You've probably heard the quote more than once Nikolai Ostrovsky that life is given to a person once and he needs to live it in such a way that there is no excruciating pain for the years spent aimlessly... These words were written in the diary Ulyana Gromova, whose feat went down in history forever.
Ulya was born in a small mining village in the Donbass in 1924. The girl grew up smart, loved to read and wrote down the sayings she liked in a book.
In that girl one could find the charisma, intelligence and stamina of an adult man. Now it seems that life, from childhood, was preparing her for terrible trials. Later, friends and others recalled that the only thing Ulya was afraid of was frogs.
Before finishing school, all children dream about the future, but Ulyana’s thoughts were interrupted by the war. The girl tried her best to help defeat the enemy: she worked in the fields, assisted the wounded in hospitals.
When the enemies occupied her native village, Ulya and her family were unable to evacuate due to her mother’s illness. Moreover, the Germans occupied her house, so the girl and her mother had to huddle in a barn. Ulyana took this as a personal insult.
In September 1942, together with Maya Peglivanova And Anatoly Popov the girl organized a resistance group, which later became part of the famous “Young Guard”.
Already in November of the same year, Ulya was accepted into the headquarters underground organization created by the guys Krasnodon. The girl was engaged in the production and distribution of anti-fascist propaganda leaflets.
With no less zeal, the girl took on any useful work: collected medicines and provisions, urged fellow countrymen not to give up, convinced young people not to go to work in Germany.
Uli’s most desperate act can be called the fact that, together with Anatoly Popov, this girl hung a red flag at one of the mines in captured Krasnodon. The guys did it November 7, 1942 on the day of the anniversary of the October Revolution.
When news began to arrive from the front that the Red Army would soon liberate Donbass, the Young Guards tried to prepare for the meeting and provide them with all possible assistance. They even managed to get weapons...
It is worth remembering that these were yesterday’s schoolchildren who did not and could not have had any experience of underground activities. It is not surprising that the first arrests of Young Guard members soon began.
Ulyana’s mother recalled that when the police came for her daughter, she calmly got dressed, kissed her, put a flatbread in her pocket and left. In the cell, the girl encouraged other prisoners. Her love of reading made itself felt here too: Ulya recited by heart "Demon" Lermontov.
Despite the terrible torture (according to sources, the girl was tied by the hair, her breasts were cut off, a star was burned out on her back, and salt was sprinkled on the wounds), Gromova did not say a word to her enemies, except once, when the girl regretted that the organization had managed to do too little.
January 16, 1943 19-year-old Ulyana Gromova was shot, and her mutilated body was thrown into a mine, where the corpse of Anatoly Popov and other underground fighters was already located.
A month later, Krasnodon was released. The bodies of the Young Guard were buried in a mass grave in the city center. Ulyana Gromova and five other members of the organization were awarded the title Hero Soviet Union.
In 1946, based on this story, the writer Alexander Fadeev created a novel "Young guard", in which Ulyana Gromova became the prototype of the character of the same name. According to legend, Stalin personally reproached Fadeev for the non-ideological nature of the work. They say that young guys could not successfully fight the invaders without clear leadership of the party.
In 1951, the second edition of The Young Guard was published, in which communist characters appeared who played a leadership and guiding role. Only after this did the novel become part of the school curriculum.
"Young Guard" (a collection of documents and memories of the heroic struggle of the underground fighters of Krasnodon during the days of the temporary fascist occupation (July 1942 - February 1943), publishing house of the Central Committee of the LKSMU "Molod", Kyiv, 1960 (in Ukrainian).
Ulyana Matvievna Gromova was born on the 4th of 1924 in the village of Pervomaitsi, Krasnodonsk region, in this "student. From the first to the tenth grade, Ulya was a teacher, an active pioneer; in 1940 she was born accepted to the Komsomol.
Ulya deeply experienced the people's grief - the war, as the German fascists told our people. In the summer and spring of 1941, with 3 school students at once, she helped collect crops from collective state hospitals in the region, visited hospitals, helped the wounded write home pages, read books and newspapers in the wards and She couldn’t evacuate and she couldn’t blame anyone for her illness.
The arrival of the occupiers completed the formation of the fighting character of Gromovaya. Together with Maya Peglivanova and Anatoly Popov, she became the organizer of the fight against the fascists of the youth of Pervomaika. In early 1942, they were brought to the headquarters of the underground Komsomol organization “Young Guard”.
When arrests began in Krasnodon, Ulya and Maya Peglivanova tried to communicate with each other, became aware of the dangers, and dismantled their plans. Just 10 years ago, they themselves were arrested by the police.
At the fascist Kativna, Ulya was trimmed with guilty manhood. She bravely endured the battle, did not lose heart, and encouraged her comrades. At the camera, she read Lermontov’s works to her friends, which she knew well and loved.
On September 15, 1943, Ulyana Gromova was one of the first to be thrown into the pit of mine No. 5.
On February 1, the workers of Krasnodon buried the ashes of Gromova at the mass grave on the central square of the place.
Ulyana Matveevna Gromova was born on January 4, 1924 in the village of Pervomaika, Krasnodonsky district, into a working-class family. From first to tenth grade, Ulya was an excellent student and an active pioneer. In 1940 she was accepted into the Komsomol.
Ulya deeply experienced the people's grief - the war imposed on our people by the German fascists. In the summer and autumn of 1941, together with the students of her school, she helped harvest crops on collective farms in the region, visited hospitals, helped the wounded write letters home, and read books and newspapers in the wards. She was unable to evacuate: there was no one to leave her sick mother with.
The arrival of the invaders completed the formation of Gromova’s fighting character. Together with Maya Peglivanova and Anatoly Popov, she became the organizer of the fight against the fascists among the youth of the village of Pervomaika. In October 1942, she was introduced to the headquarters of the underground Komsomol organization “Young Guard”.
When arrests began in Krasnodon, Ulya, together with Maya Peglivanova, tried to contact the prisoners and developed escape plans. But on January 10, they themselves were arrested by the police.
In the fascist dungeon, Ulya behaved extremely courageously. She steadfastly endured torture and beatings, did not lose heart, and encouraged her comrades. In the cell I read Lermontov’s poems to my friends, which I loved very much and knew by heart.
On March 1, the workers of Krasnodon buried Gromova’s ashes in a mass grave at central square cities.
"Youth Guards"
Biographical sketches about members of the Krasnodon Party-Komsomol underground
Comp. R. M. Aptekar, A. G. Nikitenko. Donetsk: Donbass, 1981.
Ulyana Matveevna Gromova was born on January 3, 1924 in the village of Pervomaika, Krasnodon region. There were five children in the family, Ulya was the youngest. Father, Matvey Maksimovich, often told children about the glory of Russian weapons, about famous military leaders, about past battles and campaigns, instilling in children pride in their people and their Motherland.
Mother, Matryona Savelyevna, knew many songs, epics, and was a real folk storyteller.
In 1932, Ulyana went to first grade at Pervomaisk School No. 6. She studied excellently, moved from class to class with Certificates of Merit. “Gromova is rightfully considered the best student of the class and the school,” said the former director of secondary school No. 6 I.A. Shkreba. “Of course, she has excellent abilities, high development, but the main role belongs to work - persistent and systematic. She studies with soul, interest. Thanks to this, Gromova’s knowledge is wider, her understanding of phenomena is deeper than that of many of her fellow students.”
Ulyana read a lot and was a passionate fan of M.Yu. Lermontov and T.G. Shevchenko, A.M. Gorky and Jack London. She kept a diary where she wrote down expressions she liked from the books she had just read.
In 1939, Gromova was elected a member of the academic committee. In March 1940, she joined the Komsomol. She successfully completed her first Komsomol assignment - a counselor in a pioneer detachment. She carefully prepared for each gathering, made clippings from newspapers and magazines, and selected children's poems and stories.
Ulyana was a tenth-grader when the Great Patriotic War began. By this time, as I. A. Shkreba recalled, “she had already developed firm concepts about duty, honor, and morality. She is a strong-willed nature.” She was distinguished by a wonderful sense of friendship and collectivism. Together with her peers, Ulya worked in the collective farm fields and cared for the wounded in the hospital. In 1942 she graduated from school.
During the occupation, Anatoly Popov and Ulyana Gromova organized a patriotic group of youth in the village of Pervomaika, which became part of the Young Guard.
Gromova is elected a member of the headquarters of the underground Komsomol organization. She takes an active part in preparing the military operations of the Young Guards, distributes leaflets, collects medicines, works among the population, agitating Krasnodon residents to disrupt the plans of the invaders to supply food and recruit young people to Germany.
On the eve of the 25th anniversary of the Great October Revolution, together with Anatoly Popov, Ulyana hung a red flag on the chimney of mine No. 1-bis.
Ulyana Gromova was a determined, brave underground worker, distinguished by her firmness of convictions and her ability to instill confidence in others.
These qualities manifested themselves with particular force during the most tragic period of her life, when in January 1943 she ended up in fascist dungeons.
As Valeria Borts’ mother, Maria Andreevna, recalls, Ulyana spoke with conviction about the fight in the cell: “We must not bend in any conditions, in any situation, but find a way out and fight. We can also fight in these conditions, we just need to be more decisive and organized ".
Ulyana Gromova behaved with dignity during interrogations, refusing to give any testimony about the activities of the underground. After brutal torture, on January 16, 1943, she was executed by the executioners and thrown into the pit of mine No. 5. She was buried in the mass grave of heroes in the central square of the city of Krasnodon.
By decree of the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet of the USSR dated September 13, 1943, Ulyana Matveevna Gromova, a member of the headquarters of the underground Komsomol organization "Young Guard", was posthumously awarded the title of Hero of the Soviet Union.
"Young Guard" (a collection of documents and memories of the heroic struggle of the underground fighters of Krasnodon during the days of the temporary fascist occupation (July 1942 - February 1943), publishing house of the Central Committee of the LKSMU "Molod", Kyiv, 1961.
Strong-willed
From the memoirs of M. A. Borts about last days Young Guards spent in prison
July 1949
“Among the girls I recognized Ulyana Gromova, Shura Bondareva and Shura Dubrovina.
Gromova made a great impression on me good impression. It was tall slender brunette with curly hair and beautiful features faces...
She lay down on the floor face up, put her hands under her head and began to look at one point with her black, intelligent eyes.
The girls asked her to read "The Demon". She readily agreed.
The cell became completely quiet. Pleasant, in a soft voice Ulyana began:
Sad Demon, spirit of exile,
He flew over the sinful earth.
AND better days memories
A crowd crowded in front of him...”
Suddenly a terrible scream was heard. Gromova stopped reading...
From the book "Light of Fiery Hearts"
Comp. V. Borovikova, I. Grigorenko. Donetsk, 1969
So the sight of immortality
There are no unique heroes. In our everyday life, the hero is the faithful son of the working people, a human being, through whose biography the biography of his people has passed. The immortality of the hero is not the immortality of the people who gave birth, benefiting from their bread, giving wings for flight to their sons and daughters. The history of the native people, the spiritual treasures of Father’s axis are the root of heroism.
There were no heroic heroes in the battles of the Great White War. Zoya Kosmodem"yanska, Ulya Gromova and thousands of their associates created this truth with their high communist humanity, ethical beauty, and the power of their credo.
Before us is a handful of designs by Ulyana Gromova, the heroine of “Young Guard”. They cannot be read without praise; they convey a bright and pure image of a girl who has grown into a folk hero.
How did our Ulya, Ulyanka, Ulyana Gromova grow up? About the process it would be possible (and would be required) to write great novel, so that I want to convey to any world the charm and genuineness of a girl, who is grown up and married, who reflects on life, literature, and mysticism.
The exploits of Valentina Tereshkova, Tursuna Akhunova, Lyuba Li were prepared by the beasts before her: Tanya Solomakha and Kremenchuk Komsomol members, tractor driver Olesya Kulik and Pasha Angelina, partisan Zoya Kosmodemyanskaya, ward of Ulya Gromovaya, Maya Peglivanova, Lyuba Shevtsova, Marina Grizun and thousands of others .
It wasn’t until the feat of arms that the stinks garroted themselves. Among them, perhaps, grew the modern forests of Ukraine, the modern producers of Zankovetska’s mysticism, biologists, mathematicians, and government officials.
Let's take a look at the miraculous sewing of Ulyana Gromovaya. Just a few words about those stinks. And even everything that was in the Gromov’s house, the Gestapi and the police, in the hour of Ulyana’s arrest, looted to the last detail.
This father, Matviy Gromov (miner, originally from Gadyach in Poltava region) tells me:
I was on guard, afraid of myself in the cold... When they entered the house, the stink of the dogs called for my daughter to be taken out of the house. I reached them, and the stench hit me hard, and I sat there, haggard, as far as the threshold...
Ulya said goodbye to us, the orphaned old ones, with a look and a word. And when they left, I thought: what am I sitting on? Look, there’s a wooden chest. We looked there from the mother’s side, and there’s already a lot of sewing there... All this girl’s dowry, what was left for us to guess...
The axis of stench, to sew, lie in front of me, sew, writings in the seventh, eighth, ninth, tenth grades. The stench, to sew, melt the heat of Ulyana’s hands, preserve the beauty and strength of her rich soul. liver with tears from mother ...
The stench of this student's sewing is our unique national shrine. Let's read from the row of books by Shevchenko's "Haydamaki", the poetry of Pavel Tichina, the book and the last book "Songs about Baida", the last book of classic works by Karpenko-Kary, the respected, wise reader "The Lay of Igor's Campaign" m" and Ukrainian folk songs. Folklore and the red writing of Ukraine, the words of the Yan and all-world classics were no less than read by her. And, from every book, from every aphorism, she absorbed in herself a powerful force, being able to reach the deepest depths of words, taking them with her in flight to the point of despair. dying.
Ulya Gromova did not live even two decades. Ale vona has lost forever alive, forever young in our memory. Vaughn is walking with us. Our bitch.
Dmytro Kosarik,
scribe,
Candidate of Philological Sciences.
* * *
We are guilty of hating the enemies of our country, of hating the enemies of human happiness, of burning the inescapable wrath of paying for the death and torment of our fathers, mothers, brothers, sisters, friends, for the death and torment of every Radian giant .
Ulyana Gromova,
From the post at Zoshita
1st June 1941
From the book "...And tell it to your comrade!"
Vladimir Vasiliev
Hate the enemies of human happiness
Of course, a person must be judged by his deeds. But, firstly, we know that the Young Guard’s word did not diverge from deeds, and, secondly, you must agree how much his affections, his friends, his notes can say about a person...
Uli Gromova’s notebook is not a diary, although it contains some of the girl’s own observations and reflections.
“Our life, creative work, our future, our whole Soviet culture in danger,” writes Ulyana on October 1, 1941. “We must hate the enemies of our Fatherland; to hate the enemies of human happiness, to be kindled with an invincible thirst to avenge the torment and death of fathers, mothers, brothers, sisters, friends, for the death and torment of every Soviet citizen.”
IN school essay ninth-grader Gromova, we meet the reflections of the young red-bottom girl about her compatriots: “Everywhere you meet Soviet patriots, selfless, strong-willed, strong and courageous Soviet people who know how to tenderly love their Motherland, give their lives for it, defend and protect it...” (in the original in Ukrainian).
A Komsomol member, an excellent student, Ulya not only reads books, but thinks about every page, writes down her favorite thoughts in order to return to them again and again. Both small and great questions concern the girl. When does a moral turning point occur in a person in his youth or, perhaps, in childhood? What does it mean to respect a person, what does it mean to love him? What should free labor be like that can bring deep satisfaction? Who on earth benefits from lies and why should a person fight for the truth? Who is considered a true friend? What should a senior student in a Soviet school be like?
Gromova seeks answers to these and many other questions from the great sages, writers, philosophers of past centuries and from her contemporaries. She removes works by V.I. from the bookshelf. Lenin and W. Shakespeare, M.Yu. Lermontov and Jack London, N.G. Chernyshevsky, I.V. Goethe, L.N. Tolstoy, T.G. Shevchenko, M. Gorky, N. Ostrovsky, V. Mayakovsky... The thoughts of the greats, written down by Ulya over the course of three years, help us to better understand the views of Ulyana Gromova, a member of the Young Guard headquarters.
“For a lackey there cannot be a great person, because the lackey has his own concept of greatness.”
L.N. Tolstoy.
“Even those who are no longer afraid of anything in the world are afraid of ridicule.”
N.V. Gogol
“It is much easier to see heroes die than to listen to some coward scream for mercy.”
Jack London
“One of the greatest evils and disasters left to us from the old capitalist society is the complete break between the book and the practice of life... Therefore, a simple bookish assimilation of what is said in books about communism would be extremely wrong...”
IN AND. Lenin
“The most precious thing a person has is life. It is given to him once, and he must live it in such a way that there is no excruciating pain for the years spent aimlessly, so that the shame for the mean and petty past does not burn, and so that when he dies, he can say: all his life and all his strength were given to the most beautiful thing in world struggle for the liberation of humanity."
N. Ostrovsky
“Everything in a person should be beautiful: face, clothes, soul, and thoughts.”
A. P. Chekhov
“To be a communist means to dare, to think, to want, to dare.”
V. Mayakovsky
“And if we really need something sacred, then only a person’s dissatisfaction with himself and his desire to be better than he is is sacred; sacred is his hatred of all everyday rubbish created by himself; sacred is his desire to destroy envy, greed, crime, disease, war and all hostility among people on earth; his work is sacred.”
M. Gorky
Only he is worthy of life and freedom,
Who goes to fight for them every day.”
Goethe
Ulyana Gromova wrote out the last words (from the drama “Faust” by the great German poet Goethe) when the enemy was already trampling the land of her native Krasnodon. Doctor Faustus, who lived a long life full of work and search for meaning, finds “the final conclusion of earthly wisdom.” And what does it consist of? The fact is that only a fighter is right, only one who devotes every day of his life to the battle for life and freedom, takes them in battle.
"Young Guard" (a collection of documents and memories of the heroic struggle of the underground fighters of Krasnodon during the days of the temporary fascist occupation (July 1942 - February 1943), publishing house of the Central Committee of the LKSMU "Molod", Kyiv, 1961.
My school friend
Memoirs of I. I. Grigorenko about Ulyana Gromova
I studied with Ulya Gromova for several years at Pervomaiskaya school No. 6. Some episodes from school life I remember especially well.
In the spring of 1939, a controversy arose in the school library over a review of Jack London's book Martin Eden. The review was written by Gavriil Kovalev.
I stood aside and leafed through a volume of Danilevsky when Anatoly Popov, Viktor Petrov, Vladislav Tararin entered the library and headed towards the board on which reviews of the literature they had read were posted. Pointing to Kovalev’s review, Anatoly said:
“Look at it, I wrote one hundred and fifty words and made three mistakes; and, most importantly, I wasn’t ashamed to post it.”
At this time, the girls entered the library. Hearing Gabriel's answer, they approached those arguing. Maya Peglivanova was the first to read the piece of paper and unexpectedly attacked Anatoly:
“Why are you so upset? What’s bad here? I found three errors. But forgot about the content? Content is what matters.”
Ulyana Gromova, approaching the shield, carefully peered at the lines written hastily, in careless handwriting. A light blush appeared on her cheeks, and sly lights sparkled in her eyes.
“But that’s true,” she said quietly.
What's true? - Maya and Anatoly asked at the same time.
Ulyasha looked at the review again and calmly replied:
And the fact that you are both right and wrong.
Like this? - Anatoly was perplexed.
It’s simple,” Ulya spoke again, “you need to write both competently and meaningfully.”
Just think, what a critic they found,” Viktor Petrov entered into the argument.
Wait, Ulyana, do you think the content is so-so? - Maya did not back down.
I didn't say that.
“And I maintain,” Maya continued, “that the content is the main thing in the work.
Ulya turned sharply to Maya and said firmly:
The main thing in a work is both content and form.
None of us noticed when Ivan Alekseevich Tararin, a teacher of Russian language and literature, entered the library. He listened to the argument with interest. Viktor Petrov was the first to see him and, interrupting everyone, turned to him:
Ivan Alekseevich, please help us resolve this dispute.
Ivan Alekseevich read the review, looked at his watch and said that it was time for class, and the argument could be continued after class.
We gathered after school in one of the classes and argued for a long time until we came to the conclusion that Ulya was right.
From that day on, a literary circle began its work at our school. We were given the task of reading a book, writing a review about it, and writing down what we liked most about the book.
At one of the club's classes we talked about Pomyalovsky's books. Ulya Gromova ended her speech with a quote from the writer’s work: “In a person’s life there is a period of time on which his moral fate depends, when a turning point in his moral development occurs. They say that this period begins only in youth; This is not true: for many it comes in the most rosy childhood.”
Obviously, this turning point has already occurred in her, and it is no coincidence that Ulyasha ended her speech with these words...
In the summer of 1941, students from our school helped harvest the crops on the Konevod collective farm in the village of Nizhnyaya Derevechka. From dawn to dusk, we guys, together with the pilots of one of military units they mowed the bread by hand, and the girls knitted sheaves and piled them into heaps. The work progressed, and songs often sounded over the golden scatterings of ripened bread.
They sang “The order was given to him to go to the west”, “Kakhovka”, “Sailor Zheleznyak - partisan”.
And in the evening, when the moon rose, we gathered near the school where we lived and sang folk songs, most often Ukrainian. When they sang “Roar and Stogne the Wide Dnieper”, “And as one we will die for the power of the Soviets”, Ulyasha’s voice was louder than all.
Loud readings of newspapers were often held, reporting on the situation at the fronts and the atrocities of the German invaders. Once we read an article that talked about how the fascists in one of the villages of Ukraine raped girls, threw small children into wells, and burned people alive in their houses. Gennady Pocheptsov, who was sitting with us, noticed that people were dying in vain; You can avoid all this, you just need to make peace with the Germans.
What anger he caused with his words! The young lieutenant, gritting his teeth, rushed towards Pocheptsov, but the elderly major held him back, saying:
The guys will figure it out themselves.
Suddenly Ulyana stood up. I will never forget her voice:
Unhappy fellow, have you lost your memory or is your mind clouded? Hands up! And when? Have you really forgotten the words of Pavel Korchagin? - and she excitedly quoted them.
It became very quiet. Pocheptsov lowered his head. And the major approached Ula, shook her hand firmly and, kissing her like a father, said:
Thank you, girl!
In 1946 I came on vacation to Krasnodon. Met with Ulyasha's mother and father. They told me how the fearless Ulya, together with Anatoly Popov, hung the Soviet flag on the chimney of mine No. 1-bis, wrote leaflets and posted them around the city, collected weapons, medicine, and took out kerosene to burn stacks of grain. With tears in her eyes, Matryona Savelyevna recalled how Ulya was arrested.
“As always, Ulyasha tidied the room this morning, even washed the floor. Then she put the water on to heat and said: “I’ll do the laundry.” And she keeps walking around the room. I couldn’t stand it, I cried. I tell her:
Ulyasha, what do you think? The damned ones took away Tolka Popov, Demka Fomin, Lukashev, Glavan. Why are you sitting? They will take you too.
She looked at me so affectionately and said:
Don't cry, mom. We are not afraid. All is not lost yet.
And I see that she is worried. I got dressed and went somewhere.”
Ulya’s friend, Nina Popova, later said that Ulya, together with her, Vera Krotova and Maya Peglivanova, wanted to get into the police and contact the Young Guards in order to arrange the escape of those arrested.
“And only in the evening,” continued Matryona Savelyevna, did Ulya come home. She walks around the room, and I come to her:
What are you doing, you put the water on and then disappeared for the whole day.
It’s okay, mom, I’ll wash it next time.
Tears welled up in my eyes again. And she looked at me and suddenly began to sing: “We are blacksmiths, and our spirit is young...”
I was completely confused. I look at her, listen, but I can’t stop her from saying anything.
At this time, the door swings open and the Germans and police burst into the room.
Are you Gromova? - said one of them, pointing to Ulyasha.
She straightened up, looked around at everyone and said loudly:
Get ready! - the policeman barked.
Don’t yell, Ulya answered calmly.
Not a single muscle moved on her face. She easily and confidently put on her coat, tied a scarf around her head, put a piece of oatcake in her pocket and, coming up to me, kissed me deeply.
Raising her head, she looked so tenderly and warmly at me, at the table where the books lay, at her bed, at her sister’s children, fearfully peeking out from the other room, as if she was silently saying goodbye to everything. Then she straightened up and said firmly:
I'm ready!
"Young Guard" (a collection of documents and memories of the heroic struggle of the underground fighters of Krasnodon during the days of the temporary fascist occupation (July 1942 - February 1943), publishing house of the Central Committee of the LKSMU "Molod", Kyiv, 1961.
Ulyana Gromova's suicide letter written on the wall of a prison cell
January 15, 1943
Goodbye mom, goodbye dad,
Farewell, all my relatives,
Farewell, my beloved brother Yelya,
You won't see me again.
Your figure always stands out in the eyes.
My beloved brother, I am dying,
Stand stronger for your Motherland.
Goodbye.
Greetings
Gromova Ulya.
Uli's letter was copied from the cell wall on February 14, 1943 by her friend Vera Krotova. The museum keeps this leaflet, which came from Uli’s relatives. The signature on the wall itself was erased during the renovation of the premises in the spring of 1943.
"Only the strong can win"
In the archives of the Young Guard Museum, this document is listed as a suicide letter from Ulyana Gromova. For almost half a century it has attracted attention for its unusualness and exclusivity. It is difficult to combine in our minds such concepts as a prison cell and a poetic syllable born in the troubled soul of a girl prisoner, a tormented body and the calm tone in which her farewell words were written.
This girl then, on January 3, 1943, turned 19 years old, but she had courage and self-control. She was an exalted, romantic person, but also strong, strong-willed, and, as a child of her era, not without fanaticism in her actions and beliefs.
She was in a fascist prison for 6 whole days. She was arrested on January 10, and together with other underground fighters from the village of Pervomaika, she was pushed into a cell.
According to the memoirs of Maria Andreevna Borts, the mother of Young Guard member Valeria Davydovna, Ulyana behaved cheerfully and independently from the first days and minutes of her captivity.
“Struggle is not such a simple thing,” she said, “in any conditions, in any situation, you must not bend, but find a way out and fight. We can also fight in these conditions, we just need to be more decisive and organized. We can arrange an escape and continue our work in freedom. Think about it".
Ulyana’s confidence was transferred to her fighting friends. They calmed down a little and asked her to read "The Demon". Her recitation was interrupted by a terrible scream. Gromova stopped reading. “It’s starting,” she said. The groaning and screaming grew more and more intense. Deathly silence reigned in the cell. This went on for several minutes. Gromova, turning to us, read in a firm voice:
Sons of the snows, sons of the Slavs
Why did you lose courage?
For what? Your tyrant will perish,
How all tyrants died.
Someone sighed and said:
It's hard to finish off these bastards.
“Nothing,” Gromova answered, “there are millions of us.”
Several hours had already passed since the arrest, but Ulyana still did not fully realize the mortal danger looming over all of them.
She sincerely believed that a person is capable of overcoming any difficulties if only he is willing to make an effort and show will.
She gleaned this conviction from books, literary debates, and from communication with elders - that’s how she was raised. She was impressed, for example, by the words of Jack London: “It serves the strong to win rightly so for those who surrender,” or: “it is much easier to see heroes die than to listen to the cries of some pathetic coward for mercy.”
From the lines of Viktor Rozov: " Brave man He can perform miracles and is not afraid of any abysses.”
She wrote down these thoughts in her personal diary last October, when she was already an underground member. I wrote it down because I completely shared them. I haven’t changed my opinion even now. She was still thinking about rallying forces, and therefore about continuing the struggle, continuing life. The reality turned out to be much worse and harsher, it was capable of destroying any hope and faith, it also encroached on human life.
The girls were summoned one by one for interrogation, they demanded confessions, and they beat them. Investigators worked day and night. To drown out the screams and moans of those being tortured, they turned on a gramophone with bravura music.
Ulyana was also interrogated with passion and thrown into a cell in a semi-fainting state. But, having come to her senses, she looked for words of consolation for others, to support them morally.
As a leader, she constantly felt personally responsible for everyone. Perhaps this high feeling made her stronger and more decisive. From the investigative documents in the case of the traitors of the Young Guard, we know that Ulyana behaved with dignity in front of the executioners, did not answer questions, and only once boldly said: “I didn’t join the organization to ask for your forgiveness. I only regret one thing.” "We haven't done enough."
For this insolence, a five-pointed star was carved on the girl’s back.
Ulyana came out of her state of shock slowly. She finally realized that there was no hope of salvation - everyone would be shot. Maybe they were born then last lines, addressed to the closest and dearest people - mother, father, older sisters. Special words she found for her beloved brother.
They had been friends with Elisha since childhood, although the age difference was five years. He played with her when she was little, then they went to school together, and did their homework at home at the same table.
They enthusiastically read books, which they often borrowed from friends for one night. Ulyana finished fifth grade when Elisha, through a special Komsomol recruitment, became a cadet at the Military Higher Aviation School. Two years later, having successfully completed school, Elisha was sent to Leningrad. He promised to take Ulyana with him when she finished ninth grade to stay with him, and if she wanted, she would go to study.
Came home on June 21, 1941. In the evening the whole family and friends gathered, and in the morning I decided to go into the city with my sister and go to the school named after. Gorky, where he studied in high school, wander around the park, meet friends. Ulya put on her favorite light striped blouse - a gift from her brother, a gray Cheviot skirt with a counter pleat on the side and dark low-heeled shoes, and threw on a black jacket. Just in case, I grabbed a book - it has already become a habit: what if I have a free minute. The mood was joyful and upbeat. We talked, laughed, reminisced, made plans. When we caught up with the photo, we decided to go and take a photo as a souvenir. This photo turned out to be the last for both of them. A few minutes later they learned that war had begun.
Elisha left for Leningrad that same day, then to the front. Ulyana stayed in native village. I still studied for a whole year - I finished the tenth grade with almost excellent marks. She often visited the hospital, cared for the wounded, and helped them write letters. She worked, like all schoolchildren, on a collective farm, on defensive lines, collecting parcels for the front.
Then Ulya became an underground worker, and now she’s in prison.
Elisha learned about the death of his sister several months later, when he finally received a long-awaited letter from home. He wrote to his parents with bitterness: “My poor old people! How can I console you in our general grief? I can’t even think of what else to write - there is no thought, only sadness and anger in my heart. Oh, animals, what are they doing, what kind of revenge do they need to come up with to repay them for the grief of our people, for the innocent blood of our fathers and mothers, sisters and brothers, little children. I have no words, mom, dad. Do you hear me, I swear to you, I swear on the memory of my sister, I swear on my life that I will avenge her. Mom, dad, how did it happen that they were able to take her away, wasn’t it possible to hide her, because you knew that these were animals. I felt something terrible was going to happen. Oh, how I scold myself for not being able to call her to me. Maybe with me she would have remained alive. Oh, Ulya, Ulya, no, no, I won’t see you again. “Oh, beasts, Krauts, you will pay dearly for her blood, for the blood of her friends.”
Ulya Gromova’s suicide letter has one feature that excursionists always pay attention to - it is written in someone else’s handwriting, and there are several mistakes in the text. grammatical errors, which contradicts our ideas about Ulyana, an intelligent, educated girl.
Yes, this is not Uli’s hand and not a photocopy of the recording. The inscription was discovered after the liberation of Krasnodon and rewritten by Vera Krotova, a friend and distant relative of Ulyana. Subsequently, Vera told how she went around all the cells, looking for any evidence, looked through everything that was lying on the dirty floor, and examined the walls. Only in the third chamber on the wall left side from the door, closer to the corner, I saw something scrawled and the signature “Ulya Gromova”.
Seeing these words, I forgot about everything, rushed to run to tell my family, then took a pencil and paper, quickly returned to the cell and rewrote the text.
She immediately gave this piece of paper to Gromova’s parents, and in 1944 they gave it to the museum for eternal storage.
Elisha's letter to his parents from the front
I have no words... Mom, dad, you hear me: I swear to you, I swear on the memory of my dear sister, I swear on my life that I will avenge her.
Wherever I am, no matter what I do, it will be revenge on the damned cannibal Krauts. My life will be directed only towards this.
Mom, dad, how did it happen that they were able to take her away... wasn’t it possible to hide her... After all, you knew that these were animals.
I felt something terrible was going to happen. I was only worried about her and my dad more than about the others...
Oh, how I scold myself for not being able to call her to me. Maybe with me she would have remained alive.
Oh, Ulya, Ulya, no, no, I won’t see you again. Eh, Kraut beasts, you will pay dearly for her blood, for the blood of her friends. There will be no mercy for all their filthy brood...
Hello to all of us.
Elya.
7.VI. 43.
From the story of the guide of the Krasnodon Museum "Young Guard" in 1992.
Dear comrades! In front of you in the picture is the father of the Hero of the Soviet Union, member of the Young Guard headquarters U. Lyana Gromova - Matvey Maksimovich Gromov. He congratulates the soldiers of the Voroshilovgrad garrison on taking the Military Oath (in the Hall of Fame of the Young Guard Museum).
You probably noticed that in the exhibition, only Uli’s father is represented in the photographs, and his mother, Matryona Savelyevna, was often sick and did not like to be photographed. But she always welcomed guests, sharing her memories and thoughts about her daughter. There were 5 children in the family, Ulya was the youngest among them. Parents' favorite.
Matvey Maksimovich lived to see old age. He was strong and healthy. He traveled literally half the country: he was actively and often invited. Young people loved Ulya, and meetings with her father were always dear to schoolchildren, students, military personnel, and working youth.
And how many meetings took place with him in Krasnodon, how many he and Matryona Savelyevna received in their own home, how many they warmed, caressed, sheltered!!!
There are many glorious pages in the biography of Matvey Maksimovich. He was born in the Poltava province in 1879. He worked hard since childhood and was a shepherd.
Served in tsarist army, participated in the Russian-Japanese and First World Wars. For courage and courage he was awarded three Orders of St. George.
During the Russo-Japanese War he fought as part of the Moscow Grenadier Regiment and had 6 wounds, 2 of them severe. Repeatedly awarded. In one of the battles he saved the regiment's banner, for which the command presented him to high award- Order of St. George (3rd, last order).
Both before the First World War and after, he went to work in Yuzovka. Here I met Matryona Savelyevna. She is from the Sorokino farm, from a large family. I experienced hardship early. She was raised by her uncle (there were no children in his family).
Matryona Savelyevna, striving for independence, went to Yuzovka, where she hired herself as a servant.
After their marriage, the Gromovs returned to Sorokino and began to settle down (their uncle gave them land plot). We lived a long life together in love and harmony. We raised good children. Only Klavdia Matveevna survived. Lives in Krasnodon, in his parents' house.
Antonina died in the 50s, Nina - before the war, Ulya died in 1943, Elisha (war participant, military pilot) died in 1979, Matryona Savelyevna - in 1968, Matvey Maksimovich - in 1975 (in aged 96 years).
One day, one of the schoolchildren, visiting Matvey Maksimovich as part of a group from the city of Kurgan, asked about Matryona Savelyevna. And the guys heard in response: “My little dove, Ulina’s mother, has died. What was it like? Can you tell me in two words? While I was alive, it seemed to me that the sun shone brighter in the sky than now. We lived next to her for more than half a century, but it all flashed by in one day. Rare generosity was my Matryona Savelyevna, a good mother to her children. Here in the village, people often remember; she left a good memory for many. In caring for others, consider her life to fly by. Ulya was very similar to her mother in both character and appearance.”
From the article "The Roots of the Young Guard's Feat"
Family of Ulyana Gromova
Most of the Young Guards came from families who, in the 20s and 30s, came to the newly opened mines of the Sorokinsky mine from different places in Russia, Ukraine, and Belarus. They were distinguished by many things: nationality and profession, way of life and family traditions. Independently of each other, they raised kind, sympathetic and decent citizens like themselves. Years will pass, and when their children grow up and die like heroes, they will be united by grief, which will not leave their lives until their last days.
A native resident of the city of Krasnodon was Ulya Gromova. She was born here, grew up, accomplished a feat and died.
The head of the family, Matvey Maksimovich, comes from the Gadyach district of the Poltava province. His father was a sailor and died when Matvey was six years old. He was raised by his grandfather, whose family could barely make ends meet, and the illiterate teenager, in order to earn a piece of bread, became a shepherd. Then active service in the army, participation in the Russian-Japanese War. He had many awards and the last one - the Order of St. George for saving the banner of his regiment.
After the war with his fellow villagers, Matvey goes to Yuzovka to earn money, where he met a Cossack woman, Matryona Timoschenkova, from the Sorokina village of Gundorovskaya village of the Don Army Region. She was born into a large family. He was raised by his father's younger brother, who had no children. Subsequently, Yakov Gavrilovich wrote off the family “estate”. The Gromovs looked after their uncle and his wife and became full owners of a log house with two living rooms, a stone residential kitchen, outbuildings, a large orchard, willow and poplar groves. Children were born here.
Matvey Maksimovich worked at a mill as a coachman, and during Soviet times - at a mine and on a state farm. The Gromovs had five children. The eldest Antonina worked in a communal farm and had the same number of children. She died in the 50s. Claudia, like Antonina, also married a local Cossack and gave birth to a son and daughter. Son Kolotovichev Viktor Stefanovich is a miner and lives on the former Gromov estate. Nina lived in Krasnodar region and died before the war.
And Elisha is a pilot, a participant in the Great Patriotic War. He lived in Lugansk, worked as a mechanic at a military airfield, and died in 1979. And the youngest Ulyana, the future heroine of the Young Guard.
Matryona Savelyevna was ill from a young age and died in 1968. Matvey Maksimovich outlived his wife by seven years. The post-war years of his life were filled with fruitful work. He was invited to the museum to meet with numerous visitors; together with the museum staff, he traveled to other cities at the invitation of pioneer squads, Komsomol youth brigades bearing the names of Ulyana Gromova. The house on Kamenka was hospitably open to many guests of our city.
From the book "Fire of Memory"
Ulyana Gromova
Laughs like the sun is shining
A girl in a chintz dress.
Well, how can you not notice this?
And how can you not fall in love with someone like that?
Anatoly Nikitenko
Nature was not stingy, giving this girl everything: beauty, intelligence, kindness and generosity. We can judge her appearance from the photograph: beautiful facial features, lush dark brown hair loosely braided, brown radiant eyes, soft gaze, femininity and dignity throughout her appearance.
External charm was wonderfully combined with a rich inner world and a wide range of interests. “She loves everything beautiful, elegant: flowers, songs, music, paintings. She has already developed firm concepts about duty, honor, morality. She is a strong-willed nature. She will not allow anyone to push her around,” (from the memoirs of school director I.A. scrapers).
Ulya was considered the best student at the school. The museum contains her certificates of commendation for the 6th and 7th grades, the book by I.D. Papanin "Life on an Ice Floe" with a dedicatory inscription teaching staff: "For excellent academic achievements and exemplary behavior", a certificate issued on June 3, 1942, in which almost all marks are "excellent".
She studies with soul, with interest, so her knowledge is wider, her understanding of phenomena is deeper than that of many of her peers. Ulyana did a great job independent work on the basics of Darwinism, clearly presented the material in the chemistry test. And essays in Russian and Ukrainian literature worthy of special praise. Decades later, these works were given highly appreciated Ukrainian writers Yuriy Zbanatsky and Dmitry Kosaryk after they got acquainted with Ulyana’s works about the poetry of Pavel Tychyna, “Haydamaky” by Taras Shevchenko, the works of Grigory Skovoroda, Ivan Karpenko-Kary, and “The Tale of Igor’s Campaign.”
“From each book, from each aphorism, she absorbed the loving power within herself, being able to reach the deep cores of the word, taking it with her on a flight to immortality” (Dm. Kosarik).
Her collections with her own commentary on folk holidays (Ivan Kupala, Carols, spring) and related ones are very interesting folk songs- carols, vesnyankas, “Kupala” songs of pagan origin.
And Vladimir Sosyura wrote about her like this:
"She loved the beauty of songs,
And I sang myself."
Ulya had an excellent command of poetic style. At the Pervomaisk school where she studied, a handwritten magazine “Young Writer” was published, in which the talented girl published her stories and short notes and reflections.
She was a permanent member literary circle, participated in reading conferences, debates, often turning into debates and arguments, evenings artistic reading. She has good diction, quiet, even, expressive voice. They listened to her.
At the meetings of the literary circle, perhaps even more than at literature lessons, she learned to read thoughtfully, to see the universal problems raised by the author, and learned moral lessons from what I read.
Several pages of Ulyana's diary entries have been preserved. The reader can judge their style. The first ones date back to 1940. Ulyana was accepted into the Komsomol, given a Komsomol card number 8928004 and given her first assignment. Ulya began to carry it out. And she wrote about her first impressions:
"March 24. Having picked up several magazines with stories and poems, at 9:30 am I went to school for the October students. To my surprise, 6 people came. I waited until half past 12, but no one else came. This made me angry, and I I sent them home...
Mischievous boys, they probably hate that I waste so much time..."
“April 5th. Today is my day with the October students, and on the other days Vera Kharitonovna-Zimina works with them extra. But again, failure. Today there is a line-up throughout the school. But still, the kids are great: today they receive the red banner. That’s why they Well done. Now they are Red Banner soldiers. We have to envy them."
“April 9. I read “The Frog the Traveler,” and not everyone listens equally and not attentively. During the entire time I came, I observed the following picture: guys in hats and clothes. I don’t know how to explain the inattention of the listeners. Probably, I don’t know how, yes This is the way to get all the guys interested. I don’t know them well yet, and I don’t have the experience to attract them.”
Gromova's notebook
Ulya started a notebook in the summer of 1939, deciding to enter in it the names of all works of fiction she read. And she read a lot, enthusiastically, voraciously, literally devouring one after another. M.Yu. Lermontov, T.G. Shevchenko, A. Blok, M. Gorky, Jack London, Goethe - everything that she has absorbed throughout her life short life, do not count. The books enriched her with knowledge, gave her food for thought, and shaped the spiritual image of the future heroine.
Registrations begin in June. Ulyana has just finished seventh grade, but has already read the novels by Ukrainian writers Andrei Golovko “Mati” and Panas Mirny “Poviya”, “ Selected works"Marko Vovchok, Shakespeare's Othello, etc.
Then the nature of the recordings changes dramatically. Transfers are becoming less and less common and are becoming shorter in volume. Now Ulyana is carried away by extracts from the works she has read. She chose what worried her most, what was in tune with her thoughts, principles, what she considered the wisdom of life.
There is no specific system in the records. She returns to some thoughts more than once, but this is not a repetition of what has already been said, but rather a deepening, development, and honing of the topic.
The records end in June 1942, but occasionally appear later, during the occupation. And, more than ever before, they very clearly define the moral position of the girl, now an underground worker, one of the youth leaders.
Here are some excerpts from the notebook:
"I read the books:
(July 1939)
"The Seal of Cain", Lapkina
"The Three Musketeers", book II, A. Dumas
"Woe from Wit", Griboyedov
"Dombey and Son", Dickens
"Cement", Gladkov
"The Leper King", P. Benoit
"Home", M. Bevan
"At the Lantern", Nikiforov
"Tenth-graders", Kopilenko
"Essays on the Bursa", Pomyalovsky.
“Love a book: it will help you sort out the motley confusion of thoughts, it will teach you to respect a person.”
Maksim Gorky.
“For a lackey there cannot be a great person, because the lackey has his own concept of greatness.”
Tolstoy L.N., vol. VIII, "War and Peace".
"Take your time while reading the book.
Read the text carefully, write down words and expressions that you do not understand, checking their meaning in a dictionary or with your teacher. Learn to highlight the most important thing in the content of the text. Write down what you especially liked in special notebooks."
“It is much easier to see heroes die than to listen to some pathetic coward scream for mercy.”
Jack London. 9.XI.1942
“Everything in a person should be beautiful: his face, his clothes, his soul, his thoughts!”
Chekhov.
"What can resist the strong will of a person? Will contains the whole soul; to want means to hate, love, regret, rejoice, live; in a word, will is the moral force of every being, the free desire to create or destroy something, creative power who creates miracles out of nothing!
M. Lermontov.
"I must be cruel
To be kind."
Hamlet.
"What does a person think when he eats and sleeps?
Is he the most valuable blessing in life?
An animal, no more.
Great is not the one who cares about the important
Reason, but who fights over a straw,
When honor is worth it as a stake."
Goethe.
“The city takes courage! Be bold and do not shy away from obstacles. A brave man can create miracles and no abysses are scary to him!”
V. Rozov. "To the invisible sun." 28.X. 1942.
Ulyana and brother Elisha
They had been friends with Elisha since childhood, although the age difference was four years. He played with her when she was little, then they went to school together, and did their homework at home at the same table. They enthusiastically read books, which they often borrowed from friends “for one night.”
Ulyana finished fifth grade when Elisha, through a special Komsomol recruitment, became a cadet at the Volsky Higher Aviation School.
Two years later, having successfully completed his studies, Elisha was assigned to Leningrad. He promised to take Ulya with him to stay with him, and if he wanted, he would go to study.
Arrived in Krasnodon on June 21, 1941. In the evening, the whole family and friends gathered, and the next morning I decided to go into the city with my sister: go to the Gorky school, where I studied in high school, wander around the park, meet friends.
Ulya put on her favorite light striped blouse - a gift from her brother, a gray Cheviot skirt with a counter pleat on the side and dark shoes with Viennese heels, and threw on a black jacket. Just in case, I grabbed a book: it was already becoming a habit - in case I had a free minute. The mood was joyful and upbeat. We talked, laughed, reminisced, made plans. When we caught up with “Photography”, we decided to go in and take a photo as a souvenir. This photo turned out to be the last for both of them. A few minutes later they heard a message that war had begun. Elisha left for his unit that same day.
He learned about the death of his sister at the front. He wrote to his parents with bitterness: “My poor old people, how can I console you in our common grief... there are no thoughts, only sadness and anger in my heart. How did it happen that they could take her away... Wasn’t it possible to hide her? . After all, you knew that these were animals. I felt that something terrible would happen. Oh, how I scolded myself for not being able to call her to me. Maybe with me she would have remained alive. Oh, Ulya, Ulya , no you, no, I won’t see you again.”
The spiritual connection, the kinship of souls turned out to be so close and close that in last hours In life, with almost the same words, Ulya turned to Elisha, scratching on the prison wall: “Farewell, my beloved brother Elya, you will not see me again...”
"Suicide Letter" by Ulyana
This is how this document appears in the archives of the Young Guard Museum. For six decades it has attracted attention with its unusualness and exclusivity. It is difficult to combine in our minds such concepts as a prison cell - and the poetic syllable born in the troubled soul of a girl prisoner, a tortured body and the calm tone in which her farewell words are written.
Ulya was an exalted, romantic person, but also strong, strong-willed and, like a child of her era, not without some fanaticism in her actions and beliefs. She behaved courageously and tried in every possible way to encourage her fighting friends with whom she was imprisoned. “We must not bend in any conditions, in any situation, but find a way out and fight,” she said. “We can arrange an escape and continue our work in freedom.” She read excerpts from “The Demon” by M.Yu. Lermontov because she was convinced (and this conviction was cultivated in her throughout her life - by school, the Komsomol, society) that a person is capable of overcoming any difficulties if only he is willing to make an effort, to show will. Enthusiasm bordering on naivety! We feel this in the suicide note. Ulyana couldn’t even imagine how much worse everything was...
The “suicide letter” has one feature that excursionists always pay attention to: it is written in someone else’s handwriting and there are several grammatical errors in the text, which contradicts our ideas about Ulyana - an intelligent, educated girl.
Yes, this is not Uli’s hand and not a photocopy of the recording. The inscription was discovered after the liberation of Krasnodon and rewritten by Vera Krotova, a friend and distant relative of Ulyana. Subsequently, Vera told how she went around all the cells in search of any evidence, looked through everything that was lying on the dirty floor, and examined the walls. Only in the third cell on the wall to the left of the door, closer to the corner, did I see something scrawled and the signature “Ulya Gromova”. “When I saw these words, I forgot about everything and rushed to run to tell my family. Then I took a pencil and paper, quickly returned to the cell and rewrote the text.”
She immediately gave this piece of paper to U. Gromova’s parents, and in 1944 they gave it to the museum for eternal storage.
Krasnodonsky Zoshit
Mikola Upenik
"Don't cry to the hero's mother!"
Suleiman Stalsky.
In the hall of the Krasnodonsky Museum
We were looking at a woman's price.
Tormented by great trouble,
with a quiet old man's walk
she left without opening the door,
led the mournful eyes -
and locked up for a year,
looking intently at the picture...
Warm and cozy woman,
weeping, bleeding eyes
watched behind a distant thunderstorm
a girl with an important braid,
Donka, unforgettable and Kokhan,
Ulyana cannot be built through torment.
And she doesn’t remember the old one
- “Demona” is avidly read.
And so as not to keep my daughter busy,
the mother came up suddenly,
said goodbye to the lower eyes
And she went without knocking the door...
So often, we were told,
enter the hall to this hall,
stand still, however,
Having cheered for your daughter, don’t cry.
Novella about Ulyana Gromova
Who goes to battle for them every day...
Dawn... Frost bound the earth, meadows, fields; The flowers withered, their delicate petals fell off, the whole world was shackled by a mournful eternity...
flashed by Black Death above all living things, only bare trees still stretch out their branches, as in a holy prayer, waiting for salvation, hoping... But only tears, blood, groans spill out like a stormy river...
She stood pale, exhausted, but with her head held high. There was nowhere to run, death had already chosen her, Ulyana Gromova. Love of life, fear, revenge were intertwined in her soul, but she was not afraid of death, she remembered her childhood, her mother, so tender and smiling. The one who gave her so many days and nights her maternal affection and love. She remembered the park with green crowns, its mysterious corners, where she loved to be alone, admiring and enjoying its splendor and coolness.
Then there was first grade... and now the certificate was in her hands. And with him so many opportunities and roads opened up, dreams kept spinning in her young head... All this passed. The black plague filled the whole world, the souls, the thoughts of people...
She must abandon her mother and father to the enemy for desecration and rush alone into this unknown and scary world, a world of hardship, wandering and struggle. She found herself in a whirlpool... Everything is changing quickly... It’s damp and dark around, she’s in a cold, dirty cell... And then the execution... “No, you won’t see my tears, you won’t hear my groans,” Gromova’s soul screamed, - not a single holy tear of a Russian person is worth you, those who are not worthy to walk on this earth, who are not destined to know love and eternity..."
And then there was a burst from a machine gun... there was fog in her eyes, her heart... broke, it became dark... but in the last moment of her life, the song of her beloved poet, the song of her life, sounded in her soul:
What people? - what is their life and work?
They have come, they will pass...
There is hope - a just trial awaits:
He can forgive, even if he condemns!
My sadness is always here,
And there will be no end for her, like for me...
Anna Basarab,
student of class 11-A of secondary school No. 1. Rovenki, Lugansk region
"Daughter of the Fatherland"
Tereshchenko L., "The Glory of Krasnodon", 1984
Ulyana Matveevna Gromova was born on January 3, 1924 in the village of Pervomaika, Krasnodon region. Growing up in a friendly working-class family, she was distinguished by crystal honesty and inner and outer beauty. Her teacher P.V. Sultan Bey recalled: “Superior to her friends in spiritual terms, Ulyana was so modest and tactful in her actions that she not only did not evoke feelings of envy and hostility, but enjoyed sincere respect and love.”
Ulya studied well, moving from class to class with a certificate of merit. Her greatest love was books. On the pages of her diary one can find excerpts from the works of Russian and foreign classics, which speak of courage and perseverance, selfless overcoming of difficulties, and the struggle for human happiness.
Ulyana Gromova's favorite poet was Taras Shevchenko. In one of her essays for the 9th grade, she wrote: “Shevchenko served the people all his life, he is not concerned about his own fate, but about the fate of his homeland and its people.”
Throughout her life, Ulyana Gromova was prepared for a feat in the name of the Motherland. IN AND. Levashov, a member of the Young Guard, wrote in his memoirs: “Ulya Gromova is very beautiful, charming girl. At the same time, brave, decisive, purposeful, strong-willed. With her authority, she attracted the children of her class, with whom she studied at the Pervomaiskaya school, to the Young Guard. Then she was included in the headquarters of the Young Guard, and the entire May Day group was subordinate to the headquarters.” This group was one of the main links of the Young Guard.
In January 1943, arrests began. On January 10, Ulyana was arrested. And on January 16, 1943, it was dumped into the pit of the N5 mine.
May Ulyana Gromova, the Hero of the Soviet Union, remain beautiful in every act, in every movement of her soul, forever in the memory of people.
Thanks for the article Natalya Malyasova
"How young you were!"
Lyudmila Shulzhenko
“...They were taken out in small batches and dumped into the pit one at a time. And everyone who could managed to say those few words that he wanted to leave to the world.”
Alexander Fadeev “Young Guard”
Here it is, the pitman of mine No. 5. The place of execution of the Krasnodon underground workers. Sloping and squat, the color of dried blood, this old waste heap. At its top, as if from the inside - from the trunk of the pit - a living winged flame - the Eternal Flame - is rushing to the sky, rushing, agitated.
Here is the platform at the foot of the waste heap, from which they walked on their last journey... Towards death? To immortality!
On this site, blown through by wormwood steppe winds, ascended memorial Complex"Unconquered." Four hard, black pylons, as if carved out of Donetsk coal - like a cross-section of the same pit with sharp rocky protrusions into which the Nazis pushed the Young Guards... Take a closer look at their tragic figures... And on the last frontier They did not submit to their short life, did not give up. In their poses there is a challenge to death, a call for sacred revenge on the executioners...
There are fresh flowers everywhere near the monument. I put my modest bouquet on the lap of one of the girls: “Happy birthday, Ulya! You and Lyuba Shevtsova are turning 60 this year. How young you were, girls! You will remain young in our loving hearts forever..."
What were they like - Heroes of the Soviet Union Ulyana Gromova and Lyubov Shevtsova? Our documentary story is about this.
“What can resist the strong will of a person...”
This is one of many entries preserved in Uli Gromova’s student notebook. There are dozens of them in the archives of the Young Guard Museum. school notebooks- extremely neat, with elegant, clear handwriting, without a single blot or mistake.
From the memoirs of the director of the Krasnodonskaya high school No. 6 Comrade Shkreba.
“Ulyasha, as her friends called her, I remember from the 4th grade. It was a girl with a serious face and clever expression eye. From year to year she moved to high school with a “Certificate of Merit.”
She was certainly a gifted person.
Superior to her friends spiritually, Ulyana was so modest and tactful in her actions that she not only did not arouse feelings of envy and hostility, but also enjoyed sincere respect and love.
The family instilled in Ole strong moral principles, the Komsomol strengthened her will, and the school gave her knowledge and skills.
Gromova Ulyana could take shape in researcher, if her life had not been brutally interrupted by the German occupiers.”
This is how the teachers saw and knew her.
But this is what her parents knew.
From the memoirs of mother Matryona Savelyevna and father Matvey Maksimovich:
Since childhood, she was afraid of frogs and therefore did not go fishing with her brother Yelya (Elisha) and his friend Kolya. She did not like to wrap herself warmly, went without a headdress until late autumn, did not like fashionable hats, and wore a black scarf and a leather helmet.
She loved to sing as soon as she got out of bed and did anything around the house; her favorite songs were “We are blacksmiths”, “Lyubushka”.
Often her older sister Antonina asked her: “What are you all singing?” Ulya answered: “It’s fun - so I’m singing!”
Yes, her family, friends and relatives knew the “girl with serious eyes” to be cheerful, mischievous, and cheerful. Her friends called her the “goddess of laughter”! And also - “star”, “light”.
Ulya loved books very much. Here is a short extract from it personal diary: “July 1939 I read the books: “The Three Musketeers” by Dumas, “Woe from Wit” by Griboyedov, “Dombey and Son” by Dickens, “Cement” by Gladkov, “Essays on the Bursa” by Pomyalovsky, “War and Peace”, “Cossacks” by Tolstoy , “Iron Stream” by Serafimovich...” And this is in one month! Ulya loved to read Pushkin, Lermontov, Shevchenko from memory for hours. You leaf through her diary, which she kept before the war as a 15-17 year old girl, and you understand: every word that Ulya carefully wrote out sprouted kind shoots in her young soul. Read it...
“It is much easier to see heroes die than to listen to some pathetic coward scream for mercy.” D. London.
"Human! It's great! It sounds proud!” M. Gorky.
“The final conclusion of earthly wisdom:
Only he is worthy of life and freedom.
Who goes to battle for them every day!” I. Goethe
And, of course... “A person’s most precious thing is life...” N. Ostrovsky “How the steel was tempered.”
This girl was certainly preparing herself for a big, honest life.
I’m leafing through a thick, completely covered notebook, “Notes on the History of U. Gromova.” The first page is the topic “Education of the RSDLP” (1901-1904). On the last one, in Ulin’s clear handwriting: “ Highest rank is the title - Hero of the Soviet Union. It was assigned... to pilots Raskova, Grizodubova, Osipenko.”
And at the bottom - half a sheet of paper (this is how schoolchildren write today) in large cheerful letters is written and drawn: “The end of the history course.” I turn this page too - here is another “secret” entry in pencil, in beady, flirty handwriting:
“My young friend, you are in love.
Your words are sad and rare.
And the heart beats like a wave.
Like a trapped bird in a cage."
"The end of the history course." There's a big one ahead adulthood, big hopes and dreams... But on June 22, 1941, one of the most bitter and heroic stages in the life of the country began. And Ole Gromova, together with her fellow Komsomol members from the underground organization “Young Guard”, had to write one of the unforgettable pages into the “course of the history of the USSR” forever.
From the memoirs of Matryona Savelyevna’s mother:
“...On July 20, 1942, our city was occupied. Many Germans moved into our apartment... The father, the eldest daughter with four children, and Ulyana went to live in a shed, where they huddled until late autumn. As soon as the Germans entered our village, Ulyasha began to walk barefoot, in a torn dress, and wore a scarf low over her eyes...”
Ulya, together with her underground comrades, carried out any of the most risky tasks: she wrote and posted anti-fascist leaflets, participated in the preparation of military operations to free Soviet prisoners of war, explosions of enemy equipment and the arson of the labor exchange.
In the first days of 1943, arrests of underground members of the Young Guard began...
“...As always, this morning I cleaned the room, even washed the floor. Then she put the water on to heat and said: “I’ll do the laundry.” And she kept walking around the room... I couldn’t stand it and, crying, said: “What do you think? The damned Tolka Popov, Demka Fomin, Lukashov, Glavan were taken away. Why are you sitting? They will take you away and torture and torment you.” She looked at me so kindly and said: “Don’t cry, mom, let them cry. We are not afraid. All is not lost yet."
That’s what she said, but I see she’s worried, then she got dressed and went somewhere. And then, in the evening, she rushed in, wandering around the room, and I said to her: “Well, you put the water on, but you disappeared for the whole day. And I’ve been waiting here, waiting, and she’ll come, I think, but she’s still not there.” “It’s okay, mom, I’ll wash it next time.” My heart began to boil again and tears welled up in my eyes. And she, looking at me, suddenly began to sing: “We are blacksmiths, and our spirit is young! We are forging the keys to happiness!..” I was completely at a loss here. Before the songs! I look at her, listen, but I can’t stop saying anything...
Then the door opened and the Germans and prisoners burst into the room.
Are you Gromova? - one asked, pointing to Ulyana. She straightened up, looked around everyone and answered loudly:
Get ready! - the policeman barked.
“Don’t yell,” Ulya said calmly. I didn’t notice then that even one feature of her face trembled. She easily and confidently put on her coat, covered her head with a scarf, put a piece of oatcake in her pocket, came up to me, and I felt her hot lips on my cheeks and forehead. Raising her head, she looked so tenderly, so warmly at me, at the table where her books lay, at the bed where she slept, at her sister’s children, who were timidly looking out from the other room, and as if silently saying goodbye to everyone, she straightened up and said firmly :
I'm ready.
This is how I will remember her for the rest of my life...”
From the memoirs of Borts Maria Andreevna about the days spent in the fascist prison in the city of Krasnodon:
“...Replenishment arrived in the cell, they brought the May Day girls... I recognized Ulyana Gromova... She was tall, slender brunette with curly hair and beautiful features... She lay down on the floor face up, put her hands under her head and began to look at one point with her black, intelligent eyes. The girls asked her to read "The Demon". She readily agreed. The cell became completely quiet. Ulyana began in a pleasant soft voice:
Sad Demon, spirit of exile.
He flew over the sinful earth.
And the best days of memories
A crowd crowded in front of him...
Suddenly a terrible scream was heard. Gromova stopped reading.
It’s starting,” she said. The moans and screams became more and more intense. There was deathly silence in the cell. This went on for several minutes. Gromova, addressing us, read:
Sons of the snows, sons of the Slavs.
Why did you lose courage?
For what? Your tyrant will die.
How all the tyrants died!
Someone sighed and said:
It's a little hard to finish off these bastards!
Nothing. - Gromova answered. - There are millions of us! Victory will still be ours!..”
From the memoirs of teacher Praskovya Vlasevna Sultan-Bey:
“...I saw the corpse of Uli Gromova... one breast was cut off, a star was carved on the back... One had his foot cut off, the other had a leg with a boot. Some guys have a star carved on their forehead, others have a star carved on their chest...”
The last lines of Uli Gromova were also found in the cell, scrawled on the prison wall in weak, uneven handwriting:
“Goodbye, mom.
Goodbye, dad.
Farewell, all my relatives.
Farewell, my beloved brother Yelya.
You won't see me again.
I dream about your engines in my dreams,
Your figure always stands out in my eyes,
My beloved brother, I am dying,
Stand stronger for your Motherland.
Goodbye.
With greetings Gromova Ulya
January 15, 43."
No, and on the day of execution he was not broken proud spirit Uli Gromovoy. She called her beloved brother Elisha to fight for the Motherland. Pilot. Secretly, she also dreamed of being a pilot: “I dream about your engines in my dreams...”. And, remember, she loved to wear a leather helmet?..
Elisha’s letter to his family dated June 4, 1943 was also preserved in the archives: “Hello, dad, mom. Only yesterday I received a letter from you... My poor old people, how can I console you in our common grief... I can’t even think of what to write, I have no thoughts. Only sadness and anger in my heart. Oh, animals, what are they doing?! What kind of revenge must be invented to repay them for the grief of our people, for the innocent blood of our fathers and mothers, sisters and brothers, small children...
I have no words... Mom, dad, can you hear me: I swear to you, I swear on the memory of my sister, I swear on my life that I will avenge her. Wherever I am, whatever I do, it will be revenge on the filthy Krauts... My life will be directed only towards this.
Ulya, Ulya, no, no, I won’t see you again. Eh, Kraut beasts, you will pay dearly for her blood, for the blood of her friends...”
This is how Elisha responded to Uli’s last greeting. And he kept his oath - he fought valiantly until Victory Day...
Ulyana Gromova was a determined, brave underground worker, distinguished by her firmness of convictions and her ability to instill confidence in others. These qualities manifested themselves with particular force during the most tragic period of her life, when in January 1943 she ended up in fascist dungeons.
Ulyana Matveevna Gromova was born on January 3, 1924 in the village of Pervomaika, Krasnodonsky district. There were five children in the family, Ulya was the youngest. Father, Matvey Maksimovich, often told children about the glory of Russian weapons, about famous military leaders, about past battles and campaigns, instilling in children pride in their people and their Motherland. Mother, Matryona Savelyevna, knew many songs, epics, and was a real folk storyteller.
In 1932, Ulyana went to first grade at Pervomaisk School No. 6. She studied excellently, moved from class to class with Certificates of Merit. “Gromova is rightfully considered the best student of the class and the school,” said the former director of secondary school No. 6 I.A. Shkreba. “Of course, she has excellent abilities, high development, but the main role belongs to work - persistent and systematic. She studies with soul, interest. Thanks to this, Gromova’s knowledge is wider, her understanding of phenomena is deeper than that of many of her fellow students.”
Ulyana read a lot, was a passionate fan of M. Yu. Lermontov and T. G. Shevchenko, A. M. Gorky and Jack London. She kept a diary where she wrote down expressions she liked from the books she had just read.
In 1939, Gromova was elected a member of the academic committee. In March 1940, she joined the Komsomol. She successfully completed her first Komsomol assignment - a counselor in a pioneer detachment. She carefully prepared for each gathering, made clippings from newspapers and magazines, and selected children's poems and stories.
Ulyana was a tenth-grader when the Great Patriotic War began. By this time, as I. A. Shkreba recalled, “she had already developed firm concepts about duty, honor, and morality. She is a strong-willed nature.” She was distinguished by a wonderful sense of friendship and collectivism. Together with her peers, Ulya worked in the collective farm fields and cared for the wounded in the hospital. In 1942 she graduated from school.
During the occupation, Anatoly Popov and Ulyana Gromova organized a patriotic group of youth in the village of Pervomaika, which became part of the Young Guard. Gromova is elected a member of the headquarters of the underground Komsomol organization. She takes an active part in preparing the military operations of the Young Guards, distributes leaflets, collects medicines, works among the population, agitating Krasnodon residents to disrupt the plans of the invaders to supply food and recruit young people to Germany.
On the eve of the 25th anniversary of the Great October Revolution, together with Anatoly Popov, Ulyana hung a red flag on the chimney of mine No. 1-bis.
Ulyana Gromova was a determined, brave underground worker, distinguished by her firmness of convictions and her ability to instill confidence in others. These qualities manifested themselves with particular force during the most tragic period of her life, when in January 1943 she ended up in fascist dungeons. As Valeria Borts’ mother, Maria Andreevna, recalls, Ulyana spoke with conviction about the fight in the cell: “We must not bend in any conditions, in any situation, but find a way out and fight. We can also fight in these conditions, we just need to be more decisive and organized ".
Ulyana Gromova behaved with dignity during interrogations, refusing to give any testimony about the activities of the underground.
"...Ulyana Gromova was hung by her hair, a five-pointed star was cut out on her back, her breasts were cut off, her body was burned with a hot iron and the wounds were sprinkled with salt, she was put on a hot stove. The torture continued for a long time and mercilessly, but she was silent. When, after the next beatings, the investigator Cherenkov asked Ulyana why she behaved so defiantly, the girl replied: “I didn’t join the organization to ask for your forgiveness later; I only regret one thing, that we didn’t have enough time to do! But never mind, perhaps the Red Army will still have time to rescue us!..." From the book by A.F. Gordeev "Feat in the Name of Life"
“Ulyana Gromova, 19 years old, a five-pointed star was carved on her back, her right arm was broken, her ribs were broken” (KGB Archives of the USSR Council of Ministers, d. 100-275, vol. 8).
She was buried in the mass grave of heroes in the central square of the city of Krasnodon.
By decree of the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet of the USSR dated September 13, 1943, Ulyana Matveevna Gromova, a member of the headquarters of the underground Komsomol organization "Young Guard", was posthumously awarded the title of Hero of the Soviet Union.
“But even when we are dead, we will live in a piece of your great happiness, because we have invested our lives in it...”
Since April 2014, the long-suffering Ukrainian Krasnodon has been under the control of the Lugansk People's Republic. In the context of military operations in Ukraine, Russians know this city as the Krasnodon center for volunteer assistance to Donbass. But 72 years ago there was already a war here, which turned this place into evidence of one of the most brutal reprisals of the German fascists against Soviet people. Krasnodon is the birthplace of the legendary “Young Guard”, which amazed the world with the indestructible fortitude and piercing heroism of its young members.
They were 16-19 years old. They distributed anti-fascist leaflets, hung red flags, blew up fascist objects, and rescued captured Soviet soldiers. They were killed with inhuman cruelty - “eyes were gouged out, breasts were cut out, genitals were cut out, and those arrested were beaten half to death with whips” (from the Special message of the People's Commissar of Internal Affairs of the Ukrainian SSR V.T. Sergienko to the Secretary of the Central Committee of the Communist Party (B) N.S. Khrushchev dated March 31 1943).
We don’t know much about what the fascists did on Ukrainian soil. Fadeev felt sorry for the readers, and Gerasimov for the viewers: neither the novel nor the film showed all the torture that the Young Guards endured. Neither paper nor film could convey what really happened in the winter of 1943 in Krasnodon...
The novel “The Young Guard” (1946) was the second most published work of children’s literature in the USSR for the years 1918-1986 (in first place was “War and Peace”). The tragic and noble story of the Young Guards, described by Alexander Fadeev, shocked the world. Soviet people They dreamed of being like the brave Krasnodon residents, vowed to avenge their death. “In the images of the Young Guards, I wanted to show the heroism of all Soviet youth, their enormous faith in victory and the rightness of our cause. Death itself - cruel, terrible in torture and torment - could not shake the spirit, will, and courage of the young men and women. They died, surprising and even frightening their enemies,” said the author of the novel “The Young Guard.”
The film "Young Guard", directed by Sergei Gerasimov based on the novel by Fadeev, became the leader at the box office in 1948, and the leading actors - no one famous students VGIK Vladimir Ivanov, Inna Makarova, Nonna Mordyukova, Sergey Gurzo and others - immediately received the title of laureate Stalin Prize. The scene of the execution of the Young Guard at the end of the film was filmed in Krasnodon - near the pit where real young underground fighters were shot. Local residents gathered to film this scene, including those who personally knew the guys and their surviving relatives. They say that when Vladimir Ivanov, who played Oleg Koshevoy, made his dying speech, some of the parents of the Young Guard members fainted.…
The website “Young Guard: Dedicated to the Heroes of Krasnodon” (www.molodguard.ru), created in 2004 by patriot Dmitry Shcherbinin, contains a collection of miraculously preserved unique photos and documents related to the activities and execution of members of the underground Komsomol organization. When looking at the transcripts of the testimony of policemen and interpreters who were present at the fascist interrogations, you close your eyes from the inability to accept information about the inhuman suffering that the Krasnodon boys endured.…
Ulyana Gromova, 19 years old
“A five-pointed star is carved on the back, the right arm is broken, the ribs are broken” (KGB Archives of the USSR Council of Ministers). “Ulyana Gromova was hung up by her hair, a five-pointed star was cut out on her back, her breasts were cut off, her body was burned with a hot iron, her wounds were sprinkled with salt, and she was placed on a hot stove. The torture continued for a long time and mercilessly, but she was silent...” (From the book by A.F. Gordeev “Feat in the Name of Life”, Dnepropetrovsk, 2000)
Lyuba Shevtsova, 18 years old
“The girl was beaten, then she was thrown into a cold cell. Lyuba’s strong-willed disposition, cheerfulness and composure infuriated the fascists. Exhausted, she still found the strength to sing songs in her cell and encourage her comrades” (Document from the archives of the Moscow School Museum No. 312). “After a month of torture, she was shot in the Thunderous Forest near the city along with Oleg Koshev, Semyon Ostapenko, Dmitry Ogurtsov and Viktor Subbotin.” “Several stars were carved on Lyuba Shevtsova’s body, her face was disfigured by an explosive bullet. Semyon Ostapenko’s skull was crushed by a blow from a rifle butt, Viktor Subbotin’s limbs were twisted, Oleg Koshevoy’s eye was gouged out, and there were traces of blows on his face” (From the book by P.F. Dontsov “ Memorial Museum“In memory of the dead”: a guide”, Donetsk, 1987).
Angelina Samoshina, 18 years old
“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).
Maya Peglivanova, 17 years old
“Maya’s corpse was disfigured: her breasts were cut off, her legs were broken. All outer clothing has been removed” (RGASPI. F. M-1. Op. 53. D. 331). “She was lying in a coffin without lips, with her arms twisted.”
Serezha Tyulenin, 17 years old
“On January 27, 1943, Sergei was arrested. Soon they took my father and mother and confiscated all my things. The police severely tortured Sergei in the presence of his mother, confronted him with a member of the Young Guard, Viktor Lukyanchenko, but they did not recognize each other... On January 31, Sergei was tortured for the last time, and then he, half-dead, was taken to the pit with other comrades mine No. 5..." "At the end of January 1943, Solikovsky and Zakharov brought Sergei for another interrogation. According to former police investigator Cherenkov, “he was mutilated beyond recognition, his face was covered in bruises and swollen, and blood was oozing from open wounds. Three Germans immediately entered and after them Burgardt (translator) appeared, summoned by Solikovsky. One German asked Solikovsky who the man was who was beaten like that. Solikovsky explained. The German, like an angry tiger, knocked Sergei off his feet with a blow of his fist and began to torment his body with forged German boots. With terrible force he struck him in the stomach, back, face, trampled and tore his clothes and body into pieces. At the beginning of this terrible execution, Tyulenin showed signs of life, but soon he fell silent, and he was dragged dead from the office. Usachev was present at this terrible massacre of a defenseless young man.” Tyulenin’s extraordinary stamina, fearlessness and endurance infuriated the Nazis and made them feel powerless and confused. Former boss Krasnodon gendarme post Otto Shen admitted during the investigation that “Tyulenin behaved with dignity during interrogation, and we were surprised how such a strong will could be developed in a still young man. Apparently, contempt for death gave rise to strength of character in him. During the torture, he did not utter a word about mercy and did not betray any of the Young Guards” (From the book “Feat in the Name of Life” by A.F. Gordeev, Dnepropetrovsk, 2000).
Evgeny Shepelev, 19 years old
“...Evgeniy’s hands were cut off, his stomach was torn out, his head was broken...” (RGASPI. F. M-1. Op. 53. D. 331)
Oleg Koshevoy, 16 years old
“My son Oleg,” Elena Nikolaevna Koshevaya wrote in her “Letter to Youth,” published in the Rovenkovo regional newspaper “Forward,” “the Nazis smashed the back of his head, pierced his cheek with a bayonet, and knocked out his eye. And the head of the 17-year-old boy was white with gray hair from the horrors suffered by the Gestapo" (From the book by P.F. Dontsov, “Memorial Museum “In Memory of the Victims”: a guide,” Donetsk, 1987).
Volodya Zhdanov, 17 years old
“He was extracted with a laceration in the left temporal region, his fingers were broken and twisted, there were bruises under the nails, two strips three centimeters wide and twenty-five centimeters long were cut out on his back, his eyes were gouged out and his ears were cut off” (Young Guard Museum, f. 1, d 36).
Klava Kovaleva, 17 years old
“The right breast was pulled out swollen, the right breast was cut off, the feet were burned, the right breast was cut off left hand, head tied with a scarf, traces of beatings are visible on the body. Found ten meters from the trunk, between the trolleys, she was probably thrown alive” (Young Guard Museum, f. 1, no. 10).
Lida Androsova, 18 years old
“She was taken out without an eye, an ear, a hand, with a rope around her neck, which cut heavily into the body. You can see baked blood on the neck” (Young Guard Museum, f. 1, no. 16).
Ivan Zemnukhov, 19 years old
“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, his eyelids were very inflamed. There are abrasions and bruises on the face. All of Vanya’s clothes were covered in blood, the shirt on his back was stuck to his body, and blood was seeping through it” (From the memoirs of Maria Borts, case materials No. 20056, FSB archive). “Trying to learn something from him, they tortured him: they hung him by his legs from the ceiling and left him, he lost consciousness. They drove shoe needles under the nails” (From the memoirs of Nina Zemnukhova, case materials No. 20056, FSB archive).
We are not publishing these lines to tickle your nerves. Many modern Russians need the truth about German fascism as a vaccine against indifference and connivance. This truth is especially relevant now - against the backdrop of revived Nazism in neighboring Ukraine, terrifying torchlight processions, and slogans “Bandera is a hero!” and “Ukraine above all”, burning people alive in Odessa... It’s unlikely that today’s 18-20 year old Kyiv neo-fascists, the same age as their brutally tortured fellow countrymen, have read the “Young Guard” and heard the details of their brutal execution.
Alas, the famous words of the German philosopher Immanuel Kant: “Two things always fill the soul with new and ever stronger wonder and awe, the more often and longer we reflect on them - this is the starry sky above me and the moral law in me” and “Do this, so that you always treat humanity, both in your own person and in the person of everyone else, just as an end, and never treat it only as a means” - and did not become a moral imperative either for the German fascists of the last century, or especially for the neo-fascists of modern Europe.
On the monument to the Young Guards in the Thundering Forest in Rovenki, the famous words of Julius Fucik are carved: “But even the dead we will live in a particle of your great happiness, because we have invested our lives in it...”. Will we maintain our great happiness in the turbulent and treacherous 21st century?
Prepared by Erbina Nikitina.
Ulyana Matveevna Gromova(January 3, 1924, Pervomaika village, Krasnodon district, Voroshilovgrad region - January 16, 1943, Krasnodon) - member of the headquarters of the organization " Young guard
Ulyana Gromova in 1940 Date of birth:
Place of Birth:
Pervomaika village, Lugansk district, Donetsk province, Ukrainian SSR, USSR
Citizenship:
Date of death:
A place of death:
Krasnodon, Voroshilovgrad region
Awards and prizes:
Ulyana Matveevna Gromova was born on January 3, 1924 in the village of Pervomaika, Krasnodon region. There were five children in the family, Ulya was the youngest. In 1932, Ulyana went to first grade at Pervomaisk School No. 6. She studied excellently, moved from class to class with certificates of commendation.
In March 1940, she joined the Komsomol. I was in tenth grade when the Great Patriotic War began. Together with her peers, Ulyana worked in the collective farm fields and cared for the wounded in the hospital.
In 1942 she graduated from school.
Has awards: Hero of the SOVIET UNION, Order of Lenin, Partisan Medal Patriotic War 1st degree.
During the occupation, Anatoly Popov and Ulyana Gromova organized a patriotic group of youth in the village of Pervomaika, which became part of the “Young Guard”. Gromova was elected a member of the headquarters of the underground Komsomol organization. She took part in the preparation of military operations, distributed leaflets, collected medicines, and campaigned among the population, calling for thwarting the plans of the invaders to supply food and recruit young people to Germany. On the eve of the 25th anniversary of the October Revolution, together with Anatoly Popov, Ulyana hung a red flag on the mine chimney.
In January 1943, she was arrested by the Gestapo. During interrogations, she refused to give any testimony about the activities of the underground. After torture on January 16, 1943, she was executed and thrown into the pit of mine No. 5:
“Ulyana Gromova, 19 years old, a five-pointed star was carved on her back, her right arm was broken, her ribs were broken.”
(KGB Archive under the USSR Council of Ministers, d. 100−275, vol. 8).
She was buried in the mass grave of heroes in the central square of the city of Krasnodon, where a memorial complex “ Young guard».
- By decree of the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet of the USSR dated September 13, 1943, Ulyana Matveevna Gromova, a member of the headquarters of the underground Komsomol organization “Young Guard”, was posthumously awarded the title of Hero of the Soviet Union.
- The order of Lenin
- Medal "Partisan of the Patriotic War" 1st degree
- The novel “The Young Guard” by A. A. Fadeev is dedicated to the feat of the “Young Guards”, where she became the prototype of the character of the same name.
- In 1948, in the film “The Young Guard” based on the novel of the same name, the role of Ulyana Gromova was played by Nonna Mordyukova.
- In honor of Ulyana Gromova, monuments were erected in many cities of the former Soviet Union, streets and a motor ship were named after her.
Heroes of the Young Guard: Ulyana Gromova, Ivan Zemnukhov, Oleg Koshevoy, Sergei Tyulenin, Lyubov Shevtsova