20 Facts About Zoya Kosmodemyanskaya

Zoya Kosmodemyanskaya was executed after acts of sabotage against the invading armies of Nazi Germany.

Zoya Kosmodemyanskaya became one of the most revered heroines of the Soviet Union.

Zoya Anatolyevna Kosmodemyanskaya was born in September 13,1923 in the village of Osino-Gay, near the city of Tambov.

Zoya Kosmodemyanskaya's mother, Lyubov Kosmodemyanskaya, was a school teacher.

Zoya Kosmodemyanskaya was assigned to the partisan unit 9903.

On November 27,1941, Zoya Kosmodemyanskaya received an assignment to burn the village of Petrishchevo, where a German cavalry regiment was stationed.

Zoya Kosmodemyanskaya, having missed her comrades and left alone, decided to return to Petrishchevo and continue the arson campaign.

The story of Zoya Kosmodemyanskaya's death became popular after Pravda published an article written by Pyotr Lidov on January 27,1942.

Zoya Kosmodemyanskaya proclaimed: "Here is the people's heroine", which started a propaganda campaign honouring Kosmodemyanskaya.

The Komsomol and educational system introduced young people to Zoya Kosmodemyanskaya through organized museum visits, presenta- tions and politically correct readings.

Zoya Kosmodemyanskaya quickly became the most revered Soviet heroine, and numerous Soviet public monuments to her were commissioned, in a top-down manner.

Zoya Kosmodemyanskaya was referred to in the film Girl No 217, which depicted atrocities committed against Soviet prisoners of war by the Nazis.

Zoya Kosmodemyanskaya's image was used frequently in anti-German propaganda which encouraged violence against the German occupying forces.

Zoya Kosmodemyanskaya's portrait became a part of ceremonial procedures of commemoration performed by pioneers, and was used as a symbol of the highest distinction awarded to the best class in school.

Zoya Kosmodemyanskaya chose the name because he had read about Kosmodemyanskaya while studying at Yangon University and saw several parallels between the Karen resistance against the Burmese government and the Soviet resistance against the Nazis in Europe.

Zoya Kosmodemyanskaya's life became a subject of media controversy during the 1990s.

The Argumenty i Fakty articles prompted a response from Pravda observer Viktor Kozhemyaka in the form of an article titled "Fifty years after her death Zoya Kosmodemyanskaya is tortured and executed again".

Ten years later, Kozhemyaka wrote another article "Zoya Kosmodemyanskaya is executed yet again", in which he lamented some "absurd material" on Internet discussion forums, which alleged that Zoya Kosmodemyanskaya had hurt Russian peasants rather than German troops, that she had schizophrenia, and that she was a fanatical Stalinist.

The protocols stated that Zoya Kosmodemyanskaya was caught while trying to destroy a stable containing more than 300 German horses.

Zoya Kosmodemyanskaya performed her task too, and three columns of flame in the southern part of Petrishchevo were seen from the base.