Throughout the Second World War, there were a number of very brave young people who decided
to take up arms against the Nazis and the German war effort.
Many of these were teenagers, and joined resistance groups.
Some did not fight, but instead tried to spread ideas dissenting against them.
Sophie Scholl for example joined the White Rose Movement, and wrote at length along with
her brother Hans against the Third Reich and then helped spread their resistance propaganda.
But often those who refused to conform and actively fought against the German war effort
were often treated terribly when they were captured.
They were seen as very dangerous, and despite being very young many of them were put to
death and were executed in horrific scenes.
Join us today as we look at the Brutal executions of the teenagers who fought the nazis, remember
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Resistance to the Nazis came in a number of different ways.
Some people would actively dissent and produce propaganda against them, but inside of armed
resistance and in particular the partisans, many young men and women fought against the
Germans.
Many people in the Balkans states would resist the brutality of the German invasions.
One of the most famous young women to pick up arms was Lepa Radic.
Lepa Radic became the youngest recipient of the Order of the People’s Hero award, and
was actively involved in the war effort.
Following the invasion of Yugoslavia, Lepa who had been a prominent member of the League
of Communist Youth and the Communist Party began to conduct sabotage against the German
invaders.
She would be first arrested by the Ustashe, the puppet government and police force established
however she did manage to escape but in February 1943 she was responsible for transporting
wounded soldiers during the Battle of Neretva to a shelter in Grmec.
The fighting at this battle was fierce and was heavy, and fighting against the experienced
and well trained 7th SS Volunteer Mountain Division Prinz Eugen.
After transporting a number of wounded Partisans she was captured and then was thrown in prison.
Lepa Radic at the time of her capture was just 17, and she was brutally tortured for
information.
This was the standard practice that the Germans would inflict as they wanted to find out as
much as they could about the local Partisan resistance as they were rather effective.
Days went by and the torture increased with Lepa being beaten, but she refused to give
over any information at all to the Germans.
She was considered a lost case and because of this was sentenced to death.
To spread a message to the local population, the Germans carried out a public execution
of Lepa Radic.
She was marched through the village and was taken to a tree where a box was placed underneath
it.
She was stood onto the box whilst a noose was tied around a branch of the tree.
Whilst stood she said, ‘Long live the communist party and partisans.
Fight people, for your freedom.
Do not surrender to the evildoers.
I will be killed but there are those who will avenge me.’
Whilst on the scaffold, Lepa Radic was offered one more chance to give over names of the
local Communist party leaders and the resistance, but she refused saying ‘I am not a traitor
to my people, Those whom you are asking about will reveal themselves when they have succeeded
in wiping out all you evildoers to the last man.’
The noose was then placed around her neck and the stool was taken away and she was executed,
being just 17 when she was killed.
Another young woman who resisted the invading Nazi armies was Zoyo Kosmodemyanskaya.
She had joined local communist groups, and then became involved in the Partisan units.
She was considered an asset to the group, and was involved in carrying out sabotage
acts placing mines on roads and also cutting communication lines.
On the 27th November 1941, she was asked to burn the village of Petrishchevo, as there
was a German Cavalry regiment based here.
The plan was to disrupt the enemy, and along with two other Partisans she went to complete
the mission.
There was some disagreement or miscommunication between the three, and Zoya missed her comrades
after setting fire to some buildings, and then continued her acts of arson.
However the German soldiers had gathered locals together to capture partisans to prevent more
buildings being burned.
Zoya was captured, and then was stripped and beaten before being interrogated.
She was incredibly brutalised in her torture, and received 200 lashes of the whip, and also
was burned and branded with terrible wounds being sustained.
She was then regarded as a lost cause as Zoya gave over no information.
She was dragged through the centre of the village she had attacked, and a board around
her neck was placed with the writing ‘Houseburner’ on it.
As she was placed below a gallows that had been created, with the crowds watching she
said, ‘Hey comrades, why are you looking so sad?
Be brave, fight, beat the Germans, burn, Wipe them out!
I’m not afraid to die, comrades.
It is happiness to die for ones people.
You hang me now but I am not alone.
There are two hundred millions of us.
You can’t hang us all, they will avenge me.
Farewell comrades, fight do not be afraid.
Stalin is with us, Stalin will come.’
She was then hanged, and as a grisly and brutal reminder to the people to not rise up, her
body was left hanging for weeks and was mutilated by Germans.
She was just 18.
Another young woman who was executed by the Germans was Masha Bruskina.
She lived in Minsk and had joined the local youth Communist party and was a very intelligent
young girl.
She volunteered as a nurse inside of Minsk Polytechnic Institute which was established
as a Red Army hospital by the German forces.
The Soviet captives would be cared for and then were sent to prisoner of war camps after
their treatment was over.
Masha smuggled civilian clothes to the Soviet soldiers to help them get to the front lines.
However she was captured and was arrested when the Germans found out what she was doing.
She wrote to her mother saying, ‘Nothing bad has happened to me.
I swear to you that you will have no further unpleasantness because of me.
Please send me my dress, my green blouse and white socks.
I want to be dressed decently when I leave here.’
To send a message to the local population of Minsk, The Germans arranged a public execution
for Masha Bruskina.
She was firstly paraded throughout the streets with a written plaque around her neck that
said, ‘We are Partisans and have shot at German troops.’
She was not on her own and two other members of the resistance, including a 16 year old
girl were to be hanged.
They were taken in front of a Yeast Brewery and distillery plant, and it was said of the
execution, ‘When they put her on the stool.
The girl turned her face towards the fence.
The executioners wanted her to stand with her face to the crowd, but she turned away
and that was that.
No matter how much they pushed her and tried to turn her, she remained standing with her
back to the crowd.
Only then did they kick the stool from under her.’
Masha Bruskina was around 17 when she was executed.
Another 17 year old who was executed by the Germans was Zinaida Portnova.
She was an active member of the Partisans and took part in sabotage actions in local
establishments, and her local group it’s believed were involved in killing 100 German
soldiers.
She worked as an Kitchen assistant in a small town, and she then poisoned the food meant
to the Nazi Garrison of soldiers that were based there.
She did deny her guilt, and was released however after she did not come back to work, the Germans
searched for her and suspicions arose.
She was sent back to infiltrate the Garrison again, however was later captured and the
gestapo interrogated her.
During her questioning, the investigator left his pistol on the table and Zinaida took the
pistol and killed him.
She then shot two further German soldiers, and tried to escape by running into the nearby
woods but was caught.
She was recaptured and was then tortured for more information and as she refused to give
anything up at all, she was driven into the forest near the prison and was executed.
It has also been debated whether Zinaida Portnova was killed during her torture.
Each of the young women mentioned in this video decided that their purpose during the
conflict was to fight the evil of the German invasion.
It was inside their lands where the Einsatzgruppen were committing scores of killings and atrocities,
and each of the women would try to aid the Red Army’s war effort through their resistance
groups.
But all of them at such a young age were killed because of their actions, and a few of them
were killed in horrific public executions which seem as if they were straight from the
Medieval period.
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