality, the sisters ended up in a Soviet research institute, where for years they served as objects of cruel scientific experiments. The story of their lives reveals the dark side of Soviet science and medicine, in which human suffering was the price of progress.

Birth and Immediate Separation

On January 3, 1950, in the Soviet Union, extraordinary twins came into the world. Maria and Daria Krivoshlyapova were conjoined twins of the ischiopagus tripus type. This meant fusion in the pelvic area with three lower limbs instead of four. Such cases were rare even in the medical annals of that era.

Their mother had no chance to meet her daughters. Immediately after delivery, medical personnel took the newborns, informing the parent about their alleged death. This lie was part of a planned action by Soviet scientific authorities. The totalitarian system did not respect individual rights when state scientific interests were at stake.

In reality, the girls were alive and were transported to a research institute near Moscow. A future full of suffering and experiments awaited them there. Soviet bureaucracy efficiently covered the tracks, making any contact between mother and daughters impossible. For the authorities, they were valuable research material, not people with rights and dignity.

Physiologist Pyotr Anokhin was looking for precisely such cases for his research. He was interested in conjoined twins with a shared circulatory system but separate nervous systems. He sent alerts to all maternity hospitals in the USSR requesting information about such births. Masha and Dasha fit his research criteria perfectly.

Anatomy and Daily Challenges

The Krivoshlyapova sisters had four arms but only three legs. Two of them served for walking, each controlled by one of the twins. The third, vestigial limb, hung in the air behind them without any function. Learning to walk took them five years, which shows the scale of difficulty in coordinating movements.

Their internal anatomy was equally complex. The upper parts of the digestive system were separated, but they shared a common lower intestine and rectum. They had four kidneys but only one bladder. Disputes often arose between them about when they should urinate. The reproductive system was shared, which further complicated their physiology.

The sisters’ circulatory system was interconnected, which meant continuous blood exchange between organisms. A bacterium or virus entering one’s bloodstream quickly appeared in the other. This created a unique situation for studying infection spread. Anokhin exploited this feature in his experiments on body reactions.

Despite a shared circulatory system, diseases affected them differently. Dasha was nearsighted, prone to colds, and right-handed. Masha occasionally smoked cigarettes, had better constitution, higher blood pressure, good eyesight, and was left-handed. These differences fascinated scientists studying the impact of the nervous system on body reactions.

Hell of Soviet Experiments

Anokhin began research on the twins within days of their birth. His goal was to study the separate roles of the nervous and circulatory systems in the body’s ability to adapt. He was interested in extreme conditions such as prolonged sleep deprivation, extreme hunger, and drastic temperature changes. The twins became slaves of science.

The experiments exceeded all boundaries of ethics and humanitarianism. One of the sisters was packed in ice, lowering her body temperature to life-threatening levels. Simultaneously, temperature changes in the other twin were observed. Masha and Dasha were also burned, starved, and deprived of sleep for long periods. They were electrocuted in rhythm with a metronome, testing their reflexes.

Their lung, heart, and brain activity was constantly monitored by specialized equipment. Pneumograms, electrocardiograms, and electroencephalograms recorded every aspect of their vital functions. Tubes were routinely inserted into their stomachs to collect gastric juice samples. Blood was drawn from them three times daily for laboratory analyses.

Masha and Dasha’s lives were constant medical nightmares without possibility of escape. They knew no freedom or normal childhood. Each day brought new tortures in the name of scientific progress. Soviet physiology achieved its goals at the expense of innocent human beings deprived of any rights. The totalitarian system fully exploited its power over the defenseless.

SELECTED BIBLIOGRAPHY

Margot Cleverly

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Margot's journey into women's history began with a box of forgotten letters in a Cambridge archive – suffragettes whose voices had been silenced for over a century. Since then, she's been on a mission to uncover the stories history overlooked.

What she writes about: Queens who ruled from the shadows. Scientists whose male colleagues took credit. Revolutionaries who risked everything. But also ordinary women – those who survived wars, raised families through upheaval, and shaped their communities in ways no one bothered to record.

Margot turns historical figures into real people. She writes with warmth and detail, making centuries-old stories feel surprisingly relevant. Rigorous research meets accessible storytelling – no dusty academic jargon, just compelling narratives backed by solid facts.

When she's not writing, you'll find her in regional archives, collecting oral histories, or visiting sites connected to the women she writes about.