Engelsina "Gelya" Sergeyevna Markizova (Russian: Энгельси́на Серге́евна Маркизова, later Cheshkova, Russian: Чешкова; 16 November 1928 – 11 May 2004) was a Buryat historian who achieved fame as a child after being depicted in a photo embracing the Soviet leader Joseph Stalin,[1][2] an image which became one of the most enduring propaganda symbols of the Stalinist era, when it was widespread in schools, pioneer's camps and children's institutions.

Stalin then picked her up in a hug as cameras all around snapped up the now iconic image[1] On 29 June 1936 the photo was published on the front page of Pravda (English: Justice),[3] the newspaper of the Communist Party.

The image spread after its publication, finding its way into kindergartens, hospitals and schools across the Soviet Union, and it was later turned into a marble sculpture by Georgi Lavrov, a renowned sculptor of the time[1] propelling Markizova to instant fame, and leading her to receive preferential treatment in school and Communist Party meetings.

[1] In 1937 her father, who was a provincial official for the Buryatia region, was taken from their home by secret police agents, standing accused of being a Japanese spy and a Trotskyite.

[1] Now the daughter of an enemy of the people, Markizova found herself shunned by her classmates whilst her mother was imprisoned for a year and ultimately deported to southern Kazakhstan, dying there at the age of 32 in what has been described as either a "mysterious accident",[1] "a murder that authorities never investigated",[5] or suicide.