Inessa (Ina) Alexandrovna Konstantinova (; 1924–1944) was a wartime

Soviet The Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR), commonly known as the Soviet Union, was a List of former transcontinental countries#Since 1700, transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 until Dissolution of the Soviet ...

diarist A diary is a writing, written or audiovisual Memorabilia, memorable record, with discrete entries arranged by Calendar date, date reporting on what has happened over the course of a day or other period. Diaries have traditionally been handwriti ...

and

partisan Partisan(s) or The Partisan(s) may refer to: Military * Partisan (military), paramilitary forces engaged behind the front line ** Francs-tireurs et partisans, communist-led French anti-fascist resistance against Nazi Germany during WWII ** Ital ...

, killed as a 20-year-old during

Nazi Germany Nazi Germany, officially known as the German Reich and later the Greater German Reich, was the German Reich, German state between 1933 and 1945, when Adolf Hitler and the Nazi Party controlled the country, transforming it into a Totalit ...

's operations in the Soviet Union during

World War II World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...

in 1944.

Biography

Born in the village of Kiverichi in

Tver Oblast Tver Oblast (, ) is a federal subject of Russia (an oblast). Its administrative center is the city of Tver. From 1935 to 1990, it was known as Kalinin Oblast (). Population: Tver Oblast is a region of lakes, such as Seliger and Brosno. Much o ...

in 1924, Ina Konstantinova grew up near the northeastern

Russia Russia, or the Russian Federation, is a country spanning Eastern Europe and North Asia. It is the list of countries and dependencies by area, largest country in the world, and extends across Time in Russia, eleven time zones, sharing Borders ...

n town of Kashin with her parents and sister.Holliday, Laurel. ''Why Do They Hate Me?: Young Lives Caught in War and Conflict''. New York: Simon and Schuster, 1999. , . P. 88. She was a sixteen-year-old

Komsomol The All-Union Leninist Young Communist League, usually known as Komsomol, was a political youth organization in the Soviet Union. It is sometimes described as the youth division of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union (CPSU), although it w ...

member and student at the beginning of the

Nazi German Nazi Germany, officially known as the German Reich and later the Greater German Reich, was the German state between 1933 and 1945, when Adolf Hitler and the Nazi Party controlled the country, transforming it into a totalitarian dictat ...

invasion of the Soviet Union in 1941."Константинова Инесса Александровна (1924–44)
("Konstantinova Inessa Alexandrovna (1922–44)"). ''Энциклопедический Справочник "Тверская Область"'' (''Tver Oblast Encyclopedic Directory''). 2009. Retrieved 11 December 2009. Still too young to fight in the military in the first days of the attack in the summer of 1941, Konstantinova joined a voluntary aid detachment and helped assist wounded people with the district committee of the

Red Cross The organized International Red Cross and Red Crescent Movement is a Humanitarianism, humanitarian movement with approximately 16million volunteering, volunteers, members, and staff worldwide. It was founded to protect human life and health, to ...

.Werner, Emmy E. ''Through the Eyes of Innocents: Children Witness World War II''. Boulder, Colorado: Westview Press, 2001. , . P. 36. Secretly leaving her parents' home at age 17 and proceeding towards

Moscow Moscow is the Capital city, capital and List of cities and towns in Russia by population, largest city of Russia, standing on the Moskva (river), Moskva River in Central Russia. It has a population estimated at over 13 million residents with ...

to join the partisans as a saboteur, Konstantinova joined the 2nd Kalinin Partisan Brigade of the 1st Kalinin Partisan Corps in July 1942. Glantz, David M. "Women in War: The Red Army's Experience". ''The Journal of Slavic Military Studies'' 12.1 (March 1999): 208–212. Working among the partisans a reconnaissance scout for the brigade for the remaining years of her life during, Konstaninova would be sent behind enemy lines several times. She was awarded the

Medal "Partisan of the Patriotic War" A medal or medallion is a small portable artistic object, a thin disc, normally of metal, carrying a design, usually on both sides. They typically have a commemorative purpose of some kind, and many are presented as awards. They may be in ...

2nd class in 1943. Konstantinova perished on 4 March 1944, when, covering the retreat of her comrades away from an ambushed dugout in the course of a partisan reconnaissance operation with her

submachine gun A submachine gun (SMG) is a magazine (firearms), magazine-fed automatic firearm, automatic carbine designed to fire handgun cartridges. The term "submachine gun" was coined by John T. Thompson, the inventor of the Thompson submachine gun, to descri ...

firing, she was killed in a skirmish with an advancing German unit near the village of Lukyanovo (present-day

Pskov Oblast Pskov Oblast () is a federal subjects of Russia, federal subject of Russia (an oblast), located in the west of the country. Its administrative center is the Classification of inhabited localities in Russia, city of Pskov. As of the Russian Census ...

).Werner, Emmy E. ''Through the Eyes of Innocents: Children Witness World War II''. Boulder, Colorado: Westview Press, 2001. , . P. 37. Her corpse was located under a pine tree close to the scene the following day. Throughout the war, Konstantinova maintained a diary she had started as a teenager prior to the invasion. Her diary entries and letters were posthumously published in the

Russian language Russian is an East Slavic languages, East Slavic language belonging to the Balto-Slavic languages, Balto-Slavic branch of the Indo-European languages, Indo-European language family. It is one of the four extant East Slavic languages, and is ...

in 1947 and subsequently translated into various languages for publication outside the Soviet Union. Her remains were reburied in the town of Kashin in 1949, where a street was also named after her in 1970.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Konstantinova, Ina Alexandrovna 1924 births 1944 deaths People from Rameshkovsky District Soviet female resistance members 20th-century Russian diarists Russian women diarists Russian people of World War II Soviet non-fiction writers Soviet women writers Soviet writers Soviet civilians killed in World War II 20th-century Russian women writers 20th-century Russian writers Women diarists Resistance members killed by Nazi Germany Soviet diarists