On January 13, 1944, the Nazis dealt with the pioneer Zina Portnova, who sent a hundred enemy officers to the next world. Zina was awarded the Star of the Hero for this sabotage. By this date we have gathered together Interesting Facts about her life, exploits and death

Photo: 900igr.net
2014-01-13 10:16

Childhood

Zina was born on February 20, 1926 in Leningrad in the family of a Kirov factory worker, Martyn Nesterovich Portnov. She studied at an ordinary city school No. 385, where in 1937 she was admitted to pioneer organization. The girl studied well, dreamed of becoming a ballerina. In June 1941, seventh-grader Zina and her sister Galya went on vacation to their grandmother in Belarus, to the village of Zuya near the Obol station in the Vitebsk region. There they found the war. Childhood is over. The sisters ended up in the territory occupied by the Germans.

"Young Avengers"

Zina and Galya did not want to be evacuated along with other civilians. We stayed in the city of Obol. Through her uncle Ivan Yablokov, Zina Portnova got in touch with the partisans. On their instructions, she distributed anti-fascist leaflets, collected and counted the weapons left during the retreat of the Soviet troops.

In 1942, the Portnov sisters joined the Young Avengers organization. Almost all of its participants were students of Obolskaya high school collected under the guidance of 20-year-old Efrosinya Zenkova. Very soon, Zina earned the trust of her comrades: she was elected a member of the organization's steering committee, and the eight-year-old Galya was appointed a liaison officer. The children swore to take revenge on the Nazis for the grief and torment of the people, for their native Leningrad, squeezed into the blockade ring.

For about two years, the "Young Avengers" fought against the invaders. They derailed trains, destroyed railway lines, bridges and highways, blew up water supply facilities, disabled factories.

The feat of Zina Portnova

Not far from Obol, in the village of a peat plant, there is a German officer school. Artillerymen and tankers of the fascist army came here for retraining from Leningrad, Novgorod, Smolensk and Orel. In Obol, they simply did not become life. Hung with crosses and medals, they were sure that everything was permitted to them: violence, robbery, robbery.

The young underground workers of Obol decided to exterminate the Nazis. Zina Portnova got a job in the officer's canteen. The Germans liked the Russian girl with pigtails. Once she replaced a sick dishwasher. This made it easier for her to access food. Having seized the moment, Zina managed to pour powder into the cauldron ...

Two days later, more than a hundred officers were buried at a military cemetery near Obol, who dined that day in the dining room.

The Nazis had no direct evidence against Zina. Fearing responsibility, the chef and his assistant claimed during the investigation that they were cannon shot the girl who replaced the dishwasher was not allowed near the food boilers. Just in case, they made her taste the poisoned soup.

Zina, as if nothing had happened, took a spoon from the hands of the chef and calmly scooped up the soup. She didn't give herself away and took a small sip. I soon felt nauseous and general weakness. I made it to the village with difficulty. I drank two liters of whey from my grandmother. It became a little easier, and she fell asleep. To protect Zina from possible arrest, the underground fighters transported her to the partisans in the forest at night.

Interrogation and escape

With the partisans, Zina Portnova became a fighter in intelligence, and Galya was accepted as an assistant nurse. Meanwhile, the provocateur betrayed several members of the Young Avengers. The detachment commander instructed Zina to establish contact with those who survived. The scout successfully completed the task, but failed to report it. Returning back, she came across an enemy ambush near the village of Mostische. She was detained. A certain Anna Khrapovitskaya identified the girl, and Zina was taken to Obol. There, the Gestapo took a close look at her, since she was listed as a suspect in sabotage in the dining room.

During interrogation by the Gestapo, Zina Portnova grabbed the investigator's pistol and shot him instantly. Two Nazis ran to these shots, whom the girl also shot. Then she ran out of the building and rushed to the river in the hope of escaping by swimming, but did not have time to reach the water. The gun ran out of ammo. The Germans wounded Zina, grabbed her and sent her to the Vitebsk prison. They no longer had any doubts about the involvement of the pioneer in the underground, so they did not interrogate her, but simply tortured her methodically. The torture lasted more than a month, but Zina did not betray anyone.

Death and memory

On the morning of January 13, 1944, the Nazis brought to execution a crippled, gray-haired and blind girl. She walked, stumbling barefoot, through the snow. She was shot in a ravine next to the railway, the body was left unburied.

On July 1, 1958, by decree of the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet of the USSR, Zina Portnova was posthumously awarded the title of Hero of the Soviet Union. The name of the brave partisan was carved on an obelisk, it was worn by a warship and pioneer detachments throughout the country.

Instead of holidays - occupation

Zina and her younger sister Galya arrived in Belarus from Leningrad in June 1941. Their grandmother lived in the village of Zuya near Obol, and the daughters of the worker of the Kirov factory M. N. Portnov were supposed to spend their holidays with her. Zina was then in the seventh grade, and Galya had just gone to school. So the girls ended up in the occupied territory. In 1942, the Portnova sisters became members of the Young Avengers organization. Basically, it included students from the Obolsk secondary school, led by twenty-year-old Efrosinya Zenkova. Zina soon earned the trust of her comrades and was included in the organization's steering committee. Galya was assigned as a liaison officer. The activities of the "Young Avengers" were no less bright and effective than the activities of the Krasnodon organization "Young Guard". It’s just that young Belarusians were a little less fortunate than their Ukrainian comrades in the struggle, and a writer as talented and famous as Fadeev did not learn about their feat. But this does not mean that the young partisans from Belarus fought the enemy less bravely than the Ukrainian heroes. Among the most significant acts of sabotage by the Young Avengers is the "treat" that Zina Portnova organized for the Germans.

Guten appetite, Herr officer!

Zina got a job in the canteen for cadets. At first, they didn’t let her close to the kitchen stoves where food was cooked, Zina washed the floors, took out the slops and did other dirty work. Then the dishwasher got sick. Zina, who by that time had already become quite familiar in the kitchen, was allowed to wash the boilers and plates. And then the day came when Zina was able to seize the moment and pour a huge dose of rat poison into the soup pot. Two days later, almost a hundred Germans were buried at the local cemetery - selected fighters, from among the best officers. The investigation began as soon as the mass malaise of the Germans after dinner in the dining room was discovered, and the doctor diagnosed "poisoning". The chief cook, frightened by the scale of the sabotage, and knowing perfectly well what would happen if his oversight was discovered, swore and swore that he did not allow any of the locals to come close to the pots. However, as a test, the new dishwasher was told to eat the soup. Zina, without batting an eyelid, scooped up the spoon and swallowed it, then again and again. She reached the house already in a fog, struggling with bouts of pain in her stomach and lightheadedness. Grandmother rushed to solder her granddaughter with whey and decoctions of herbs. This, plus good health and the fact that she still ate not a whole plate, saved Zina. The girl survived.

The partisans

Despite the fact that this time no direct suspicion fell on Zina, the Young Avengers squad nevertheless decided that she and Galya needed to go to the partisans. So Zina became a fighter of the Voroshilov partisan detachment. She was assigned to intelligence, and Galya was assigned to help in the medical battalion. From August until the late autumn of 1943, Zina Portnova performed the tasks of the detachment command, each time returning safely from the most difficult tasks. But closer to winter, several guys from among the "Young Avengers" were shot in Obol. It was clear that a traitor had appeared in the village. The commander of the partisan detachment instructed Zina to establish contact with those who survived. She completed the task, but returning back, she came across an ambush.

Way of the Cross of a Partisan

She was seized and sent to Obol, where the Gestapo took care of the girl. The sabotage in the dining room was not forgotten, and Zina was listed as the main suspect. During the interrogation, the Gestapo man put a pistol on the table, apparently to intimidate the girl. When he was distracted by the noise in the yard, Zina grabbed a pistol and shot the investigator. Two Germans ran in to the shots, whom the partisan also laid down on the spot. Zina jumped out of the building and rushed with all her might to the river, hoping to swim across it and run away into the forest, to the partisans. However, the Germans wounded her in the leg with machine gun fire. Zina was seized and sent to the Vitebsk prison. Zina was tortured for a whole month. She was tortured in such a way that it is time to doubt the adequacy of these people, adult men, officers who subjected them to such torture. young girl. They burned her skin with a red-hot iron, drove needles under her nails, and beat her methodically. She even cut off her ears. The torture lasted more than a month, but Zinaida Portnova did not betray anyone.
On the morning of January 10, 1944, Zina was taken to be shot. She walked, stumbling blindly as the Germans gouged out her eyes. The hair of a seventeen-year-old girl was completely gray.

| Patriotic, spiritual and moral education of schoolchildren | Young heroes of the Great Patriotic War | Pioneers-heroes of the Great Patriotic War | Zina Portnova

Pioneers-heroes of the Great Patriotic War

Zina Portnova

Zinaida Martynovna (Zina) Portnova (February 20, 1926, Leningrad, USSR - January 10, 1944, Polotsk, BSSR, USSR) - Pioneer hero, Soviet underground fighter, partisan, member of the underground organization "Young Avengers"; intelligence officer of the partisan detachment named after K. E. Voroshilov in the territory of the Byelorussian SSR occupied by the Nazis. Member of the Komsomol since 1943. Hero of the Soviet Union.

She was born on February 20, 1926 in the city of Leningrad in a working class family. Belarusian by nationality. Graduated from 7 classes.

At the beginning of June 1941, she arrived for school holidays in the village of Zui, near the Obol station of the Shumilinsky district of the Vitebsk region. After the Nazis invaded the territory of the USSR, Zina Portnova ended up in the occupied territory. Since 1942, a member of the Obol underground organization "Young Avengers", led by the future Hero of the Soviet Union E. S. Zenkova, a member of the organization's committee. In the underground, she was accepted into the Komsomol.

Participated in the distribution of leaflets among the population and sabotage against the invaders. Working in the canteen of retraining courses for German officers, she poisoned food at the direction of the underground (more than a hundred officers died). During the proceedings, wanting to prove to the Germans her innocence, she tried poisoned soup. Miraculously, she survived.

Since August 1943, the intelligence officer of the partisan detachment. K. E. Voroshilova. In December 1943, returning from a mission to find out the reasons for the failure of the Young Avengers organization, she was captured in the village of Mostishche and identified by a certain Anna Khrapovitskaya. At one of the interrogations in the Gestapo of the village of Goryany (now the Polotsk district of the Vitebsk region of Belarus), grabbing the investigator’s pistol from the table, shot him and two more Nazis, tried to escape, was captured. For more than a month, the Germans brutally tortured the girl, they wanted her to betray her comrades. But having taken an oath of allegiance to the Motherland, Zina kept her. On the morning of January 10, 1944, a gray-haired and blind girl was taken to be shot. She was shot in the prison of Polotsk (according to another version - in the village of Goryany).

Awards.

By a decree of the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet of the USSR dated July 1, 1958, Zinaida Martynovna Portnova was posthumously awarded the title of Hero of the Soviet Union and awarded the Order of Lenin.
Commemorative plaque in St. Petersburg. Zina Portnova street.
Memorial plaque st. Zina Portnova, d.60 St. Petersburg.

Zina Portnova was born on February 20, 1926 in the city of Leningrad in a working class family. Belarusian by nationality. Graduated from 7 classes.

At the beginning of June 1941, she arrived for school holidays in the village of Zui, near the Obol station of the Shumilinsky district of the Vitebsk region. After the Nazis invaded the territory of the USSR, Zina Portnova ended up in the occupied territory. Since 1942, a member of the Obol underground organization "Young Avengers", led by the future Hero of the Soviet Union E. S. Zenkova. In the underground she was accepted into the Komsomol. Participated in the distribution of leaflets among the population and sabotage against the invaders. Working in the canteen of retraining courses for German officers, she poisoned food at the direction of the underground (more than a hundred officers died). During the proceedings, wanting to prove to the Germans her innocence, she tried poisoned soup. Miraculously, she survived.

Since August 1943 she was a scout of the partisan detachment named after K.E. Voroshilov. In December 1943, returning from a mission to find out the reasons for the failure of the Young Avengers organization, she was captured in the village of Mostishche and identified by a certain Anna Khrapovitskaya. At one of the interrogations in the Gestapo of the village of Goryany (now the Polotsk district of the Vitebsk region of Belarus), grabbing the investigator’s pistol from the table, shot him and two more Nazis, tried to escape, was captured.
For more than a month, the Germans brutally tortured the girl, they wanted her to betray her comrades. But, having taken an oath of allegiance to the Motherland, Zina kept her. She was subjected to terrible torture and torment.

On the morning of January 10, 1944, a gray-haired and blind girl was taken to be shot. She was shot in the prison of the city of Polotsk (according to another version - in the village of Goryany).

In memory of the feat of Zina in Russian cities memorials were erected, because her feat will live forever.

Zina Portnova. dedication

I want to talk about a hero
That during that evil war
I didn’t solve problems at school,
And the country defended the rear.

She was only sixteen
And I had to grow up in battle.
Fate told her to fight
Protecting your homeland.

Even though I was just a girl,
She didn't want to wait on the sidelines.
It sounded in my heart:
"There is only one way out - to fight!"

Every day is risk and courage
After all, she wormed her way into the camp to the enemy.
From the intended goal, not a step,
Her proud name is partisan.

How awful it must be
When you are young and pure in thoughts,
Go into battle, understanding perfectly:
"Opposite you is a terrible fascist"

And when they finally grabbed her,
The adversary began to torture her.
And then the partisan was killed ...
It was decided so: to shoot!

And I want to repeat again
You stood in a row to the heroes of the war,
With gratitude, Zina Portnova,
We remember that your feat is holy!

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

Zinaida Portnova (1926–1944)

Zinaida Portnova

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

In the summer of 1941, she, along with her younger sister Galya, was on vacation during the holidays with her aunt in Volkovysk, Vitebsk region of Belarus, where she was caught by the beginning of World War II.

The front rolled further and further east. Together with military units went to the east and the inhabitants. Aunt, Irina Isaakovna Ezovitova, took the guys to Vitebsk. It was impossible to go further. Although Railway to Leningrad and Polotsk was not yet cut, but the movement along it almost stopped: everything was packed with troops.

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

The hour of courage has struck on our clocks

And courage will not leave us.

It's not scary to lie dead under the bullets,

It is not bitter to be homeless, -

And we will save you, Russian speech,

Great Russian word.

We will carry you free and clean,

And we will give to our grandchildren, and we will save from captivity

Anna Akhmatova

Efrosinya Ivanovna was delighted that her daughter and granddaughters were alive and well, although very tired. A week later, Zina began to notice that Uncle Vanya, who was stuck in Zuy, spending his summer vacation here (he worked at the Kirov Plant in Leningrad), was visited by strangers. They behaved strangely: they did not talk to anyone except their uncle. Once, when a stranger in a short fur coat came, called himself Boris and stayed the night, at dawn there was a strong knock on the door. Someone broke into the house and imperiously demanded:

– Open!

- Germans! Grandma exclaimed softly.

Uncle Vanya and the stranger went into the second half of the hut and fell silent there.

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

- Take the cow!

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

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

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

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

When the fascists went out the gate, Uncle Vanya and Boris ran out into the yard, lifted Evrosinya Ivanovna and carried her into the hut, put her to bed.

The men and Irina Isaakovna with them went into 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… do the job.”

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

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

“All right, girl, you will get the task,” Boris promised. But so far, no sound.

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

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

Once, the secretary of the underground committee, Fruza Zenkova, called Zina and Ilya Ezovitov.

"Here's the thing, guys," Fruza said. - Get a job. You need to find out in Zuyi and in the village of the peat factory what units are stationed there, how many soldiers. Pass 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 what German units are in Zuy if you eavesdrop on radiotelephone conversations,” suggested Ilya.

But how do you listen to them?

- In our hut there is a field radio station and a telephone. Our firewood is in the hallway. I will often follow them and listen to their conversations, because I know a little German... But how to determine how many soldiers are in Zuya?

Ilya, I know. On the square in the village of the peat plant, they hold drill exercises. Almost all the soldiers of the garrison are rounded up. Here I will count.

Having collected the necessary information, at the appointed time they handed it over to the messenger in the agreed place - near the wooden bridge, where a small river flows into the Obol.

Zina also participated in sabotage against the Nazi invaders. Working as a dishwasher in the officers' canteen, she managed to quietly throw poison into the soup cauldron. This "lunch" claimed several dozen lives of German officers.

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

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

She visited Obol several times, handed over partisan assignments, mines and leaflets to the underground committee of the "Young Avengers", collected intelligence data on the number and location of the garrison units. For about two years, the young underground workers of Obol waged a courageous struggle against the invaders: they derailed military trains, blew up power plants, water pumps. 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 was given the task of identifying the reasons for the failure of the Young Avengers organization and establishing contact with the surviving underground members. When 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 pistol of the fascist investigator from the table when he went 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, rested against the river bank. The girl swept in a whirlwind to the nearest bushes that stretched along the alley. She ran to the river, behind which is a saving forest. Zina turned around and saw the soldiers. One of them is very close. She stopped, took aim, smoothly pressed the trigger. Hitlerite stretched out on the ground. The others sped up. Zina, not aiming, fired several times.

"Why don't they shoot?" – the girl was surprised. She did not know that the orders had been to capture her alive. She ran back to the river. She turned around and squeezed 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 of July 1, 1958, Z. M. Portnova was posthumously awarded the title of Hero of the Soviet Union.

The feat of Zina Portnova