Zemnukhov Ivan Alexandrovich was one of the leaders of the "Young Guard" - an underground organization in the Ukrainian town of Krasnodon, which stood up to defend the Motherland during the years of fascist occupation. The underground included more than 70 people: 24 girls and 47 boys. Reasonable Zemnukhov was the chief of staff of the organization. After the failure, he was captured by the Nazis and executed along with other underground workers: he was thrown into the pit of mine No. 5.
Awarded the title of Hero of the Soviet Union (posthumously).
Zemnukhov's biography
Zemnukhov Ivan Aleksandrovich, whose biography includes only less than twenty years, was born on September 8, 1923 in the Ryazan village of Illarionovka into a poor peasant family. I had to study in the neighboring village of Olkha.
In 1932, the Zemnukhovs moved to the Donbass in the village of Sorokino. In 1938 the settlement was renamed Krasnodon. Here Vanya continued his studies at school No. 1, which bore the name of Gorky.
At school, Zemnukhov was the leader amongKomsomol members: he was elected secretary of the school organization of young communists. He patronized the pioneers of the school, was a pioneer leader. Participated in a literary circle, was its headman. For his erudition, the maturity of his judgments, his comrades called Zemnukhov a professor. According to the teacher Daniil Alekseevich Saplin, the young man bowed before Pushkin, Lermontov, even wrote poetry.
In 1941, Ivan graduated from the 10th grade. And then there was a war.
Donbass under occupation
The outbreak of war crossed out all Zemnukhov's plans: the young man wanted to be a lawyer, he even entered courses in the direction of the district committee of the Komsomol, but he did not have to finish them. This ended his peaceful biography: Ivan Zemnukhov stood up to defend the Fatherland. True, he was not taken to the front for he alth reasons (poor eyesight). In the direction of the district committee of the Komsomol, the young man participates in the activities of the commission for school work under the Komsomol committee.
The Nazis entered Krasnodon on July 20, 1942. From the moment of the occupation, Zemnukhov Ivan Alexandrovich joined the Young Guard, a Komsomol underground organization whose goal was to fight the invaders.
Young Guard
In the very first days of the arrival of the Nazis in Krasnodon, leaflets appeared on the walls of houses and posters of the town, a bathhouse burned down, which was planned as a barracks for Wehrmacht soldiers. It was the work of Sergei Tyulenin, who single-handedly began the fight against the invaders. Then 8 more people joined him. But two weeks later, the Krasnodon underground numbered 25 people. But these were unrelated groups. And only on September 30Komsomol members decided to create a detachment and its headquarters.
Ivan Alexandrovich Zemnukhov, Vasily Levashov, Georgy Arutyunyants and Sergey Tyulenin joined the headquarters, Zemnukhov was elected head. Later, Koshevoy Oleg, Gromova Ulyana, Turkenich Ivan and Shevtsova Lyubov became members of the headquarters.
The beginning of October 1942 was the time of the formation of a single organization that united scattered groups of young anti-fascists.
The "Young Guard" began to act in an organized and purposeful manner.
Chief of Staff
In addition to the leadership of the headquarters, Zemnukhov Ivan Aleksandrovich was responsible for conspiracy theories and the development of ciphers. The level of his work can be judged by the fact that for several months the Nazis could not attack the trail of the Young Guards, although the underground worked, as they say, under the noses of the Nazis.
Together with Ivan Turkenich and Oleg Koshevoy, Zemnukhov develops operations and often participates in them. The following did not take place without his participation: the arson of the labor exchange, the hanging of red flags on the twenty-fifth anniversary of the October Revolution, the release of Soviet citizens, etc.
Also, under his leadership, an underground printing house was organized, in which he took part, compiling the texts of leaflets. He compiled the text of the Young Guard oath.
At the end of 1942, Zemnukhov managed to get permission from the Germans to open a club named after him. A. M. Gorky, in which he begins to work as an administrator. The new position allows him, as chief of staff, to assemble groupsunderground to discuss plans of operations. All this was done under the guise of working with participants in amateur art activities, in whose circles there were many underground workers.
At its core, the club was the headquarters for young underground workers.
Love and War
A lot has been written about the Young Guard: well and accurately, with a certain bias (good and not so good). For the Soviet youth, the Young Guards were an example of patriotism, a kind of ideological pillar. But for some reason they are little represented as ordinary people to whom nothing was alien, including love.
Vanya Zemnukhov's chosen one was Klava Kovaleva. She was also a well-read girl with a strong will. In the summer of 1941, Klava got a job as a telephone operator in the Krasnodon fire department No. 1. Zemnukhov always accompanied Kovaleva to duty and met her after the shift.
With the advent of the invaders in Krasnodon and the emergence of an underground organization, the young man recommends his girlfriend to the "Young Guard". Claudia helps Ivan Zemnukhov write and distribute leaflets, organizes a combat group in one of the nearby villages.
After the arrest of Tretyakevich and Moshkov, the Nazis attacked Klavdiya Kovaleva. Vanya Zemnukhov was already in the Nazi dungeons.
There was no limit to the bullying of the sadists: the girl's feet were burned, her breasts were cut out, as a result of the beatings, Klava's body swelled beyond recognition. But the girl never admitted that she knew Ivan.
They stepped together into the pit of mine 5, supporting each other in this last minute for them.
Stepped into immortality
The first day of 1943 was a day of failure for the underground organization: Tretyakevich Viktor and Moshkov Evgeny were arrested.
Zemnukhov Ivan Alexandrovich, having learned about the arrest of his comrades, tried to help them out, but was captured by the police. Without knowing it, the Nazis hit exactly in the heart of the Young Guard.
The remaining members of the headquarters ordered all underground workers to immediately leave Krasnodon, but many did not comply with this order (only ten underground workers managed to escape). Gennady Pocheptsov from the Pervomaika group, having learned about the failure, turned himself in and told the Nazis about the existence of the Young Guard. Massive arrests rolled in.
From the memoirs of mother Valeria Borts, it is known that the Nazis paid special attention to Ivan Zemnukhov and Viktor Tretyakevich: they beat him daily with whips, hung him up on his hind legs, and took him out into the cold, where the beatings continued. During one of the interrogations, the brutalized fascist henchman Solikovsky broke the young man's glasses, the fragments pierced his eyes.
On the night of January 15-16, 1943, the execution of the first group of young guards took place. Among them was the blind Ivan Zemnukhov. The whole group was thrown by the executioners into the abandoned shaft of mine No. 5.
Eternal Glory
Ivan Alexandrovich Zemnukhov was buried in the center of Krasnodon in a mass grave. Comrades-in-arms young guards are buried in it.
The title of Hero of the Soviet Union Ivan Aleksandrovich Zemnukhov was awarded posthumously. In memory of the heroism of the Komsomol members and that terrible day, the "Unconquered" memorial was erected.
In the courtyard of the Serpomolotskaya secondary school, an obelisk to Ivan Zemnukhov was installed.
Here is the museum of the Young Guard hero, which presents his things, awards, biography. Ivan Alexandrovich Zemnukhov is immortalized in the memory of people, his short but bright life has become an example for young patriots of our country, despite the attempts of individual "researchers" to belittle the merits of him and his comrades.
In conclusion about the "crooked mirrors"
As time has shown, not only the Nazis were the executioners of the Young Guard, they were some of our contemporaries who continue the dirty work, now mocking the memory of the Komsomol heroes. "Researchers" even question the existence of the "Young Guard", although this is evidenced by the documented testimony of the Nazis themselves.
An example of such "research" can be the article "Young Guard: The True Story, or Criminal Case No. 20056" by Eric Schur. Schur's "research" is full of inaccuracies that contradict his own statements. The purpose of this article is clearly visible: to denigrate the glory of the Krasnodon underground, to debunk Fadeev's novel "The Young Guard", created on genuine materials.
The brother of Ivan Zemnukhov, Alexander, speaks indignantly about all such insinuations.
“Attention” to the cause of the Young Guard was paid by the Russian publications “Izvestia”, “Ogonyok”, “Chiming”, “New World”, and, of course, “Top Secret”. Each of them did not fail to "smear" with mudaccording to the glory of the Komsomol members of Krasnodon.
But the memory of the people about the underground will still be eternal.
