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Zoya KosmodemyanskayaZoya Anatolyevna Kosmodemyanskaya (Космодемья́нская, Зо́я Анато́льевна in Russian) (9.13.1923 - 11.29.1941) was a Soviet partisan, Hero of the Soviet Union (posthumously). Kosmodemyanskaya joined the VLKSM in 1938. In October of 1941, still a high school student in Moscow, she volunteered for a partisan unit. At the village of Obukhovo near Naro-Fominsk, Kosmodemyanskaya and other partisans crossed the front line and entered territory, occupied by the Germans. According to the official version, she was arrested by the Nazis while on an combat assignment in a village of Petrischevo (Moscow Oblast) in the late November of 1941. Kosmodemyanskaya was savagely tortured and humiliated, but never gave away the names of her comrades or her real name (claiming that it was Tanya). She was hanged on November 29, 1941. It was claimed that before her death Kosmodemyanskaya had made a speech with the closing words "Long live comrade Stalin!" Kosmodemyanskaya was the first woman to become the Hero of the Soviet Union (February 16, 1942). Modern Russian historians believe that Kosmodemyanskaya was a heroine of a massive propaganda campaign. Her cult was blown out of proportions to measure up to that of Joan of Arc in France. Emerging evidence suggests that the legend of Kosmodemyanskaya has many gaps and reticences. First, it is still not completely clear whether the name of the executed woman was really Zoya. Second, according to the memories of those few locals who survived the war, Kosmodemyanskaya was arrested not by the Germans, but by the villagers, who were outraged by the fact that she had been setting their houses on fire following a scorched earth tactics. The locals say that she was taken to a commandant's office in another village, since there had been no Germans at all in Petrischevo. After the liberation of the area by the Soviet Army, most of the inhabitants of Petrischevo and surrounding villages were taken away in an unknown direction. Nevertheless, many streets, kolkhozs and pioneer organizations in the Soviet Union used to bear the name of Zoya Kosmodemyanskaya. Soviet poets, writers, artists and sculptors dedicated their works to Kosmodemyanskaya. The Soviets erected a monument in her honor not far from the village of Petrischevo (sculptors - O.A.Ikonnikov and V.A.Feodorov). Two asteroids were named after her: 1793 Zoya and 2072 Kosmodemyanskaya. Zoya Kosmodemyanskaya was buried in Moscow. Zoya Kosmodemyanskaya's brother Alexander (1925 - 4.13.1945), a Senior Lieutenant, died in combat in Germany and was posthumously awarded Hero of the Soviet Union in 1945. External links Biography (in Russian), on the website dedicated to the Heroes of the Soviet Union/Russia Kosmodemyanskaya, Zoya Kosmodemyanskaya, Zoya Zoya Kosmodemyanskaya Zoya Kosmodemyanskaya
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