80 Years on From Execution of Anti-Fascist 'Young Guard' Members

The Young Guard was created in the fall of 1942 during the Nazi occupation of Krasnodon. It began by hoisting red flags in the city on the anniversary of the October Revolution, but quickly moved on to more decisive actions.

Already in early December, the organization set fire to the Nazi "Public employment service" - a building where lists of young people destined for work in Nazi labor camps were stored. In doing so, the Young Guard saved thousands of men and women from de facto slavery.

The Young Guard later began to collect weapons and achieved considerable success in this. However, in early 1943, German counterintelligence uncovered the organization. Young people were subjected to terrible torture and thrown into the mine, where they died in agony.

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Reproduction of portraits of leaders of the covert Komsomol organization Young Guard that waged underground war against the Nazis.

Top row from left to right: Oleg Koshevoy, Philip Petrovich Lyutikov, Ulyana Gromova. In the bottom row from left to right: Sergey Tyulenin, Lyubov Shevtsova, Ivan Zemnukhov.

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Reproduction of a "Krasnodontsy" painting by Pavel Petrovich Sokolov-Skal. Canvas, oil. 1948. At the dawn of this organization stood one young man - Sergey Tyulenin - who started to gather weapons for resistance.

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Oleg Koshevoy was one of the masterminds of the organization, probably its commissar, however historians are not sure.

Above: Sculptural portrait of the Hero of the Soviet Union Oleg Koshevoy by sculptors Vera Mukhina, Vasily Agibalov and Vasily Fedchenko. All-Union Art Exhibition.

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A shot from the film "The Young Guard", directed by Sergei Gerasimov (M. Gorky Film Studio, 1948). The members of the organization were indeed young - more than half of them didn`t reach 19.

Actors (from left to right) Nonna Mordyukova as Ulyana Gromova, Sergei Gurzo as Sergei Tyulenin, Inna Makarova as Lyubov Shevtsova, Georgy Yumatov as Anatoly Popov.

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A still from the film "The Young Guard", filmed at the Gorky Moscow Film Studio (now the Gorky Central Film Studio for Children and Youth Films). Reproduction, 1948. In total, the covert organization consisted of 47 boys and 24 girls.

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The shaft where the Nazis executed members of the "Young Guard". Five days after execution, the town was liberated by the Red Army.

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The funeral of the members of the "Young Guard". In fact, not every first member of the organization died. Some of them managed to escape and survive. Later they fought by the Nazis.

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Anastasia Ivanovna Zemnukhova is the mother of Ivan Zemnukhov, a member of the underground anti-fascist organization the Young Guard.

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Alexander Fadeev's novel "Young Guard" was published in different languages .

Fadeev was a prominent Soviet writer, who worked to preserve the memory of the heroism and tragedy of the members of the Young Guard. Fragment of the exposition of the Museum "Young Guard".

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A coat of one of the founders of the Young Guard Sergei Tyulenin in the Krasnodon Museum. Sergei Tyulenin acted even before the Young Guard was established. He began by setting public bathrooms for Nazis on fire.

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