On November 29, 1961, the school museum was opened. The war is over, but the memory of the dead and immeasurable gratitude to them entered the lives of our people with pain.
When starting to create the Museum of Military Glory of school graduates Zoya and Alexander Kosmodemyansky, the organizers did not rely on a quick collection of the most effective materials, but on a thorough search for evidence of the spiritual growth and maturation of the heroes. The mother donated the personal belongings of Zoya and Alexander to the museum.
The opening of the museum was attended by Lyubov Timofeevna Kosmodemyanskaya, teachers Zoya and Alexander, classmates and peers of the heroes, war and labor veterans.
The museum has become the center of a large and diverse educational work. Its assets and council were created. The practice included: using museum exhibits for history lessons, performing educational tasks using museum materials and directly conducting lessons at its stands.
Our 201st school celebrated its centenary in the 2018-2019 academic year, and more than 60 of them are named after heroes. The school museum turned 57 years old, despite such a serious age, the museum exhibition is carefully maintained, replenished, and in the anniversary year it was modernized. The museum maintains close cooperation with veterans of the 402nd Missile Regiment, in the lists of whose personnel the Hero was forever included Soviet Union senior lieutenant A.A. Kosmodemyansky; veterans of military unit 9903, whose fighter was Hero of the Soviet Union Zoya Kosmodemyanskaya; veterans of local wars; veterans of teaching work at school No. 201, former students. Today, the active members of the museum are students from grades 3 to 11. The fundamental principle of this work is the inextricable connection between generations.
The uniqueness of the school museum is that it provides an opportunity in all areas to take advantage of the experience of previous generations and make it your ally in the educational process. Therefore, the most important task of a school museum is the effective use of this “wealth” to educate students Russian identity. Immersion in a special historical environment, objective coverage of events through the fates of specific people occurs during meetings with veterans: Tamara Nikolaevna Kharlamova - a child besieged Leningrad, representative of the Council of Veterans of Pedagogical Labor of School 201 (lesson “Thank you to the Heroes, thank you to the soldiers for defending the world, then - in forty-five!”); captain of the 2nd rank, submariner officer, participant in military operations on the territory of foreign countries - Yuri Konstantinovich Olenev (meetings with students of 3rd - 8th grades “And the enemy will never achieve, So that your head is bowed...” and “Women Scouts” ); with internationalist soldiers: Podosenov A.V. - veteran of the Academy of Management of the Ministry of Internal Affairs of Russia; Pavlishin B.D. - Chairman of the Commission on Patriotic Education of Youth of the Northern District, veteran military service, colonel; Razmaznin A.N. - participant in military operations in Afghanistan, Angola, Ethiopia (“Lessons in Courage”, dedicated to the 30th anniversary of the withdrawal of Soviet troops from Afghanistan); on the eve of the anniversary of Alexei Maresyev’s example of love for life, in the school museum at the “Lesson of Courage”, V.I. Kovalenko, a veteran of teaching work of the 201st, walked with the young Kosmodemyansk students “The Path of the Legendary Soviet Pilot. After such lessons, letters and front-line awards lying in a box at home acquire value, significance and become heirlooms for the youngest members of the family. It is here, in the museum, that the children’s knowledge acquires an emotional overtones, and it becomes possible to better understand historical events, pass them through yourself, and, therefore, form your own opinion.
In gratitude to our great-grandfathers, who accomplished a great feat that has never happened in world history, the students primary classes prepared events dedicated to the 75th anniversary of the lifting of the complete siege of Leningrad and the 74th anniversary Great Victory. Museum activists “flipped through the pages of history,” talking about exploits at the front and in the rear, about children helping adults and in partisan detachments, in hospitals and in workshops at factories producing military products, on collective farm fields. The guests of honor at the events were combat veterans and veterans of the school’s teaching work.
Over the more than half-century period of the museum’s existence, many events have become traditional, and the anniversary year was no exception: it began with a “museum lesson” for first-graders; on the day of the 95th anniversary of the birth of Hero of the Soviet Union Zoya Kosmodemyanskaya, a memorial rally was held at Novodevichy Cemetery; The parade of classes dedicated to the 100th anniversary of the school, in which 412 students from grades 4 to 11 took part, was for the first time hosted by Guard Colonel Zavgorodny V.V., commander of the missile regiment, on whose lists Alexander Kosmodemyansky is forever included; On the eve of the Day of Zoya Kosmodemyanskaya’s feat and the 77th anniversary of the start of the counter-offensive of Soviet troops near Moscow, the “Scout’s Path” ran through the corridors of the school. 5th grade students overcame serious challenges, in which team spirit and endurance, attention and mutual assistance, knowledge of the history of school No. 201 and life path student heroes, the history of the Moscow Battle and the Kosmodemyansky family.
On March 8, volunteers of the school museum visited a classmate of Zoya and Shura Kosmodemyansky. Ekaterina Ivanovna Antonova (Andreeva) worked for more than 38 years in her native school No. 201, where she was awarded the honorary title “Excellence in Public Education of the RSFSR” and received awards - medals “Veteran of Labor”, “In Memory of the 850th Anniversary of Moscow”. With great love, Ekaterina Ivanovna spoke about the people she met along the path of life.
Kosmodemyansky residents provide patronage over a granite stele located on the site of the house in which the Kosmodemyansky family lived, and on the day of the 95th anniversary of the birth of Zoya Kosmodemyanskaya (09/13/2018) during a rally of students from schools in the Voikovsky and Koptevo districts, veterans of the districts to the Museum “History of the School” and the Kosmodemyansky family" was awarded the commemorative medal "100 Years of the Komsomol". Museum volunteers come to the Golovinskoye cemetery to bow to the grave of a student of school No. 201, Pavel Andreevich Grazhdaninov, a pilot and participant in the Great Patriotic War. Patriotic War, Hero of the Soviet Union.
During the traditional reading competition “Feat is Immortal”, this year 89 pupils and students of our educational complex took part in it, students of the 201st, together with the Russian Military Historical Society, launched the All-Russian action “Zoya the Hero”. 75 years ago, by the Decree of the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet of the USSR of February 16, 1942, for the courage and heroism shown in the fight against the German fascists, Kosmodemyanskaya Zoya Anatolyevna was awarded the title of Hero of the Soviet Union (posthumously). Partisan Z.A. Kosmodemyanskaya became the first woman to be awarded the title of Hero of the Soviet Union during the Great Patriotic War. The event was attended by schoolchildren from grades 1 to 11. The guys took pictures with the #ZoyaHero poster and posted photos with the hashtag #ZoyaHero on their pages on social networks. Schools in Moscow and the country supported us!
Currently, the "Museum of the History of the 201st School and the Kosmodemyansky Family", being part of the open educational space, called upon to be the coordinator of civil-patriotic and social activities educational institution, a connecting thread between the school and other cultural institutions and public organizations. The museum maintains network interaction with Moscow cultural institutions. It has already become a tradition: on Tankman’s Day at the Central Museum of the Armed Forces of Russia, museum activists talk about the life and combat journey of the tankman, Hero of the Soviet Union A. Kosmodemyansky. On the eve of Strategic Missile Forces Day at the Central Museum Russian army a meeting was held with the banner of veterans of the 402nd Guards Dnovsky Red Banner Order of the Kutuzov Missile Regiment, in whose lists the Hero of the Soviet Union Guard, Senior Lieutenant A.A. was forever included. Kosmodemyansky. The veterans were congratulated by activists of our school museum. The banner of school No. 201, along with the battle banners of the Red Army units, was presented in the Victory Hall Central Museum Armed Forces.
Kosmodemyansk residents participate in events and activities organized by the Center patriotic education and school sports, Regional Public Fund for Support of Heroes of the Soviet Union and Heroes of the Russian Federation named after. General E.N. Kocheshkov, the International Association of Veterans of the Anti-Terror Unit "Alpha", the Prefecture of the Northern Administrative District and the State Duma, the Councils of War Veterans and Pedagogical Work, the Russian Military Historical Society:
- On August 28-30, 2018, eighteen Museum activists - winners of city patriotic competitions - took part in the patriotic action “Memory Routes” to the hero city of St. Petersburg. They visited Piskarevskoe cemetery, Peter and Paul Fortress, Naval Museum, St. Isaac's Cathedral, Church of the Savior on Spilled Blood, Russian Museum, Memorial Lyceum Museum in the city of Pushkin, Catherine Palace and its famous Amber Room, and during the meeting in the Memorial Hall of the Monument To the heroic defenders In Leningrad, our students were awarded the right to perform a literary and musical composition;
- On December 4, 2018, at 42 km of the Volokolamsk highway, students of the 201st took part in the large-scale patriotic action “Defenders of Moscow” at the Memorial to Siberian Soldiers, erected in memory of the participation of Siberian divisions in the Battle of Moscow;
- On October 11 and 12, 2018, as part of the patriotic event “Routes of Memory”, organized for the winners of the Quiz dedicated to the Moscow People’s Militia in the Battle of Moscow, 18 activists from the “Museum of the History of the Kosmodemyansky School and Family” visited the city of military glory Vyazma. Kosmodemyansk residents took part in the Rally and the solemn ceremony of laying flowers at the Eternal Flame at the monument to General M.G. Efremov, dedicated to the 77th anniversary of the Vyazemsky defensive operation; visited the museum of the “Unknown Soldier” and local history museum, learned the history of the Vyazemsky gingerbread, and took part in a master class on gingerbread painting. Left a lasting impression Memorial event on the Bogoroditsky field. After the “Fight” phonogram, students of 201st were given the right to perform the literary composition “The Living Need This!” in front of war veterans, local residents, students of military-patriotic clubs, Youth Army members, and Moscow schoolchildren. And this was very symbolic, since it took place on the site of the heroic confrontation and breakthrough of our troops on the day (10/11/1941 - also a Saturday) and hour (16:00 - the beginning of the breakthrough) in October 1941!
- Based on the results of the educational and research competition creative works students " Immortal Regiment», dedicated to the Day Victory Soviet people in the Great Patriotic War, activists of the museum “History of the Kosmodemyansky School and Family” (17 people) took part in a trip to the city of military glory Pskov (June 4-8, 2019). Kosmodemyansk residents were given the opportunity to show literary composition at a rally at the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier and present flowers to veterans who participated in the battles near Pskov during the Great Patriotic War of 1941-1945. A delegation of Moscow schoolchildren visited historical places in the city of Pskov and the Pskov region. Thanks to such patriotic trips, children become familiar with history, not in words but in deeds. great country, begin to feel the continuity of generations, and visiting a variety of attractions and objects cultural heritage, museums, nature reserves certainly expands children's horizons, fills vivid impressions, develops spiritually and emotionally.
The Museum of the History of the Kosmodemyansky School and Family is in demand. Over the course of a year, it is visited by over two thousand excursionists - these are students not only from our and other Moscow schools, but also guests from all over Russia and from abroad. On the day of Zoya Kosmodemyanskaya’s 95th birthday, high school students from Lyceum No. 22 in Voskresensk visited our museum. Resurrection schoolchildren learned with great interest about the heroic and tragic pages of the life of the Kosmodemyansky family, excitedly touched the desk at which Zoya was sitting, and managed to finish 9 grades before the start of the war. Our museum was also visited by labor veterans, public councilors of the Begovaya district, headed by the deputy of the Moscow Region N.A. Cohen, and on the eve of Defenders of the Fatherland Day, guests from Germany and France came to school No. 201. Anti-fascist bloggers learned about our 201st from the words of veterans - participants in the “Immortal Regiment” action, which took place in Berlin on May 9, 2018. Reserve Colonel V.P. Konyashchenkov, a veteran of the 402nd Guards Rocket Regiment, in the lists of the 1st division of which Hero of the Soviet Union Alexander Kosmodemyansky was forever included, carried his photograph. From that very moment, young people rushed to Moscow to touch the heroic and at the same time tragic story Kosmodemyansky family. The museum council gave a tour for Helen and Fabian (first in Russian, and then everything gradually switched to English). The guests liked the excursion and promised to return, which they talked about on their page on social networks. The memory of the heroic past unites peoples.
For 4 years now, the “Museum of the History of the School and Family of Kosmodemyansikh” has been participating in the Moscow meta-subject Olympiad “Museums. Parks. Estates." The Department of Education and the Department of Culture of the Year of Moscow summed up the results for the 2018-2019 academic year and expressed gratitude to the teachers and students of school No. 201 for their contribution to the organization and conduct, preparation of assignments and enthusiasm in interaction with school teams participating in the Olympiad “Museums. Parks. Estates." This season, about 300 teams and individual participants visited the museum “History of the Kosmodemyansky School and Family” as part of the Olympiad, where they listened to young guides from grades 3-11. This year, young guides of class 3b conducted their first excursion for guests of the traditional event “Initiation into Kosmodemyanets”, receiving high praise from veterans of the 402nd division of the Strategic Missile Forces (Sashina) and unit 9903 (Zoina), and ended the year with a master class for methodologists of the city of Moscow, preparing to present their MRSD in museum competitions.
The museum uses the most modern forms and methods of museum pedagogy today - interactive, aimed not so much at consolidating already studied material, but at obtaining new ones. During the 2018-2019 academic year, Museum projects were created:
- For the 75th anniversary of the Great Victory, the Museum Council carried out active work to create and fill with information a virtual version of the museum “History of the Kosmodemyansky School and Family”;
- Our school joined the new Moscow educational project “My district during the war”, which gave schoolchildren the opportunity to study how they lived home area during the war years. On March 14, a conference was held at the Victory Museum as part of the “My District During the War” project. Representatives of educational organizations from all Moscow districts took part in it. About 100 stands were installed in the Hall of Generals and the foyer of the Hall of Fame. The project “Voikovsky District during the Great Patriotic War” was presented by students of the 10th grade of school 201, who told the conference guests about the contribution of the district residents to the Victory in the Great Patriotic War, presented photographs, maps, and memories of front-line soldiers.
This year, the museum of our 201st school was given the opportunity to perform in the Central Exhibition Hall"Manege" on International festival museums "Intermuseum" - the main museum event of the year, an event that has no analogues in the world. This is a unique platform not only for specialists, but also for wide range visitors. Main topic museum forum: “Dialogue of professionals.” The 201st shared with museum workers around the world its achievements in using museum space as a platform for pedagogical initiatives and new approaches to the process of forming the Russian identity of schoolchildren. Quests and competitions, quizzes and dramatizations, creative tasks... All these technologies of museum communication are used by our teaching staff to promote the development of children's creative and research potential, and to feel involved in the events of national history.
The attitude of students to work in the school museum was summarized in her study by 10th grade student Alesya A.: “Our new, young generation realizes the truly great significance of the Victory. I involuntarily feel proud that I belong to a generation that is able to appreciate and respect your hard military work and pass on this knowledge to all the people around me, as well as describe all the emotions that I heard from you. I promise that we will remember your immortal feat and bow before your incredible valor, courage and honor, doing everything in our power to preserve this peace, won by you at such a high price.”
Generations of teachers and students replace each other, life itself changes around us. But all this time, the main core in the work of the school and the “Museum of the History of the Kosmodemyansky School and Family,” one of the most visited school museums of the city of Moscow, was and remains - careful preservation and continuation of traditions to perpetuate the memory of our heroes.
There is a very tragic and memorable place in the Ruza district of the Moscow region - the village of Petrishchevo, where on November 29, 1941, the Nazis executed the young partisan Tanya - that’s what Zoya Kosmodemyanskaya called herself during interrogation. September 13 marks the 91st anniversary of the birth of the Hero of the Soviet Union, who has become a symbol of courage and unbending perseverance. Journalist Pyotr Lidov was the first to talk about this in the Pravda newspaper, and the whole world learned about the feat of the young Muscovite. In the fall, tourists come to Petrishchevo, to the site of Zoya’s feat and execution.
Moscow schoolgirl
People travel in large and small groups, families, alone. “After the collapse of the Soviet Union, the flow of tourists here has noticeably decreased. And now (how joyful it is to realize this!) I see a new interest in Zoya’s feat and personality. Perhaps this can be called an interest in one’s own history. For the heroine’s anniversary (celebrated in 2013), the exhibition of our museum was updated and replenished with new exhibits,” said Nadezhda Efimenkova, director of the local museum.
Tourists make their first stop at the 86th kilometer of the Minsk Highway. Here, on a high pedestal, is installed perhaps the most famous monument partisan The poet Nikolai Dmitriev wrote about her:
The museum in the village of Petrishchevo was opened in 1956. At the same time, a monument to Zoya Kosmodemyanskaya was erected in front of him. The museum's exposition is housed in seven halls. It opens with the work of the sculptor M. Manizer “Zoe”. We see a girl with short hair and a stubborn, courageous gaze. Nearby on the wall are the words “It is happiness to die for your people.” Their heroine said a few minutes before the execution.
The guides talk in great detail and emotionally about Zoya’s childhood, youth and heroic deeds. She was born in the Tambov region, then the family moved to Moscow. From grades 1 to 9, Zoya and her brother Sasha studied at Moscow School No. 201.
The museum displays a Komsomol card, certificates of commendation, school notebooks, photographs, and the girl’s handicrafts. She was doing embroidery. The napkins, towel, and apron she embroidered have survived. Museum visitors look with interest at the intricate patterns on these items. Here you can see Zoya’s “peaceful” clothes - a dress and a jacket.
Zoya studied with straight A's and B's. My brother had different assessments. “Excellent” only in mathematics and physics. These items were his favorites. The boy drew well and wanted to become an artist. His self-portrait is on display in the museum.
The brother and sister were not the same age, but studied in the same class. In the summer of 1941 they completed nine grades. June 21st came to graduation party high school students had fun from the heart, sang and danced. This was the last peaceful night for them.
Guerrilla friendship
The second hall of the museum is dedicated to the beginning of the Great Patriotic War. On the wall is the map “Plan Barbarossa”. This is the famous plan for the attack of Nazi Germany on the USSR. According to it, Hitler intended to defeat our army in 6-8 weeks, reach the Arkhangelsk-Astrakhan line and turn our country into a German colony.
The Kosmodemyansky brother and sister worked in the fall at the Krasnaya Zarya state farm, helped harvest the crops, and worked at the Borets plant, which produced shells. October came, the enemy was on the very outskirts of Moscow. On October 20, 1941, the capital was declared under siege. Thousands of volunteers went to the front. Zoya also decided to defend the capital with arms in her hands. On October 31 she was at home for the last time. She, along with other volunteers, is sent to the village of Kuntsevo, where the military unit No. 9903. There, in a very short time, they are taught military affairs: to use personal weapons, throw Molotov cocktails, mine roads and bridges, and correctly navigate the terrain using a compass.
It was here, in military unit No. 9903, that young teachers Lelya Kolesova, Klavdiya Miloradova, students Zhenya Poltavskaya, Vera Voloshina, Sasha Gribkova and schoolgirl Zoya Kosmodemyanskaya met and became friends. The fate of these girls turned out to be tragic. Only Claudia Miloradova remained alive. The rest were hanged by the Nazis near Moscow in November 1941. Zhenya Poltavskaya and Sasha Gribkova were executed among eight Komsomol members in Volokolamsk. Zoya really asked for an assignment to this town near Moscow, but she was left in the unit.
Frau Partisan
When Kosmodemyanskaya went on a mission to Petrishchevo, she knew nothing about the fate of her friends. On the night of November 21, a sabotage and reconnaissance group consisting of three people (commander Boris Krainov, Pavel Klubkov, Zoya Kosmodemyanskaya) crossed the front line near the village of Obukhovo and headed to Petrishchevo, where the fascist headquarters was located.
At one o'clock in the morning, three houses in the village caught fire. It was the commander and Zoya who completed the task. But Zoya could not find her people in the forest. Left alone, I was not afraid. The next night I went to Petrishchevo again. I decided to set fire to a large stable on the outskirts of the village. There were a lot of horses and weapons. Zoya was tracked down by the traitor Sviridov and told the Nazis.
For the first time, journalist Pyotr Lidov spoke about Kosmodemyanskaya’s feat in the Pravda newspaper. In the Petrishchev Museum you can see this issue of the newspaper for January 27, 1942, where his essay “Tanya” was published.
“It has not yet been established who she is and where she comes from... That was during the days of the greatest danger for Moscow...
Moscow selected brave volunteers and sent them across the front to help partisan detachments...
The small village of Petrishchevo, surrounded by forest, was chock full of German troops... Ten to twenty soldiers were stationed in each hut. The owners of the houses huddled on the stove or in the corners...
One night, someone cut all the wires of the German field telephone, and soon the stable of the German military unit and seventeen horses in it were destroyed.
The next evening the partisans came to the village again. He made his way to the stables, which contained over two hundred horses of the cavalry unit. He was wearing a hat, a fur jacket, quilted cotton pants, felt boots, and a bag over his shoulder. Approaching the stable, the man put the revolver he was holding in his hand into his bosom, took out a bottle of gasoline from his bag, poured it out and then bent down to strike a match.
At that moment, the sentry crept up to him and grabbed him from behind with his arms. The partisan managed to push the German away and snatch the revolver, but he did not have time to shoot. The soldier knocked the weapon out of his hands and raised the alarm.
The partisan was brought into the house and they immediately saw that it was a girl, very young, tall, dark, black-browed, with lively dark eyes and dark, cropped hair combed up.
The soldiers ran back and forth in excitement and, as the owner of the house Maria Sedova reports, they all repeated: “Frau partisans, Frau partisans,” which means a female partisan in Russian...”
Step into immortality
In the house of Maria Sedova, Kosmodemyanskaya’s weapons were taken away and she was sent with her hands tied to the Voronins’ house, where the headquarters was located. There they interrogated, tortured, beat, led barefoot and naked in the snow. One young Fritz could not stand the interrogation, went into the kitchen, buried his head in his hands. So he sat until Zoya was taken to the Kulikov house (now it has become a branch of the museum), where she spent the last night of her life.
The next day, the Nazis set up a gallows, and Zoya was taken to execution. They hung a board around her neck with the inscription “Arsonist” in Russian and German languages. Residents were herded to the place of execution. The German photographer tinkered with his equipment for a long time. At this time, Zoya addressed the audience with a fiery speech.
Two witnesses to the terrible execution have survived to this day. These are the Sedov sisters - Valentina Nikolaevna and Nina Nikolaevna. They have lived in Moscow for a long time. But in the summer they visit their native Petrishchev.
“In 1941 I was 10 years old. I was the eldest child in the family. When Zoya was captured by the Nazis and brought to our house, my sister Nina and I watched what was happening from the stove. The girl was standing by the stove. The Nazis kept bringing flashlights to her face and saying: “Frau, Frau.” The newspaper wrote that she was wearing felt boots. This is wrong. The partisan was wearing boots. She had a bag with a Molotov cocktail hanging on her shoulder. There was a pistol in a beige holster. The Nazis took all this away. Hands back and led. Our mother was sitting in a corner with a small child. Zoya looked at her carefully and said nothing. My sister and I got off the stove. I saw a girl very close,” recalls Valentina Sedova.
“In the morning, my grandmother says: “The Germans are building something by the pond.” It turned out they were building a gallows. An interpreter went from house to house, ordering everyone to leave. Mom was a little late, dressing her little brother Borya. And my sister and I went.
I remember November 29th was very cold. Then winter fell early. Everything was frozen and snowy. They brought Zoya. She was no longer wearing her sweater. She was dressed in some kind of dark-colored tunic (later I found out that the Nazis took away her warm clothes). It took a long time for the Nazis to begin their dirty work. They were waiting for some boss from Gribtsov. The road was snowy and he couldn’t get there in time.
Zoya addressed the crowd with a speech: “German soldiers, surrender before it’s too late. All the same, victory will be ours... Now you will hang me, but I am not alone. There are 200 million of us. You can’t outweigh everyone... I’m not afraid to die for my people...”
She said a lot of things. They wrote about this in the newspapers. And it's all true. The girl’s body hung there for more than a month. The Nazis did not allow her to be buried. When our troops approached, they removed traces of the crime and threw the body of the partisan into a snow-covered ravine. The peasants buried her on the outskirts of the forest. There is now a memorial sign there. In May 1942, the heroine was buried with honors at the Novodevichy cemetery,” says Valentina Nikolaevna, who witnessed this tragedy.
Konstantin Simonov was right when he wrote: “Heroes do not die. The brave have only immortality."
Five photographs of the execution of Zoya Kosmodemyanskaya are known. They were found in the field bag of the killed fascist. Recently, another photograph was sent to the museum in Petrishchevo from Saratov, found in the archives of a deceased war veteran by his relatives. Apparently, the front-line soldier took this photo from the dead soldier.
Newspapers wrote
In the museum you can see military newspapers telling about the feat of Zoya Kosmodemyanskaya, which inspired Soviet soldiers.
Correspondent for the newspaper “Forward to the Enemy!” Major Dolin wrote on October 3, 1943: “Several months ago, the 332nd Infantry Regiment, whose soldiers and officers brutally tortured Zoya, was noted on a section of our front. Having learned that the regiment of the executioner Rüderer, who executed Zoya Kosmodemyanskaya, was standing in front of them, the soldiers swore not to leave any of the soldiers of this damned regiment alive. In the battles near the village of Verdino, the German regiment of our Zoya’s executioners was defeated.”
Zoya’s brother, lieutenant tanker Alexander Kosmodemyansky, also took part in the battles against the 197th Nazi Infantry Division. “Units of the N-formation finish off the remnants of the 197th Infantry Division in fierce battles... Five German photographs of the Nazis’ reprisals against Zoya, published in the newspaper Pravda, caused new wave anger among our soldiers and commanders. Here, Zoya’s brother, guard tankman Lieutenant Alexander Kosmodemyansky, fights bravely and avenges his sister,” wrote in the army newspaper “Let’s Destroy the Enemy!” war correspondent Major Vershinin.
On the way to the dacha, we constantly pass the monument to the partisan Zoya Kosmodemyanskaya, erected at the intersection of the Minsk highway and the road leading from Dorokhovo to Vereya. Every time I reminded myself that it was worth a look at the Zoya Museum in Petrishchevo. And then one day, when the weather was not conducive to relaxing at the dacha, we nevertheless turned along the sign and visited a very small, but very touching museum, which greatly impressed us.
Monument near Minsk highway
The village of Petrishchevo is still quite small, surrounded by forests. Therefore, you can easily imagine what it was like here in the cold autumn days 1941, when the young intelligence officer accomplished her feat. The following is known about Zoya Kosmodemyanskaya: she was born in 1923 in the Tambov region, then she and her family moved to Siberia, and then they managed to move to Moscow. They lived in the Koptevo area. Near the Voykovskaya metro station there is school No. 201, where Zoya and her brother Alexander, who also died during the war, studied. The children were left without a father early on, and their mother raised them alone.
Zoya with her mother and brother
At school, Zoya studied quite well; in the museum of the village of Petrishchevo you can see her diaries with grades, textbooks and notebooks filled with neat handwriting. Even Zoya's embroideries have been preserved. However, Zoya’s relationships with her peers did not work out; she was a rather reserved girl.
A year before the start of the war, Zoya suffered from meningitis and spent a long time recovering from her illness. In the fall of 1941, the Nazis were already on the outskirts of Moscow and occupied many populated areas. Like many other volunteers, at the end of October 1941, Kosmodemyanskaya came to the Colosseum cinema and was enrolled in the sabotage detachment of military unit No. 9903. The training lasted less than a week and already on November 4, Zoya, along with other recruits, was transferred to German-occupied territory to the west from Moscow. The group, which included Zoya Kosmodemyanskaya, was tasked with burning a number of settlements near roads, including the village of Petrishchevo.
Verei Young Guards
The calculation was to leave the Germans without warm shelters in conditions of wild frosts, which began very early in 1941. In addition, the fires pointed our command to places where there were large concentrations of the enemy. At the end of November, Zoya and her friends went to the village of Petrishchevo. They managed to set fire to a stable, a communications center and several local houses where the Germans were quartered. The saboteurs retreated separately. The group leader, without waiting for his comrades at the appointed hour, returned to the unit. One of Zoya's partners was captured by the Germans. Kosmodemyanskaya hid in the forest and returned to the village a day later to continue the arson. But the Germans were already on guard. Locals were also instructed to keep an eye on their homes. Zoya tried to set fire to the barn of a village resident, Sviridov, but was captured by him and handed over to the Germans. The Nazis beat the girl for a long time, pulled out her nails, and drove her naked through the cold, but she did not tell them her name or her comrades. She was placed in the Kulik family's house for the night, where the owners tried to talk to her. She didn't say anything to them either. When the locals tried to reproach her for leaving the villagers homeless along with the Germans, she replied that she should have run away from the Nazis and left the occupied territory.
The museum in Petrishchevo preserves the table at which Zoya was tortured, and the bench on which she spent her last night before her brutal execution.
The same table
In the morning the girl was taken to the gallows installed in the center of the village. A lot of people gathered, both fascists and local residents. A sign with the words “Arsonist” was hung around Zoya’s neck. Before her death, she called on people to fight the enemy, and spoke to the Germans about the inevitable victory of the Russians. The Nazis filmed the execution, and later a photo of Zoya in front of the gallows was found on the captured German. Her mother saw them in a newspaper in 1943. But even before that, she, together with youngest son Alexander came to Petrishchevo to identify her daughter’s body. After the execution, Zoya hung on the gallows for about a month and was abused by German soldiers. She was then buried by local residents.
At the Zoe Museum
And in January 1942, military journalist Pyotr Lidov heard from a local resident a story about the death of a courageous partisan who called herself Tanya. An article was published in Pravda telling about the feat of a brave girl. Then they began to find out who she really was. Local residents and partisans were interviewed. In addition to Zoya's family, her school teacher came to identify the body. Everyone identified eighteen-year-old Zoya Kosmodemyanskaya. Although there are still versions that it could have been another girl.
Identification
Zoya’s brother Alexander, after the death of his sister, also went to the front and died heroically just a couple of weeks before the victory near Kaliningrad.
On the same day as Zoya, just ten kilometers from Petrishchevo, her friend in the sabotage detachment, Vera Voloshina, was executed by the Nazis. She was also captured by the Germans and hanged after torture. For a long time no one knew about her feat, and she was listed as missing in action.
The museum has special stands dedicated to the partisans of Vereya and nearby settlements. Many of them were under eighteen years old.
In 1948, in the village of Petrishchevo, a memory corner dedicated to Zoya’s feat was organized in one of the houses. And in 1956, with the help of young people, a building was built that houses the Kosmodemyanskaya Museum in our time. There is also a monument to Zoya in front of the entrance, where she is depicted with her hands tied behind her back and her head held high.
Museum of Zoya Kosmodemyanskaya in Petrishchevo
There were few people in the museum during school holidays, only one family left the building in front of us. Entrance costs 50 rubles per person.
For an additional fee, you can book the excursion “Live to the Feat!” with a museum representative who will tell Zoya’s story and guide you to memorable places in Petrishchevo. First, the museum hosts exhibitions of “Milestones of War” and military posters.
Maps of German-occupied territories are shown and the most popular propaganda posters from the war are clearly presented. It was they who raised the morale of the civilian population, gave them strength to fight the enemy and instilled confidence in an imminent victory. One of the most famous authors patriotic posters were Viktor Borisovich Koretsky. To create his works, he used the technique of photomontage. Particularly impressive is his poster “Warrior of the Red Army, Save!”, which depicts a frightened mother hugging her child and protecting him from a fascist bayonet.
Red Army warrior, save me!
In addition, such personalities as A. Nevsky, M. Kutuzov and other outstanding commanders were set as examples for the soldiers. Next comes the hall where Zoya’s personal belongings are collected: notebooks, certificates of commendation and photos.
Zoe's embroidery
Then we find ourselves in a room with examples of volunteer applications and requests to enroll them in active units.
In addition, personal belongings of German soldiers and their letters to relatives are collected here.
Photos of Germans
About brother's service
At the end of the inspection, paintings, sculptures and books illustrating Zoya’s feat are presented.
I must say that the exhibition of the museum in Petrishchevo makes a very strong impression; tears come to your eyes when you realize how much befell the very young guys at that time. In the center of the village, among the blue spruce trees, the place of Zoya’s execution was immortalized.
Place of execution
At the place of execution
Nowadays, a granite obelisk stands on the site of the gallows. The Kulik house, where Zoya spent the night before her execution, has also been preserved.
Some facts from the biography of Zoya Kosmodemyanskaya during the years of perestroika were used to denigrate her name: she was attributed to schizophrenia and other nervous disorders. However, after visiting the museum in Petrishchevo, which tells about other saboteurs who served in the same military unit as Zoya, such as Vera Voloshina and Klavdiya Miloradova, it becomes clear that Zoya’s feat was not an isolated case of wartime.
The fighting spirit and patriotism of the youth of those years allowed them to make the only right choice: to defend their homeland and their comrades, even enduring severe torture.
There is a very tragic and memorable place in the Ruza district of the Moscow region - the village of Petrishchevo, where on November 29, 1941, the Nazis executed the young partisan Tanya - that’s what Zoya Kosmodemyanskaya called herself during interrogation. September 13 marks the 91st anniversary of the birth of the Hero of the Soviet Union, who has become a symbol of courage and unbending perseverance. Journalist Pyotr Lidov was the first to talk about this in the Pravda newspaper, and the whole world learned about the feat of the young Muscovite. In the fall, tourists come to Petrishchevo, to the site of Zoya’s feat and execution.
Moscow schoolgirl
People travel in large and small groups, families, alone. “After the collapse of the Soviet Union, the flow of tourists here has noticeably decreased. And now (how joyful it is to realize this!) I see a new interest in Zoya’s feat and personality. Perhaps this can be called an interest in one’s own history. For the heroine’s anniversary (celebrated in 2013), the exhibition of our museum was updated and replenished with new exhibits,” said Nadezhda Efimenkova, director of the local museum.
Tourists make their first stop at the 86th kilometer of the Minsk Highway. Here, on a high pedestal, is perhaps the most famous monument to the partisan. The poet Nikolai Dmitriev wrote about her:
The museum in the village of Petrishchevo was opened in 1956. At the same time, a monument to Zoya Kosmodemyanskaya was erected in front of him. The museum's exposition is housed in seven halls. It opens with the work of the sculptor M. Manizer “Zoe”. We see a girl with short hair and a stubborn, masculine look. Nearby on the wall are the words “It is happiness to die for your people.” Their heroine said a few minutes before the execution.
The guides talk in great detail and emotionally about Zoya’s childhood, youth and heroic deeds. She was born in the Tambov region, then the family moved to Moscow. From grades 1 to 9, Zoya and her brother Sasha studied at Moscow School No. 201.
The museum displays a Komsomol card, certificates of commendation, school notebooks, photographs, and the girl’s handicrafts. She was doing embroidery. The napkins, towel, and apron she embroidered have survived. Museum visitors look with interest at the intricate patterns on these items. Here you can see Zoya’s “peaceful” clothes - a dress and a jacket.
Zoya studied with straight A's and B's. My brother had different assessments. “Excellent” only in mathematics and physics. These items were his favorites. The boy drew well and wanted to become an artist. His self-portrait is on display in the museum.
The brother and sister were not the same age, but studied in the same class. In the summer of 1941 they completed nine grades. On June 21, we came to the high school graduation party, had a lot of fun, sang and danced. This was the last peaceful night for them.
Guerrilla friendship
The second hall of the museum is dedicated to the beginning of the Great Patriotic War. On the wall is the map “Plan Barbarossa”. This is the famous plan for the attack of Nazi Germany on the USSR. According to it, Hitler intended to defeat our army in 6-8 weeks, reach the Arkhangelsk-Astrakhan line and turn our country into a German colony.
The Kosmodemyansky brother and sister worked in the fall at the Krasnaya Zarya state farm, helped harvest the crops, and worked at the Borets plant, which produced shells. October came, the enemy was on the very outskirts of Moscow. On October 20, 1941, the capital was declared under siege. Thousands of volunteers went to the front. Zoya also decided to defend the capital with arms in her hands. On October 31 she was at home for the last time. She, along with other volunteers, is sent to the village of Kuntsevo, where military unit No. 9903 was located. There, in a very short time, they are trained in military affairs: to use personal weapons, throw Molotov cocktails, mine roads and bridges, and correctly navigate the terrain using a compass.
It was here, in military unit No. 9903, that young teachers Lelya Kolesova, Klavdiya Miloradova, students Zhenya Poltavskaya, Vera Voloshina, Sasha Gribkova and schoolgirl Zoya Kosmodemyanskaya met and became friends. The fate of these girls turned out to be tragic. Only Claudia Miloradova remained alive. The rest were hanged by the Nazis near Moscow in November 1941. Zhenya Poltavskaya and Sasha Gribkova were executed among eight Komsomol members in Volokolamsk. Zoya really asked for an assignment to this town near Moscow, but she was left in the unit.
Frau Partisan
When Kosmodemyanskaya went on a mission to Petrishchevo, she knew nothing about the fate of her friends. On the night of November 21, a sabotage and reconnaissance group consisting of three people (commander Boris Krainov, Pavel Klubkov, Zoya Kosmodemyanskaya) crossed the front line near the village of Obukhovo and headed to Petrishchevo, where the fascist headquarters was located.
At one o'clock in the morning, three houses in the village caught fire. It was the commander and Zoya who completed the task. But Zoya could not find her people in the forest. Left alone, I was not afraid. The next night I went to Petrishchevo again. I decided to set fire to a large stable on the outskirts of the village. There were a lot of horses and weapons. Zoya was tracked down by the traitor Sviridov and told the Nazis.
For the first time, journalist Pyotr Lidov spoke about Kosmodemyanskaya’s feat in the Pravda newspaper. In the Petrishchev Museum you can see this issue of the newspaper for January 27, 1942, where his essay “Tanya” was published.
“It has not yet been established who she is and where she comes from... That was during the days of the greatest danger for Moscow...
Moscow selected brave volunteers and sent them across the front to help partisan detachments...
The small village of Petrishchevo, surrounded by forest, was chock full of German troops... Ten to twenty soldiers were stationed in each hut. The owners of the houses huddled on the stove or in the corners...
One night, someone cut all the wires of the German field telephone, and soon the stable of the German military unit and seventeen horses in it were destroyed.
The next evening the partisans came to the village again. He made his way to the stables, which contained over two hundred horses of the cavalry unit. He was wearing a hat, a fur jacket, quilted cotton pants, felt boots, and a bag over his shoulder. Approaching the stable, the man put the revolver he was holding in his hand into his bosom, took out a bottle of gasoline from his bag, poured it out and then bent down to strike a match.
At that moment, the sentry crept up to him and grabbed him from behind with his arms. The partisan managed to push the German away and snatch the revolver, but he did not have time to shoot. The soldier knocked the weapon out of his hands and raised the alarm.
The partisan was brought into the house and they immediately saw that it was a girl, very young, tall, dark, black-browed, with lively dark eyes and dark, cropped hair combed up.
The soldiers ran back and forth in excitement and, as the owner of the house Maria Sedova reports, they all repeated: “Frau partisans, Frau partisans,” which means a female partisan in Russian...”
Step into immortality
In the house of Maria Sedova, Kosmodemyanskaya’s weapons were taken away and she was sent with her hands tied to the Voronins’ house, where the headquarters was located. There they interrogated, tortured, beat, led barefoot and naked in the snow. One young Fritz could not stand the interrogation, went into the kitchen, buried his head in his hands. So he sat until Zoya was taken to the Kulikov house (now it has become a branch of the museum), where she spent the last night of her life.
The next day, the Nazis set up a gallows, and Zoya was taken to execution. They hung a board around her neck with the inscription “Arsonist” in Russian and German. Residents were herded to the place of execution. The German photographer tinkered with his equipment for a long time. At this time, Zoya addressed the audience with a fiery speech.
Two witnesses to the terrible execution have survived to this day. These are the Sedov sisters - Valentina Nikolaevna and Nina Nikolaevna. They have lived in Moscow for a long time. But in the summer they visit their native Petrishchev.
“In 1941 I was 10 years old. I was the eldest child in the family. When Zoya was captured by the Nazis and brought to our house, my sister Nina and I watched what was happening from the stove. The girl was standing by the stove. The Nazis kept bringing flashlights to her face and saying: “Frau, Frau.” The newspaper wrote that she was wearing felt boots. This is wrong. The partisan was wearing boots. She had a bag with a Molotov cocktail hanging on her shoulder. There was a pistol in a beige holster. The Nazis took all this away. Hands back and led. Our mother was sitting in a corner with a small child. Zoya looked at her carefully and said nothing. My sister and I got off the stove. I saw a girl very close,” recalls Valentina Sedova.
“In the morning, my grandmother says: “The Germans are building something by the pond.” It turned out they were building a gallows. An interpreter went from house to house, ordering everyone to leave. Mom was a little late, dressing her little brother Borya. And my sister and I went.
I remember November 29th was very cold. Then winter fell early. Everything was frozen and snowy. They brought Zoya. She was no longer wearing her sweater. She was dressed in some kind of dark-colored tunic (later I found out that the Nazis took away her warm clothes). It took a long time for the Nazis to begin their dirty work. They were waiting for some boss from Gribtsov. The road was snowy and he couldn’t get there in time.
Zoya addressed the crowd with a speech: “German soldiers, surrender before it’s too late. All the same, victory will be ours... Now you will hang me, but I am not alone. There are 200 million of us. You can’t outweigh everyone... I’m not afraid to die for my people...”
She said a lot of things. They wrote about this in the newspapers. And it's all true. The girl’s body hung there for more than a month. The Nazis did not allow her to be buried. When our troops approached, they removed traces of the crime and threw the body of the partisan into a snow-covered ravine. The peasants buried her on the outskirts of the forest. There is now a memorial sign there. In May 1942, the heroine was buried with honors at the Novodevichy cemetery,” says Valentina Nikolaevna, who witnessed this tragedy.
Konstantin Simonov was right when he wrote: “Heroes do not die. The brave have only immortality."
Five photographs of the execution of Zoya Kosmodemyanskaya are known. They were found in the field bag of the killed fascist. Recently, another photograph was sent to the museum in Petrishchevo from Saratov, found in the archives of a deceased war veteran by his relatives. Apparently, the front-line soldier took this photo from the dead soldier.
Newspapers wrote
In the museum you can see military newspapers telling about the feat of Zoya Kosmodemyanskaya, which inspired Soviet soldiers.
Correspondent for the newspaper “Forward to the Enemy!” Major Dolin wrote on October 3, 1943: “Several months ago, the 332nd Infantry Regiment, whose soldiers and officers brutally tortured Zoya, was noted on a section of our front. Having learned that the regiment of the executioner Rüderer, who executed Zoya Kosmodemyanskaya, was standing in front of them, the soldiers swore not to leave any of the soldiers of this damned regiment alive. In the battles near the village of Verdino, the German regiment of our Zoya’s executioners was defeated.”
Zoya’s brother, lieutenant tanker Alexander Kosmodemyansky, also took part in the battles against the 197th Nazi Infantry Division. “Units of the N-formation finish off the remnants of the 197th Infantry Division in fierce battles... Five German photographs published in the newspaper Pravda of the Nazis’ massacre of Zoya caused a new wave of anger among our soldiers and commanders. Here, Zoya’s brother, guard tankman Lieutenant Alexander Kosmodemyansky, fights bravely and avenges his sister,” wrote in the army newspaper “Let’s Destroy the Enemy!” war correspondent Major Vershinin.
Those were difficult times for the country, the German steel machine, which had not yet known defeat, was rushing towards Moscow, the more significant the feat of the fragile eighteen-year-old girl who accepted martyrdom, but did not break under torture. Documents and photographs of that now distant time force us to remember forever; this should not happen again and history cannot be rewritten now in the wake of new trends.
After the museum we reached the house where Zoya’s last interrogation took place; the house has been restored, and the interior of that time has been preserved. After this we visited the place of execution. There is magnificent nature around and it is difficult to imagine the events that took place at that time.
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Eternal memory.
Irina ★★★★★
(17-09-2016)
Dear museum workers, many thanks from the children's variety studio "7 notes" from the MKU "House of Culture Krivskoye" (Kaluga region) for an unforgettable excursion! I practically persuaded the children to go to Petrishchevo, they weren’t really willing. And after the excursion, they thanked us for the trip, shared our impressions, and were deeply imbued with what we saw and heard. Although the children were of different ages (from 7 to 13 years old), everyone liked it without exception. the guide told the story as if she were Zoya’s best friend. I visited the museum in the early 80s as a 10-year-old girl, the impressions are still vivid, but I was very worried that modern children would not understand the feat. ... continuation src="/jpg/plus.gif">
But, thank God, the fears were in vain. And this is thanks to the wonderful staff of the museum, who work “from the heart” and devote all their strength to what they love. Low bow to you, good health and creative success!
It's gratifying that the museum is alive. We got there on Sunday an hour before closing, there were visitors. The impressions are deep, once again there is a reason to think about European values. Undoubtedly, Zoya is the image of the country, its greatness and victory. It’s not for nothing that they threw mud at her in the 1990s.
vadim ★★★★★
(6-09-2014)
It’s a pity that such young girls and boys died. A professional, trained army should fight, not former schoolchildren. The more important, deeper, more significant their feat is.
The museum makes you feel a sense of respect for the young heroes of the Great Patriotic War, especially for female heroes. At the fork in the Minsk highway and the road to Vereya and Petrishchevo there is also a stele - a monument to Zoya. Locals remember and always mention her by name. "Turn at Zoya's", etc. Not far from the stella there is Zoya’s grave - before it was always hung with red pioneer ties - children left it in memory. Now I think they are hanging scarves different colors, I think it doesn’t matter, the main thing is the memory lives on...
