Galina Portnova biography

The resistance and courage of the summer girl brought the Nazis to the rage of January 10 of the year, the young underground Zinaid Portnov was executed. A long vacation at the turn of the years, during the debrown of Soviet heroes, for each of those who were recognized and glorified by the Soviet regime, were looking for incriminating evidence. It turned out to be difficult to find anything that compromise underground Zina Portnova.

And therefore, the main complaint to her was that she, glorified among the “heroes-heroes”, was not a pioneer! In fact, this is true. Zina died, being a Komsomol. But she began her short -lived, but fierce struggle against fascism with a pioneer. About her, as well as about many young heroes of war, we can say a banal phrase - her pre -war childhood was the most common.

Zina was born in Leningrad, in the family of a worker, on February 20. She studied at school, studied in a circle and did not think about exploits. In early June, in Leningrad, few people thought about the war. And therefore, the parents calmly sent Zina and her younger sister Galya for the summer to her grandmother, to Belarus. In the village of Zui, in the Vitebsk region, the rest did not last long.

The Nazis's offensive was swift, and very soon above the village, where Zina and her sister lived, the threat of occupation hung. Grandmother gathered granddaughter on the road and sent with refugees. However, the Nazis cut the road, and there was no chance to return to Leningrad. So the summer Zina Portnova was in the occupation. From the first days of the war, partisan detachments and underground groups were created here.

In the Shumilinsky district of the Vitebsk region, the youth underground organization “Young Avengers” was created, the story of which is similar to the history of the legendary “Young Guard”. The leader of the “young avenues” became Frusa Efrosinya Zenkov, who rally local youth, ready to resist the Nazis. Fruz had a connection with the "adults" underground and with the local partisan detachment.

“Young Avengers” coordinated their shares with partisans. Fruse Zenkova, the leader of the Komsomol resistance, was 17 years old by the beginning of the war. Zina Portnova, who became one of the most active participants in the “young avengers”, what could these children contrast the Nazis? They started with the pasting of leaflets, minor sabotage like damage to the property of the Nazis.

The farther, the more serious the shares became. The undermining of the power plants, arson of plants, burning at the wagons station with linen intended for sending to Germany - in total, more than 20 successful sabotage was on the account of the “young avengers”. The diversion in the dining room of the Hitler counterintelligence followed the trail of the underground.

In their ranks, the Nazis managed to introduce the provocateur, which will issue most members of the organization. But this will happen later. Prior to this, Zina Portnova will carry out one of the largest sabotage in the history of the "young avengers". The girl who worked as a dishwasher in the dining room of retraining German officers poisoned the food cooked for lunch.

As a result of the sabotage, about a hundred Nazis died. The angry Nazis arrested the entire personnel of the dining room. Zina escaped arrest that day by chance. When the first signs of poisoning appeared, the Nazis burst into the dining room and stumbled upon Portnova. They put a plate in her hands and forced to eat poisoned soup. Zina understood that, having refused, she would give herself.

Preserving amazing self -control, she ate several spoons, after which the Germans, letting her go, were distracted by other kitchen workers. The Nazis decided that the dishwasher did not know anything about poisoning. A strong organism and grandmother, who managed to mitigate the action of the poison with folk remedies, saved Zina. The partisans understood that then Zina could not be in the village, and took her into their detachment.

Grandmother and younger sister Zina hid among relatives in another village. The defeat of the underground since the summer of the year Zina Portnova was a fighter of the partisan detachment named after K. Voroshilov, participating in many operations against the Nazis. By a happy chance, only a few activists and the leader of the Avengers Fruz Zenkov did not fall into the hands of the Nazis.

The torture and interrogations of underground lasted three months. When in the partisan detachment it became known about the defeat of the youth underground, Zina Portnova was instructed to try to restore communication with those who avoided the arrest, and find out about the reasons for the failure. However, during the completion of this assignment, the Zina itself was identified and detained as a submarine participant.

The provocateur worked well - the Nazis knew almost everything about her. And about parents in Leningrad, and about its role in the organization "Young Avengers". The Germans, however, did not know that it was she who poisoned German officers. Therefore, she was offered a deal - life in exchange for information about the whereabouts of Fruza Zenkova and the base of the partisan detachment.

But the method of whip and gingerbread did not work. Neither buy Zina nor to intimidate her. A step into immortality during one of the interrogations, the Nazi officer was distracted, and Zina reacted instantly, grabbing a gun lying on the table. She shot the Nazis, jumping out of the office, rushed to run.She managed to shoot two more Germans, but it did not work out - Zina shot her legs.

After that, only rage moved the Nazis. She was tortured not for the sake of information, but in order to deliver her as terrible torment as possible, make the girl scream, ask for mercy. Zina demolished everything steadfastly, and this resistance infuriated the executioners even more. During the last interrogation in the Gestapo prison in the city of Polotsk, the Nazis gave her eyes.

In the early morning in January of the year, the crippled but not broken Zina was shot.