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

At the beginning of June 1941, she came for school holidays to the village of Zui, near the Obol station, Shumilinsky district, Vitebsk region. After the Nazi invasion of the USSR, Zina Portnova found herself in occupied territory. Since 1942, a member of the Obol underground organization “Young Avengers”, the leader of which was the future Hero Soviet Union E. S. Zenkova. In the underground she was accepted into the Komsomol. She participated in distributing leaflets among the population and sabotage against the invaders. While working in the canteen of a retraining course for German officers, at the direction of the underground, she poisoned the food (more than a hundred officers died). During the proceedings, wanting to prove to the Germans that she was not involved, she tried the poisoned soup. Miraculously, she survived.

Since August 1943, a scout in 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. During one of the interrogations at the Gestapo in the village of Goryany (now Polotsk district, Vitebsk region of Belarus), she grabbed the investigator’s pistol from the table, shot him and two other Nazis, tried to escape, and was captured.
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 the Motherland, Zina kept it. She was subjected terrible torture and torment.

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

In memory of Zina’s feat, memorials have been erected in Russian cities, because her feat will live forever.

Zina Portnova. Dedication

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

She was only sixteen
And I had to grow up in battle.
Fate ordered her to fight,
Defending your homeland.

Even though I was still just a girl,
I didn’t want to wait on the sidelines.
It rang in my soul:
“There is only one way out - to fight!”

Every day is a risk and courage,
After all, she wormed her way into the enemy’s camp.
Not a step from the intended goal,
Her proud name is partisan.

How terrible this must be,
When you are young and pure in your thoughts,
Go into battle, understanding perfectly:
“A terrible fascist is opposite you”

And when she was finally captured,
The adversary began to torture her.
And then the partisan was killed...
The decision was made: shoot!

And I want to repeat it again,
You lined up with the war heroes,
With gratitude, Zina Portnova,
We remember that your feat is holy!

The Nazis cut off her ears and gouged out her eyes, but the girl did not betray anyone.

The 90th anniversary of the birth of the heroic partisan, who was born in 1926, has passed quite unnoticed. But in Soviet times, all schoolchildren’s names bounced off their teeth Volodya Dubinina, Marat Kazeya, Leni Golikova, Vali Kotika and other pioneer heroes of the Great Patriotic War. Hero of the Soviet Union rightfully takes his place in this series (posthumously) Zina Portnova.

Fatal coincidence

Zina was born in 1926 in Leningrad, in the area adjacent to the huge industrial giant - the plant named after. Kirov, where her father worked, Martyn Portnov. The most ordinary girl, she studied like everyone else, well, or a little better than the rest, because the position obliged: due to her active life position, Zina was the head of the class.

Born into a family of Belarusians, she also had Western roots: there, in the Vitebsk region, in the village of Zui, Zina’s grandmother lived, to whom she and her sister Galya were sent on vacation every summer. So in the tragic year of 1941, the girls who came to stay in Zui enjoyed nature, sunbathed, swam in the Luchos River and did not know grief. But the war began. And already on June 28, the fascist hordes took Minsk and immediately moved on to Orsha and Smolensk. It is for this reason that the girls did not have time to evacuate to the mainland, to the rear.

According to surviving witnesses of that war, who, by the will of fate, found themselves in occupation, the Nazis mercilessly bombed columns with refugees: they were not interested in local residents, whom they had practically registered as their slaves, left their homes. The Nazis needed not only free labor, but also hostages - many hostages, with whom, if something happened, they could hide behind them as a shield, which later happened with frightening regularity.

The new order that the Germans established in the occupied territory could not please anyone. But among Belarusians there were tens of thousands of people who not only could not calmly look at the outrages of representatives of the “superior race”, the “nation of masters”, but preferred to act - to fight this brown scourge. One of these caring people’s avengers was Zina Portnova, who from the very first days began to look for connections with the partisans or, at worst, patriots like herself. Often, through the fault of the provocateurs, such searches led to disastrous consequences: the Germans captured and shot in the hundreds people who were seen in connections with the partisans or simply did not agree with their occupation policy.

But Portnova was lucky - in 1942 she contacted the underground Komsomol organization headed by Efrosinya Zenkova(later Hero of the Soviet Union). It was here that Zina was accepted into the Komsomol in 1943. Much later they would be compared to the “Young Guard,” although the “Young Avengers,” as the underground Komsomol members called themselves, acted in parallel and at about the same time, depriving the occupiers of peace and lives in the same way. It’s just that documents about the activities of the Krasnodon heroes caught my eye after the war Alexander Fadeev- so he glorified (deservedly) this collective feat.

"Bon" poisonous appetite

Starting with the little things of posting leaflets, the Young Avengers over time began to increasingly actively fight the hated regime. They disabled the Nazis' equipment, burned warehouses with ammunition and weapons... But it was Zina Portnova who distinguished herself more than her other comrades. She managed to get a job in a canteen for German officers, which she immediately took advantage of by adding a huge dose of poison to the common cauldron from which the Nazis were pouring soup. Thus, she sent more than a hundred Nazis to the next world.

The Nazis began searching for the perpetrators, suspecting everyone. Zina also came under suspicion, whom the Germans almost force-fed with that same soup. She didn’t remember how she got to the porch of her grandmother’s house, but she gave her a drink herbal decoctions and whey, as a result, the girl remained alive. However, after what happened, it was mortally dangerous for her to remain in the village, and Portnova was transferred to a partisan detachment.

With the same fearlessness and courage with which she was not afraid to poison more than a hundred enemy officers, Zina now crushed the fascist invaders in the ranks of her partisan comrades. But even quite risky stocks seemed not dangerous enough to her. She longed for the most important task, to prove to her friends and herself that she was no longer the same girl who had just joined the underground group of Komsomol members a few months ago. That she is worthy of the high title of people's avenger and is ready for the most dangerous and risky tasks of the partisan command.

And the opportunity soon presented itself. However, this was a tragic occasion: in early autumn, for unknown reasons, the Germans arrested the backbone of the Young Avengers organization. For a whole month, Komsomol members (thirty people were arrested) were brutally tortured, extracting information from them about where the rest of the underground fighters and partisans were hiding. In the end, the “young avengers” were shot. And then Zina volunteered to penetrate the fascist garrison to find out who became a traitor and betrayed her comrades.

Last task

It would seem that this was initially an obvious gamble - to climb into the very mouth of a fierce enemy, brutalized by the sabotage that the Young Avengers regularly carried out. But Portnova needed just such a task, although by that time they were looking for her with might and main after the incident with the poisoning of German officers. Be that as it may, apparently, the traitor learned that Zina had appeared in the garrison, and she was immediately captured.

Following the logic of things, the thugs from the Gestapo, where the intelligence officer was brought, initially tried to keep appearances and offered her a “carrot”. They say, nothing will happen to you, girl, if you show everyone where the partisans are hiding and tell who is part of the detachment. Moreover, the “carrot” was supposed to not only “sweeten”, but also frighten: on the table of the Gestapo investigator, as if by chance, lay a loaded pistol to intimidate Portnova.

This frivolity cost the German officer dearly: he never imagined that a young girl could distinguish a pistol from a revolver, much less be able to use it for its intended purpose. One way or another, as soon as the fascist turned away for a moment, Zina grabbed a weapon from the table and shot at the Nazi. Then, without wasting a minute, she rushed out of the Gestapo building. They tried to detain her, but Portnova, with an unwavering hand, shot two more pursuers.

But they didn’t let her leave: machine gun fire hit her legs - and the girl fell as if knocked down. The Nazis were furious; they no longer needed information from her about the partisans and underground fighters: the Gestapo was now driven only by revenge for the murdered Krauts. In a blind, cold rage, they began to torture. The masters systematically drove needles under Zina’s nails and burned stars on her body with a hot iron. It got to the point that the young girl’s ears were cut off and her eyes were gouged out.

Portnova behaved extremely stoically. She didn’t utter a word, but from inhuman pain and overexertion she turned gray. The fascist thugs did everything to break the “young avenger.” But nothing worked out for them: in their last way On January 10, 1944 (to be shot), Zina Portnova walked with her head held high. Later, at the Nuremberg trials, this whole gang of scum and sadists will claim that they followed the orders of their commanders when they shot civilians and tortured partisans, and they themselves, they say, had nothing to do with it. However, the fact remains: every fourth resident of Belarus during the war was destroyed by Nazi and nationalist scum.

The feat of Zina Portnova was not forgotten: monuments were erected to her, streets in Leningrad and Belarus were named after her, as well as a ship in the Far Eastern Shipping Company. In 1958, Zinaida Martynovna Portnova was awarded the title of Hero of the Soviet Union (posthumously). More than 70 years have passed since her death. But her memory is still alive and will live forever.

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

Pioneer 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”; scout of the partisan detachment named after K. E. Voroshilov on the territory of the Belarusian SSR occupied by the Nazis. Member of the Komsomol since 1943. Hero of the Soviet Union.

Born on February 20, 1926 in the city of Leningrad in a working-class family. Belarusian by nationality. Graduated from 7th grade.

At the beginning of June 1941, she came for school holidays to the village of Zui, near the Obol station, Shumilinsky district, Vitebsk region. After the Nazi invasion of the USSR, Zina Portnova found herself in occupied territory. Since 1942, a member of the Obol underground organization “Young Avengers,” whose leader was the future Hero of the Soviet Union E. S. Zenkova, a member of the organization’s committee. While underground she was accepted into the Komsomol.

She participated in the distribution of leaflets among the population and sabotage against the invaders. While working in the canteen of a retraining course for German officers, at the direction of the underground, she poisoned the food (more than a hundred officers died). During the proceedings, wanting to prove to the Germans that she was not involved, she tried the poisoned soup. Miraculously, she survived.

Since August 1943, scout of the partisan detachment named after. 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. During one of the interrogations at the Gestapo in the village of Goryany (now Polotsk district, Vitebsk region of Belarus), she grabbed the investigator’s pistol from the table, shot him and two other Nazis, tried to escape, and was captured. 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 the Motherland, Zina kept it. On the morning of January 10, 1944, a gray-haired and blind girl was taken out to be executed. She was shot in the prison of Polotsk (according to another version, in the village of Goryany).

Awards.

By 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.
Memorial plaque in St. Petersburg. Zina Portnova Street.
Memorial plaque st. Zina Portnova, 60 St. Petersburg.

Time erases the names of heroes from people's memory. The younger generation no longer knows what their peers were famous for 70 years ago. The feat of Zina Portnova, a very young girl, can become an example of courage and heroism for any person who loves the Motherland and is ready to give his life for the freedom of his people. Let's remember how it was.

Biography of Zina Portnova

Feats have been accomplished at all times, but only the Great Patriotic War was rich in events in which yesterday’s schoolchildren took part. Zina was born in Leningrad in 1926. Her father Martyn Portnov worked at a factory, and the family lived in a house located in the same area. The girl did not stand out among her peers. Unless she had good leadership abilities, for which she was elected class leader. She had a younger sister, Galya, who had only finished her first year at school.

War instead of summer holidays

The girls’ parents were Belarusians, and the girls’ grandmother still lived in Vitebsk. Every summer they were sent to the village of Zui for the summer. It was this fact that played a major role in the life of the pioneer. The rapid advance of the Nazis on Belarus cut off the girls’ path to evacuation. Crowds of refugees left their homes, but German planes left virtually no chance of salvation - the columns were mercilessly bombed from the air. It was unprofitable for the Nazis to lose the potential workforce represented by the local population. In the future, these people could not only become slaves, but also serve as a good cover if something happened.

"Young Avengers"

After the first months of the war, it became clear to even children that the Soviet army would not be able to repel the enemy for a long time. In the winter of 1941, young pioneers and Komsomol members begin their fight against the invaders. 38 young boys and girls organize an underground Komsomol organization. The calculation was correct - the Nazis could not even think that children could participate, much less organize sabotage. The detachment was assembled from the youth of four villages - Ushaly, Zui, Mostishche, Ferma and Obol station. The head of the students in grades 7-10 was 17-year-old Efrosinya Zenkova. Despite their young age, all members of the Young Avengers perfectly understood the importance of their work.

Sabotage

Zina Portnova began to look for connections with the partisans from the first days of the war. As a person with an active life position, it was unbearable for her to sit idle while the Soviet soil was trampled under fascist boots. A few months later she managed to reach the Young Avengers. Even her little sister received a place in the detachment - she was appointed as a liaison. By this time, the underground organization already had several successful sabotage operations. Zina joined the detachment, and in 1943 she was accepted into the Komsomol, which caused a lot of controversy several decades later. But more on that later, as well as on what feat Zina Portnova accomplished.

How children harassed the Nazis

Where it was impossible for adults to appear without suspicion, the Young Avengers began to conduct reconnaissance. Among them was Zina Portnova. The exploits of these young guys were simply incredible, for example, they managed to blow up a power plant on their own. They received the materials necessary for this from their colleagues - the Voroshilov partisan detachment. The explosives helped them disable two factories and burn several wagons of flax, which the Nazis intended to transport to Germany.

The feat of Zina Portnova

It is simply impossible to briefly describe such a heroic act. It was a real, well-thought-out sabotage. Many guys from the detachment successfully got jobs with the Germans and gained access to necessary information. Zina had the chance to become a cleaner in the dining room. In 1942, Wehrmacht officers arrived in Obol for retraining. These were pilots, tank crews, artillerymen - people strategically important for military operations. The cadets set up their camp and began training.

A German chef began preparing food for the officers. But all the dirty work was entrusted to local smart girls. Zina regularly washed the floors and took out the waste while they got used to her. Having become familiar, she got a job as a dishwasher and did not hesitate to complete the task. Seizing the opportune moment, she poured it into the pan large dose rat poison. Almost one hundred German officers became victims. The death of so many people led to an investigation.

A German doctor discovered poisoning in all the dead Nazis, and the trail led to the kitchen. It was stupid to think that the sabotage was committed by the cook, so the first suspicion fell on the dishwasher. Zina denied any involvement in the incident and was ordered to eat a bowl of soup. In front of the Germans, she bravely put several spoons of poisoned food into her mouth. The calmed investigators left, and the young avenger for a long time fought for life. Only through the care of her grandmother and her herbal decoctions did she manage to survive and continue her business.

Leaving for the partisans

Zina and her sister are sent to the Voroshilov detachment. There the girl successfully works in the medical battalion and carries out assignments. But the Germans didn’t sleep either; they managed to introduce their man into the “Young Avengers” squad. The shootings began. Zina went to Obol to find out who was alive and try to get in touch. Having learned necessary information, she was returning to the squad, but was ambushed. The Nazis already knew enough about the activities of this young Komsomol member. The girl was taken for interrogation.

But they didn't know how much courage and bravery a young girl could have. She was able to compose herself and at the right moment grabbed a German pistol from the table, which was lying there for intimidation. After shooting the investigator, she killed two more before being stopped. The girl hoped to swim across the river and get to her people, but a machine gun burst hit her right in the leg.

Now the Nazis did not want to extract information about the partisan detachment from her. The only thing that motivated them was revenge for their fallen comrades. They methodically beat Zina, burned her with iron, and drove needles under her nails. In the end, her eyes were gouged out and her ears were cut off. On January 10, 1944, she was led to execution. From thick long hair The girls had only sparse strands left, and they were gray. For more than a month, the Nazis tortured the 17-year-old partisan.

The girl was ranked among the pioneer heroes, which became a cause for controversy. At the time of her death, she was already a Komsomol member, but she joined the detachment as a pioneer. She was awarded the title of Hero of the Soviet Union. Residents of Belarus are well aware of the feat Zina Portnova accomplished - streets and schools were named after her.

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

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

Childhood

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

"Young Avengers"

Zina and Galya did not want to evacuate 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 weapons left behind during the retreat of Soviet troops.

In 1942, the Portnov sisters joined the Young Avengers organization. Almost all of its participants were students of the Obol secondary school, gathered under the leadership 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 eight-year-old Galya was appointed liaison. The children vowed to take revenge on the Nazis for the grief and torment of the people, for their native Leningrad, squeezed into the ring of the blockade.

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, and disabled factories.

The feat of Zina Portnova

Not far from Obol, in the village of a peat factory, a German officer school was located. Artillerymen and tankmen of the fascist army came here for retraining from near Leningrad, Novgorod, Smolensk and Orel. In Obol they simply made life impossible. Hanged with crosses and medals, they were sure that everything was permitted to them: violence, robbery, robbery.

The young underground fighters of Oboli planned to exterminate the fascists. Zina Portnova was given a job in the officers' mess. The Germans took a liking to the Russian girl with pigtails. One day she replaced a sick dishwasher. This made it easier for her to access food. Seizing the moment, Zina managed to pour powder into the cauldron...

Two days later, more than a hundred officers who had lunch that day in the canteen were buried in a military cemetery near Oboli.

The Nazis had no direct evidence against Zina. Fearing liability, the chef and his assistant claimed during the investigation that they did not allow the girl who was replacing the dishwasher to approach the food boilers even within a cannon shot. Just in case, they forced her to try the poisoned soup.

Zina, as if nothing had happened, took the spoon from the chef’s hands and calmly scooped up the soup. She did not give herself away and took a small sip. Soon I felt nauseous and general weakness. It was with difficulty that I reached the village. 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 members transported her to the partisans in the forest at night.

Interrogation and escape

Among the partisans, Zina Portnova became a fighter in reconnaissance, and Galya was accepted as a nurse’s assistant. Meanwhile, the provocateur betrayed several members of the Young Avengers. The detachment commander instructed Zina to establish contact with those who remained alive. The scout successfully completed the task, but was unable to report it. Returning back, I came across an enemy ambush near the village of Mostishche. She was detained. A certain Anna Khrapovitskaya identified the girl, and Zina was transported 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 Portnova grabbed the investigator's pistol and instantly shot him. Two Nazis came running to these shots, whom the girl also shot. Then she 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 pistol is out of ammunition. The Germans wounded Zina, captured her and sent her to Vitebsk prison. They no longer had any doubts about the pioneer’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 betray anyone.

Death and memory

On the morning of January 13, 1944, the Nazis led a crippled, gray-haired and blind girl to execution. She walked, stumbling with her bare feet in the snow. She was shot in a ravine next to the railway, her 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 the obelisk; it was carried by a warship and pioneer detachments throughout the country.