Yefrosinya Zenkova: The Belarusian Teenager Who Killed Over 100 Nazis
Flames of Freedom: Heroines Against Fascism
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9m 10s
On 22 June 1941, Hitler launched Operation Barbarossa, unleashing a war of annihilation against the Soviet Union. Amid the chaos and terror of Nazi occupation in Belarus, one young woman refused to surrender.
At just eighteen, Yefrosinya Zenkova founded and led the underground youth group “Young Avengers.” With courage beyond her years, she and her comrades sabotaged German trains, poisoned enemy troops, and destroyed vital infrastructure — killing more than a hundred German soldiers.
Betrayed in 1943, her group was captured and executed, and the Nazis murdered her mother in revenge. Yet Zenkova survived the war and devoted her life to rebuilding her homeland and teaching future generations about courage and resistance.
Honored as a Hero of the Soviet Union, Yefrosinya Zenkova remains a symbol of youth, defiance, and the unbreakable spirit of Belarus.
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