A detailed story about the feat of Zina Tailor. Life, feat and death of pioneer Zina Portnova (1 photo)

Published: November 9, 2015

Heroines of the Great Patriotic War (Zina Portnova)

Soviet children were raised using the examples of pioneer heroes. All the stories of the exploits of these young citizens of the Soviet country were extremely similar. The life of the country-famous Zina Portnova was no exception...

Seventeen-year-old Zina Portnova turned gray from torture!

Photo: Zina Portnova - feat summary

Official biographies of pioneer heroes followed the same pattern. A serene life before the war, war, torment due to the inability to join the active army. Finding yourself in the current situation. Participation, most often not in battles, but in sabotage activities. Arrest. The most terrible tortures in the Gestapo. Execution. Despite a large number of such stories, Soviet schoolchildren never ceased to admire the young heroes. Streets were named after them big cities. In St. Petersburg, behind the Narva Gate there is a street named after Zina Portnova, the heroine of the Great Patriotic War. What did this girl become famous for during the war?

Faith in communism is stronger than pain

Sometimes it seems that all the books and essays about young war heroes were written by one person.

The manner in which they were created can well be called iconographic: typical lives of saints sample of the 20th century. Another thing is striking: during perestroika, during the period of the overthrow of everything and everyone, the stories about the pioneer heroes were not refuted. They didn’t refute it because they weren’t lies.

Yes, it was always difficult to believe in them, because the feat that Zina Portnova accomplished, for example, contradicts human nature. An ordinary girl can't seem to bear the torment she went through. She didn't feel the pain the torture caused her? I felt that before her death the heroine turned gray - and yet she was not even 18 years old! What kind of people were these war heroes? Why did they undertake such feats? Of course, for the sake of the young country, which seemed to them a symbol of a fair society, which is getting better every day. They seemed to have seen neither hard work, nor the nightmarish communal life, nor the pre-war repressions. They believed: tomorrow will be better than today. The main thing is to defeat the fascists.

Zina Portnova was born in 1926. Her father was a worker at the Kirov plant. And they lived not far from this huge enterprise where Martyn Portnov worked. That is why, after the war, a street was named after Zina, which is located not far from the places where the future heroine spent the first years of her life.

Zina was an ordinary girl: fair-haired, blue-eyed, chubby. Before the war I managed to finish 7 classes. She was the head girl. I studied well. That's all.

Summer rest"

The turning point in Zina’s fate was the most ordinary event: in June 1941, she and her younger sister Galya (she escaped during the war) were sent on a summer vacation to their grandmother in the village of Zui, in the Vitebsk region.

The war interrupted relaxing holiday girls in the Belarusian freedom. The Germans moved across Belarusian soil with some escape velocity. Zina and her sister tried to evacuate, but did not have time: fascist troops stood in the way of the refugees.

Zina would have liked to sit quietly in her grandmother’s warm house, but then it turned out that the girl simply could not calmly look at what the Nazis were doing on the land, which, having barely occupied, they began to consider theirs.

Portnova decided to fight. And again you are amazed at how fearless the belief in the coming communism inspired people. After all, in Belarus, from the first days of the war, they knew firsthand how the Germans dealt with those they did not like new order. But Portnova didn’t even want to think about it.

And one more psychological phenomenon. Often, “heroes” demonstrate miracles of courage until they are captured by their enemies. And once in the clutches of the punitive authorities, the “dared souls” break under torture, realizing that they were not prepared for such an outcome. Leningradka was made of a different cloth.

The level of fascist cruelty on the territory of Belarus corresponded to the level of resistance that the local population offered them.

Zina very quickly became acquainted with the local Komsomol resistance, which was led by 17-year-old Fruza (Efrosinya) Zenkova (she survived the war and died in 1984). The organization was called "Young Avengers". It was strongly reminiscent of the Young Guard, which operated in the city of Krasnodon, Lugansk region. “The Young Guard” is much better known: circumstances were such that materials about it fell into the hands of the writer Alexander Fadeev, and he wrote a novel about it, which was later filmed.

At first, the Young Avengers were engaged in minor subversive activities: they posted anti-fascist leaflets. They damaged German equipment. Gradually, the sabotage of Komsomol members became more and more large-scale: they blew up German carriages, power plants, factories that worked for the German defense industry. The Nazis went berserk, unable to catch the saboteurs.

Zina Portnova was not afraid of anyone or anything. Even among the fearless underground fighters, she stood out for her special courage.

And the affairs that she took upon herself became more and more adventurous... The only thing that Portnova was reproached for in the 1990s was that she was no longer a pioneer, but a Komsomol member. This is actually true. But Zina was accepted into the Komsomol in the underground district committee. At that time and in that place, joining the ranks of this organization of young communists was already a feat. But Portnova’s heroic nature thirsted for revenge. What the Nazis did in the occupied territories defies description. The brutal conquerors, fueled by Hitler's propaganda, did not spare anyone.

Poison for the enemy

Portnova got a job in the canteen of advanced training courses for German officers. When no one was looking, Zina managed to pour a jar of poison into the soup. Hundreds of Nazis died. The Germans suspected the entire canteen staff. And Portnova too - they forced her to eat several spoons of that same soup. Zina did it without blinking an eye. She barely made it home. The grandmother gave her granddaughter the serum and the young body survived.

This story not only did not stop Zina - it embittered her even more.

The partisans rightly decided: after the story of Portnova’s poisoned soup, it was dangerous to stay in her grandmother’s house. And she was taken into the partisan detachment. Zina felt bad, being in relative safety. Participation in various “general” partisan operations did not bring her satisfaction. She was eager to receive a personal - the most risky - task. And it didn’t take long to arrive.

In October 1943, the Nazis shot about three dozen members of the Young Avengers. Before their death, the Komsomol members were tortured for more than a month.

Portnova was made a scout - she had to find out from the survivors who became a traitor.

If you think about it, it’s hard to imagine a more strange decision than sending Portnova, who had already appeared in the episode with the poisoning of officers, in search of the informer. And then she disappeared from her grandmother’s house, which, from the point of view of the Nazis, clearly indicated her involvement in the death of the dining room visitors. After all, in order to identify the traitor, Zina should have held many meetings with different people. Obviously, the same informer had to be among them. This strange decision by the leadership of the Young Avengers still remains without explanation... Portnov, of course, was extradited almost immediately.

At first, the Nazis promised her life in exchange for giving away the location of Zenkova’s detachment. Portnova held firm.

During one of the interrogations, this city girl, who before the war had not held anything in her hands except a pen with which she wrote in school notebooks, grabbed a pistol and shot the officer. Then she jumped out into the street and killed two more fascists.

They chased her. Only the pursuers' bullets that hit her legs could stop Portnova.

After this, the Nazis tortured Zina no longer in order to obtain valuable information from her. They were simply taking out their rage on the girl. They did not execute her immediately for one purpose - to make her suffer more before her death.

They burned her with hot irons, drove needles under her nails, and cut off her ears. Zina dreamed of death: one day, when she was being transferred across the yard, she threw herself under the wheels of a truck. The driver managed to brake. The torment continued.

On the last day before her execution, Portnova’s eyes were gouged out.

The Nazis brought out a blind and completely gray seventeen-year-old girl to be shot. She was shot on January 10, 1944.

Zinaida Portnova was posthumously awarded the title of Hero of the Soviet Union

Magazine: Mysteries of History, No. 18 - May 2015
Category: Woman in history



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PORTNOVA

ZINAIDA MARTYNOVNA

(1926-1944)

Hero of the Soviet Union

Zinaida Martynovna was born on February 20, 1926 in the city of Leningrad in a working-class family and managed to complete 7 classes at a district school. Just before the start of the Great Patriotic War Zinaida spent summer holidays pioneer camp near the village of Zuya near the Obol station (now within the boundaries of the urban village of Obol, Shumilinsky district), Vitebsk region of Belarus. Unwittingly, in the first days of the war, Zina Portnova found herself in territory temporarily occupied by enemy troops.

In 1942, Zinaida joined the Obol underground Komsomol and youth organization “Young Avengers” under the leadership of E.S. Zenkova. Zinaida Portnova treated her new way of life as an underground worker with great responsibility. She participated in the distribution of anti-fascist leaflets, cartoons and propaganda Soviet newspapers, which were dropped by partisans along with ammunition from aircraft among the civilian population of the occupied territory. Zinaida was also in the group that carried out sabotage against the Nazi troops.

Since August 1943, young Komsomol member Zina Portnova has become a scout for the partisan detachment named after K.E. Voroshilov. She scouts the location of the occupation forces, the direction of their movements, the number of enemy soldiers in the garrisons of various settlements, and the addresses of the German officers stationed.

In December 1943, with the help of provocateurs, the Germans destroyed the Young Avengers Komsomol youth organization. Portnova received the task from the detachment commander to identify the reasons for the failure of the underground and establish contact with those who remained. Upon returning to the detachment, Zina was arrested. During the interrogation, the brave girl grabbed a pistol from the fascist investigator, shot him and two other soldiers who came running at the sound of the shot. Portnova tried to escape, but was captured. In January 1944, Zinaida Portnova, after prolonged torture, was executed by the Nazis.

For her heroism in the fight against the Nazi invaders, by the Decree of the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet of the USSR dated July 1, 1958, Zinaida Martynovna Portnova was awarded the title of Hero of the Soviet Union posthumously.

In 1969, in the village of Zuya, on the house where Zina Portnova lived from 1941 to 1943, a memorial plaque was unveiled. On the Vitebsk-Polotsk highway, the Museum of Komsomol Glory and a school are named after her. Many pioneer squads and detachments in schools in Belarus bore the name of the young heroine. A school in the village of Obol is named after Zina Portnova; in St. Petersburg there is Zinaida Portnova Street. In the capital of Belarus, the city of Minsk, there is a bust of Zina Portnova, and near the village of Obol there is an obelisk.

B.Yu. Alexandrov

Heroes of the Great Patriotic War. Outstanding feats that the whole country should know about Mikhail Ivanovich Vostryshev

Zinaida Portnova (1926–1944)

Zinaida Portnova

Zinaida Martynovna Portnova was born on February 20, 1926 in the city of Leningrad into the family of a worker at the Kirov plant. She graduated from 7th grade of high school.

In the summer of 1941, she and her younger sister Galya were on vacation during the holidays with her aunt in Volkovysk, Vitebsk region of Belarus, where the beginning of the Great Patriotic War found her.

The front rolled further and further to the east. Along with the military units, residents also fled to the east. Aunt, Irina Isaakovna Ezovitova, took the children to Vitebsk. It was impossible to go further. Although the railway to Leningrad and Polotsk had not yet been cut, traffic along it had almost stopped: everything was clogged with troops.

There was only one thing left: to go to the village of Zui near railway station Obol, to my grandmother Efrosinya Ivanovna Yablokova, 70 kilometers from Vitebsk. Irina Isaakovna hoped that she and the children would find refuge there.

The hour of courage has struck on our watch

And courage will not leave us.

It's not scary to lie dead under bullets,

It’s not bitter to be homeless, -

And we will save you, Russian speech,

Great Russian word.

We will carry you free and clean,

We will give it to our grandchildren and save us from captivity

Anna Akhmatova

Efrosinya Ivanovna was glad that her daughter and granddaughters were alive and well, although very tired. Within a week, Zina began to notice that people were visiting Uncle Vanya, who was stuck in Zuyah while spending his summer vacation here (he worked at the Kirov plant in Leningrad). strangers. They behaved strangely: they didn’t talk to anyone except their uncle. One day, when a stranger in a sheepskin coat came, introduced himself as Boris and stayed overnight, at dawn there was a strong knock on the door. Someone broke into the house and imperiously demanded:

- Open up!

- Germans! - Grandmother exclaimed muffledly.

Uncle Vanya and the stranger went into the second half of the hut and became quiet there.

Four soldiers and an overweight corporal burst into the hut. The corporal looked arrogantly at those present and ordered:

- Take the cow!

The soldiers rushed into the barn and brought out the cow. Efrosinya Ivanovna rushed to protect the cow.

- Will not give it back! What will I feed my grandchildren?!

- Get out of the way! - the corporal shouted. - I'll shoot.

He fired into the air, and Efrosinya Ivanovna fell in fright. This saved her, since the second shot was intended for her.

When the Nazis came out of the gate, Uncle Vanya and Boris jumped out into the yard, picked up Eurosinya Ivanovna and carried her into the hut, putting her to bed.

The men and Irina Isaakovna with them went to the second half of the hut. Zina heard:

- You'll have to get a job.

- To the Germans?

- Well, yes. An order from the forest, this is your task,” Uncle Vanya quietly explained.

“Uncle Vanya and Aunt Ira are connected with the partisans,” Zina realized.

She entered their room. Her gaze was determined.

– I also want... to complete the task.

- Which task? – The adults looked at each other in bewilderment.

“From the forest,” answered Zina. – Do you think I’m small?.. I understand everything.

“Okay, girl, you’ll get the task,” Boris promised. “But not a sound yet.”

Zina realized that he was in charge here, said goodbye to him like an adult by the hand and escorted the men to the vegetable gardens, through which they headed towards the forest.

Soon Zina joined the Obol underground Komsomol youth organization “Young Avengers”. She distributed leaflets and reports from the Soviet Information Bureau among the local population, collected and hid weapons left behind during the retreat of Soviet military units.

One day, the secretary of the underground committee, Fruza Zenkova, summoned Zina and Ilya Ezovitov.

“That’s it, guys,” said Fruza. - Get the task. We need to find out in Zuy and in the peat factory village what units are stationed there, how many soldiers there are. Give the information to the contact person personally.

Ilya and Zina thought about how best to act.

“It seems to me that you can find out which German units are in Zuy if you listen to conversations on the radiotelephone,” suggested Ilya.

- But how to eavesdrop on them?

– Our hut houses a field radio station and a telephone. Our firewood lies in the entryway. I will follow them more often and listen to their conversations, because I know a little German... But how can we determine how many soldiers there are in Zuya?

- Ilya, I find out. On the square in the village of the peat factory, drill exercises are held twice a week. Almost all the soldiers of the garrison are rounded up. So I'll count it.

Having collected the necessary information, at the appointed time they conveyed it to the liaison officer at the appointed place - near a wooden bridge, where a small river flows into the Obol.

Zina also participated in sabotage against the Nazi invaders. While working as a dishwasher in the officers' mess, she managed to quietly drop poison into a cauldron of soup. This “lunch” claimed the lives of several dozen German officers.

Soon a denunciation was received against Zina at German headquarters. The partisans found out about this in time through their informants and at night they transported her and her younger sister to the partisan detachment.

Since August 1943, Zina Portnova has been a scout in the partisan detachment named after K. E. Voroshilov. She took part in battles against punitive forces and in the defeat of enemy garrisons in Ulla and Leonov. The girl learned to shoot well and lay mines.

She visited Oboli several times, passed on partisan assignments, mines and leaflets to the underground committee of the Young Avengers, and collected intelligence data on the number and location of garrison units. Young underground fighters from Oboli waged a courageous struggle against the occupiers for about two years: they derailed military trains, blew up power plants and water pumping stations. For a long time and in vain, the Nazis tried to get on the trail of this organization. Finally they succeeded.

In December 1943, Zina received the task of identifying the reasons for the failure of the Young Avengers organization and establishing contact with the surviving underground fighters. Upon returning to the partisan detachment in the village of Goryany, Zina, identified by the police, was arrested.

During the interrogation, the brave girl grabbed the fascist investigator’s pistol from the table when he walked to the window and shot him. The officer who ran into the room was also killed on the spot. Zina rushed into the corridor, jumped out into the yard, and from there into the garden. The linden alley, noticeably lowering, abutted the river bank. The girl rushed like a whirlwind to the nearest bushes that stretched next to the alley. She ran to the river, behind which was the saving forest. Zina turned around and saw the soldiers. One of them is very close. She stopped, took aim, and smoothly pulled the trigger. The Hitlerite stretched out on the ground. The others ran faster. Zina, without aiming, fired several times.

“Why don’t they shoot?” – the girl was surprised. She did not know that the order was to capture her alive. She ran to the river again. She turned around and pulled the trigger. There was no shot: the cartridges in the clip ran out...

She was captured on the very bank of the river.

By decree of the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet of the USSR dated July 1, 1958, Z. M. Portnova was posthumously awarded the title of Hero of the Soviet Union.

The feat of Zina Portnova

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Zina Portnova was born in Leningrad. After the seventh grade, in the summer of 1941, she came on vacation to her grandmother in the Belarusian village of Zuya. There the war found her. Belarus was occupied by the Nazis.

From the first days of the occupation, boys and girls began to act decisively, and the secret organization “Young Avengers” was created. The guys fought against the fascist occupiers. They blew up a water pumping station, which delayed the sending of ten fascist trains to the front.

While distracting the enemy, the Avengers destroyed bridges and highways, blew up a local power plant, and burned a factory. Having obtained information about the actions of the Germans, they immediately passed it on to the partisans.

Zina Portnova was assigned increasingly complex tasks. According to one of them, the girl managed to get a job in a German canteen. After working there for a while, she carried out an effective operation - she poisoned food for German soldiers. More than 100 fascists suffered from her lunch. The Germans began to blame Zina. Wanting to prove her innocence, the girl tried the poisoned soup and only miraculously survived.

In 1943, traitors appeared who revealed secret information and handed our guys over to the Nazis. Many were arrested and shot. Then the command of the partisan detachment instructed Portnova to establish contact with those who survived. The Nazis captured the young partisan when she was returning from a mission. Zina was terribly tortured. But the answer to the enemy was only her silence, contempt and hatred. The interrogations did not stop.

"The Gestapo man approached the window. And Zina, rushing to the table, grabbed the pistol. Obviously catching a rustle, the officer turned around impulsively, but the weapon was already in her hand. She pulled the trigger. For some reason she didn’t hear the shot. She only saw the German, grabbing with his hands on his chest, fell to the floor, and the second one, who was sitting at the side table, jumped up from his chair and hastily unfastened the holster of his revolver. She pointed the pistol at him. Again, almost without aiming, she pulled the trigger. Rushing towards the exit, Zina pulled the door towards herself , jumped out into the next room and from there onto the porch. There she shot almost point-blank at the sentry. Having run out of the commandant’s office building, Portnova rushed like a whirlwind down the path.

“If only I could run to the River,” the girl thought. But behind them there was the sound of a chase. “Why don’t they shoot?” The surface of the water already seemed very close. And beyond the river the forest turned black. She heard the sound of machine gun fire and something spiky pierced her leg. Zina on river sand fell. She still had enough strength to rise slightly and shoot. She saved the last bullet for herself.

When the Germans got very close, she decided it was all over and pointed the gun at her chest and pulled the trigger. But there was no shot: it misfired. The fascist knocked the pistol out of her weakening hands.”

Zina was sent to prison. The Germans brutally tortured the girl for more than a month; they wanted her to betray her comrades. But having taken an oath of allegiance to her homeland, Zina kept it.

On the morning of January 13, 1944, a gray-haired and blind girl was taken out to be executed. She walked, stumbling with her bare feet in the snow.

The girl withstood all the torture. She truly loved our homeland and died for it, firmly believing in our victory. Zinaida Portnova was posthumously awarded the title of Hero of the Soviet Union.

The exploits of Zina Portnova USSR. The feat of intelligence officer Zina Portnova

On January 10, 1944, Zina Portnova (17 years old) was executed. During interrogation, she shot the investigator and 2 other Germans.

Zina Portnova was born on February 20, 1926 in Leningrad into a working-class family. She graduated from 7th grade. In June 1941, a girl came to the village of Zuya, near the Obol station in the Vitebsk region, for the school holidays. After the Nazi invasion of the territory of the Soviet Union, Zina found herself in occupied territory. She did not want to leave with the refugees, so she decided to stay in the city of Obol. In 1942, patriotic youth organized the Obol underground Komsomol organization “Young Avengers”. Zina Portnova immediately became its member, the leader of this organization was E. S. Zenkova, the future Hero of the Soviet Union. Later Zina joined her committee. She was accepted into the Komsomol while underground. The “Young Avengers” distributed and posted anti-fascist leaflets, and also obtained information about the actions of German troops for the Soviet partisans. With the help of this organization, it was possible to organize a number of sabotages on railway. The water pump was blown up, which delayed the sending of dozens of trains of German soldiers to the front. The underground blew up a local power plant, disabled a couple of trucks, and burned a flax factory. Zina Portnova managed to get a job in a canteen for German personnel. After working there for a while, she carried out a cruel, but very effective operation - she poisoned the food. More than 100 Germans were injured. In response to this, the Nazis unleashed a wave of mass terror on the city. During the proceedings, Zina, wanting to convey to the Germans that she was not involved, tried the poisoned soup herself. Miraculously she survived. Portnova, in order to avoid arrest, had to go to the partisans. In August 1943, Zina became a scout for a partisan detachment. The girl takes part in the bombing of trains. The Obol underground was practically destroyed in 1943. With the help of provocateurs, the Gestapo collected all the necessary information and also carried out mass arrests. The command of the partisan detachment ordered Portnova to establish contact with the survivors. She managed to establish contact, but did not report this to the detachment. Having found out the reasons for the failure of the Young Avengers organization and already returning back, in the village of Mostishche Zina was identified by a certain Anna Khrapovitskaya, who immediately informed the police. The police detained the girl and transported her to Obol. There the Gestapo was closely involved with her, since she was listed as a suspect in sabotage in the canteen. During interrogation by the Gestapo, Zina grabbed the investigator's pistol and instantly shot him. Two Nazis came running to these shots, whom the girl also shot. The girl ran out of the building and rushed to the river in the hope of swimming to safety, but did not have time to reach the water. The Germans wounded Zina and captured her. She was sent to Vitebsk prison. The Germans had no doubts about the girl’s involvement in the underground, so they did not interrogate her, but simply methodically tortured her. The torture lasted more than a month, but Zina did not give up the names of other underground fighters. On January 13, 1944, she was shot in prison. On July 1, 1958, Zina Portnova was posthumously awarded the title of Hero of the Soviet Union.

Larisa Mikheenko - short biography

The future partisan was born on November 4, 1929 in Lakhta, a suburb of Leningrad, into a working-class family. She studied at Leningrad school No. 106. When did it start Soviet-Finnish war, her father Dorofey Ilyich, who worked as a mechanic at the Krasnaya Zarya plant, was mobilized and did not return from the front. On Sunday, June 22, when the battles of the Great Patriotic War had already begun, she and her grandmother went on summer vacation to visit her uncle in the village of Pechenevo, Pustoshkinsky district, Kalinin region (today it is the Pskov region). Two months later, Wehrmacht troops entered the village, and her uncle became the village mayor. Since there was no way to return to besieged Leningrad, Larisa and her grandmother remained to live in Pechenevo.

In the spring of 1943, one of Larina’s friends, Raisa, turned sixteen years old, and she received a summons to appear at the assembly point to be sent to work in Germany. To avoid this fate, Raisa, Larisa Mikheenko and another girl, Frosya, went into the forest to join the partisans. Thus began Larisa’s combat career in the 6th Kalinin Brigade under the command of Major Ryndin. At first they were accepted reluctantly, because the leadership would like to see trained men in their detachment, not teenage girls, but soon they began to trust them with combat missions. Since Larisa, like her fighting friends, due to her age, could get close to military targets without arousing suspicion among the Germans, she served in the detachment as a reconnaissance officer. Thanks to the data she obtained in the village of Orekhovo, the partisans, knowing the location of the firing points and the rotation time of the sentries, were able to steal livestock from the Germans, requisitioned from the population for the needs of the Wehrmacht. In the village of Chernetsovo, having hired a nanny to care for a small child, Larisa collected detailed information about the German garrison stationed there, and a few days later the partisans raided the village. Also, during large crowds of people during church holidays, she distributed Soviet propaganda leaflets.

Utah Bondarovskaya. Bondarovskaya, Utah

Utah Bondarovskaya (Bondarovskaya Iya V.) (January 6, 1928 (1928-01-06), village of Zalazy, Leningrad region- February 28, 1944, Roostoya farm, Estonia) - pioneer hero, partisan of the 6th Leningrad Partisan Brigade.

In the summer of 1941, Yuta Bondarovskaya came from Leningrad to a village near Pskov. Here she found the beginning of the Great Patriotic War. Utah began to help the partisans: she was a messenger, then a scout. Dressed as a beggar boy, she collected information from the villages that the partisans needed.

Utah died in a battle near the Estonian farm of Roostoya.

She was posthumously awarded the Order of the Patriotic War, 1st degree, and the medal “Partisan of the Patriotic War,” 1st degree.

Zina Portnova truth and fiction. Hero or traitor?

Let's start in order. The first pioneer hero, on whose example hundreds of Soviet children were brought up long before the Great Patriotic War, was Pavlik Morozov. Back in the years of glasnost, when it became open information about Stalin’s policy of repression and mass dispossession, the story of this boy was immediately remembered and analyzed taking into account new facts. And then they quickly pushed it “to the margins of history”; this truth was too shameful. Yes, informing on your father is a terrifying fact, but if dear person was an enemy, such an act is at least somehow justified. But, when it became clear that Timofey Morozov was not an enemy, but in fact a hero in the eyes of the public, saving his fellow villagers from the ax of unjust dispossession, the more or less justifiable motive disappeared, and the accents changed polarity. This raises a lot of questions. Suppose a boy, imbued with the ideas of a new ideology, decides to show consciousness, not caring about family ties and general condemnation. For a small village, which was Gerasimovka, the act was not typical for a teenager, but - taking into account new trends - it was quite acceptable. However, were the elder Morozovs really so angry with the boy that they decided to punish him for betrayal following the example of Taras Bulba, killing him as an unwanted witness, and younger brother Pavla - Fedya? At the same time, knowing full well that such a step would immediately attract the attention of the security officers and put the whole family under attack?

Valya Kotik is one of the teenage heroes who fought during the Great Patriotic War against the German occupiers. Valentin glorified his name as a courageous defender of his land and a faithful son of the Motherland.

Valya Kotik biography briefly

Valentin came from a simple peasant family. He was born in the Khmelnitsky region of Ukraine. When the Germans occupied Ukrainian soil in 1941, Valya was a simple schoolboy. At that time the boy was eleven years old.

The young pioneer immediately took an ardent part in helping the Soviet front. Together with his classmates, Valya collected ammunition: grenades, rifles, pistols that remained on the battlefields and transported all these weapons to the partisans.

The children hid weapons in haystacks and transported them quite freely, because it did not occur to the Germans that children were also assistants to the partisans.

In 1942, Valya was accepted into the number of intelligence officers of the underground Soviet organization; the following year, 1943, the boy became a full member of the partisan detachment. Valentin Kotik went through a long and difficult two and a half years of war; he died from mortal wounds received in battle in February 1944.

Description of the exploits of Valentin Kotik

The hero Valentin Kotik was immediately remembered by his comrades for his courage and ingenuity. The boy accomplished his most famous feat in the fall of 1943: he discovered a secret radio line of the Germans, which they carefully concealed (later the partisans destroyed this line, leaving the Nazis without communication). Valentin took part in many partisan operations: he was a good demolitionist, signalman and fighter. He went on reconnaissance missions, and once in 1943 he saved the entire detachment.

It happened this way: Valentin was sent on reconnaissance, he noticed in time the Germans who had begun a punitive operation, shot one of the senior commanders of this operation and made a noise, thereby warning his comrades of the danger that threatened them. The story of the death of Valentin Kotik has two main versions. According to the first of them, he was mortally wounded in battle and died the next day. According to the second, the slightly wounded Valentin died during German shelling of evacuees. Soviet soldiers. Buried young hero in Shepetivka.

Posthumous fame

After the war, the name Valentin Kotik became a household name. The boy was awarded orders and partisan medals. And in 1958 he was awarded the title of Hero. Pioneer detachments, streets, parks and public gardens were named after Vali Kotik. Monuments were erected to him throughout the Soviet Union. The most famous of all the monuments is the sculptural monument erected in 1960 in the center of Moscow.

Another monument is still located in the city of Simferopol on the Alley of Heroes, where there are sculptures of adults and children who heroically defended their Motherland during the Great Patriotic War. Valentin's feat was glorified in the feature film about the war "Eaglet", in which main character- the courageous young pioneer blew himself up with a grenade so as not to be captured by the Nazis.

In this article we will talk about the partisan Zinaida Portnova, Hero of the Soviet Union. During the Great Patriotic War young girl zealously fought the enemy, being a member of the local partisan underground. Her exploits, which we will talk about now, have forever entered the annals of Soviet and Russian history.

So, Zina Portnova was born in 1926 in Leningrad. Her father worked at the Kirov plant, the girl grew up in the most ordinary working-class family. Zina has always been strongly involved in social life class and educational institution, and, as a result, this did not go unnoticed - in the 5th grade she became the head girl.

The girl's father, Martyn Portnov, was from Belarus. There, in the Vitebsk region, in the village of Zui, Zina’s grandmother lived, with whom she and her sister Galya visited every summer. And that tragic year of 1941 was no exception - the war found 15-year-old Zinaida with her grandmother in the village.

Minsk, soon after the start of the war, fell under the pressure of the Nazi invaders (June 28). The German occupation troops moved further - to Orsha and Smolensk, and for this reason the sisters simply did not have time to evacuate to the rear, to the mainland. Apparently it was fate...

Of course, no one liked the new order that the occupiers introduced, who actually used the local population as their slaves. In Belarus there were tens of thousands of people who refused to demolish and tolerate the atrocities of the invaders. They began to unite into detachments, thus forming a partisan underground. Soon young Zinaida Portnova also joined their ranks.

The girl was very lucky that even before the war she was friends with Fruza Zenkova, later a Hero of the Soviet Union, a member of the Komsomol underground. Indeed, in those tragic years, there was often a search for like-minded people who were ready to fight the occupation German regime, led directly into the clutches of the enemy (unfortunately, there were always informers). It was Zenkova who attracted her younger friend to the affairs of the organization, and during one of the meetings of the underground, Zinaida was accepted into the Komsomol.

Zina started with small operations by the standards of the partisan movement. She was accepted into the youth partisan detachment “Young Avengers”, and the girl, along with her peers, posted anti-fascist leaflets. But further - more. Young fighters against the hated regime began to disable German equipment, burn warehouses with ammunition, weapons and carry out other sabotage operations.

But Zina became famous not even for these very brave actions for a 15-year-old girl. The young partisan managed to get a job as a dishwasher in the kitchen of the officers' mess, where she immediately took advantage of access to common food. Portnova slipped enemy officers into their soup rat poison, as a result of which more than a hundred Germans received severe food poisoning and many died.

Young Zina automatically fell into the circle of suspects, but when the Germans offered her to taste the poisoned soup, she agreed, pretending that she did not suspect anything. Thus, the partisan averted suspicion from herself, but these few spoons of poisoned soup almost cost the girl her life. Fortunately, the young body tolerated the poisoning well, plus Zina’s grandmother was well acquainted with the means traditional medicine— the partisan miraculously remained alive.

Soon after the young “avenger”’s health was restored, she continued the fight with weapons in her hands. However, ordinary sabotage was not enough for Zinaida, she wanted a big “deal,” but the partisans took great care of her - she did not receive single tasks for some time.

A little later, something terrible happened. The Komsomol underground "Young Avengers" was exposed, and about 30 of its members were arrested by the German occupation forces. In captivity, the “Avengers”, of course, were subjected to terrible torture, several people died from these terrible torture, the rest were later shot...

Then Zina volunteered to penetrate the territory of the fascist garrison to find out who betrayed the underground fighters. However, having returned to her native village, the girl was immediately captured by the Germans, who at that time were well aware of the role of the partisan in the poisoning in the canteen, in a number of other sabotages, etc.

Portnova was brought for interrogation to the Gestapo captain Krause, who, oddly enough, was very affectionate with the girl. The German officer spoke extremely politely with the partisan, inviting her to hand over her comrades in the underground, inform her about their numbers, the availability of certain types of weapons and ammunition at their disposal, etc. However, to intimidate, the captain put a loaded pistol on the table, which and it became his fatal mistake. When he went to the window to open it and light a cigarette, Zina grabbed the weapon from the table and actually shot her interrogator point-blank.

The partisan ran away from the ill-fated office, and neither the guard nor the policeman, who rushed to catch up with the girl, could stop her - both were shot. But, unfortunately, Zina did not get far; German machine gunners wounded the girl in the legs and only then were they able to detain her.

There could be no more talk of any gentle interrogations - the partisan was tortured, beaten and humiliated, demanding information from her. The underground woman was tortured for more than a month, but Zinaida did not tell them anything. In the end, the Gestapo sadists cut off the girl’s ears and gouged out her eyes, and only after that they shot her.

Zinaida Portnova died at the hands of the fascist occupiers at the age of 17. She was posthumously awarded the title of Hero of the Soviet Union. This girl, who did not even live to reach adulthood, had a truly strong spirit and unbending will. This, unfortunately, is generally very rare in people, regardless of their age... Eternal memory of her immortal feat!