Who were the ancient Egyptians by nationality? Modern Egypt

Novaya Gazeta completes a series of publications about the legendary underground organization “Young Guard”, which was created exactly 75 years ago. And about how people live today in the Lugansk region, where the active phase of the last hostilities ended in March not in 1943, but in 2015, and where there is still a front line. It is also the demarcation line established by the Minsk agreements between the Armed Forces of Ukraine and the formations of the self-proclaimed “Luhansk People’s Republic” (“LPR”).

After studying the party archives stored in Lugansk, Novaya special correspondent Yulia POLUKHINA returned to Krasnodon. Based on archive materials, in previous publications we were able to talk about how the underground Komsomol organization of Krasnodon was created in September 1942, what role in its work was played by connections with partisan detachments and underground regional committees of Voroshilovograd (as Lugansk was called during the war) and Rostov-on-Don. on Don and why the commissar of the Young Guard was first Viktor Tretyakevich (the prototype of the “traitor” Stakhevich in Fadeev’s novel), and then Oleg Koshevoy. And both suffered posthumously for ideological reasons. Tretyakevich was branded a traitor, although even the author of The Young Guard himself said that Stakhevich was a collective image. Koshevoy, on the contrary, suffered during the wave of struggle against Soviet mythology: they began to talk about him, too, as a collective image, which Fadeev “drew” to please the party leadership.

Perhaps, neither the Krasnodon nor the Luhansk archives make it possible to say unambiguously who was the leader of the Young Guard, exactly how many large and small feats (or, in modern terms, special operations) it had to its credit, and which of the guys who had already been captured by the police , gave a confession under torture.

But the fact is that the Young Guard is not a myth. It united living young people, almost children, whose main feat, accomplished against their will, was martyrdom.

We will talk about this tragedy in last publication cycle about the Krasnodon residents, based on the memories of the relatives of the Young Guard, the stories of their descendants, as well as interrogation reports of policemen and gendarmes involved in torture and executions.

Boys play football at the memorial to the executed Young Guards. Photo: Yulia Polukhina / Novaya Gazeta

Genuine, material evidence of what happened in Krasnodon in the first two weeks of 1943, when the Young Guard members and many members of the underground party organization were first arrested and then executed, began to disappear in the first days after the liberation of the city by the Red Army. The more valuable is each unit of the scientific funds of the Young Guard Museum. The museum staff introduces me to them.

“Here we have materials on policemen Melnikov and Podtynov. I remember how they were tried in 1965. The trial took place in the Palace of Culture named after. Gorky, the microphones were connected to speakers on the street, it was winter, and the whole city stood and listened. Even today we cannot reliably say how many of these policemen there were; one was caught in 1959, and the second in 1965,” says the chief custodian of the funds, Lyubov Viktorovna. For her, as for most museum workers, “The Young Guard” is a very personal story. And this is the main reason that in the summer of 2014, despite the approach of hostilities, they refused to evacuate: “We even started putting everything in boxes, what to send first, what to send second, but then we made a joint decision that we would not go anywhere . As part of decommunization, we were not ready to lie on the shelves and become covered in dust. At that time there was no such law in Ukraine, but such conversations were already underway.”

Decommunization really overtook Krasnodon, which ceased to exist because in 2015 it was renamed Sorokino. However, this is not felt at all in the museum, and none of the local residents would even think of calling themselves Sorokinites.

“Look at this photo. On the walls of the cells in which the Young Guard members were kept after their arrest, inscriptions are clearly visible,” Lyubov Viktorovna shows me one of the rarities. And explains what its value is. — These photos were taken by Leonid Yablonsky, a photojournalist for the 51st Army newspaper “Son of the Fatherland.” By the way, he was the first to film not only the story about the Young Guards, but also the Adzhimushkai quarries and the Bagerovo ditch, where the bodies of the executed residents of Kerch were dumped after mass executions. And the photo from the Yalta conference is also his. This, by the way, did not prevent Yablonsky from being repressed in 1951 for allegedly disrespectful statements about Stalin, but after the death of the leader, the photographer was released and then rehabilitated. So, according to Yablonsky, when the Red Army soldiers entered Krasnodon, it was already dark. Everything in the cells was scratched with inscriptions - both the window sills and the walls. Yablonsky took a few pictures and decided that he would return in the morning. But when I came in the morning, there was nothing there, not a single inscription. And who erased it, not the fascists? This was done by local residents, we still don’t know what the guys wrote there, and which of the locals erased all these inscriptions.”

“Children were identified by their clothes”

But it is known that Vasily Gromov, the stepfather of Young Guard member Gennady Pocheptsov, was initially entrusted with leading the work of extracting the bodies of those executed from the pit of mine No. 5. Under the Germans, Gromov was a secret police agent and was directly related to at least the arrests of underground fighters. Therefore, of course, he did not want bodies with traces of inhuman torture to be brought to the surface.

This is how this moment is described in the memoirs of Maria Vintsenovskaya, the mother of the deceased Yuri Vintsenovsky:

“For a long time he tormented us with his slowness. Either he doesn’t know how to remove it, or he doesn’t know how to install the winch, or he just delayed extraction. His miner parents told him what and how to do. Finally, everything was ready. We hear Gromov’s voice: “Who voluntarily agrees to go down into the tub?” - "I! I!" - we hear. One was my 7th grade student Shura Nezhivov, the other was a worker Puchkov.<…>We, the parents, were allowed to take a seat in the front row, but at a decent distance. There was absolute silence. Such silence that you could hear your own heartbeat. Here comes the tub. Shouts of “Girl, girl” can be heard. It was Tosya Eliseenko. She was one of the first batch dropped. The corpse was placed on a stretcher, covered with a sheet and taken to the pre-mine bathhouse. Snow was laid out along all the walls in the bathhouse, and corpses were laid on the snow. The tub descends again. This time the guys shouted: “And this is a boy.” It was Vasya Gukov, who was also shot in the first batch and also hung on a protruding log. Third fourth. “And this naked one, he probably died there, his hands are folded on his chest.” Like an electric current went through my body. “Mine, mine!” - I screamed. Words of consolation were heard from all sides. “Calm down, this is not Yurochka.” What difference does it make, if not the fourth, then the fifth will be Yuri. The third was Misha Grigoriev, the fourth was Yura Vintsenovsky, the fifth was V. Zagoruiko, Lukyanchenko, Sopova and the subsequent Seryozha Tyulenin.<…>Meanwhile, evening came, there were no more corpses in the mine. Gromov, after consulting with the doctor Nadezhda Fedorovna Privalova, who was present here, announced that he would no longer remove corpses, since the doctor said that cadaveric poison is lethal. There will be a mass grave here. Work to remove the corpses was stopped. The next morning we were back at the pit, now we were allowed to go into the bathhouse. Each mother tried to recognize her own in the corpse, but it was difficult because... the children were completely disfigured. For example, I recognized my son only by signs on the fifth day. Zagoruika O.P. I was sure that my son Volodya was in Rovenki ( Some of the Young Guards were taken from Krasnodon to the Gestapo, they were executed already in Rovenki. — Yu.P.) passed a message there for him, walked calmly around the corpses. Suddenly a terrible cry, fainting. She saw a familiar patch on the fifth corpse's trousers; it was Volodya. Despite the fact that the parents identified their children, they went to the pit several times during the day. I went too. One evening my sister and I went to the pit. From a distance we noticed that a man was sitting just above the abyss of the pit and smoking.<…>It was Androsov, the father of Androsova Lida. “It’s good for you, they found the body of your son, but I won’t find the body of my daughter. Corpse poison is lethal. I may die from the poison of my daughter's corpse, but I must get her. Just think, it's a tricky thing to manage the extraction. I’ve been working in the mine for twenty years, I have a lot of experience, there’s nothing tricky about it. I’ll go to the city party committee and ask permission to direct the extraction.” And the next day, having received permission, Androsov got to work.”

And here is a fragment of the memoirs of Makar Androsov himself. He is a hard worker, a miner, and he describes the most terrible moments of his life casually, like work:

“The medical examination has arrived. Doctors said that the bodies could be removed, but special rubber clothing was needed. Many parents of the Young Guard knew me as a career miner, so they insisted that I be appointed responsible for rescue work.<…>Residents volunteered to help. The bodies were removed by mountain rescue workers. Once I tried to drive with them to the end, deep into the pit, but I couldn’t. A suffocating, corpse-like smell came from the mine. Rescuers said that the mine shaft was littered with stones and trolleys. Two corpses were placed in a box. After each extraction, the parents rushed to the box, crying and screaming. The bodies were taken to the mine bathhouse. The cement floor of the bathhouse was covered with snow, and the bodies were placed directly on the floor. A doctor was on duty at the pit and revived the parents, who were losing consciousness. The corpses were disfigured beyond recognition. Many parents recognized their children only by their clothes. There was no water in the mine. The bodies retained their shape, but began to “go wrong.” Many bodies were found without arms or legs. Rescue operations took 8 days. Daughter Lida was removed from the pit on the third day. I recognized her by her clothes and the green cloaks that her neighbor sewed. She was arrested wearing these burkas. Lida had a string around her neck. They probably shot him in the forehead, because there was a large wound on the back of the head and a smaller one on the forehead. One arm, leg, and eye were missing. The cloth skirt was torn and was held only by the waist; the jumper was also torn. When they took out Lida’s body, I fainted. A.A. Startseva said that she recognized Lida even by her face. There was a smile on his face. A neighbor (who was present when the corpses were removed) says that Lida’s entire body was bloodied. In total, 71 corpses were taken out of the pit. Coffins were made from old boards from dismantled houses. On February 27 or 28, we brought the bodies of our children from Krasnodon to the village. The coffins were placed in one row at the village council. The coffin of Lida and Kolya Sumsky was placed in the grave next to each other.”

Tyulenin and his five

When you read these “sick” memories of parents, although written down years later, you understand what exactly eludes the debate about historical truth in the history of the Young Guard. That they were children. They were involved in a big adult nightmare and, although they perceived it with absolute, even deliberate seriousness, it was still perceived as a kind of game. And who at 16 years old would believe in an imminent tragic ending?

Most of the parents of the Young Guard had no idea what they were doing with their friends in the city occupied by the Germans. This was also facilitated by the principle of secrecy: the Young Guards, as you know, were divided into fives, and ordinary underground fighters knew only members of their own group. Most often, the fives included boys and girls who were friends or simply knew each other well before the war. The first group, which later became the most active five, was formed around Sergei Tyulenin. One can argue endlessly about who in the Young Guard was a commissar and who was a commander, but I am confident: the leader, without whom there would be no legend, is Tyulenin.

In the archives of the Young Guard Museum there is his biography:

“Sergei Gavrilovich Tyulenin was born on August 25, 1925 in the village of Kiselevo, Novosilsky district Oryol region in a working-class family. In 1926, his entire family moved to live in the city of Krasnodon, where Seryozha grew up. There were 10 children in the family. Sergei, the youngest, enjoyed the love and care of his older sisters. He grew up as a very lively, active, cheerful boy who was interested in everything.<…>Seryozha was sociable, gathered all his comrades around him, loved excursions, hiking, and Seryozha especially loved war games. His dream was to become a pilot. Having completed seven classes, Sergei is trying to enter a flight school. For health reasons, he was considered quite fit, but was not enrolled due to his age. I had to go to school again: eighth grade.<….>The war begins, and Tyulenin voluntarily joins the labor army to build defensive structures.<…>At this time, at the direction of the Bolshevik underground, a Komsomol organization was created. At the suggestion of Sergei Tyulenin, it was called the “Young Guard”...

Tyulenin was one of the members of the Young Guard headquarters and took part in most military operations: distributing leaflets, setting fire to stacks of bread, collecting weapons.

November 7th was approaching. Sergei's group received the task of hoisting a flag at school No. 4. ( Tyulenin, Dadyshev, Tretyakevich, Yurkin, Shevtsova studied at this school. —Yu.P.). This is what Radiy Yurkin, a 14-year-old participant in the operation, recalls:

“On the long-awaited night before the holiday, we set off to complete the task.<…>Seryozha Tyulenin was the first to climb the creaky ladder. We are behind him with grenades at the ready. We looked around and immediately got to work. Styopa Safonov and Seryozha climbed onto the roof using wire fastenings. Lenya Dadyshev stood at the dormer window, peering and listening to see if anyone had sneaked up on us. I attached the banner towel to the pipe. All is ready. “Senior miner” Stepa Safonov, as we later called him, declared that the mines were ready.<…>Our banner flies proudly in the air, and below in the attic lie anti-tank mines attached to the flagpole.<…>In the morning a lot of people gathered near the school. Enraged policemen rushed to the attic. But now they came back, confused, muttering something about mines.”

This is what the second loud and successful action of the Young Guard looks like in Yurkin’s memoirs: the arson of the labor exchange, which allowed two and a half thousand Krasnodon residents to avoid being sent to forced labor in Germany, including many of the Young Guards who had received summonses the day before.

“On the night of December 5-6, Sergei, Lyuba Shevtsova, Viktor Lukyanchenko quietly snuck into the attic of the exchange, scattered pre-prepared incendiary cartridges and set the exchange on fire.”

And here the ringleader was Tyulenin.

One of Sergei's closest friends was Leonid Dadyshev. Leonid's father, an Azerbaijani of Iranian origin, came to Russia to look for his brother, but then married a Belarusian woman. They moved to Krasnodon in 1940. Nadezhda Dadysheva, younger sister Leonida Dadysheva described these months in her memoirs:

“Sergei Tyulenin studied with his brother, and we lived next door to him. Obviously, this was the impetus for their future friendship, which was not interrupted until the end of his short but bright life.<…>Lenya loved music. He had a mandala, and he could sit for hours and play Russian and Ukrainian folk melodies on it. My favorite songs were about the heroes of the Civil War. There were also abilities in the field of drawing. His favorite themes in his drawings were warships (destroyers, battleships), cavalry in battle, and portraits of commanders. (During the search during the arrest of my brother, the police took a lot of his drawings.)<…>One day my brother asked me to bake some homemade crumpets. He knew that a column of Red Army prisoners of war would be escorted through our city, and, wrapping donuts in a bundle, he set off with his comrades to the main highway. The next day, his comrades said that Lenya threw a bundle of food into the crowd of prisoners of war, and also threw his winter hat with earflaps, and he himself wore a cap in the severe frost.”

The ending of Nadezhda Dadysheva’s memoirs takes us back to the pit of mine No. 5.

“On February 14, the city of Krasnodon was liberated by units of the Red Army. That same day, my mother and I went to the police building, where we saw a terrible picture. In the police yard we saw a mountain of corpses. These were executed Red Army prisoners of war, covered with straw on top. I went into the room with my mother former police: all the doors were wide open, broken chairs and broken dishes were lying on the floor. And on the walls of all the cells were written arbitrary words and poems of the dead. In one cell, the entire wall was written in large letters: “Death to the German occupiers!” On one door was scratched with something metal: “Lenya Dadash sat here!” Mom cried a lot, and it took me a lot of effort to take her home. Literally a day later, they began to remove the corpses of the dead Young Guards from the shaft of shaft No. 5. The corpses were disfigured, but each mother recognized her son and daughter, and with each winch lifting upward, heartbreaking screams and cries of exhausted mothers could be heard for a long time.<…>More than forty years have passed since then, but it is always painful and disturbing to remember those tragic events. I cannot hear the words from the song “Eaglet” without emotion: I don’t want to think about death, believe me, at the age of 16 as a boy”... My brother died at the age of 16.”

The Dadyshevs’ mother died soon; she could not survive the death of her son. They took Leonid out of the pit, all blue because he had been whipped, with his right hand severed. Before being thrown into the pit, he was shot.

And Dadyshev’s sister Nadezhda is still alive. True, it was not possible to talk to her, because due to her serious health condition, she spends the last years of her life in a Krasnodon hospice.

Policemen and traitors

The museum's scientific collection contains not only memories of heroes and victims, but also materials about traitors and executioners. Here are excerpts from the interrogations of investigative case No. 147721 from the archives of the VUCHN-GPU-NKVD. It was investigated against police investigator Mikhail Kuleshov, agent Vasily Gromov and his stepson Gennady Pocheptsov, a 19-year-old Young Guard who, fearful of arrests, wrote a statement on the advice of his stepfather, indicating the names of his comrades.

The police investigation into the Krasnodon case was headed by senior investigator Mikhail Kuleshov. According to archive documents, before the war he worked as a lawyer, but his career did not work out; he had a criminal record and was known for his systematic drinking. Before the war, he often received party-line reprimands from Mikhail Tretyakevich, the elder brother of the Young Guard Tretyakevich, who was later exposed as a traitor, for “everyday corruption.” And Kuleshov felt personal hostility towards him, which he later took out on Viktor Tretyakevich.

The latter’s “betrayal” became known only from the words of Kuleshov, who was interrogated by the NKVD. Viktor Tretyakevich became the only Young Guard member whose name was crossed off from the award lists, worse than that, based on Kuleshov’s testimony, the conclusions of the “Toritsyn commission” were formed, based on the materials of which Fadeev wrote his novel.

From the interrogation report former investigator Kuleshov Ivan Emelyanovich dated May 28, 1943 .

“...The police had such an order that first of all the arrested person was brought to Solikovsky, he brought him “to consciousness” and ordered the investigator to interrogate him, draw up a report that must be handed over to him, i.e. Solikovsky, for viewing. When Davidenko brought Pocheptsov to Solikovsky’s office, and before that Solikovsky took a statement out of his pocket and asked if he wrote it. Pocheptsov answered in the affirmative, after which Solikovsky again hid this statement in his pocket.<…>Pocheptsov said that he is indeed a member of an underground youth organization existing in Krasnodon and its environs. He named the leaders of this organization, or rather, the city headquarters. Namely: Tretyakevich, Levashov, Zemnukhov, Safonov, Koshevoy. Solikovsky wrote down the named members of the organization, called the police and Zakharov and began making arrests. He ordered me to take Pocheptsov and interrogate him and present him with the interrogation protocols. During my interrogation, Pocheptsov said that the headquarters had weapons at its disposal<…>. After this, 30-40 members of the underground youth organization were arrested. I personally interrogated 12 people, including Pocheptsov, Tretyakevich, Levashov, Zemnukhov, Kulikov, Petrov, Vasily Pirozhok and others.”

From the protocol of interrogation of Gennady Prokofievich Pocheptsov dated April 8, 1943 and June 2, 1943.

“...On December 28, 1942, the police chief Solikovsky, his deputy Zakharov, the Germans and the police arrived on a sleigh at Moshkov’s house (he lived next to me). They searched Moshkov’s apartment, found some kind of bag, put it on a sled, put Moshkov in and left. My mother and I saw it all. Mother asked if Moshkov was from our organization. I said no, because I didn’t know about Moshkov’s membership in the organization. After some time, Fomin came to see me. He said that on Popov’s instructions he went to the center to find out which of the guys had been arrested. He said that Tretyakevich, Zemnukhov and Levashov were arrested. We began to discuss what we should do, where to run, who to consult, but made no decision. After Fomin left, I thought about my situation and, not finding another solution, showed cowardice and decided to write a statement to the police saying that I knew an underground youth organization.<…>Before writing a statement, I myself went to the Gorky club and saw what was going on there. Arriving there, I saw Zakharov and the Germans. They were looking for something in the club. Then Zakharov came up to me and asked if I knew Tyulenin, while he was looking at some kind of list, which contained a number of other names. I said that I don’t know Tyulenin. He went home and at home decided to hand over the members of the organization. I thought the police already knew everything..."

But in fact, it was Pocheptsov’s “letter” that played a key role. Because the guys were initially taken as thieves, and there was no evidence against them. After several days of interrogation, the police chief ordered: “Whip the thieves and drive them out.” At this time, Pocheptsov, summoned by Solikovsky, came to the police. He pointed out those he knew, primarily from the village of Pervomaika, in whose group Pocheptsov himself was. From January 4 to 5, arrests began in Pervomaika. Pocheptsov simply did not know about the existence of underground communists Lyutikov, Barakov and others. But the mechanical workshops where their cell operated were monitored by Zons agents ( Deputy Chief of the Krasnodon Gendarmerie. — Yu.P.). Zons was shown lists of arrested underground workers, which included only children 16-17 years old, and then Zons ordered the arrest of Lyutikov and 20 other people, whom his agents had been closely monitoring for a long time. Thus, more than 50 people who had one connection or another with the “Young Guard” and underground communists ended up in the cells.

Viktor Tretyakevich was interrogated with particular passion by Mikhail Kuleshov.

On August 18, 1943, in an open court hearing in the city of Krasnodon, the Military Tribunal of the NKVD troops of the Voroshilovograd region sentenced Kuleshov, Gromov and Pocheptsov to capital punishment. The next day the sentence was carried out. They were shot publicly in the presence of five thousand people. Pocheptsov's mother Maria Gromova, as a member of the family of a traitor to the Motherland, was exiled to the Kustanai region of the Kazakh SSR for a period of five years with complete confiscation of property. Her further fate is unknown, but in 1991, the effect of Art. 1 of the Law of the Ukrainian SSR “On the rehabilitation of victims of political repression in Ukraine.” Due to the lack of evidence confirming the validity of prosecution, she was exonerated.

Policeman Solikovsky managed to escape and was never found. Although he was the main one among the direct perpetrators of the execution of the Young Guards in Krasnodon.

Initially, the case of the Young Guards was handled by the Krasnodon police, because they were accused of a banal criminal offense. But when a clear political component emerged, the gendarmerie of the city of Rovenki became involved in the case. Some of the Young Guards were taken there because the Red Army was already advancing on Krasnodon. Oleg Koshevoy managed to escape, but was arrested in Rovenki.

Later, this created the basis for speculation that Koshevoy was allegedly an agent of the Gestapo (according to another version, a member of the OUN-UPA, an organization banned in Russia), and for this reason he was not shot, but went with the Germans to Rovenki and then disappeared, starting a new living on false documents.

Similar stories are known, for example, if we recall the Krasnodon executioners, then not only Solikovsky, but also policemen Vasily Podtynny and Ivan Melnikov managed to escape. Melnikov, by the way, was directly related not only to the torture of Young Guards, but also to the executions of miners and communists buried alive in the Krasnodon city park in September 1942. After the retreat from Krasnodon, he fought as part of the Wehrmacht, was captured in Moldova, and in 1944 was drafted into the Red Army. He fought with dignity, he was awarded with medals, however, in 1965 he was exposed as a former policeman and subsequently shot.

The fate of policeman Podtynny developed in a similar way: he was tried many years after the crime was committed, but in Krasnodon, in public. By the way, during the trial and investigation, Podtynny testified that Viktor Tretyakevich was not a traitor and that investigator Kuleshov slandered him for reasons of personal revenge. After this, Tretyakevich was rehabilitated (but Stakhevich in Fadeev’s novel remained a traitor).

However, all these analogies do not apply to Koshevoy. The archives contain protocols of interrogations of direct participants and eyewitnesses of his execution in Rovenki.

From the interrogation protocol of Ivan Orlov, a Rovenki police officer:

“I first learned about the existence of the Young Guard at the end of January 1943 from Komsomol member Oleg Koshevoy, who was arrested in Rovenki. Then people who came to Rovenki at the beginning of 1943 told me about this organization. Krasnodon police investigators Usachev and Didik, who took part in the investigation into the Young Guard case.<…>I remember that I asked Usachev whether Oleg Koshevoy was involved in the Young Guard case. Usachev said that Koshevoy was one of the leaders of the underground organization, but he disappeared from Krasnodon and cannot be found. In this regard, I told Usachev that Koshevoy was arrested in Rovenki and shot by the gendarmerie.”

From the interrogation protocol of Otto-August Drewitz, an employee of the Rovenki gendarmerie :

It turns out that Oleg Koshevoy was the last of the Young Guards to die, and there were no traitors among them, except Pocheptsov.

The story of the life and death of the Young Guard immediately began to become overgrown with myths: first Soviet, and then anti-Soviet. And much is still unknown about them - not all archives are in the public domain. But be that as it may, for modern Krasnodon residents the history of the Young Guard is very personal, regardless of the name of the country in which they live.

Krasnodon

document. 18+ (description of torture)

Information about the atrocities of the Nazi invaders, about the injuries inflicted on the underground fighters of Krasnodon as a result of interrogations and executions at the pit of mine No. 5 and in the Thunderous Forest of Rovenki. January-February 1943. (Archive of the Young Guard Museum.)

The certificate was compiled on the basis of the act of investigating the atrocities committed by the Nazis in the Krasnodon region, dated September 12, 1946, on the basis of archival documents of the Young Guard Museum and documents of the Voroshilovograd KGB.

1. Barakov Nikolai Petrovich, born in 1905. During interrogations, the skull was broken, the tongue and ear were cut off, the teeth and left eye were knocked out, the right hand was cut off, both legs were broken, and the heels were cut off.

2. Daniil Sergeevich Vystavkin, born in 1902, traces of severe torture were found on his body.

3. Vinokurov Gerasim Tikhonovich, born in 1887. He was pulled out with a crushed skull, a smashed face, and a crushed arm.

4. Lyutikov Philip Petrovich, born in 1891. He was thrown into the pit alive. Cervical vertebrae were broken, the nose and ears were cut off, there were wounds on the chest with torn edges.

5. Sokolova Galina Grigorievna, born in 1900. She was among the last to be pulled out with her head crushed. The body is bruised, there is a knife wound on the chest.

6. Yakovlev Stepan Georgievich, born in 1898. He was extracted with a crushed head and a dissected back.

7. Androsova Lidiya Makarovna, born in 1924. She was taken out without an eye, ear, hand, with a rope around her neck, which cut heavily into the body, baked blood is visible on her neck.

8. Bondareva Alexandra Ivanovna, born in 1922. The head and right mammary gland were removed. The whole body is beaten, bruised, and black.

9. Vintsenovsky Yuri Semenovich, born in 1924. He was taken out with a swollen face, without clothes. There were no wounds on the body. Apparently he was dropped alive.

10. Glavan Boris Grigorievich, born in 1920. It was recovered from the pit, severely mutilated.

11. Gerasimova Nina Nikolaevna, born in 1924. The victim's head was flattened, her nose was depressed, her left arm was broken, and her body was beaten.

12. Grigoriev Mikhail Nikolaevich, born in 1924. The victim had a laceration on his temple resembling a five-pointed star. The legs were cut, covered with scars and bruises: the whole body was black, the face was disfigured, the teeth were knocked out.

13. Ulyana Matveevna Gromova, born in 1924. A five-pointed star was carved on her back, her right arm was broken, and her ribs were broken.

14. Gukov Vasily Safonovich, born in 1921. Beaten beyond recognition.

15. Dubrovina Alexandra Emelyanovna, born in 1919. She was pulled out without a skull, there were puncture wounds on her back, her arm was broken, her leg was shot.

16. Dyachenko Antonina Nikolaevna, born in 1924. There was an open fracture of the skull with a patchy wound, striped bruises on the body, elongated abrasions and wounds resembling imprints of narrow, hard objects, apparently from blows with a telephone cable.

17. Eliseenko Antonina Zakharovna, born in 1921. The victim had traces of burns and beatings on her body, and there was a trace of a gunshot wound on her temple.

18. Zhdanov Vladimir Alexandrovich, born in 1925. He was extracted with a laceration in the left temporal region. The fingers are broken, which is why they are twisted, and there are bruises under the nails. Two stripes 3 cm wide and 25 cm long were cut out on the back. Eyes were gouged out and ears were cut off.

19. Zhukov Nikolay Dmitrievich, born in 1922. Extracted without ears, tongue, teeth. An arm and a foot were severed.

20. Zagoruiko Vladimir Mikhailovich, born in 1927. Recovered without hair, with a severed hand.

21. Zemnukhov Ivan Alexandrovich, born in 1923. He was taken out beheaded and beaten. The whole body is swollen. The foot of the left leg and the left arm (at the elbow) are twisted.

22. Ivanikhina Antonina Aeksandrovna, born in 1925. The victim's eyes were gouged out, her head was bandaged with a scarf and wire, and her breasts were cut out.

23. Ivanikhina Liliya Aleksandrovna, born in 1925. The head was removed and the left arm was severed.

24. Kezikova Nina Georgievna, born in 1925. She was pulled out with her leg torn off at the knee, her arms twisted. There were no bullet wounds on the body; apparently, she was thrown out alive.

25. Evgenia Ivanovna Kiikova, born in 1924. Extracted without the right foot and right hand.

26. Klavdiya Petrovna Kovaleva, born in 1925. The right breast was pulled out swollen, the right breast was cut off, the feet were burned, the left breast was cut off, the head was tied with a scarf, traces of beatings were visible on the body. Found 10 meters from the trunk, between the trolleys. Probably dropped alive.

27. Koshevoy Oleg Vasilievich, born in 1924. The body bore traces of inhuman torture: there was no eye, there was a wound in the cheek, the back of the head was knocked out, the hair on the temples was gray.

28. Levashov Sergey Mikhailovich, born in 1924. The extracted one is broken radius left hand. The fall caused dislocations in the hip joints and both legs were broken. One is in the femur and the other is in the knee area. The skin on my right leg was all torn off. No bullet wounds were found. Was dropped alive. Found crawling far from the place where he fell with mouth full land.

29. Lukashov Gennady Alexandrovich, born in 1924. The victim was missing a foot, his hands showed signs of being beaten with an iron rod, and his face was disfigured.

30. Lukyanchenko Viktor Dmitrievich, born in 1927. Extracted without hand, eye, nose.

31. Minaeva Nina Petrovna, born in 1924. She was pulled out with broken arms, a missing eye, and something shapeless was carved on her chest. The entire body is covered with dark blue stripes.

32. Moshkov Evgeniy Yakovlevich, born in 1920. During interrogations, his legs and arms were broken. The body and face are blue-black from beatings.

33. Nikolaev Anatoly Georgievich, born in 1922. The entire body of the extracted man was dissected, his tongue was cut out.

34. Ogurtsov Dmitry Uvarovich, born in 1922. In the Rovenkovo ​​prison he was subjected to inhuman torture.

35. Ostapenko Semyon Makarovich, born in 1927. Ostapenko's body bore signs of cruel torture. The blow of the butt crushed the skull.

36. Osmukhin Vladimir Andreevich, born in 1925. During interrogations, the right hand was cut off, the right eye was gouged out, there were burn marks on the legs, and the back of the skull was crushed.

37. Orlov Anatoly Alekseevich, born in 1925. He was shot in the face with an explosive bullet. The entire back of my head is crushed. Blood is visible on the leg; he was removed with his shoes off.

38. Maya Konstantinovna Peglivanova, born in 1925. She was thrown into the pit alive. She was pulled out without eyes or lips, her legs were broken, lacerations were visible on her leg.

39. Petlya Nadezhda Stepanovna, born in 1924. The victim's left arm and legs were broken, her chest was burned. There were no bullet wounds on the body; she was dropped alive.

40. Petrachkova Nadezhda Nikitichna, born in 1924. The body of the extracted woman bore traces of inhuman torture, and was removed without a hand.

41. Petrov Viktor Vladimirovich, born in 1925. A knife wound was inflicted in the chest, fingers were broken at the joints, ears and tongue were cut off, and the soles of the feet were burned.

42. Pirozhok Vasily Makarovich, born in 1925. He was pulled out of the pit beaten. The body is bruised.

43. Polyansky Yuri Fedorovich - born in 1924. Extracted without left arm and nose.

44. Popov Anatoly Vladimirovich, born in 1924. The fingers of the left hand were crushed and the foot of the left foot was severed.

45. Rogozin Vladimir Pavlovich, born in 1924. The victim's spine and arms were broken, his teeth were knocked out, and his eye was gouged out.

46. ​​Samoshinova Angelina Tikhonovna, born in 1924. During interrogations, his back was cut with a whip. The right leg was shot in two places.

47. Sopova Anna Dmitrievna, born in 1924. Bruises were found on the body, and the braid was torn out.

48. Startseva Nina Illarionovna, born in 1925. She was pulled out with a broken nose and broken legs.

49. Subbotin Viktor Petrovich, born in 1924. The beatings on the face and twisted limbs were visible.

50. Sumskoy Nikolay Stepanovich, born in 1924. The eyes were blindfolded, there was a trace of a gunshot wound on the forehead, there were signs of lashing on the body, traces of injections under the nails were visible on the fingers, the left arm was broken, the nose was pierced, the left eye was missing.

51. Tretyakevich Viktor Iosifovich, born in 1924. The hair was torn out, the left arm was twisted, the lips were cut off, the leg was torn off along with the groin.

52. Tyulenin Sergey Gavrilovich, born in 1924. In the police cell they tortured him in front of his mother, Alexandra Tyulenina. During the torture, he received a through gunshot wound on his left hand, which was burned with a hot rod, his fingers were placed under the door and squeezed until the limbs of his hands were completely necrosis, needles were driven under his nails, and he was hung on ropes. When extracted from the pit, the lower jaw and nose were knocked to the side. The spine is broken.

53. Fomin Dementy Yakovlevich, born in 1925. Removed from a pit with a broken head.

54. Shevtsova Lyubov Grigorievna, born in 1924. Several stars are carved on the body. Shot in the face by an explosive bullet.

55. Shepelev Evgeny Nikiforovich, born in 1924. Boris Galavan was removed from the pit, bound face to face with barbed wire, his hands were cut off. The face is disfigured, the stomach is ripped open.

56. Shishchenko Alexander Tarasovich, born in 1925. Shishchenko had a head injury, knife wounds on his body, and his ears, nose and upper lip were torn off. The left arm was broken at the shoulder, elbow and hand.

57. Shcherbakov Georgy Kuzmich, born in 1925. The man's face was bruised and his spine was broken, as a result of which the body was removed in parts.

And director Gerasimov also felt sorry for the audience - the film does not show all the torture that the guys endured. They were almost children, the youngest was barely 16. It’s scary to read these lines.

It’s scary to think about the inhuman suffering they endured. But we must know and remember what fascism is. The worst thing is that among those who mockingly killed the Young Guard, there were mainly policemen from the local population (the city of Krasnodon, where the tragedy occurred, is located in the Lugansk region). It is all the more terrible to watch now the revival of Nazism in Ukraine, the torchlight processions, and the slogans “Bandera is a hero!”

There is no doubt that today's twenty-year-old neo-fascists, the same age as their brutally tortured fellow countrymen, have not read this book or seen these photographs.

“They beat her and hung her by her braids. They lifted Anya out of the pit with one scythe - the other was broken.

Crimea, Feodosia, August 1940. Happy young girls. The most beautiful, with dark braids, is Anya Sopova.
On January 31, 1943, after severe torture, Anya was thrown into the pit of mine No. 5.
Buried in mass grave heroes on the central square of the city of Krasnodon.

Soviet people dreamed of being like the brave Krasnodon residents... They swore to avenge their death.
What can I say, tragic and beautiful story The Young Guards were shocked by the whole world, and not just the fragile minds of children.
The film became the box office leader in 1948, and the leading actors, unknown VGIK students, immediately received the title of Stalin Prize Laureate - an exceptional case. “Woke up famous” is about them.
Ivanov, Mordyukova, Makarova, Gurzo, Shagalova - letters from all over the world came to them in bags.
Gerasimov, of course, felt sorry for the audience. Fadeev - readers.
Neither paper nor film could convey what really happened that winter in Krasnodon.

But what is happening now in Ukraine.

Modern period national history, called “perestroika,” took a toll not only on the living, but also on the heroes of the past.

The debunking of the heroes of the revolution and the Great Patriotic War in those years was put on stream. This cup has not passed from the underground members of the Young Guard organization. “Debuster of Soviet myths” poured out great amount slop on young anti-fascists destroyed by the Nazis.

The essence of the “revelations” was that no “Young Guard” organization supposedly existed, and if it did exist, then its contribution to the fight against the fascists was so insignificant that it is not worth talking about.

It was even argued that in Krasnodon itself, where the organization operated, no one knew about Koshevoy, that his mother, who had been a wealthy woman even before the war, was making money from her son’s posthumous fame, that for this reason she identified the corpse of an old man instead of Oleg’s body...

Elena Nikolaevna Koshevaya, Oleg’s mother, was not the only one who was wiped out in the late 1980s. In the same tone and almost the same words they insulted Lyubov Timofeevna Kosmodemyanskaya- mother of two Heroes of the Soviet Union who died during the war - Zoe and Alexandra Kosmodemyansky.

Those who trampled on the memory of heroes and their mothers still work in the Russian media, holding high degrees of candidates and doctors historical sciences and feel great...

“Hands were twisted, ears were cut off, a star was carved on the cheek...”

Meanwhile, the real history of the Young Guard is captured in documents and testimonies of witnesses who survived the Nazi occupation.

Among the evidence of the true history of the Young Guard, there are protocols for examining the corpses of Young Guards raised from the pit of mine No. 5. And these protocols best speak of what the young anti-fascists had to endure before their death.

The shaft of the mine where members of the underground organization “Young Guard” were executed by the Nazis. Photo: RIA Novosti

« Ulyana Gromova, 19 years old, a five-pointed star carved on his back, his right arm was broken, his ribs were broken...”

« Lida Androsova, 18 years old, taken out without an eye, ear, hand, with a rope around her neck, which cut heavily into her body. Dried blood is visible on the neck.”

« Angelina Samoshina, 18 years. Signs of torture were found on the body: arms were twisted, ears were cut off, a star was carved on the cheek...”

« Maya Peglivanova, 17 years. The corpse was disfigured: breasts, lips were cut off, legs were broken. All outer clothing has been removed."

« Shura Bondareva, 20 years old, taken out without the head and right breast, the whole body was beaten, bruised, black in color.”

« Victor Tretyakevich, 18 years. He was pulled out without a face, with a black and blue back, with crushed arms.” Experts found no traces of bullets on the body of Viktor Tretyakevich - he was among those who were thrown into the mine alive...

Oleg Koshevoy together with Any Shevtsova and several other Young Guards were executed in the Thundering Forest near the city of Rovenka.

The fight against fascism is a matter of honor

Ivan Turkenich, commander of the Young Guard. 1943 Photo: Commons.wikimedia.org

So what was the Young Guard organization and what role did Oleg Koshevoy play in its history?

The mining town of Krasnodon, in which the Young Guards operated, is located 50 kilometers from Lugansk, which during the war was called Voroshilovgrad.

In Krasnodon at the turn of the 1930s-1940s, there lived many working youth brought up in the spirit of Soviet ideology. For young pioneers and Komsomol members, participation in the fight against the Nazis who occupied Krasnodon in July 1942 was a matter of honor.

Almost immediately after the occupation of the city, several underground youth groups were formed independently of each other, which were joined by Red Army soldiers who found themselves in Krasnodon and escaped from captivity.

One of these Red Army soldiers was Lieutenant Ivan Turkenich, elected commander of a united underground organization created by young anti-fascists in Krasnodon and called the “Young Guard”. The creation of the united organization took place at the end of September 1942. Among those who joined the headquarters of the Young Guard was Oleg Koshevoy.

An exemplary student and a good friend

Oleg Koshevoy was born in the city of Pryluky, Chernihiv region, on June 8, 1926. Then Oleg’s family moved to Poltava, and later to Rzhishchev. Oleg's parents separated, and from 1937 to 1940 he lived with his father in the city of Anthracite. In 1940, Oleg’s mother Elena Nikolaevna moved to Krasnodon to live with her mother. Soon Oleg also moved to Krasnodon.

Oleg, according to the testimony of most of those who knew him before the war, was a real example to follow. He studied well, was fond of drawing, wrote poetry, played sports, and danced well. In the spirit of that time, Koshevoy was engaged in shooting and fulfilled the standard for receiving the Voroshilov Shooter badge. After learning to swim, he began helping others and soon began working as a lifeguard.

Commissioner and member of the headquarters of the underground Komsomol organization “Young Guard” Oleg Koshevoy. Photo: RIA Novosti

At school, Oleg helped those who were behind, sometimes taking five people in tow who were not doing well in their studies.

When the war began, Koshevoy, who, among other things, was also the editor of the school wall newspaper, began to help wounded soldiers in the hospital, which was located in Krasnodon, published the satirical newspaper “Crocodile” for them, and prepared reports from the front.

Oleg had a very warm relationship with his mother, who supported him in all his endeavors; friends often gathered in the Koshevoy’s house.

Oleg’s school friends from Krasnodon school No. 1 named after Gorky became members of his underground group, which in September 1942 joined the Young Guard.

He couldn't do otherwise...

Oleg Koshevoy, who turned 16 in June 1942, was not supposed to stay in Krasnodon - just before the Nazis occupied the city, he was sent for evacuation. However, it was not possible to go far, since the Germans were advancing faster. Koshevoy returned to Krasnodon. “He was gloomy, blackened with grief. A smile no longer appeared on his face, he walked from corner to corner, depressed and silent, did not know what to put his hands to. What was happening around was no longer amazing, but terrible anger oppressed my son’s soul,” recalled Oleg’s mother Elena Nikolaevna.

During perestroika times, some “veil-rippers” put forward the following thesis: those who before the war declared loyalty to communist ideals, in the years severe tests They thought only about saving their own lives at any cost.

Based on this logic, the exemplary pioneer Oleg Koshevoy, admitted to the Komsomol in March 1942, had to hide and try not to attract attention to himself. In reality, everything was different - Koshevoy, having experienced the first shock of seeing his city in the hands of the invaders, begins to assemble a group from his friends to fight the fascists. In September, the group assembled by Koshev becomes part of the Young Guard.

Oleg Koshevoy was involved in planning the operations of the Young Guards, he himself participated in the actions, and was responsible for communications with other underground groups operating in the vicinity of Krasnodon.

Still from the film “Young Guard” (directed by Sergei Gerasimov, 1948). The scene before the execution. Photo: Still from the film

Red banner over Krasnodon

The activities of the Young Guard, which consisted of about 100 people, may indeed not seem the most impressive to some. During their work, the Young Guards produced and distributed about 5 thousand leaflets with calls to fight the fascists and with messages about what was happening at the fronts. In addition, they carried out a number of acts of sabotage, such as destroying grain prepared for export to Germany, dispersing a herd of cattle that was intended for the needs of the German army, and blowing up a passenger car with German officers. One of the most successful actions of the Young Guard was the arson of the Krasnodon labor exchange, as a result of which the lists of those whom the Nazis intended to steal to work in Germany were destroyed. Thanks to this, approximately 2,000 people were saved from Nazi slavery.

The red flags in Krasnodon had a strong propaganda effect, which was appreciated not only by residents, but also by the Nazis themselves, who intensified the search for underground fighters.

The “Young Guard” consisted of young Komsomol members who had no experience in conducting illegal work, and it was extremely difficult for them to resist the powerful apparatus of Hitler’s counterintelligence.

One of the last actions of the Young Guard was a raid on cars with New Year's gifts for German soldiers. The underground members intended to use the gifts for their own purposes. On January 1, 1943, two members of the organization, Evgeniy Moshkov And Victor Tretyakevich, were arrested after bags stolen from German cars were found in their possession.

German counterintelligence, seizing on this thread and using previously obtained data, within a few days uncovered almost the entire underground network of the Young Guards. Mass arrests began.

Koshevoy was given a Komsomol card

Mother of the Hero of the Soviet Union, partisan Oleg Koshevoy Elena Nikolaevna Koshevaya. Photo: RIA Novosti / M. Gershman

To those who were not arrested immediately, the headquarters gave the only order possible under these conditions - to leave immediately. Oleg Koshevoy was among those who managed to get out of Krasnodon.

The Nazis, who already had evidence that Koshevoy was a commissar of the Young Guard, detained Oleg’s mother and grandmother. During interrogations, Elena Nikolaevna Kosheva’s spine was damaged and her teeth were knocked out...

As already mentioned, no one prepared the Young Guards for underground work. This is largely why most of those who managed to escape from Krasnodon were unable to cross the front line. Oleg, after an unsuccessful attempt on January 11, 1943, returned to Krasnodon to go to the front line again the next day.

He was detained by field gendarmerie near the city of Rovenki. Koshevoy was not known by sight, and he could well have avoided exposure if not for a mistake that was completely impossible for a professional illegal intelligence officer. During the search, they found a Komsomol card sewn into his clothes, as well as several other documents incriminating him as a member of the Young Guard. According to the requirements of the conspiracy, Koshevoy had to get rid of all the documents, but boyish pride for Oleg turned out to be higher than considerations of common sense.

It’s easy to condemn the mistakes of the Young Guard, but we are talking about very young boys and girls, almost teenagers, and not seasoned professionals.

“They had to shoot him twice...”

The occupiers showed no leniency towards the members of the Young Guard. The Nazis and their collaborators subjected the underground sophisticated torture. Oleg Koshevoy did not escape this fate either.

He, as a “commissar,” was tormented with special zeal. When the grave with the bodies of the Young Guards executed in the Thundering Forest was discovered, it turned out that 16-year-old Oleg Koshevoy was gray-haired...

The Young Guard commissar was shot on February 9, 1943. From the testimony Schultz- gendarme of the German district gendarmerie in the city of Rovenki: “At the end of January, I participated in the execution of a group of members of the underground Komsomol organization “Young Guard”, among whom was the leader of this organization Koshevoy... I remember him especially clearly because I had to shoot at him twice. After the shots, all those arrested fell to the ground and lay motionless, only Koshevoy stood up and, turning around, looked in our direction. This made me very angry Fromme and he ordered the gendarme Drewitz finish him off. Drewitz approached the lying Koshevoy and killed him with a shot in the back of the head...”

Schoolchildren at the pit of mine No. 5 in Krasnodon - the place of execution of Young Guards. Photo: RIA Novosti / Datsyuk

Oleg Koshevoy died just five days before the city of Krasnodon was liberated by Red Army units.

The Young Guard became widely known in the USSR because the history of its activities, unlike many other similar organizations, was documented. Those who betrayed, tortured and executed the Young Guard were identified, exposed and convicted.

By decree of the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet of the USSR of September 13, 1943, the Young Guard Ulyana Gromova, Ivan Zemnukhov, Oleg Koshevoy, Sergei Tyulenin, Lyubov Shevtsova was awarded the title of Hero of the Soviet Union. 3 members of the “Young Guard” were awarded the Order of the Red Banner, 35 — the Order of the Patriotic War, 1st degree, 6 — the Order of the Red Star, 66 — the medal “Partisan of the Patriotic War,” 1st degree.

Reproduction of portraits of the leaders of the underground Komsomol organization “Young Guard”. Photo: RIA Novosti

"Blood for blood! Death for death!

The commander of the Young Guard, Ivan Turkenich, was among the few who managed to cross the front line. He returned to Krasnodon after the liberation of the city as commander of a mortar battery of the 163rd Guards Rifle Regiment.

In the ranks of the Red Army, he went from Krasnodon further to the west, to take revenge on the Nazis for his killed comrades.

On August 13, 1944, Captain Ivan Turkenich was mortally wounded in the battle for the Polish city of Glogow. The command of the unit nominated him for the title of Hero of the Soviet Union, but it was awarded to Ivan Vasilyevich Turkenich much later - only on May 5, 1990.

"Krasnodontsy". Sokolov-Skalya, 1948, reproduction of the painting

Oath of members of the Young Guard organization:

“I, joining the ranks of the Young Guard, in the face of my friends in arms, in the face of my native long-suffering land, in the face of all the people, solemnly swear:

I swear to take revenge mercilessly for the burned, devastated cities and villages, for the blood of our people, for the martyrdom of thirty miner heroes. And if this revenge requires my life, I will give it without a moment’s hesitation.

If I break this sacred oath under torture or because of cowardice, then may my name and my family be cursed forever, and may I myself be punished by the harsh hand of my comrades.

Blood for blood! Death for death!

Oleg Koshevoy continued his war against the Nazis even after his death. Aircraft of the squadron of the 171st Fighter Wing, 315th Fighter Division under the command of Captain Ivana Vishnyakova bore on their fuselages the inscription “For Oleg Koshevoy!” The squadron pilots destroyed several dozen fascist aircraft, and Ivan Vishnyakov himself was awarded the title of Hero of the Soviet Union.

The “Oath” monument in Krasnodon, dedicated to members of the underground Komsomol organization “Young Guard”. Photo: RIA Novosti / Tyurin

In Soviet times, ships and schools were named in honor of these boys and girls, monuments were erected to them, books, songs and films were dedicated to their feat. Their actions were cited as an example of the mass heroism of Komsomol youth in the Great Patriotic War.

Then, in the wake of the post-reform “glasnost” boom, many people came up who wanted to “reconsider” the merits of young heroes before the fatherland. Active myth-making has done its job: today the word “Young Guards” is used by quite a few modern people associated, rather, with the youth wing of a popular political party than with the fallen Komsomol members of the Great Patriotic War. And in the homeland of heroes, in general, part of the population raises the names of their executioners on the flag...

Meanwhile, every honest person should know the true story of the feat and the true tragedy of the death of the “Young Guards”.

School Circle amateur performances. In a Cossack costume - Seryozha Tyulenin, a future underground worker.

“Young Guard” is an underground anti-fascist Komsomol organization that operated during the Great Patriotic War from September 1942 to January 1943 in the city of Krasnodon, Voroshilovgrad region of the Ukrainian SSR. The organization was created shortly after the beginning of the occupation of the city of Krasnodon by troops Nazi Germany, which began on July 20, 1942.

The first underground youth groups to fight the fascist invasion arose in Krasnodon immediately after its occupation by German troops in July 1942. The core of one of them consisted of soldiers of the Red Army, who, by the will of military fate, found themselves surrounded in the rear of the Germans, such as soldiers Evgeny Moshkov, Ivan Turkenich, Vasily Gukov, sailors Dmitry Ogurtsov, Nikolai Zhukov, Vasily Tkachev.

At the end of September 1942, underground youth groups united into a single organization “Young Guard”, the name of which was proposed by Sergei Tyulenin.

Ivan Turkenich was appointed commander of the organization. The members of the headquarters were Georgy Arutyunyants - responsible for information, Ivan Zemnukhov - chief of staff, Oleg Koshevoy - responsible for conspiracy and security, Vasily Levashov - commander of the central group, Sergei Tyulenin - commander of the combat group. Later, Ulyana Gromova and Lyubov Shevtsova were brought into the headquarters. The overwhelming majority of the Young Guard members were Komsomol members; temporary Komsomol certificates for them were printed in the organization’s underground printing house along with leaflets.

Younger guys aged 14-17 were messengers and scouts. The Krasnodon Komsomol youth underground included about 100 people, more than 70 were very active. According to the lists of underground fighters and partisans arrested by the Germans, the organization includes forty-seven boys and twenty-four girls. The youngest of the prisoners was fourteen years old, and fifty-five of them never turned nineteen...

Lyuba Shevtsova with friends (pictured first on the left in the second row)

The most ordinary guys, no different from the same boys and girls of our country, the guys made friends and quarreled, studied and fell in love, ran to dances and chased pigeons. They were involved in school clubs, sports sections, played strings musical instruments, wrote poetry, many drew well. We studied in different ways - some were excellent students, while others had difficulty mastering the granite of science. There were also a lot of tomboys. Dreamed about the future adult life. They wanted to become pilots, engineers, lawyers, some were going to go to a theater school, and others to a pedagogical institute...

The “Young Guard” was as multinational as the population of these southern regions THE USSR. Russians, Ukrainians (there were also Cossacks among them), Armenians, Belarusians, Jews, Azerbaijanis and Moldovans, ready to come to each other’s aid at any moment, fought the fascists.

The Germans occupied Krasnodon on July 20, 1942. And almost immediately the first leaflets appeared in the city, a new bathhouse began to burn, already ready for German barracks. It was Seryozha Tyulenin who began to act. There is still only one...
On August 12, 1942 he turned seventeen. Sergei wrote leaflets on pieces of old newspapers, and the police often found them even in their pockets. He began to slowly steal weapons from the policemen, without even doubting that they would definitely come in handy. And he was the first to attract a group of guys ready to fight. At first it consisted of eight people. However, by the first days of September, several groups were already operating in Krasnodon, practically unrelated to one another - in total there were about 25 people in them.

The birthday of the underground Komsomol organization “Young Guard” was September 30: then a plan was adopted to create a detachment, specific actions of underground work were outlined, a headquarters was created, the active members of the organization were divided into fighting fives. For the purpose of secrecy, each member of the five knew only his comrades and commander, being unaware of the full composition of the headquarters.

The “Young Guards” put up leaflets - first handwritten ones, then they took out a printing press and opened a real printing house. 30 series of leaflets were published with a total circulation of about 5 thousand copies. The content is mainly calls for sabotage of forced labor and fragments of Sovinformburo reports received thanks to a secretly stored radio receiver.

On occasion, Komsomol members stole weapons from Germans and policemen - at the time of the defeat of the organization, 15 machine guns, 80 rifles, 300 grenades, about 15 thousand cartridges, 10 pistols, 65 kilograms of explosives and several hundred meters of fuse cord had already been accumulated in its secret warehouse. With this arsenal, Oleg Koshevoy was going to arm the Komsomol partisan detachment “Molot”, which he intended to soon separate from the organization and redeploy outside the city to openly fight the enemy, but these plans were no longer destined to come true...
The guys burned a barn with bread that the Germans had taken by force from the population. On the day of the 25th anniversary of the October Revolution, red flags were hung around the city of Krasnodon, which the girls had sewn the day before from red stage curtains former House Cultures. Several dozen prisoners of war were rescued from the camp.

Most of the Young Guard's actions took place at night. By the way, there was a curfew in Krasnodon during the entire period of occupation, and a simple walk around the city after six in the evening was punishable by arrest followed by execution. The Komsomol members also tried to establish contact with the partisan detachments operating in the Rostov region. However, it was not possible to find the Voroshilovgrad partisans and underground fighters. First of all, because in the forests the partisans kept a good secret, and in the city the underground was already defeated by the enemy and virtually ceased to exist.

This is where the first myth arises, created back in the era of work on famous novel writer Alexander Fadeev. As if the Komsomol members of Krasnodon fought against fascism exclusively as messengers and saboteurs under the leadership of an underground party organization led by Nikolai Barakov and Philip Lyutikov. Senior comrades develop an operation plan - Komsomol members, risking their lives, carry it out...

By the way, in the first edition of Fadeev’s novel there is no mention of the “adult” communist underground. Only by the second edition the author “strengthened” the connections between the Komsomol and the “adult” underground and introduced a scene of joint preparation for sabotage in one of the mines that the Germans wanted to launch.

In fact, the communist miners Barakov and Lyutikov really planned to disrupt the launch of the mine. But - completely independent of the “Young Guards”. The guys also prepared sabotage - on their own - and it was they who carried out it.
For the Nazis, coal was a strategic raw material, so they sought to put at least one of the Krasnodon mines into operation. Using the labor of prisoners of war and the force of driven local residents, the Germans prepared Sorokin mine No. 1 for launch.

But literally on the eve of the start of work at night, underground Komsomol member Yuri Yatsinovsky entered the pile driver and damaged the cage lift: he misregulated the mechanism and cut the lifting ropes. As a result, when the lift was launched, the cage with mining tools, in which there were also German foreman, and policemen with weapons, and forced miners, and several strikebreakers who voluntarily agreed to work for the enemy, collapsed into the mine shaft. I feel sorry for the dead slaves of fascism. But the launch of the mine was disrupted; until the end of the occupation, the Germans were unable to raise the cage and clear the shaft pit of the collapsed parts of the lift. As a result, during the six months of their rule, the Germans were never able to remove a ton of coal from Krasnodon.

Krasnodon Komsomol members also thwarted the mass deportation of their peers to Germany. The Young Guards introduced one of the underground workers into the labor exchange, who copied the list of young people compiled by the Germans. Having learned about the number and timing of the departure of the train of “Ostarbeiters,” the guys burned the stock exchange with all the documentation, and warned potential farm laborers of the need to flee the city. This action infuriated the police and the German commandant's office, and almost two thousand Krasnodon residents were spared from German hard labor.

Even such a seemingly purely demonstrative action as hanging red flags on November 7 and congratulating residents on the 25th anniversary of the October Revolution was of great importance for the occupied city. The residents, eagerly awaiting liberation, realized: “They remember us, we are not forgotten by our people!”

Oleg Koshevoy

In addition, the “Young Guards” recaptured more than 500 head of livestock confiscated from the population from the horse-riding police. Animals were returned to those who could, the rest of the cows, horses and goats were simply distributed to the population of the surrounding farms, who were very poor after being robbed by German marauders. How many peasant families was saved from hunger thanks to such a “partisan gift” - now it’s even difficult to calculate.

The real combat operation was the organization, jointly with the partisans, of a mass escape of prisoners of war from a temporary camp organized by the invaders outside the city near open air. Those of the Red Army soldiers who were not yet completely exhausted from wounds and beatings joined the partisan detachment. Those unable to hold weapons were sheltered in their homes by villagers - and everyone left. Thus, the lives of almost 50 people were saved.

The German telephone wires were regularly cut. Moreover, the restless Seryozha Tyulenev came up with or read somewhere about a cunning method: the wire was cut in two places lengthwise with a thin knife. Then, using a crochet hook similar to a crochet hook, a section of the copper core was removed between the cuts. Outwardly, the wire looked intact, until you feel it along its entire length - you simply cannot find these thinnest cuts. Therefore, it was not easy for German signalmen to repair the communication gap - most often they were forced to re-lay the line.

Basically, the guys acted secretly, the only armed action of the underground took place on the eve of the New Year 1943 - the Young Guards made a daring raid on German vehicles with New Year's gifts for Wehrmacht soldiers and officers. The cargo was confiscated. In the future, German gifts, consisting mainly of food and warm clothes, were planned to be distributed to Krasnodon families with children. The Komsomol members decided to slowly sell the cigarettes, which were also gifts, at a local flea market, and use the proceeds for the needs of the organization.

Isn’t this what ruined the young underground fighters? In 1998, one of the surviving “Young Guards” Vasily Levashov put forward his version of the disclosure of the organization. According to his recollections, some of the cigarettes were given to a boy of 12-13 years old who knew the underground, who went to the market to exchange tobacco for food. During the raid, the guy was caught and didn’t have time to throw away the goods. They began to interrogate him, and with cruelty. And the teenager “split” under the beatings, admitting that his older friend, Genka Pocheptsov, gave him the cigarettes. On the same day, the Pocheptsovs’ home was searched, Gennady himself was arrested and also tortured.

According to Levashov’s version, it was Gennady, who was tortured in the presence of the named father - Vasily Grigorievich Gromov, the head of mine No. 1-bis and part-time secret agent of the Krasnodon police - on January 2, 1943, began to admit to participating in the underground. The Germans extracted from the guy all the information he possessed, and the commandant’s office became aware of the names of those underground fighters whose group operated in the Pervomaika area.

Then the Germans took the search for the partisans seriously, and within a few days two high school students were arrested because they did not have time to safely hide the bags of gifts. Levashov did not name the names of these guys, as well as his younger friend Gena Pocheptsov.

Levashov’s version can be doubted because, according to his memoirs, Gena Pocheptsov began speaking on January 2. And on the first day, the Germans took three “Young Guards” - Evgeny Moshkov, Viktor Tretyakevich and Vanya Zemnukhov. Most likely, this was the result of an investigation that the Germans conducted after the Komsomol attack on a convoy carrying Christmas gifts.

On the day of the arrest of three members of the Young Guard headquarters, a secret meeting of Komsomol members took place. And at it a decision was made: all “Young Guards” should immediately leave the city, and the leaders of the combat groups should not spend the night at home that night. All underground workers were notified of the headquarters’ decision through liaison officers. But the entire punitive apparatus has already begun to move. Mass arrests began...

Why did most of the “Young Guards” not follow the orders of headquarters? After all, this first disobedience cost almost all of them their lives? There can only be one answer: during the days of mass arrests, the Germans spread information throughout the city that they knew full composition"bandit partisan gang." And that if any of the suspects leave the city, their families will be shot en masse.

The guys knew that if they ran away, their relatives would be arrested in their place. Therefore, they remained faithful children to the end and did not try to protect themselves by the death of their parents,” surviving underground fighter Vladimir Minaev later said in an interview with Komsomolskaya Pravda journalists.

Only twelve “Young Guards,” at the insistence of their relatives, managed to escape in those days. But later, two of them - Sergei Tyulenin and Oleg Koshevoy - were nevertheless arrested. The four cells of the city police jail were packed to capacity. In one they kept girls, in the other three – boys.

No matter how much they have previously written about the Young Guard, as a rule, researchers spare the feelings of readers. They write carefully - that Komsomol members were beaten, sometimes, following Fadeev, they talk about bloody stars carved on the body. The reality is even worse... But none of the popular publications mentions the names of the torturers in detail - only general phrases: “fascist monsters, occupiers and accomplices of the occupiers.” However, documents from the regional department of state security indicate that mass torture and executions were not carried out by ordinary Wehrmacht soldiers. For the role of executioners, the Germans used either special SS units - Einsatzgruppen, or police units recruited from the local population.

The SS Einsatzgruppe arrived in the Lugansk region in September 1942, the headquarters was located in Starobelsk, the special detachment of executioners was commanded by SS Brigadefuehrer Major General of Police Max Thomas. However, he, a professional torturer, preferred to place his soldiers in the cordon of the prison, dispatching only three hefty soldiers to punish the prisoners with rubber whips. And, in fact, the reprisal against the underground was carried out mainly by policemen of the local Krasnodon branch. Cossacks, as they called themselves...

Leaflet "Young Guard"

What these monsters - both the SS men and their local henchmen - did to the young partisans is scary to even read. But we have to. Because without this it is impossible to fully understand either the horrors of fascism or the heroism of those who dared to oppose themselves to it.

Almost immediately after the massacre of the teenagers, Krasnodon was liberated from the fascist invaders - in February 1943. Within two days, NKVD investigators began arresting individuals involved in the death of the underground organization. As a result, lists of people directly involved in the crimes were compiled - both Germans and local Nazi servants. Hence the special scrupulousness of the investigation and the search for criminals.

Lidiya Androsova was arrested on January 12. According to Pocheptsov's denunciation. It was the police who took her - and according to the testimony of the girls’ parents, during the search they mercilessly looted the house, not even disdaining women’s underwear. The girl spent five days in the police custody... When Lida’s body was removed from the pit of the mine where she was executed, her relatives identified her daughter only by the remnants of her clothes. The girl’s face was mutilated, one eye was cut out, her ears were cut off, her hand was chopped off with an ax, her back was striped with whips so that her ribs were visible through the cut skin. A piece of the rope loop with which Lida was dragged to execution remained on her neck.

Lida Androsova

Kolya Sumsky, whom his friends considered Lida’s first friend and even boyfriend, was taken on January 4 at the mine, where he was picking out coal crumbs from a waste heap. Ten days later they were sent to Krasnodon, and four days later they were executed. The teenager’s body was also mutilated: traces of beatings, broken arms and legs, cut off ears...

The same police arrested Alexandra Bondareva and her brother Vasily on January 11. The torture began on the first day. The brother and sister were kept in separate cells. On January 15, Vasya Bondarev was led to execution. He was not allowed to say goodbye to his sister. The young man was thrown alive into the same pit of mine No. 5 where Lida Androsova was killed. On the evening of January 16, Shura was also taken to execution. Before pushing the girl into the mine, the police beat her again with rifle butts until she fell into the snow. Vasya and Shura’s mother Praskovya Titovna, when she saw the bodies of her children raised from the mine, almost died of a heart attack.

Shura Bondareva

Seventeen-year-old Nina Gerasimova was executed on January 11. From the protocol of identification of the body by relatives: “A girl of 16-17 years old, thin build, was thrown into a pit almost naked - in her underwear. The left arm is broken; the whole body, and especially the chest, are black from beatings, the right side of the face is completely disfigured” (RGASPI Fund M-1, inventory 53, item 329.)

Close friends Borya Glavan and Zhenya Shepelev were executed together - tied face to face with barbed wire. During torture, Boris's face was smashed with a rifle butt, both hands were cut off, and they stabbed him in the stomach with a bayonet. Evgeniy’s head was pierced, and his hands were also chopped off with an axe.

Borya Glavan

Mikhail Grigoriev tried to escape on January 31 along the road to the place of execution. Pushing the guard aside, he rushed across the virgin snow into the darkness... The police quickly overtook the teenager, exhausted from the beatings, but finally dragged him to the mine and threw him into the pit alive. The women who went to the waste heap for coal chips heard for several days that Misha remained alive for a long time, groaning in the trunk, but they could not help - the pit was guarded by a police patrol.

Vasily Gukov, executed on January 15, was identified by his mother by the scar on his chest. The young man's face was trampled under police boots, his teeth were knocked out, and his eyes were cut out.

Seventeen-year-old Leonid Dadyshev was tortured for ten days. They mercilessly flogged him and cut off the hand on his right hand. Lenya was shot with a pistol and thrown into a pit on January 15.

Zhenya Shepelev

Maya Peglivanova experienced such tortures before her death that no inquisitor would have imagined. The girl's nipples were cut off with a knife and both legs were broken.

Maya's friend Shura Dubrovina probably could have even been saved - the Germans were never able to prove her connection with the underground. In prison, the girl looked after the wounded Maya until the very end and was literally forced to carry her friend to execution in her arms. The police also cut Alexandra Dubrovina's chest with knives, and then right next to the mine shaft, they killed the girl with the butt of a rifle.

Zhenya Kiikova, arrested on January 13, gave her family a note from prison. “Dear mom, don’t worry about me - I’m fine. Kiss grandpa for me, feel sorry for yourself. Your daughter is Zhenya.” This was the last letter - during the next interrogation, all the girl’s fingers were broken. In five days at the police station, Zhenya turned gray like an old woman. She was executed together with her friend Tosya Dyachenko, who had been arrested the day before, tied up. The friends were then buried in the same coffin.

Maya Peglivanova

Antonina Eliseenko was arrested on January 13 at two in the morning. The police burst into the room where Antonina was sleeping and ordered her to get dressed. The girl refused to dress in front of men. The police were forced to leave. The girl was executed on January 18. Antonina's body was disfigured, with her genitals, eyes, ears cut out...

“Tosya Eliseenko, 22 years old, was executed in a pit. During torture, she was forced to sit on a hot potbelly stove; her body was removed from the mine with 3rd and 4th degree burns on her thighs and buttocks.”

Tosya Eliseenko

Vladimir Zhdanov was taken from his home on January 3. He also gave his family a note, hiding it in the bloody laundry that was being taken out for washing: “Hello, dears... I’m still alive. My fate is unknown. I don't know anything about the others. I am sitting separately from everyone in solitary confinement. Goodbye, they’ll probably kill me soon... I kiss you deeply.” On January 16, Vladimir, along with other Young Guard members, was taken to the pit. The square was cordoned off by police. They brought 2-3 people to the place of execution, shot the prisoners in the head and threw them into the mine. Vovka Zhdanov, tied up and subjected to severe beatings with a rubber whip and a Cossack whip, last moment tried to push the chief of police, Solikovsky, who was watching the execution, into the pit with his head. Luckily for the executioner, he stood on his feet, and the executioners immediately began to torture Vovka himself further, and then shot him. When the young man’s body was lifted from the mine, the parents fainted: “Volodya Zhdanov, 17 years old, was pulled out with a laceration in the left temporal region from point-blank shooting, the fingers of both hands were broken and twisted, there were bruises under the nails, two stripes three times wide were cut on his back centimeter long, twenty-five centimeters, eyes gouged out and ears cut off” (Young Guard Museum, f. 1, no. 36).

At the beginning of January, Kolya Zhukov was also arrested. After torture, on January 16, 1943, the guy was shot and thrown into the pit of mine No. 5: “Nikolai Zhukov, 20 years old, was taken out without ears, tongue, teeth, his arm was cut off at the elbow and his foot was cut off” (Young Guard Museum, f. 1, d. 73).

Vladimir Zagoruiko was arrested on January 28. Police Chief Solikovsky personally took part in the arrest. On the way to prison, the chief policeman was sitting in a cart, Vladimir was walking through the snowdrifts, tied up, barefoot, in only underwear, in a frost of minus 15. The police pushed the guy with rifle butts, pinned him with bayonets and offered to warm up... by dancing: “Dance, red-bellied, they say you’re before the war I studied in a dance ensemble!” During the torture, Volodya had his arms twisted at the shoulders on a rack and hung by his hair. They threw him into the pit alive.

Vova Zhdanov

Antonina Ivanikhina was arrested on January 11. Until the last hour, the girl looked after her comrades, weakened after torture. Execution - January 16. “Tonya Ivanikhina, 19 years old, was taken out of the mine without eyes, her head was tied with a scarf, under which a wreath of barbed wire was tightly placed on her head, her breasts were cut out” (Young Guard Museum, f. 1, no. 75).

Antonina's sister Lilia was arrested on January 10 and executed on the 16th. The surviving third sister, Lyubasha, who was very young during the war, recalled: “One day our distant relative, the wife of a policeman, came to us and said: “My husband was placed as a watchman near mine No. 5. I don’t know if yours are there or not, but My husband found combs and combs... Look at the things, maybe you’ll find your own. Most likely, don’t look for your daughters, probably yours are there, in the pit.” When they were shooting, my grandfather, who was collecting coal, was forced to leave. But he climbed onto the waste heap and saw from above: some girls jumped on their own, not wanting to be touched by the hands of the executioners, some friends or lovers jumped hugging each other, the guys sometimes resisted - they spat at the police, cursed them with the last words, pushed them, tried to drag them into the trunk the mines behind them... When the Red Army soldiers later dismantled the mine, they brought the dead sisters. Lily's hand was cut off and her eyes were blindfolded with wire. Tonya is also mutilated. Then they brought coffins, and our Ivanikhins were put in one coffin.”

Tonya Ivanikhina

Klavdiya Kovaleva was arrested in early January and executed on the 16th: “Klavdiya Kovaleva, 17 years old, was taken out swollen from beatings. The right breast was cut off, the soles of the feet were burned, the left arm was cut off, the head was tied with a scarf, and black traces of beatings were visible on the body. The girl’s body was found ten meters from the trunk, between the trolleys, she was probably thrown alive and was able to crawl away from the pit” (Young Guard Museum, f. 1, no. 10.)

Antonina Mashchenko was executed on January 16. Antonina’s mother Maria Alexandrovna recalled: “As I found out later, terrible torture My beloved child was also executed. When Antonina’s corpse was pulled out of the pit along with other Young Guards, it was difficult to identify my girl in it. She had barbed wire in her braids and half of her full hair was missing. My daughter was hung up and tortured by animals.”

Klava Kovaleva. Fragment of a family portrait with mother and uncle

Nina Minaeva was executed on January 16. The underground worker’s brother Vladimir recalled: “...My sister was recognized by her woolen gaiters - the only clothing that remained on her. Nina’s arms were broken, one eye was knocked out, there were shapeless wounds on her chest, her whole body was covered in black stripes...”

Nina Minaeva

Police officers Krasnov and Kalitventsev led Evgeniy Moshkov tied up around the city all night. It was severely frosty. The policemen brought Zhenka to the water intake well and began to dunk him in there on a rope. Into icy water. Dropped several times. Then Kalitventsev froze and brought everyone to his home. Moshkov was seated by the stove. They even gave me a cigarette. They drank the moonshine themselves, warmed up and took them out again... Zhenya was tortured all night, by dawn he could no longer move independently. The twenty-two-year-old “Young Guard,” a communist, nevertheless, choosing the right moment during the interrogation, hit the policeman. Then the fascist beasts hung Moshkov by his legs and kept him in this position until blood gushed from his nose and throat. They removed him and began interrogating him again. But Moshkov only spat in the executioner’s face. The enraged investigator who was torturing Moshkov hit him backhand. Exhausted by torture, the communist hero fell, hitting the back of his head on the door frame, and lost consciousness. They threw him into the pit unconscious, perhaps he had already died.

Zhenya Moshkov with friends (left)

Vladimir Osmukhin, who spent ten days in the hands of the police, was identified by sister Lyudmila from the remains of his clothes: “When I saw Vovochka, mutilated, almost completely headless, missing his left arm up to the elbow, I thought I was going crazy. I didn't believe it was him. He was wearing only one sock, and his other foot was completely bare. Instead of a belt, wear a warm scarf. Outerwear No. The head is broken. The back of the head had completely fallen out, leaving only the face, on which only teeth remained. Everything else is mutilated. The lips are twisted, the mouth is torn, the nose is almost completely gone ... "

Viktor Petrov was arrested on January 6. On the night of January 15-16, he was thrown into a pit alive. Victor’s sister Natasha recalls: “When Vitya was taken out of the pit, he could have been about 80 years old. A gray-haired, emaciated old man... His left ear, nose, and both eyes were missing, his teeth were knocked out, hair remained only on the back of his head. There were black stripes around the neck, apparently traces of strangulation in a noose, all the fingers on the hands were finely broken, the skin on the soles of the feet was raised like a blister from a burn, on the chest there was a large deep wound inflicted by a cold weapon. Obviously, it was inflicted while still in prison, because the jacket and shirt were not torn.”

Shura Dubrovina

Anatoly Popov was born on January 16. On his birthday, January 16, he was thrown into a pit alive. The last meeting of the Young Guard headquarters took place at Anatoly Popov’s apartment. From the protocol for examining the young man’s body: “Beaten, the fingers on his left hand and the foot on his right leg were cut off” (RGASPI F-1 Op.53 D.332.)

Angelina Samoshina was executed on January 16. From the protocol for examining the body: “Traces of torture were found on Angelina’s body: her arms were twisted, her ears were cut off, a star was carved on her cheek” (RGASPI. F. M-1. Op. 53. D. 331.). Geli’s mother, Anastasia Emelyanovna, wrote: “She sent a note from prison, where she wrote that they wouldn’t hand over a lot of food, that she felt good here, “like at a resort.” On January 18, they did not accept the transfer from us; they said that they were sent to a concentration camp. Nina Minaeva’s mother and I went to the camp in Dolzhanka, where they were not there. Then the policeman warned us not to go and look for us. But rumors spread that they were thrown into the pit of mine No. 5, where they were found. This is how my daughter died..."

Gelya Samoshina

Anna Sopova's parents - Dmitry Petrovich and Praskovya Ionovna - witnessed the torture of their daughter. Parents were specifically forced to watch this, in the hope that the older generation would persuade the young partisans to confess and hand over their comrades. The old miner recalled: “They started asking my daughter who she knew, who she had a connection with, what did she do? She was silent. They ordered her to undress - naked, in front of the police and her father... She turned pale - and did not move. And she was beautiful, her braids were huge, lush, down to her waist. They tore off her clothes, wrapped her dress over her head, laid her on the floor and began to whip her with a wire whip. She screamed terribly. And then, when they started beating her on her hands and head, she couldn’t stand it, poor thing, and asked for mercy. Then she fell silent again. Then Plokhikh - one of the main executioners of the police - hit her in the head with something...” Anya was lifted out of the pit half bald - in order to further torture the girl, they hung her on her own braid and tore out half of her hair.

Anya Sopova with friends by the sea (second from left)

Among the last to be lifted from the mine was Viktor Tretyakevich. His father, Joseph Kuzmich, in a thin patched coat, stood day after day, clutching the post, and did not take his eyes off the pit. And when they recognized his son - without a face, with a black and blue back, with crushed hands - he fell to the ground, as if knocked down. No traces of bullets were found on Victor’s body, which means they dumped him alive...

Nina Startseva was taken out of the pit on the third day after the execution - the girl almost did not live to see the liberation of the city. Mom recognized her by her hair and the embroidery on the sleeve of her shirt. Nina had needles driven under her fingers, strips of skin were cut on her chest, and her left side was burned with a hot iron. Before being thrown into the pit, the girl was shot in the back of the head.

Demyan Fomin, on whom a sketch of a leaflet was found during a search, was subjected to special brutal torture and was executed by beheading. Before his death, the guy had all the skin cut off from his back in narrow strips. When asked what he was like, Dyoma’s mother Maria Frantsevna answered: “A kind, gentle, responsive son. I was interested in technology and dreamed of driving trains.”

Alexander Shishchenko was arrested on January 8, executed on the 16th: “The nose, ears, lips were cut off, arms were twisted, the whole body was cut up, shot in the head...”

Ulyana Gromova kept a diary right up to her execution, managing to smuggle the notebook even into the dungeon. The entry in it dated November 9, 1942: “It is much easier to see heroes die than to listen to the cries of some coward for mercy. Jack London". Executed on January 16. “Ulyana Gromova, 19 years old, a five-pointed star was carved on her back, her right arm was broken, her ribs were broken.”

Ulya Gromova

In total, at the end of January, the occupiers and police threw 71 people, alive or shot, into the pit of mine No. 5, among whom were both “Young Guards” and members of the underground party organization. Other members of the Young Guard, including Oleg Koshevoy, were shot on February 9 in the city of Rovenki in the Thunderous Forest.
In the liberated city of Krasnodon, there were many living witnesses to both the struggle of the “Young Guards” and their deaths.

Uli's letter from prison

The first document of the declassified archival criminal case is a statement from Mikhail Kuleshov addressed to the leadership of the regional NKVD department dated February 20, 1943, says Vasily Shkola. - Then the first investigative actions were carried out. The facts of brutal torture of young people, whose bodies were removed from the pit of mine No. 5, have been established. In the materials of interrogations of members of the organization who were still alive at that time and who were subjected to torture, there is a description of the office of the police officer of the city of Krasnodon Solikovsky. - It is said that there are whips and heavy objects, including wooden ones.

From the testimony of Captain Emil Renatus, who commanded the Krasnodon district gendarmerie during the occupation: “Those arrested, suspected of criminal activities and who refused to testify, were laid on a bench and beaten with rubber whips until they confessed. If previous measures did not produce results, they were transferred to a cold room, where they had to lie on an ice floor. The same arrested persons had their arms and legs tied behind their backs, hung in this position with their face to the ground and held until the arrested person confessed. Moreover, all these executions were accompanied by regular beatings.”

Krasnodon resident Nina Ganochkina said: “I and two other women, on the orders of the police, were cleaning the girls’ cell. They could not do the cleaning themselves, since they were constantly taken for interrogation, and after torture they could not even get up. I once saw how Ulya Gromova was interrogated. Ulya did not answer questions accompanied by abuse. Policeman Popov hit her on the head so that the comb holding the scythe broke. He shouts: “Pick it up!” She bent down, and the policeman began to hit her in the face and everywhere. I was already cleaning the floor in the corridor, and Ulya had just finished torturing her. She, having lost consciousness, was dragged along the corridor and thrown into a cell.”

Oleg Koshevoy

As the burgomaster of Krasnodon Vasily Statsenkov showed during interrogation after the war in 1949, over 70 people were arrested for involvement in the Young Guard in Krasnodon and the surrounding areas alone within a few days.

Walter Eichhorn, who as part of the gendarme group directly participated in the beatings and executions of members of the Young Guard, was found in Thuringia, where he worked... in a doll factory. Ernst-Emil Renatus was also found and arrested in Germany, former boss the German district gendarmerie in Krasnodon, who also tortured the “Young Guards” and ordered the police to gouge out the guys’ eyes.

From Eichhorn’s testimony (9.III.1949):
“While still in Magdeburg, before being sent to occupied Soviet territory, we received a number of instructions regarding the establishment of a “new order” in the East, which stated that the gendarmes should see in every Soviet citizen a communist partisan, and therefore, with all composure, each of We are obliged to exterminate peaceful Soviet citizens as our opponents.”

From the testimony of Renatus (VII.1949):
Arriving in July 1942 as part of a gendarme team in the city of Stalino, I participated in a meeting of officers of the “Einsatzkommando gendarmerie”... At this meeting, the head of the team, Lieutenant Colonel Ganzog, instructed us to first of all focus on the arrests of communists, Jews and Soviet activists. At the same time, Gantsog emphasized that the arrest of these persons does not require any action against the Germans. At the same time, Gantzog explained that all communists and Soviet activists should be exterminated and only as an exception imprisoned in concentration camps. Having been appointed head of the German gendarmerie in the city. Krasnodon, I followed these directives..."

“Artes Lina, a translator, told me that Zons and Solikovsky torture those arrested. Zons especially loved to torture arrested people. For him it represented great pleasure after lunch, summon the arrested and subject them to torture. Zons told me that he only brings prisoners to confession through torture. Artes Lina asked me to release her from work in the gendarmerie due to the fact that she could not be present during the beatings of those arrested.”

From the testimony of district police investigator Cherenkov:

“I interrogated members of the Young Guard organization, Komsomol members Ulyana Gromova, two Ivanikhin sisters, brother and sister Bondarevs, Maya Peglivanova, Antonina Eliseenko, Nina Minaeva, Viktor Petrov, Klavdiya Kovaleva, Vasily Pirozhok, Anatoly Popov, about 15 people in total... Using special measures of influence (torture and bullying), we established that soon after the Germans arrived in the Donbass, the youth of Krasnodon, mostly Komsomol members, organized themselves and waged an underground struggle against the Germans... I admit that during interrogations I beat the arrested members of the underground Komsomol organization Gromova and the Ivanikhin sisters "

Volodya Osmukhin

From the testimony of policeman Lukyanov (11/11/1947):
“The first time I participated in the mass execution of Soviet patriots was at the end of September 1942 in the Krasnodon city park... At night, a group of German gendarmes led by officer Kozak arrived at the Krasnodon police in cars. After a short conversation between Kozak and Solikovsky and Orlov, according to a pre-compiled list, the police began to take the arrested people out of their cells. In total, more than 30 people were selected, mainly communists... Having announced to the arrested that they were being transported to Voroshilovgrad, they were taken out of the police building and driven to the Krasnodon city park. Upon arrival at the park, the arrested were tied by the hands in groups of five and taken into a pit that had previously served as a refuge from German air raids and there they were shot. ... Some of those shot were still alive, and therefore the gendarmes who remained with us began to shoot those who still showed signs of life. However, the gendarmes soon got tired of this activity, and they ordered to bury the victims, among whom there were still living ones...”

Among the recently declassified investigative documents is a statement written by Gennady Pocheptsov. According to Levashov - under torture, according to the parents of those executed - voluntarily. ..

“To the head of mine No. 1 bis Mr. Zhukov
from Mr. Pocheptsov Gennady Prokofievich
Statement
Mr. Zhukov, an underground Komsomol organization “Young Guard” was organized in Krasnodon, of which I became an active member. I ask you to come to my apartment in your free time and I will tell you in detail about this organization and its members. My address: st. Chkalova, house 12, entrance No. 1, apartment of Gromov D.G.
20.XII.1942 Pocheptsov.”

From the testimony of Guriy Fadeev, an agent of German special forces:
“The police had such an order that first of all the arrested person was brought to Solikovsky, he brought him to consciousness, and ordered the investigator to interrogate him. Pocheptsov was called to the police. He said that he was indeed a member of an underground youth organization that existed in Krasnodon and its environs. He named the leaders of this organization, or rather, the city headquarters, namely: Tretyakevich, Zemnukhov, Lukashov, Safonov and Koshevoy. Pocheptsov named Tretyakevich as the head of the citywide organization. He himself is a member of the Pervomaisk organization, whose leader is Anatoly Popov. The May Day organization consisted of 11 people, including Popov, Glavan, Zhukov, Bondarevs (two), Chernyshov and a number of others. He said that the headquarters had weapons at its disposal: Popov had a rifle, Nikolaev and Zhukov had machine guns, Chernyshov had a pistol. He also said that in one of the quarries in the pit there was a weapons warehouse. There used to be a Red Army warehouse there, which was blown up during the retreat, but the youth found a lot of ammunition there. The organizational structure was as follows: headquarters, Pervomaiskaya organization, organization in the village of Krasnodon and city organization. He did not name the total number of participants. Before I was removed from my job, up to 30 people were arrested. Personally, I interrogated 12 people, incl. Pocheptsov, Tretyakevich, Lukashov, Petrov, Vasily Pirozhka and others. Of the members of the headquarters of this organization, Kosheva and Safonov were not arrested, because they disappeared.

As a rule, preliminary interrogations were carried out personally by Solikovsky, Zakharov and the gendarmerie, using whips, fists, etc. Even investigators were not allowed to be present during such “interrogations.” Such methods have no precedent in the history of criminal law.

After I was recruited by the police to identify individuals distributing Young Guard leaflets, I met several times with the deputy chief of the Krasnodon police, Zakharov. During one of the interrogations, Zakharov asked me a question: “Which of the partisans recruited your sister Alla?” Knowing this from the words of my mother M.V. Fadeeva, I betrayed Vanya Zemnukhov to Zakharov, who actually made an offer to my sister to join an underground anti-fascist organization. I told him that in Korostylev’s apartment, Korostylev’s sister Elena Nikolaevna Koshevaya and her son Oleg Koshevoy, who was recording messages from the Sovinformburo, were listening to radio broadcasts from Moscow”...

From the testimony of the head of the Rovenkovo ​​district police, Orlov (XI 14, 1943)
“Oleg Koshevoy was arrested at the end of January 1943 by a German gendarme and a railway policeman at a crossing 7 km from the city of Rovenki and brought to my police station. During the arrest, Koshevoy’s revolver was confiscated, and during a second search at the Rovenkovo ​​police, a seal of the Komsomol organization and some two blank forms were found on him. I interrogated Koshevoy and received testimony from him that he is the leader of the Krasnodon underground organization.”

From the testimony of policeman Bautkin:
“At the beginning of January 1943, I arrested and brought to the police a member of the underground Komsomol organization “Young Guard” discovered by the police in Krasnodon... Dymchenko, who lived at mine No. 5. She was tortured by the police and, along with her other underground friends, was shot by the Germans... I arrested a “Young Guard” who lived at mine No. 2-4 (I don’t remember his last name) from whose apartment, during a search, we found and seized three notebooks with prepared texts anti-fascist leaflets."

From Renatus' testimony:
“...In February, Wenner and Zons reported to me that my order to shoot Krasnodon Komsomol members had been carried out. Some of those arrested... were shot in Krasnodon in mid-January, and the other part, due to the approach of the front line to Krasnodon, was taken from there and shot in the mountains. Rovenki."

From the testimony of policeman Davidenko:
“I admit that I took part in the executions of the “Young Guards” three times and with my participation about 35 Komsomol members were shot... In front of the “Young Guards”, first 6 Jews were shot, and then one by one all 13 “Young Guards”, whose corpses were thrown into the pit shaft No. 5 is about 80 meters deep. Some were thrown into the mine pit alive. To prevent shouting and proclamation of Soviet patriotic slogans, girls' dresses were lifted and twirled over their heads; in this state, the doomed were dragged to the mine shaft, after which they were shot and then pushed into the mine shaft.”

From the testimony of Schultz, a gendarme of the German district gendarmerie in Rovenki:
“At the end of January, I took part in the execution of a group of members of the underground Komsomol organization “Young Guard,” among whom was the leader of this organization, Koshevoy. ...I remember him especially clearly because I had to shoot him twice. After the shots, all those arrested fell to the ground and lay motionless, only Koshevoy stood up and, turning around, looked in our direction. This greatly angered Fromme and he ordered the gendarme Drewitz to finish him off. Drewitz approached the lying Koshevoy and shot him in the back of the head.

...Before escaping from Rovenki on February 8 or 9, 1943, Fromme ordered me, Drewitz and other gendarmes to shoot a group of Soviet citizens held in the Rovenki prison. These victims included five men, a woman with a three-year-old child, and active Young Guard member Shevtsova. Having delivered the arrested to the Rovenkovsky city park, Fromme ordered me to shoot Shevtsova. I led Shevtsova to the edge of the pit, walked away a few steps and shot her in the back of the head, but the trigger mechanism on my carbine turned out to be faulty and it misfired. Then Hollender, who was standing next to me, shot at Shevtsova. During the execution, Shevtsova behaved courageously, standing on the edge of the grave with her head held high, her dark shawl slid over her shoulders and the wind ruffled her hair. Before the execution, she did not utter a word about mercy...”

From the testimony of Geist, a gendarme of the German district gendarmerie in Rovenki:
“...I took part, together with... other gendarmes, in the execution in Rovenkovsky Park of Komsomol members arrested in Krasnodon for underground work against the Germans. Of the executed members of the Young Guard organization, I remember only Shevtsova. I remember her because I interrogated her. In addition, she attracted attention with her courageous behavior during the execution...”

From the testimony of policeman Kolotovich:
“Arriving at the mother of Young Guard member Vasily Bondarev, Davidenko and Sevastyanov told her that the police were sending her son to work in Germany, and he was asking her to give him things. Bondarev's mother gave Davidenko gloves and socks. The latter took gloves for himself upon leaving, and gave Sevastyanov socks and said: “There is a start!”

Then we went to the house of the Young Guard Nikolaev. Entering Nikolaev's house, Davidenko, turning to Nikolaev's sister, said that the police were sending her brother to work in Germany, and he asked for food and things for the road. Nikolaev’s sister apparently knew that he had been shot, so she refused to give him any things or food. After this, Davidenko and Sevastyanov, a policeman (I don’t know her last name) and I forcibly took her away from her. men's coat and a sheep. Then we went to another Young Guard member (I don’t know his last name) and they also forcibly took four pieces of lard and a man’s shirt from the latter’s mother. Having put the lard in the sleigh, we went to the family of the Young Guard Zhukov. In this way, Davidenko, Sevastyanov and others robbed the families of the Young Guard.”

Vanya Turkenich

From the testimony of Orlov, the head of the Rovenkovsky district police:
“Shevtsova was required to indicate the storage location of the radio transmitter that she used to communicate with the Red Army. Shevtsova categorically refused, saying that she was not Lyadskaya, and called us monsters. The next day, Shevtsova was handed over to the gendarmerie department and shot”...

It's time to talk about another myth related to the history of the Young Guard. In Fadeev’s novel, written hot on the heels of the liberation of the city, the collapse of the underground is explained by betrayal. The names of the informers are mentioned - a certain Stakhovich, Vyrikova, Lyadskaya and Polyanskaya.

Where did the writer get these “traitors”? The fact is that literally immediately after the arrest of three representatives of the headquarters, the Germans started a rumor that Viktor Tretyakevich “split during interrogation. The writer, who was staying with Oleg Koshevoy’s mother while working on the book, allegedly received a note in which an unknown local and named the names of the informers...

The version does not stand up to criticism. Fadeev wrote the book hastily; he did not even have time to meet the relatives of many Young Guards, for which many Krasnodon residents later reproached him. Meanwhile, the parents of many Young Guards are L. Androsova, G. Harutyunyanants, V. Zhdanova. O. Koshevoy, A. Nikolaev, V. Osmukhin, V. Petrov, V. Tretyakevich - not only knew about the underground activities of their sons and daughters, but also helped them in every possible way in equipping the printing house, storing weapons, radios, collecting medicines, making leaflets , red flags...

The note itself has not survived, which may be why until now researchers have not been able to establish the authorship of the forged document. But for a long time There was a rumor circulating around Krasnodon that Viktor Tretyakevich was brought out under the name of Stakhovich in Fadeev’s novel. Until 1990, the Tretyakevich family was labeled as “relatives of a traitor.” For many years they collected eyewitness accounts and documents about Victor’s innocence...

Olga Lyadskaya is a real person. The girl was only 17 years old when she was captured by the Germans for the first time. The young beauty attracted the attention of Deputy Chief of Police Zakharov, who had a separate office for intimate meetings. A few days later, her mother managed to ransom her daughter from her concubines for moonshine and warm clothes. But the stigma of “police litter” remained with Olya. The frightened girl, whom the policeman promised to hang if she did not return to him, and who was condemned by all her neighbors for her connection with the punisher, was even afraid to leave the house. Is this why Lyuba Shevtsova uttered the words “I’m not Lyadskaya to you!” during one of the interrogations?

After Krasnodon’s release, Olga initially served as a witness in the case of police atrocities, but later told the SMERSH investigator that she was taken to confront the arrested “Young Guardsmen.” They asked: “Do you know such and such?” And she, seeing that her peers were being cruelly tortured, said that she went to school with some of the kids, danced with someone in an ensemble, made gliders with someone in the House of Pioneers... Lyadskaya allegedly said nothing about the underground , because I simply didn’t know about it. But nevertheless, in the investigation materials there is a confession signed by Olya personally in cooperation with the occupiers and the police. Most likely, the girl, with her will broken even by Zakharov, considered what kind of cohabitation with a policeman, especially a forced one, was in her hands. worst case, they’ll just send you away. And living for several years away from shame, even in Siberia, seemed to her not the worst outcome of the matter... But as a result, Olga received ten years in Stalin’s camps...

And after the publication of the novel “The Young Guard,” the investigation into the case of “Lyadskaya’s betrayal” was resumed, and a show trial was being prepared. True, it did not take place: Olga fell ill with tuberculosis and was released, and there was clearly little evidence “from the book” for Soviet justice. She managed to recover, even finish her studies at the institute, get married, give birth to a son... Later, Olga Lyadskaya, through the prosecutor’s office, applied for further investigation – herself. And all charges of betrayal of the “Young Guards” were dropped after a careful study of the materials of her case.

Zina Vyrikova and Serafima Polyanskaya, released from the police as “not involved in a partisan gang,” also went into exile in Bugulma after the liberation of the city. SMERSH arrested them even before the publication of Fadeev’s book. Subsequently, Zinaida Vyrikova also got married, changed her last name and left for another city, but until her death she was afraid that she would be identified as a “traitor” and arrested... Neither Zina nor Sima, by the way, could extradite any of the “Moldovan Guards” - their own knowledge of the composition and activities of the underground was limited to rumors that “the leaflets were planted by boys from our school.”

His parents stood up for Vitya Treryakevich, who died in fascist dungeons and was slandered by German henchmen. They wrote all the way to the Komsomol Central Committee, seeking the truth. Only 16 years after the war, it was possible to arrest one of the most ferocious executioners who tortured the Young Guard, policeman Vasily Podtynny. During the investigation, he stated: Tretyakevich was slandered. In this way they wanted to “set an example for other partisans” - they say, your leader has already spoken, it’s time for you to loosen your tongue! A special state commission created after the trial of the policeman established that Viktor Tretyakevich was the victim of a deliberate slander, and “one of the members of the organization, Gennady Pocheptsov, was identified as the real traitor.”

The surviving underground fighter Levashov confirmed that his father was arrested three times to find out where his son was hiding. Levashov Sr. sat with Tretyakevich in the same cell, where he saw how the latter was brought from interrogations completely crippled, which, in the opinion of Levashov’s father himself, was clear evidence that “...Viktor still did not split.”

By the way, the fate of Gennady Pocheptsov himself, who was released from the police three days after the denunciation, was cruel but fair: after the liberation of the city of Krasnodon by the Red Army, Gena Pocheptsov, as well as police agents Gromov and Kuleshov, were put on trial.

The investigation into the case of the Young Guard traitors lasted 5 months. On August 1, 1943, an indictment was presented to Pocheptsov and Gromov. Having familiarized himself with it, Pocheptsov stated: “I plead guilty in full to the charges brought against me, namely that, as a member of the underground youth organization “Young Guard,” I betrayed its members to the police, named the leaders of this organization and told the police about the presence of weapons.” .

After the indictment was approved by the head of the operational group of the NKGB of the Ukrainian SSR, Lieutenant Colonel Bondarenko, the case against Pocheptsov and his stepfather was considered by the Military Tribunal of the NKVD troops of the Voroshilovgrad (now Lugansk) region, the visiting sessions of which were held in Krasnodon from August 15 to 18, 1943. When Gromov, contrary to previous in his testimony, began to assert that he did not advise his stepson to betray the underground members, the latter asked to speak and said, “Gromov is not telling the truth, he advised me to file a police report against members of the youth organization, telling me that by doing this I would save my life and the life of my family, according to We never quarreled with him on this issue." In his last word, Pocheptsov, addressing the court, stated: “I am guilty, I committed a crime against my Motherland, I betrayed my comrades, judge me as the law requires.”

Funeral of the "Young Guards"

Having found Gromov and Pocheptsov guilty of treason, the Military Tribunal sentenced them to capital punishment - execution with confiscation of personal property.

On September 9, 1943, the issue of the verdict of the Military Tribunal of the NKVD troops was discussed at the Military Council of the Southwestern Front. His resolution, signed by the front commander, Army General R.Ya. Malinovsky, stated: “The verdict of the Military Tribunal of the NKVD troops of the Voroshilovgrad region dated August 18 of this year in relation to ... Vasily Grigorievich Gromov and Gennady Prokofievich Pocheptsov is to be approved and carried out on place where the crime was committed - in public."

Having familiarized themselves with the verdict of the Military Tribunal, Gromov and Pocheptsov appealed to the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet of the USSR with a petition for pardon. Pocheptsov wrote: “I consider the verdict of the tribunal to be correct: I filed a statement with the police as a member of an underground youth organization, saving my life and the life of my family. But the organization was discovered for other reasons. My statement did not play a corresponding role, because it was written later than "The organization was exposed. And therefore I ask the Presidium of the Supreme Council of the Union to save my life, since I am still young. I ask for the opportunity to wash away the black stain that has fallen on me. I ask to be sent to the front line."
However, the petitions of the convicts were rejected, and the verdict of the Military Tribunal was carried out on September 19, 1943. A native of Krasnodon, Igor Cherednichenko, who studied the history of the organization, cited in one of his articles the words of his godfather, who witnessed the execution:

“Gromov stood scared, as white as chalk. His eyes ran around, hunched over, he was trembling like a hunted animal. Pocheptsov first fell, a crowd of residents moved towards him, they wanted to tear him to pieces, but the soldiers at the last moment managed to snatch him from the crowd. And Kuleshov stood near the side of the car with his head raised and it seemed that this did not concern him. He died with indifference on his face... Pocheptsova was even going to shoot her own mother, but someone held her, although she was roaring and demanding to give her rifle. By the way, his mother was a very respected person in the city. She treated everyone to the best low prices, never refused anyone."

So, almost 17 years later, the truth triumphed. By decree of December 13, 1960, the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet of the USSR rehabilitated Viktor Tretyakevich and awarded him the Order of the Patriotic War, 1st degree (posthumously). His name began to be included in all official documents along with the names of other heroes of the Young Guard.

Anna Iosifovna, Victor’s mother, who never took off her black mourning clothes until the end of her life, stood in front of the presidium of the ceremonial meeting in Voroshilovgrad when she was presented with her son’s posthumous award. The crowded hall stood and applauded her. Anna Iosifovna turned to her comrade who was rewarding her with only one request: not to show the film “The Young Guard” in the city these days, shot by the brilliant director Gerasimov based on the novel by Fadeev...

By the decision of the Presidium of the Lugansk Regional Court, which, implementing the law of Ukraine of April 17, 1991 “On the rehabilitation of victims of political repression in Ukraine,” on December 9, 1992, reviewed the conclusion of the Lugansk Regional Prosecutor’s Office on criminal cases charging Gromov and Pocheptsov, it was recognized that these citizens were convicted justifiably and are not subject to rehabilitation.

Thus another myth collapsed. And the feat will remain for centuries...

The pit of Mine No. 5, where the heroes were executed, became part of the memorial park

The reason for the arrest of a group of Young Guards was the fact of the looting (expropriation) of the same car with New Year's gifts for German soldiers, which Valeria Borts pointed out. Having learned about the disappearance of the gifts, the police realized that they had to look for clues at the bazaar. The assumption was correct. A policeman saw a teenager selling cigarettes at the market. When asked where he got them, he replied that the director of the club, Evgeniy Moshkov, gave him. It so happened that the boy saw the guys taking bags of gifts from the car and a pack of cigarettes fell out of one. Moshkov gave it to the boy and ordered him not to tell anyone. I thought that cigarettes would save them, but it turned out the opposite: they gave them away. The boy took the cigarettes to the market.

The arrests began with Moshkov. Having learned about Moshkov's arrest, Sergei Tyulenin ran to warn Viktor Tretyakevich. He suggested that Victor hide. But he refused to run. Victor understood: if he left, his father and mother would be captured, and the main thing was to help the guys hold on! I decided that I had to answer for what I had done myself. He is not a simple member of the underground, but a leader, a commissar. In the evening, many of those whom Sergei warned left the city.

The investigation into the gifts case was coming to an end. The chief of police, Solikovsky, had already decided to give the rod to the “expropriators” and send them home, when suddenly the matter took a new, more serious turn. According to the investigation, guardmaster Zons from the district gendarmerie gave Solikovsky a statement from Gennady Pocheptsov, written in the name of the head of mine No. 1 BIS. According to the former police investigator, the statement said: “Mr. Zhukov, in the city of Krasnodon, an underground Komsomol organization “Young Guard” was organized, of which I became an active member. I ask you to come to my apartment in your free time and I will tell you in detail "To you about this organization and its members. My address: Chkalova street, building 12, entrance No. 1, apartment of Gromov V.G. December 20, 1942, Pocheptsov." His stepfather Vasily Gromov, who served as a secret agent of the Gestapo, suggested him to write this letter. Soon Pocheptsov was arrested. At the police station, he compiled a list of Young Guards he knew. After this, mass arrests and interrogations of underground fighters began.

The interrogations were carried out with partiality and were accompanied by cruel torture using medieval weapons torture. But the Young Guards held firm. Communist Yevgeny Moshkov was killed during torture. The punitive forces treated the leader of the underground organization, Viktor Tretyakevich, especially cruelly and inhumanely. They twisted his fingers, burned him with knee irons, hung him by his legs from the ceiling, beat him with whips and a double-twisted telephone wire.

Here are the data of the Luhansk journalist O. Trachuk, a special correspondent for the newspaper "Fakty", who familiarized himself with the testimony of German war criminals, policemen and traitors in the Young Guard case at the office of the Security Service of Ukraine in the Lugansk region. The testimony was published by Trachuk on May 14, 1999.

“Captain Ernst Emil Renatus, who arrived in Donbass as part of a gendarme team from Magdeburg and headed the Krasnodon district gendarmerie, said:

In November 1942, when I was in Krasny Luch, I received reports that acts of sabotage were taking place in Krasnodon - the labor exchange building was set on fire, leaflets were being posted, a red flag was hung on the coal directorate building. When I arrived in Krasnodon, Zons informed me that he had already arrested eight people, but none of them had confessed. By the end of December, about 35 people had been arrested.

After December 1942 new Year gifts, intended for German soldiers, were stolen, appropriate measures were taken, as follows from the testimony of former Krasnodon policeman Fyodor Lukyanov. “Their result was the detention at the bazaar of a boy selling German cigarettes, which, apparently, were stolen from New Year’s parcels. In addition, Ivan Zemnukhov and several other people who worked at the Gorky club were arrested on suspicion of kidnapping.

Due to the betrayal of Gennady Pocheptsov, one of the members of the Young Guard, the organization was exposed. But during the hearing, Pocheptsov justified his action:

Someone I knew came to me and said that the Nazis had arrested Tretyakevich and Zemnukhov. Fearing that I would also be captured, I wrote a statement addressed to Zhukov, the head of the mine, in which I said that I knew the underground Komsomol organization and could report it. On January 5, I was summoned for interrogation, where I spoke about all the people I knew from the Young Guard and pointed out what they did as underground members.

In addition to Pocheptsov, Olga Lyadskaya also testified against the Young Guards, as follows from the interrogation materials of Vasily Statsenko:

Over 70 people were arrested for involvement in the Young Guard in Krasnodon and surrounding areas alone. The first person to be interrogated in early January 1943 was Anastasia Mashchenko, a resident of the village of Novosvetlovka. The fact is that during a search she was found to have letters from Olga Lyadskaya, in which she expressed some dissatisfaction with the actions of the Germans. For this, both were accused of collaborating with the Young Guard. Lyadskaya admitted that she knew from Mashchenko about the existence of the organization, but she herself was not a member. A. Mashchenko named seven or eight Young Guards who lived in Krasnodon, including Zemnukhov and Tretyakevich. After which Zons held confrontation Zemnukhov and Tretyakevich with Lyadskaya and Mashchenko. After the confrontation, Zemnukhov and Tretyakevich began to demonstratively testify that they were the leaders of the Young Guard, but did not betray others.

V.P. Shevchenko, who was arrested along with the Young Guard, later told how Solikovsky acted after the confrontation. On January 10, 1943, in the office of the chief of police Solikovsky, from 40 to 70 young people from all cells were lined up in a “square” shape. Solikovsky asked:

Which one of you is the commissioner of the organization?

Witty jokes rained down from the ranks:

Why a commissioner?

We are all commissioners!

We don't need commissioners!

Viktor Tretyakevich emerged from the line.

I'm the commissioner! - he declared proudly.

But Solikovsky made him stand in line and asked again:

So who is the commissioner?

Everything happened again. Viktor Tretyakevich broke ranks again and said:

I am the commissioner!

Then Solikovsky asked a new question:

Who is your commander?

Viktor Tretyaksvich literally jumped out of the ranks and declared:

I am the commander!

This happened repeatedly. And every time Viktor Tretyaksvich broke ranks and proudly declared:

I am the commander!

Everyone in the ranks laughed. The chief of police realized that he would achieve nothing from the Young Guards, and ordered everyone to be taken to the cells.

In the face of death, the Young Guards demonstrated strong unity and great courage. Viktor Tretyakevich once again demonstrated the outstanding quality of a leader, taking upon himself full responsibility for the management and activities of the organization.

Let us give further testimony from witnesses. O.I. Ivantsova, answering questions from Yu. Petrov’s commission in 1965, said: “I’ll say what my mother told me.” Victor Tretyakevich is my classmate. My mother was in the police station when they were arrested. She told me: “Olya, don’t trust anyone. Victor was tortured just like everyone else. He was always brought to the cell in a semi-conscious state, he behaved especially steadfastly, was impudent, and was rude. For this they made him a traitor.” My mother said that Sokolova told her (she was sitting with Sokolova at that time): “Anna Ivanovna, if you remain alive, tell everyone that no one here was a traitor.” When there was a commission by Toritsin, we told all this.

Before the New Year, 1943, the Gestapo carried out a search at the Kudryavtsevs’ apartment in Voroshilovgrad, where the Tretyakevichs had previously lived. They were looking for Viktor Tretyakevich. And at the beginning of January, an important Gestapo employee who had arrived from Voroshilovgrad came to see the chief of police of the city of Krasnodon.

“We have information that Viktor Tretyakevich is hiding in Krasnodon,” he told Solikovsky. - He must be found immediately.

Solikovsky was quick to report that Tretyakevich had already been found, he was in his cell

Oh, this is an important political criminal. We need to deal with him as soon as possible.

Solikovsky And his assistants tried. The interrogations and torture of the young men did not stop. The Gestapo also took part in them. Former deputy chief of police Podtynny testified during the investigation that he once came with a report to Solikovsky and saw next picture. Having wound the end of the wire passed through the window handle around his hand, Solikovsky pulled it towards himself. The other end of the wire was wrapped around Tretyakevich's neck. Victor's body was already almost hanging in the air. Tears were rolling down his face. Turning towards the knock, the police chief let go of the wire.

Viktor Tretyakevich courageously withstood all the hellish tortures of the fascist executioners, and remained faithful to his Fatherland to the end.

The fate of those arrested was predetermined. The first group of Young Guards was executed on January 15. When the guys were placed on the edge of the pit, Viktor Tretyakevich behaved like a hero here too. He grabbed the punishers, trying to throw them into the pit.

Former investigator of the Krasnodon police I.M. Cherenkov testified:

After escaping from Krasnodon, Zakharov once told me that when Tretyakevich was taken to the pit of mine No. 5 to be shot, he grabbed him, Zakharov, and Solikovsky by the clothes and wanted to rush with them, but Solikovsky managed to hit him on the head with a pistol. Tretyakevich lost consciousness. He was thrown unconscious into a pit.

The Commissioner was the first to be thrown into the 53-meter pit of mine No. 5 in Krasnodon. After him, other young men and women were shot and thrown into the pit. There are 49 Young Guards in total."

Eric Schur read 38 volumes of the investigative file in the security service archives. In his publication in the newspaper "Top Secret" No. 3 for 1999, he cites a number of excerpts from them.

From the materials of case No. 20056:

"Maria Borts: "When I entered the office, Solikovsky was sitting at the table. In front of him lay a set of whips: thick, thin, wide, belts with lead tips. Vanya Zemnukhov, mutilated beyond recognition, stood by the sofa. His eyes were red and his eyelids were inflamed. There are abrasions and bruises on the face. Vanya’s clothes were all covered in blood, the shirt on his back was stuck to his body, and blood was seeping through it.”

Nina Zemnukhova: “From a resident of Krasnodon, Lensky Rafail Vasilyevich, who was kept in the same cell with Vanya, I learned that the executioners took Vanya to the police yard and beat him until he lost consciousness in the snow.

Zhenya Moshkov was taken to the Kamenka River, frozen in an ice hole and then thawed in a stove in a nearby hut, after which they were again taken to the police for interrogation.

Volodka Osmukhin had a bone broken in his arm, and every time during interrogation they twisted his broken arm..."

Tyulenina (Sergei’s mother): “On the third day after my arrest, I was summoned for interrogation, they beat me with whips until I lost consciousness. And when I woke up, in my presence they began to burn Seryozha’s right hand wound with a hot rod. They put the fingers under the doors and pressed them until complete death. Needles were driven under the nails and hung on ropes. The air in the room where the torture was carried out was filled with the smell of burnt meat.

In the cells, policeman Avsetsin did not give us water for whole days in order to at least slightly moisten the blood clotted in our mouth and throat.”

Cherenkov (police investigator): “I conducted a confrontation between Gromova, Ivanikhina and Zemnukhov. At that moment Solikovsky and his wife entered the office. Having put Gromova and Ivanikhina on the floor, I began to beat them, Solikovsky, egged on by his wife, snatched it from me from his hands the whip and began to deal with the arrested himself.

Since the prison cells were filled with young people, many, like Olga Ivantsova’s mother, were simply lying around in the corridor.”

Maria Borts: “...Solikovsky, Zakharov, Davidenko forced the girls to strip naked, and then they began to mock them, accompanied by beatings.

Sometimes this was done in the presence of Solikovsky’s wife, who usually sat on the sofa and burst into laughter.

Ulya Gromova was hung up by her braids... Her breasts were trampled under boots.

Policeman Bautkin beat Popov with a whip and forced him to lick up the blood that splashed on the wall with his tongue.”

The decision to execute at mine No. 5 bis was made by police chief Solikovsky and burgomaster Statsenko. The place was checked, Krasnodon residents had already been shot there.

In the case, the “Young Guards” were taken out for execution in four stages. The first time, on January 13, there were thirteen girls, to whom six Jews were placed. First, the Jews were shot and thrown into the pit of mine No. 5-bis. And then the girls started shouting that they were not to blame for anything. The police began to lift and tie the girls' dresses over their heads. And some were thrown into the mine alive.

The next day, sixteen more people were taken to the mine on three carts, including Moshkov and Popov.

Tretyakevich was thrown into the mine alive because he managed to grab police investigator Zakharov and tried to drag him along with him. So decide for yourself what Viktor Tretyakevich really was like, about whom not a single writer wrote a single line for twenty years after his execution.

The third time, on January 15, seven girls and five boys were taken out on two carts. And for the last time, in early February, Tyulenin and four others were taken out on one cart. Then the execution almost fell through. Kovalev and Grigoriev managed to untie each other’s hands. Grigoriev was killed by the translator Burgart, and Kovalev was only wounded - then they found his coat, pierced by a bullet. The rest were hastily shot and thrown into the mine."

Dear writers and journalists of Luhansk region, Donbass, Ukraine, Russia, Belarus and other countries, former republics of the Soviet Union... Have you read these lines from journalist Shur? After all, the words of reproach apply to each of you. It was then said that for twenty years after the execution not a single writer wrote a single line. A lot of time has passed, almost 65 years. But we almost never see works of art by our writers about the heroic feat of the actual, not fake, Young Guard, and about its organizer and commissar, the people's hero-martyr Viktor Tretyakevich.