The feat of the great Zoya. Biography of Zoya Kosmodemyanskaya

Topic of the competition work:“Zoya Kosmodemyanskaya – stepping into eternity.”

Municipal educational institution secondary school s. Berdyuzhye

While studying the archival documents of the school museum on the history of my native school, I discovered the fact that the pioneer squad of my school until the 90s bore the name of Zoya Kosmodemyanskaya. Here, I saw a photo of Zoya. A girl with a courageous face looked at me. I became interested in what this young and very beautiful girl had done and to find out about her heroic fate.

The museum worker and my class teacher, Galina Aleksandrovna Dyukova, laid out in front of me illustrations, photographs, printed material and journalistic books that I had to look through. The more I read into the life story of Zoya Kosmodemyanskaya, the more I wanted to know about her.

She was an ordinary girl, she was born on September 13, 1923. in the village of Osinovye Gai, Tambov region, in an intelligent family.

Father, Anatoly Petrovich, was in charge of the club and library; mother, Lyubov Timofeevna, was a teacher in a rural school.

In 1931 the family moved to Moscow, where Zoya and her younger brother Shura went to school. In October 1938, Zoya became a Komsomol member, successfully passing all commissions. And it was difficult not to accept this girl into the ranks of the Lenin Komsomol, since she studied well, was restrained, disciplined, and was awarded certificates of commendation. She especially loved literature and read a lot.

One day she read a book about the heroes of the Civil War, which included an essay about Tatyana Solomakha, a communist who was brutally tortured by the White Guards. The heroic image of Tanya shook Zoya to the core. She had someone to look up to! And it’s not for nothing that she will call herself Tatiana’s name before her execution.

Zoya successfully completed 9th grade, moved to 10th grade, the year was 1941. The war has begun...

During the fascist air raids on Moscow, Zoya and her brother Alexander kept watch on the roof of the house where they lived. In October 1941, Zoya, with a permit from the city Komsomol committee, volunteered for a reconnaissance detachment.

After a short training in the detachment, as part of a group, on November 4 she was transferred to the Volokolamsk area to carry out a combat mission.

A few days later, having completed the next task, the group returned home, but Zoya thought this was not enough, and she literally persuaded the commander to return to the area of ​​​​the village of Petrishchevo, where the headquarters of a large Nazi unit was located. The girl managed to cut the wires of the field telephone and set fire to the stable. But alarmed German sentries tracked down the girl and captured her. Zoya was stripped and beaten with fists, and after a while, beaten, barefoot, and wearing only a shirt, they led her through the entire village to the Voronins’ house, where the headquarters was located.

Officers began to converge on the Voronins’ house. The owners were ordered to leave. The senior officer himself interrogated the partisan in Russian.

The officer asked questions, and Zoya answered them without hesitation, loudly and boldly. Zoya was asked who sent her and who was with her. They demanded that she betray her friends. The answers were heard through the door: “No,” “I don’t know,” “I won’t tell.” Then the belts whistled, and you could hear them lashing the young body. Four men took off their belts and beat the girl. The hosts counted 200 shots. Zoya didn't make a single sound. And then there was another interrogation, she continued to answer: “No,” “I won’t tell,” only more quietly.

After interrogation, she was taken to the house of Vasily Aleksandrovich Kulik. She walked under escort, still undressed, walking barefoot in the snow. Zoya was pushed into the hut, the owners saw her tortured body. She was breathing heavily. The lips were bitten and drew blood. She sat down on the bench, sat calmly and motionless, then asked for a drink. Vasily Kulik wanted to serve water from a tub, but the guard, who was constantly in the hut, forced her to drink kerosene, holding a lamp to her mouth.

The soldiers living in the hut were allowed to mock the Russian partisan. Only having had enough fun, they went to bed.

Then the sentry, raising his rifle at the ready, came up with a new type of torture. Every hour he took the naked girl out into the yard and led her around the house for 15-20 minutes. The guards changed because they could not withstand the Russian frost, but a very young girl survived. She did not ask for mercy from her enemies. She despised and hated them, and this made her even stronger. The Nazis became even more brutal from their powerlessness.

On November 29, after terrible torture, Zoya was led to the gallows under heavy escort. The Nazis also drove the villagers here...

Zoya once wrote in her school notebook about Ilya Muromets: “When he is overcome by an evil boaster, the Russian land itself pours strength into him.” And in those fateful moments, it was as if her native land itself gave her powerful, non-maiden strength. Even the enemy was forced to acknowledge this power with amazement.

At her death hour, the brave partisan looked with a contemptuous glance at the fascists crowding around the gallows. The executioners lifted the brave girl, placed her on a box and put a noose around her neck. The Germans began to take photographs. The commandant made a sign to the soldiers performing the duty of executioners to wait. Zoya, taking advantage of the opportunity, shouted to the villagers:

“Be brave, fight, beat the Germans, burn them, poison them! I'm not afraid to die, comrades. It’s happiness to die for your people!”

Turning towards the German soldiers, Zoya continued: “You will hang me now, but I am not alone. There are two hundred million of us, you can’t outweigh them all. You will be avenged for me. Soldiers! Before it’s too late, surrender, victory will still be ours!” How much courage did it take to finally spit in the enemy’s face once again?!

The Russian people standing in the square were crying.

The executioner pulled the rope, and the noose squeezed Tanino’s throat. But she spread the noose with both hands, rose on her toes and shouted, straining all her strength: “Farewell, comrades! Fight, don’t be afraid!”…The executioner rested his shoe on the box. The box creaked and hit the ground loudly. The crowd recoiled...

She died in enemy captivity on a fascist rack, without expressing her suffering with a single sound, without betraying her comrades. She accepted martyrdom as a heroine, as the daughter of a great people that no one can ever break. Her memory lives forever!

For about a month, the body of a young partisan hung in the village square. Tanya was buried outside the village, under a birch tree; a blizzard covered the grave mound with snow.

The feat of the Moscow schoolgirl Zoya, her martyrdom, heroic death in Petrishchev was first learned at the end of January 1942, when the Red Army drove Hitler’s army to the west. And Pyotr Lidov’s story about Zoya came precisely at that time. He didn’t know the heroine’s real name, but Zoya called herself “Tanya” to the locals, and the article was published under that title. And only from the photographs (taken by the Nazis during the execution) accompanying the article, friends and relatives recognized Zoya, the Moscow schoolgirl, Zoya Anatolyevna Kosmodemyanskaya.

I look at the photo again and again: a regular, open face with strong features that reflect the strength of her character. It is much more difficult to answer the question for ourselves: where does this strength, this unbending courage come from? Zoya died when she was the age we are now. And there was something in her that gave her the courage to die a hero, having seen so little in life, without experiencing everything that is given to a person to experience. Zoya became a heroine because she, our age, already knew exactly what she needed from life and what it should give her. Only a person with very clear and firm principles could live his short life so beautifully and brightly.

Literature:

1.Victory addresses. – Tyumen: OJSC “Tyumen Publishing House”, 2010. – page 155

2. The Great Patriotic War. A brief illustrated history of the war for youth. – Moscow publishing house “Young Guard” 1975 – page 213

3. “Russian Patriot” Special issue, 2010.

4.The Path of Heroes - Art. Roads lead to Moscow. Publishing house "Young Guard", 1977. page 26

5. Archival documents of the school museum.

The feat of Zoya Kosmodemyanskaya is still relevant today; it is an example of courage, perseverance, and love for her country, which a fragile young girl demonstrated to the whole world. The Nazis tortured her, mocked her, then hanged her, then mocked her again, this time over her corpse.

When her feat became known, Stalin gave the order: wherever the 332nd regiment of the 197th division of the Wehrmacht, who brutally tortured Zoya Kosmodemyanskaya, was transferred, always inform the soldiers of our units standing against this part of the non-humans about this and not take the soldiers of the 332nd regiment of the German army captured.

The story of Zoya Kosmodemyanskaya’s feat is told in an article by Alexey Natalenko, a member of the Union of Citizens of Ukraine.

“On November 29, 1941, Zoya Kosmodemyanskaya died heroically. Her feat became a legend. She was the first woman to be awarded the title of Hero of the Soviet Union during the Great Patriotic War. Her name has become a household name and is inscribed in capital letters in heroic history. the Russian people - the victorious people.

The Nazis beat and tortured
Kicked out barefoot into the cold,
My hands were tied with ropes,
The interrogation lasted for five hours.
There are scars and abrasions on your face,
But silence is the answer to the enemy.
Wooden platform with crossbar,
You are standing barefoot in the snow.
A young voice sounds over the fire,

Above the silence of a frosty day:
- I’m not afraid to die, comrades,
My people will avenge me!

AGNIYA BARTO

For the first time, Zoya’s fate became widely known from an essay Peter Alexandrovich Lidov“Tanya”, published in the newspaper “Pravda” on January 27, 1942 and telling about the execution by the Nazis in the village of Petrishchevo near Moscow of a partisan girl who called herself Tanya during interrogation. A photograph was published next to it: a mutilated female body with a rope around her neck. At that time, the real name of the deceased was not yet known. Simultaneously with the publication in Pravda in "Komsomolskaya Pravda" material was published Sergei Lyubimov"We won't forget you, Tanya."

We had a cult of the feat of “Tanya” (Zoya Kosmodemyanskaya) and it firmly entered the ancestral memory of the people. Comrade Stalin introduced this cult personally . February 16 In 1942, she was awarded the title of Hero of the Soviet Union posthumously. And Lidov’s continuation article, “Who Was Tanya,” was published only two days later - 18th of Febuary 1942. Then the whole country learned the real name of the girl killed by the Nazis: Zoya Anatolyevna Kosmodemyanskaya, tenth grade student at school No. 201 in the Oktyabrsky district of Moscow. Her school friends recognized her from the photograph that accompanied Lidov’s first essay.

“In early December 1941, in Petrishchevo, near the city of Vereya,” wrote Lidov, “the Germans executed an eighteen-year-old Komsomol member from Moscow, who called herself Tatyana... She died in enemy captivity on a fascist rack, without making a single sound, without betraying her suffering, without betraying her comrades. She accepted martyrdom as a heroine, as the daughter of a great people that no one can ever break! May her memory live forever!”

During the interrogation, a German officer, according to Lidov, asked the eighteen-year-old girl the main question: “Tell me, where is Stalin?” “Stalin is at his post,” Tatyana answered.

In the newspaper "Publicity". September 24, 1997 in the material of professor-historian Ivan Osadchy under the heading “Her name and her feat are immortal” An act drawn up in the village of Petrishchevo on January 25, 1942 was published:

“We, the undersigned, - a commission consisting of: Chairman of the Gribtsovsky Village Council Mikhail Ivanovich Berezin, Secretary Klavdiya Prokofyevna Strukova, collective farmers-eyewitnesses of the collective farm “8th of March” - Vasily Alexandrovich Kulik and Evdokia Petrovna Voronina - drew up this act as follows: During the period of occupation Vereisky district, a girl who called herself Tanya was hanged by German soldiers in the village of Petrishchevo. Later it turned out that it was a partisan girl from Moscow - Zoya Anatolyevna Kosmodemyanskaya, born in 1923. German soldiers caught her while she was on a combat mission, setting fire to a stable containing more than 300 horses. The German sentry grabbed her from behind, and she did not have time to shoot.

She was taken to the house of Maria Ivanovna Sedova, undressed and interrogated. But there was no need to get any information from her. After interrogation by Sedova, barefoot and undressed, she was taken to Voronina’s house, where the headquarters was located. There they continued to interrogate, but she answered all questions: “No! Don't know!". Having achieved nothing, the officer ordered that they start beating her with belts. The housewife, who was forced onto the stove, counted about 200 blows. She didn't scream or even utter a single moan. And after this torture she answered again: “No! I will not say! Don't know!"

She was taken out of Voronina's house; She walked, stepping bare feet in the snow, and was brought to Kulik’s house. Exhausted and tormented, she was surrounded by enemies. German soldiers mocked her in every possible way. She asked for a drink - the German brought her a lighted lamp. And someone ran a saw across her back. Then all the soldiers left, only one sentry remained. Her hands were tied back. My feet are frostbitten. The guard ordered her to get up and led her out into the street under his rifle. And again she walked, stepping barefoot in the snow, and drove until she froze. The guards changed after 15 minutes. And so they continued to lead her along the street the whole night.

P.Ya. Kulik (maiden name Petrushin, 33 years old) says: “They brought her in and sat her on a bench, and she gasped. Her lips were black, baked black, and her face was swollen on her forehead. She asked my husband for a drink. We asked: “Can I?” They said, “No,” and one of them, instead of water, raised a burning kerosene lamp without glass to his chin.

When I talked to her, she told me: “Victory is still ours. Let them shoot me, let these monsters mock me, but still they won’t shoot us all. There are still 170 million of us, the Russian people have always won, and now victory will be ours.”

In the morning they brought her to the gallows and began to photograph her... She shouted: “Citizens! Don’t stand there, don’t look, but we need to help fight!” After that, one officer swung his arms, and others shouted at her.

Then she said: “Comrades, victory will be ours. German soldiers, before it’s too late, surrender.” The officer shouted angrily: “Rus!” “The Soviet Union is invincible and will not be defeated,” she said all this at the moment when she was photographed...

Then they set up the box. She stood on the box herself without any command. A German came up and began to put on the noose. At that time she shouted: “No matter how much you hang us, you won’t hang us all, there are 170 million of us. But our comrades will avenge you for me.” She said this with a noose around her neck.”A few seconds before death, and a moment before Eternity she announced, with a noose around her neck, the verdict of the Soviet people: “ Stalin is with us! Stalin will come!

In the morning they built a gallows, gathered the population and publicly hanged him. But they continued to mock the hanged woman. Her left breast was cut off and her legs were cut with knives.

When our troops drove the Germans away from Moscow, they hastened to remove Zoya’s body and bury it outside the village; they burned the gallows at night, as if wanting to hide the traces of their crime. She was hanged in early December 1941. This is what the present act was drawn up for.”

And a little later, photographs found in the pocket of a murdered German were brought to the Pravda editorial office. 5 photographs captured the moments of the execution of Zoya Kosmodemyanskaya. At the same time, another essay by Pyotr Lidov appeared, dedicated to the feat of Zoya Kosmodemyanskaya, under the title “5 photographs.”

Why did the young intelligence officer call herself by this name (or the name “Taon”) and why was it her feat that Comrade Stalin singled out? After all, at the same time, many Soviet people committed no less heroic deeds. For example, on the same day, November 29, 1942, in the same Moscow region, partisan Vera Voloshina was executed, for her feat she was awarded the Order of the Patriotic War, 1st degree (1966) and the title of Hero of Russia (1994).

To successfully mobilize the entire Soviet people, Russian civilization, Stalin used the language of symbols and those triggering moments that could extract a layer of heroic victories from the ancestral memory of the Russians. We remember the famous speech at the parade on November 7, 1941, in which the great Russian commanders and the national liberation wars, in which we invariably emerged victorious, were mentioned. Thus, parallels were drawn between the victories of our ancestors and the current inevitable Victory. The surname Kosmodemyanskaya comes from the consecrated names of two Russian heroes - Kozma and Demyan. In the city of Murom there is a church named after them, erected by order of Ivan the Terrible.

Ivan the Terrible’s tent once stood on that spot, and Kuznetsky Posad was located nearby. The king was wondering how to cross the Oka, on the other bank of which there was an enemy camp. Then two blacksmith brothers, whose names were Kozma and Demyan, appeared in the tent and offered their help to the king. At night, in the dark, the brothers quietly crept into the enemy camp and set fire to the khan’s tent. While they were putting out the fire in the camp and looking for spies, the troops of Ivan the Terrible, taking advantage of the commotion in the enemy camp, crossed the river. Demyan and Kozma died, and in their honor a church was built and named after the heroes.

As a result - in one family, both children perform feats and are awarded the title of Hero of the Soviet Union! Streets were named after Heroes in the USSR. Normally there would be two streets named after each Hero. But in Moscow one the street, and not by chance, received a “double” name - Zoya and Alexandra Kosmodemyansky

In 1944, the film “Zoya” was shot, which received the award for best screenplay at the 1st International Film Festival in Cannes in 1946. Also, the film “Zoya” was awarded Stalin Prize, 1st degree, we received it Leo Arnstam(director), Galina Vodyanitskaya(performer of the role of Zoya Kosmodemyanskaya) and Alexander Shelenkov(cameraman).

In 2015, all of humanity will celebrate the end of one of the most terrible wars in its history. The Soviet people suffered especially much in the early 1940s, and it was the inhabitants of the USSR who showed the world examples of unprecedented heroism, perseverance and love for the Motherland. For example, to this day the feat of Zoya Kosmodemyanskaya has not been forgotten, a brief summary of the history of which is presented below.

Background

On November 17, 1941, when the Nazis were on the outskirts of Moscow, a decision was made to use Scythian tactics against the invaders. In this regard, an order was issued ordering the destruction of all populated areas behind enemy lines in order to deprive him of the opportunity to spend the winter in comfortable conditions. To carry out the order, several sabotage groups were formed from among the fighters of the special partisan unit 9903 in the shortest possible time. This military unit, specially created at the end of October 1941, consisted mainly of Komsomol volunteers who passed a strict selection. In particular, each of the young people was interviewed and they were warned that they would have to carry out tasks involving mortal risk.

Family

Before telling who Kosmodemyanskaya Zoya Anatolyevna was, whose feat made her a symbol of the heroism of the Soviet people, it is worth learning a few interesting facts about her parents and other ancestors. So, the first woman to receive the title of Hero of the Soviet Union during the Second World War was born into a family of teachers. However, for a long time the fact was hidden that the girl’s paternal ancestors were clergy. It is interesting that in 1918, her grandfather, who was a priest in the church of the village of Osino-Gai, where Zoya was later born, was brutally tortured and drowned in a pond by the Bolsheviks. The Kosmodemyansky family spent some time in Siberia, as the girl’s parents feared arrest, but soon returned and settled in the capital. Three years later, Zoya's father died, and she and her brother found themselves in the care of their mother.

Video on the topic

Biography

Zoya Kosmodemyanskaya, the whole truth and lies about whose feat became known to the public relatively recently, was born in 1923. After returning from Siberia, she studied at school No. 201 in Moscow and was especially interested in humanitarian subjects. The girl’s dream was to enter the Literary Institute, but she was destined for a completely different fate. In 1940, Zoya suffered a severe form of meningitis and underwent a rehabilitation course at a specialized sanatorium in Sokolniki, where she met Arkady Gaidar.

When in 1941 a recruitment of volunteers was announced to staff the partisan unit 9903, Kosmodemyanskaya was one of the first to go for an interview and successfully passed it. After that, she and about 2,000 other Komsomol members were sent to special courses, and then transferred to the Volokolamsk region.

The feat of Zoya Kosmodemyanskaya: summary

On November 18, the commanders of two sabotage groups HF No. 9903, P. Provorov and B. Krainov, received orders to destroy 10 settlements located behind enemy lines within a week. As part of the first of them, Red Army soldier Zoya Kosmodemyanskaya went on a mission. The groups were fired upon by the Germans near the village of Golovkovo, and due to heavy losses they had to unite under the command of Krainov. Thus, the feat of Zoya Kosmodemyanskaya was accomplished in the late autumn of 1941. More precisely, the girl went on her last mission to the village of Petrishchevo on the night of November 27 along with the group commander and fighter Vasily Klubkov. They set fire to three residential buildings along with stables, destroying 20 horses of the invaders. In addition, witnesses subsequently spoke about another feat of Zoya Kosmodemyanskaya. It turns out that the girl managed to disable the communications center, making it impossible for some German units occupying positions near Moscow to interact.

Captivity

An investigation into the events that occurred in Petrishchev at the end of November 1941 showed that Krainov did not wait for Zoya Kosmodemyanskaya and Vasily Klubkov and returned to his own. The girl herself, not finding her comrades at the appointed place, decided to continue carrying out the order on her own and went to the village again on the evening of November 28. This time she failed to carry out the arson, as she was captured by the peasant S. Sviridov and handed over to the Germans. The Nazis, enraged by the constant sabotage, began to torture the girl, trying to find out from her how many other partisans were operating in the Petrishchevo area. Investigators and historians, whose subject of study was the immortal feat of Zoya Kosmodemyanskaya, also established that two local residents took part in her beating, whose houses she set on fire the day before she was captured.

Execution

On the morning of November 29, 1941, Kosmodemyanskaya was led to the place where the gallows were built. There was a sign hanging around her neck with an inscription in German and Russian, which said that the girl was a house arsonist. On the way, Zoya was attacked by one of the peasant women who had been left without a home due to her fault, and hit her in the legs with a stick. Then several German soldiers began to photograph the girl. Subsequently, the peasants, who were brought in to see the execution of the saboteur, told the investigators about another feat of Zoya Kosmodemyanskaya. The summary of their testimony is as follows: before they put a noose around her neck, the fearless patriot made a short speech in which she called for fighting the fascists, and ended it with words about the invincibility of the Soviet Union. The girl's body was on the gallows for about a month and was buried by local residents only on the eve of the New Year.

Recognition of a feat

As already mentioned, immediately after Petrishchevo was liberated, a special commission arrived there. The purpose of her visit was to identify the corpse and interrogate those who saw with their own eyes the feat of Zoya Kosmodemyanskaya. Briefly, all the testimony was recorded on paper and sent to Moscow for further investigation. After studying these and other materials, the girl was personally posthumously awarded the high title of Hero of the Soviet Union by Stalin. The order was published by all newspapers published in the USSR, and the whole country learned about it.

"Zoya Kosmodemyanskaya", M. M. Gorinov. New details about the feat

After the collapse of the USSR, many “sensational” articles appeared in the press, in which everything and everyone was blackened. This cup has not passed from Zoya Kosmodemyanskaya. As the famous researcher of Russian and Soviet history M. M. Gorinov notes, one of the reasons for this was the suppression and falsification of some facts of the biography of a brave girl during the Soviet period for ideological reasons. In particular, since it was considered a disgrace for a Red Army soldier, including Zoya, to be captured, a version was floated that her partner, Vasily Klubkov, had betrayed her. During the first interrogations, this young man did not report anything like this. But then he suddenly decided to confess and said that he had indicated her location to the Germans in exchange for her life. And this is just one example of juggling facts in order not to tarnish the image of the heroine-martyr, although Zoya’s feat did not require such correction at all.

Thus, when cases of falsification and suppression of the truth became known to the general public, some unfortunate journalists, in pursuit of cheap sensations, began to present them in a distorted form. In particular, in order to belittle the feat of Zoya Kosmodemyanskaya, a summary of the history of which is presented above, emphasis was placed on the fact that she underwent a course of therapy in a sanatorium specializing in the treatment of nervous diseases. Moreover, like in the children’s game “damaged phone,” the diagnosis changed from publication to publication. So, if in the first “revelatory” articles it was written that the girl was unbalanced, then in subsequent ones they began to call her almost a schizophrenic, who had repeatedly set fire to haystacks even before the war.

Now you know what the feat of Zoya Kosmodemyanskaya was, which is quite difficult to talk about briefly and without emotion. After all, no one can be indifferent to the fate of an 18-year-old girl who accepted martyrdom for the liberation of her homeland.

On November 29, 1941, partisan Zoya Kosmodemyanskaya was hanged by the Nazis. This happened in the village of Petrishchevo, Moscow region. The girl was 18 years old.

Wartime heroine

Every time has its own heroes. The heroine of the Soviet war period was Komsomol member Zoya Kosmodemyanskaya, who volunteered for the front as a schoolgirl. Soon she was sent to a sabotage and reconnaissance group, which acted on instructions from the headquarters of the Western Front.

Kosmodemyanskaya became the first woman during the Second World War to be awarded the title of Hero of the Soviet Union (posthumously). At the site of the fatal events there is a monument with the words “Zoe, the immortal heroine of the Soviet people.”

Tragic exit

On November 21, 1941, groups of our volunteers went beyond the front line with the task of committing arson in several populated areas. Repeatedly, the groups came under fire: some of the fighters died, others got lost. As a result, three people remained in the ranks, ready to carry out the order given to the sabotage group. Among them was Zoya.

After the girl was captured by the Germans (according to another version, she was caught by local residents and handed over to the enemies), the Komsomol member was subjected to severe torture. After prolonged torture, Kosmodemyanskaya was hanged on Petrishchevskaya Square.

Last words

Zoya was taken outside, with a wooden sign hanging on her chest with the inscription “House Arsonist.” The Germans rounded up almost all the villagers to execute the girl.

According to eyewitnesses, the last words of the partisan addressed to the executioners were: “You will hang me now, but I am not alone. There are two hundred million of us. You cannot hang everyone. You will be avenged for me!”

The body hung in the square for about a month, frightening local residents and amusing German soldiers: drunken fascists stabbed dead Zoya with bayonets.

Before retreating, the Germans ordered the gallows to be removed. Local residents hastened to bury the partisan, who was suffering even after death, outside the village.

Fighting girlfriend

Zoya Kosmodemyanskaya has become a symbol of heroism, dedication and patriotism. But she was not the only one: at that time hundreds of volunteers were going to the front - young enthusiasts like Zoya. They left and did not return.

Almost at the same time when Kosmodemyanskaya was executed, her friend from the same sabotage group, Vera Voloshina, tragically died. The Nazis beat her half to death with rifle butts and then hanged her near the village of Golovkovo.

"Who was Tanya"

People started talking about the fate of Zoya Kosmodemyanskaya after the publication of Pyotr Lidov’s article “Tanya” in the Pravda newspaper in 1942. According to the owner of the house in which the saboteur was tortured, the girl steadfastly endured the bullying, never asked for mercy, did not give out information and called herself Tanya.

There is a version that it was not Kosmodemyanskaya who was hiding under the pseudonym “Tanya”, but another girl - Lilya Azolina. Journalist Lidov, in the article “Who Was Tanya,” soon reported that the identity of the deceased had been established. The grave was excavated and an identification procedure was carried out, which confirmed that it was Zoya Kosmodemyanskaya who was killed on November 29.

In May 1942, Kosmodemyanskaya’s ashes were transferred to the Novodevichy cemetery.

Name flower

Streets were named in honor of the young partisan who accomplished the feat (in Moscow there are Alexander and Zoya Kosmodemyansky streets), monuments and memorials were erected. There are other, more interesting objects dedicated to the memory of Zoya Kosmodemyanskaya.

For example, there are asteroids No. 1793 “Zoya” and No. 2072 “Kosmodemyanskaya” (according to the official version, it was named after the girl’s mother, Lyubov Timofeevna).

In 1943, a lilac variety was named in honor of the heroine of the Soviet people. "Zoya Kosmodemyanskaya" has light lilac flowers collected in large inflorescences. According to Chinese wisdom, the color lilac is a symbol of positive spiritual strength and individuality. But among the African tribe this color is associated with death...

Zoya Kosmodemyanskaya, who accepted martyrdom in the name of patriotic ideals, will forever remain a model of vital energy and courage. Whether it’s a real heroine or a military image - it’s probably not so important anymore. It is important to have something to believe in, someone to remember and something to be proud of.

On November 29, 1941, in the village of Petrishchevo, Moscow Region, the Nazis executed Soviet partisan Zoya Kosmodemyanskaya.

Zoya Anatolyevna Kosmodemyanskaya was born on September 13, 1923 in the Tambov province of the RSFSR. When the war began, 18-year-old Zoya volunteered for a sabotage school and was enrolled in reconnaissance and sabotage unit No. 9903.

On November 4, 1941, after three days of training, a group of saboteurs, which included Zoya, was transferred to the Volokolamsk area, where they successfully completed the task of mining the road.

On November 18, the group received the task of burning 10 settlements in the German rear within 5-7 days. With such actions, the Soviet command sought to deprive the German army of the opportunity to use the villages they occupied as transshipment bases and communication points.

Having gone out on a mission, the group was ambushed near the village of Golovkovo and suffered heavy losses. However, having regrouped, the Soviet saboteurs continued to carry out the task. On November 27, at 2 a.m., fighters Boris Krainov, Vasily Klubkov and Zoya Kosmodemyanskaya set fire to three houses in the village of Petrishchevo (Vereisky, now Ruzsky district, Moscow region). One of the burned houses was used as a German communications center. German soldiers spent the night in the remaining houses.

After completing the task, Zoya missed her comrades in the squad and decided to return to Petrishchevo to continue the arson. On the evening of November 28, she was captured by the Germans.

The Nazis interrogated Zoya, subjecting her to brutal torture. The girl did not give out any specific information and called herself Tanya. This name was chosen by her in memory of the revolutionary Tatyana Solomakha, executed during the Civil War.

The next morning, Kosmodemyanskaya was taken out into the street and led to the gallows. They hung a sign on her chest with the inscription in Russian and German: “Arsonist of houses.” Before her execution, while the Germans were photographing her, Zoya made a legendary speech.

She said: “Citizens! Don't stand there, don't look, but we need to help fight! This death of mine is my achievement. Comrades, victory will be ours. German soldiers, before it’s too late, surrender. Rus' and the Soviet Union are invincible and will not be defeated. No matter how much you hang us, you can’t hang us all, there are 170 million of us. But our comrades will avenge you for me.”

Kosmodemyanskaya’s body hung on the gallows for about a month, repeatedly being abused by German soldiers passing through the village. Only on January 1, 1942, the Germans gave the order to remove the gallows, and local residents buried Zoya’s body outside the village. Subsequently, Zoya Kosmodemyanskaya was reburied at the Novodevichy cemetery in Moscow.

The whole country learned about Zoya’s fate from Pyotr Lidov’s article “Tanya,” published in the Pravda newspaper on January 27, 1942. Having accidentally heard about the execution in Petrishchevo, Lidov went to Petrishchevo, where he asked local residents and published an article. On February 16, 1942, Zoya Kosmodemyanskaya was awarded the title of Hero of the Soviet Union (posthumously).

The brave partisan will forever remain in the memory of our people as a symbol of heroic dedication and true love for her homeland.