Zina Portnova

On the assignment of a partisan detachment, Zina got a job in a German canteen as a dishwasher. She was instructed to put poison in the food. It was very difficult, as the German cook did not trust her. But one day he went away for a while, and Zina was able to fulfill her plan. By evening many of the officers were feeling ill. Zina was called in for questioning, but she denied everything. Then Zina was forced to taste the food. Zina knew perfectly well that the soup was poisoned, but not a single muscle on her face did not tremble. Calmly she took her spoon and began to eat. Zina was released. By evening she ran away to her grandmother, from where she was urgently transported to the detachment, where she was given the necessary help.

…It was December, 1943. Zina was returning from a mission. In the village of Mostishche she was betrayed by a traitor. The fascists seized the young partisan, tortured her. They burned her with iron, cut off her ears, twisted her hands and crushed her fingers. The answer to the enemy was Zina’s silence, her contempt and hatred, her determination to fight to the end. During one of the interrogations, having chosen a moment, Zina grabbed a pistol from the table and shot the Gestapo officer at point-blank range. The officer who ran in at the shot was also shot dead. Zina tried to escape, but the Nazis caught up with her …

She was completely gray from the agony she had suffered. Bloody tears poured from her gouged out eyes as she was led barefoot through the snow to be shot.

On January 10, 1944 on the square near the Polotsk prison, the Germans shot Zina Portnova. The heroic underground fighter was only one month away from her 18th birthday. She waited for death and accepted it with dignity, not breaking down, remaining faithful to herself and the motherland until her last breath. Zina Portnova is worthy of eternal memory and honor.