Vera Danilovna Voloshina (; 30 September 1919 29 November 1941) was a Russian partisan who after joining the

Red Army The Workers' and Peasants' Red Army, often shortened to the Red Army, was the army and air force of the Russian Soviet Republic and, from 1922, the Soviet Union. The army was established in January 1918 by a decree of the Council of People ...

took part in subversive activities against the

Nazis Nazism (), formally named National Socialism (NS; , ), is the far-right politics, far-right Totalitarianism, totalitarian socio-political ideology and practices associated with Adolf Hitler and the Nazi Party (NSDAP) in Germany. During H ...

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 ...

. After being ambushed by the Germans in November 1941, she was brutally hanged near the village of Golovkovo in the

Naro-Fominsky District Naro-Fominsky District () is an administrativeLaw #11/2013-OZ and municipalLaw #72/2005-OZ district (raion), one of the thirty-six in Moscow Oblast, Russia. It is located in the southwest of the oblast. The area of the district is . Its administra ...

to the southwest of

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 ...

. According to legend, she was also the model behind

Ivan Shadr Ivan Shadr (), pseudonym of Ivan Dmitriyevich Ivanov (; — 3 April 1941) was a Russian/Soviet sculptor and medalist who took his pseudonym after his hometown of Shadrinsk. Biography Ivan Ivanov was born on , in , Chelyabinsky Uyezd, Or ...

's '' Girl with an Oar'' sculpture in Moscow's Gorky Park. In 1994, Voloshina was honoured posthumously as a Heroine of the Russian Federation.

Biography

The daughter of a miner and a

schoolteacher A teacher, also called a schoolteacher or formally an educator, is a person who helps students to acquire knowledge, competence, or virtue, via the practice of teaching. ''Informally'' the role of teacher may be taken on by anyone (e.g. w ...

, Vera Voloshina was born in the Siberian city of

Kemerovo Kemerovo ( rus, Ке́мерово, p=ˈkʲemʲɪrəvə) is an industrial types of inhabited localities in Russia, city and the administrative center of Kemerovo Oblast, Russia, located at the confluence of the Iskitimka River, Iskitimka and Tom ...

on 30 September 1919. After doing well in sports at school there, she moved to

after the tenth grade. From 1936, she studied at the State Institute of Physical Education. While in Moscow, she attended the Aero Club where she practised parachute jumping and piloted a

Polikarpov I-153 The Polikarpov I-153 ''Chaika'' () is a late 1930s Soviet sesquiplane fighter. Developed from the I-15 with a retractable undercarriage, the I-153 fought in the Soviet-Japanese combats in Mongolia and was one of the major Soviet fighter types ...

fighter plane. She attempted unsuccessfully to go to Spain to fight in the

Spanish Civil War The Spanish Civil War () was a military conflict fought from 1936 to 1939 between the Republican faction (Spanish Civil War), Republicans and the Nationalist faction (Spanish Civil War), Nationalists. Republicans were loyal to the Left-wing p ...

. According to several accounts, the Soviet sculptor Ivan Shadr persuaded Voloshina to pose as a model for his 12-meter nude statue of the '' Girl with an Oar'' which was unveiled in Gorky Park in 1935. Voloshina began to train at a sports institute but had to leave after experiencing serious health problems. Instead, she joined the Institute of Cooperation, completing her third year in 1941 before the outbreak of

. In the summer of 1941, she helped to dig trenches and anti-tank ditches around Moscow. On joining the Red Army, she was assigned to Unit 9903 of the intelligence division, operating behind the German lines. After participating in several successful raids, she was involved in sabotage work on the front when she was seriously injured near

Naro-Fominsk Naro-Fominsk () is a town and the administrative center of Naro-Fominsky District in Moscow Oblast, Russia, located on the Nara River, southwest from Moscow. History The Fominskoye village was first mentioned in Russian chronicles under the ...

and taken by the enemy on 21 November 1941. On 29 November, she was hanged by the Germans at Golovkovo Farm. Local residents later reported that she had acted defiantly before her hanging, singing ''

The Internationale "The Internationale" is an international anthem that has been adopted as the anthem of various anarchist, communist, socialist, democratic socialist, and social democratic movements. It has been a standard of the socialist movement since ...

'' and shouting "Farewell, comrades" before she died. Her body was retrieved by the Soviets a week later, after the Germans had retreated. She was finally buried in a mass grave in Kryukovo.

Awards

In connection with the 25th anniversary of the

Battle of Moscow The Battle of Moscow was a military campaign that consisted of two periods of strategically significant fighting on a sector of the Eastern Front during World War II, between October 1941 and January 1942. The Soviet defensive effort frustrated H ...

, she was posthumously awarded the Order of the Patriotic War, 1st class which was presented to her mother in the

Kremlin The Moscow Kremlin (also the Kremlin) is a fortified complex in Moscow, Russia. Located in the centre of the country's capital city, the Moscow Kremlin (fortification), Kremlin comprises five palaces, four cathedrals, and the enclosing Mosco ...

. In 1994, by decree of the

President of the Russian Federation The president of Russia, officially the president of the Russian Federation (), is the executive head of state of Russia. The president is the chair of the Federal State Council and the supreme commander-in-chief of the Russian Armed Forces. I ...

, she was honoured with the title of Heroine of the Russian Federation.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Voloshina, Vera 1919 births 1941 deaths Military personnel from Moscow Heroes of the Russian Federation Soviet female resistance members Soviet military personnel killed in World War II Resistance members killed by Nazi Germany People executed by Nazi Germany by hanging

Biography

Awards

See also

References