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Zoya Kosmodemyanskaya

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File:Zoya Kosmodemyanskaya.jpg
Zoya Kosmodemyanskaya

Zoya Anatolyevna Kosmodemyanskaya, alternatively Romanised as Kosmodem'yanskaya (Russian: Зо́я Анато́льевна Космодемья́нская) (September 13, 1923 in the village of Osino-Gay, Gavrilovsky District, Tambov Oblast – November 29, 1941) was a Soviet partisan and saboteur, and a well-known posthumously declared Hero of the Soviet Union.[1]

Life

Kosmodemyanskaya joined the VLKSM in 1938. In October of 1941, still a high school student in Moscow, she volunteered for a partisan unit. At the village of Obukhovo near Naro-Fominsk, Kosmodemyanskaya and other partisans crossed the front line and entered territory occupied by the Germans. She was arrested by the Nazis on a combat assignment near the village of Petrishchevo (Moscow Oblast) on November 27, 1941. Details of the assignment and the arrest were classified for sixty years due to the fact that there was a treachery in this case.

The criminal case number 16440 was declassified in 2002. The case was then reviewed by Russia's Chief Military Prosecutor Office, and it decided that Vasily Klubkov, who betrayed Zoya Kosmodemyanskaya, is not the subject for rehabilitation. According to the criminal case 16440, three Soviet combatants: Zoya Kosmodemyanskaya, Vasily Klubkov, and their commander Boris Krainov had to perform acts of sabotage on the Soviet territory occupied by the Nazis. They had the task of setting fire to houses in the village of Petrishchevo, where the Nazis were quartered. Krainov should operate in the central part of the village, Kosmodemyanskaya in the southern and Klubkov in the northern one. Krainov had carried out the task first and returned to the base. Zoya had performed her task too, as was evidenced by three tongues of flame in the southern part of Petrischevo seen from the base. Only the northern part was not set to fire at all. According to Klubkov he was captured by two Nazi soldiers and brought into their staff. The Nazi officer threatened to kill him and Klubkov told names of Kosmodemyanskaya and Krainov, who had similar tasks to Klubkov's one. After this Kosmodemyanskaya was captured by the Nazis.[2][3]

Zoya Kosmodemyanskaya was tortured and humiliated. In particular, she was undressed and beaten with rubber sticks for two or three hours by several Nazis. But Kosmodemyanskaya did not give away the names of her comrades or her real name (claiming that it was Tanya). She said: "Kill me, I'll tell you nothing" (Russian: "Убейте меня, я вам ничего не скажу"). [2] She was hanged on November 29, 1941. It was claimed that before her death Kosmodemyanskaya had made a speech with the closing words, “There are two hundred million of us, you can’t hang us all!” Kosmodemyanskaya was the first woman to become Hero of the Soviet Union (February 16, 1942).

Legacy

Many streets, kolkhozes and pioneer organizations in the Soviet Union used to bear the name of Zoya Kosmodemyanskaya. Soviet poets, writers, artists and sculptors dedicated their works to Kosmodemyanskaya. The Soviets erected a monument in her honor not far from the village of Petrischevo (sculptors - O.A.Ikonnikov and V.A.Feodorov). Another statue is prominently located at Moscow Metro station Partizanskaya. Two asteroids were named after her: 1793 Zoya and 2072 Kosmodemyanskaya. Zoya Kosmodemyanskaya is buried at Novodevichy Cemetery in Moscow.

Zoya Kosmodemyanskaya's brother Alexander (1925 - April 13 1945), a Senior Lieutenant, died in combat in Germany and was posthumously awarded Hero of the Soviet Union in 1945.

In the 2002 book Zoya's Story: An Afghan Woman's Struggle for Freedom the narrator tells of her decision to use the name "Zoya" as one of her pseudonyms when she joined The Revolutionary Association of the Women of Afghanistan in the struggle against fundamentalism. She cites the story of Zoya Kosmodemyanskaya as an inspiration in the struggle against oppression.

References

  1. ^ Kazimiera J. Cottam: Women in War and Resistance: Selected Biographies of Soviet Women Soldiers, ISBN 0968270220, page 297
  2. ^ a b "The Truth on Zoya and Shura" (in Russian). RIA Novosti. November 16, 2006. Retrieved 2006-11-22. {{cite web}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)
  3. ^ "Agent is not the subject for rehabilitation" (in Russian). Moskovskiy Komsomolets. October 9, 2002. Retrieved 2006-11-22. {{cite web}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)

Bibliography

  • Lyubov Kosmodemyanskaya:Story of Zoya and Shura, Foreign Languages Publishing House: Moscow, 1953 ("Shura" is a nickname for "Alexander", the author is Zoya's mother)
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