Executioner by vocation. The true story of Tonka the machine gunner. The first step is important in life

Makarova by mistake

Antonina Parfenova (according to another version of Panfilov) was born in one of Smolensk villages in 1920. It is believed that the name Makarov went to her by mistake. Allegedly, when she came to school, out of fear and excitement, she could not give her last name in response to the teacher's question. Classmates sitting nearby told the teacher that she was Makarova - in fact, that was the name of her father. However, the mistake took hold and then migrated to all other documents - a Komsomol ticket, a passport, etc.

The story is rather strange, but still not fantastic - although the inaction of Antonina's parents, who did not correct the mistake of the school teacher, is puzzling. It is rather unusual when the whole large family (she had six brothers and sisters) has one last name, and one child has a completely different one. In the end, this creates a lot of inconvenience. Again, one surname is recorded in the metric, and another in all other documents.

But theoretically this can be explained. In those days, population registration was very weak, passports were not issued to peasants, and having arrived in the city and received a passport, a person could call himself any surname, and it was recorded from his words.

The youthful biography of Antonina is not entirely clear either. According to one version, she came to Moscow with her parents. But in this case, they should have been issued passports together, and, of course, the passport officers would have paid attention to the mismatch of surnames.

According to another version, Antonina left alone and lived with her aunt. In this case, it is easier to explain the change of surname. In addition, she could get married and divorce quickly. In a word, the story of the transformation of Antonina Parfyonova / Panfilova into Makarova is still a mystery.

Front

Soon the war began. Antonina at that time was studying to be a doctor. Some sources say that initially she served as a civilian barmaid in one of military units, and then was transferred to orderlies.

It is known for sure that she was drafted into the 422nd Regiment of the 170th Infantry Division by the Leninsky District Military Commissariat of Moscow on August 13, 1941 with the rank of sergeant. There were two 170th divisions in the Soviet army: the first and second formations. The division of the first perished under Velikiye Luki. The division of the second formation was created in 1942 and completed its combat path in East Prussia. Makarova served in the first.

Before the war, the division was stationed in Bashkiria, and mainly local conscripts served there. Makarova got into it as a replenishment. The division in the first days of the war took on a powerful blow from the Germans in the Sebezh area. She was surrounded and managed to break through with heavy losses. In late July - early August, it was replenished and sent to defend Velikiye Luki.

The front line of the future executioner was short-lived. On August 26, the city was taken, and Makarova, who barely had time to arrive, was surrounded. Only a few hundred of her colleagues were able to break through and go out to their own. The rest either died or were captured. Later, the 170th Rifle Division was disbanded due to the fact that it ceased to exist as a combat unit.

The Germans were not able to establish serious control over the huge mass of prisoners (more than 600 thousand people were captured near Vyazma alone), who actually lived in an open field. Having seized the moment, Makarova fled with her colleague Fedchuk. Until winter, they wandered through the forests, sometimes finding shelter in the villages. Fedchuk made his way home to the Bryansk region, where his family lived. And Makarova went with him, because she had nowhere to go, and it’s difficult for a 21-year-old girl to survive alone in the autumn forest.

In January 1942, they finally reached the village of Red Well, where Fedchuk announced to her that they were breaking up and he was returning to his family. Then Makarova wandered alone through the surrounding villages.

Elbow

So Makarova got to the village of Lokot. There she found shelter with a local resident, but not for long. The woman noticed that she was looking at her brother-in-law, and even he seemed to like her. She did not want to put an "extra mouth" on the balance of the family in troubled wartime, so she drove Makarova away, advising her to go either to the partisans or to serve in the local collaborationist administration. According to another version, a suspicious girl was detained in the village by local police.

It is worth noting that Lokot was not a typical occupied settlement. Unlike the rest, where the power was wholly owned by the Germans, self-government existed in Lokot. However, it did not go beyond certain limits. Initially, the Lokot system existed only in the village, but in 1942 it was extended to the whole district. So the Lokotsky district appeared. Local collaborators did not enjoy full independence, but they had self-government in a much broader framework than in the rest of the occupied lands.

In Lokot, as elsewhere, there was a police force. Its peculiarity was that at first the line between the police and the partisans was quite illusory. In the ranks of the local police, defectors from among the partisans, tired of the hardships of life in the forest, were not uncommon. Even the former head of a department of one of the local district executive committees served in the police. In post-war trials of local collaborators, former party members and Komsomol members often acted as defendants. The opposite was also not uncommon. The policemen, having gorged themselves on "police rations", fled into the woods to the partisans.

At first, Makarova simply served in the police. The moment of her transformation into an executioner is unknown. Most likely, she was offered such a specific job because she was not local. The police could still justify themselves by saying that they went to the service under duress and that they were simply keeping order (although this was far from always the case), but the executioner is a completely different story. Few people wanted to shoot their fellow villagers. So Makarova, as a Muscovite, was offered the position of executioner, and she agreed.

Number of victims

This period is most mythologized by modern publicists. Makarova is credited with some completely "Stakhanovite" pace of executions. In this regard, the figure of one and a half thousand shot by her during the year of service as an executioner was established as the "official" figure. In fact, she shot, apparently, still less.

On litigation Tonka the machine-gunner was accused of executing 167 people (in some sources - 168). These are the persons who have been identified by the testimony of witnesses and from the surviving documents. It is very likely that several dozen more people were not included in the lists. The Lokot Okrug had its own judicial system and death penalty were sentenced only by the decision of courts-martial.

After the war, the trial of Stepan Mosin (deputy chief burgomaster Kaminsky) took place. He argued that for the entire time of the existence of the Lokotsky district courts-martial about 200 people were sentenced to death. At the same time, some of the executed were hanged (in which Makarova did not take part).

Mosin has every reason to downplay the number of those executed. But even according to archival data, most of the victims in the area account for punitive anti-partisan actions in the villages, where people were executed on the spot. And in the district prison, where Makarova worked as an executioner, those sentenced by the local court were executed.

The figure of 1,500 shot by Makarova, apparently, was taken from the "Act of the commission to establish the facts of the atrocities of the German occupiers in the Brasovsky district of October 22, 1945." It says: "In the autumn of 1943 in last days During their stay in the area, the Germans shot 1,500 people in the fields of the horse farm.

It was on this field that Makarova shot her victims. And the Lokot prison itself was located in a converted building of a horse farm. However, the document states that the executions were carried out in the last days before the German retreat, in September 1943. By this time, Makarova was no longer there. According to one version, she ended up in the hospital even before the Lokot collaborators left for Belarus, according to another, she left with them. But they left Lokot back in August, a week and a half before the Germans left.

Nevertheless, the executions proven by the court are more than enough to consider her one of the bloodiest female killers. The scale of Makarova's atrocities is apparently exaggerated by publicists, but it is still terrifying. One can speak with absolute certainty of at least two hundred shot by her own hand.

disappearance

In August 1943, in connection with the offensive Soviet army the situation in the Lokotsky district became critical. Several thousand collaborators and their families left for Belarus. Then Makarova also disappeared.

There are versions that describe her disappearance in different ways. According to one of them, she ended up in the hospital with a venereal disease. And then she persuaded some compassionate German corporal to hide her in the wagon train. But it is possible that she simply left with the rest of the collaborators, and then ran away to the Germans.

She was not useful to them, so she was sent to a military factory in Königsberg, where she worked until the end of the war. In 1945 the city was taken Soviet troops. Makarova, among the other prisoners and driven to work, was tested in the NKVD check-filtration camps.

In many publications there are allegations that she allegedly either forged or stole someone's nurse's documents and thus returned to military service. These are the conjectures of modern authors. In fact, under her own name, she successfully passed all the checks. An archival document from the base of the Ministry of Defense, in which she appears, has been preserved. It reads: "Antonina Makarovna Makarova, born in 1920, non-partisan, drafted to the rank of sergeant by the Leninsky district military registration and enlistment office of Moscow on August 13, 1941 in the 422nd regiment. Was captured on October 8, 1941. Sent for further service in the marching company of the 212th reserve rifle regiment April 27, 1945".

At the same time, Makarova met the Red Army soldier Ginzburg. He just distinguished himself in one of the April battles, having destroyed 15 enemy soldiers from a mortar (for which he was awarded the medal "For Courage"), and was treated for a slight shell shock. They soon got married.

Makarova did not need to compose complex legends. It was enough just to keep silent about his service as an executioner. Otherwise, her biography did not raise questions. A young nurse was captured in the first days at the front, was sent by the Germans to the factory, and worked there throughout the war. Therefore, she did not arouse any suspicions among the inspectors.

Search

At one time, there was a popular joke about the elusive Joe, whom no one was looking for. This fully applies to Makarova, who lived in the USSR openly for more than 30 years. And just a few hours drive from the place of their "glory" - after the war, she and her husband settled in Lepel.

At first, the Soviet authorities did not know anything about Makarova at all. Later, they received testimony from the former commandant of the Lokotsky district prison, who said that a certain Tonya Makarova, a former nurse from Moscow, was involved in the executions in it.

However, the search was soon abandoned. According to one version, the Bryansk security officers (it was they who investigated her case) mistakenly considered her dead and closed the case. According to another, they got confused because of the confusion with her last name. But, apparently, if they were looking for it, it was extremely careless.

Already in 1945, she "lit up" in army documents under her own name. And are there many Antonin Makarovs in the USSR? Probably several hundred. And if we subtract those who did not live in Moscow and did not serve as a nurse? Significantly less. The investigators in her case probably did not take into account that she could get married and change her last name, or were simply too lazy to check her along this line. As a result, Antonina Makarova-Ginzburg lived quietly for more than 30 years, working as a seamstress and not hiding from anyone. She was considered an exemplary Soviet citizen, her portrait even hung on the local honors board.

As in the case of another famous punisher Vasyura, a case helped to reach her. Her brother, a colonel in the Soviet army, was going abroad. In those days, all those leaving were strictly checked for reliability, forcing them to fill out questionnaires for all relatives. And high-ranking military men were checked even more strictly. When checking, it turned out that he himself was Parfyonov, and his sister was nee Makarova. How can this be? They became interested in this story, along the way it turned out that this Makarova was a prisoner during the war years, and her full namesake appeared on the lists of wanted criminals.

Antonina was identified by several witnesses who lived in the village at the time when she worked as an executioner. In 1978 she was arrested. Then the court took place. She did not deny it and admitted her guilt, explaining her actions by the fact that "the war forced her." She was declared sane and sentenced to death for the murder of 167 people. All appeals and petitions for clemency were rejected. On August 11, 1979, the sentence was carried out.

She became the only female punisher convicted by a Soviet court. In addition, she became the first executed woman in the entire post-Stalin period.

Researchers are still puzzling over what made the young girl choose such a terrible craft. After all, it wasn't a matter of her survival. Based on available information, she initially served in the police in support positions. There is no evidence that she was forcibly forced to become an executioner under threat of death. Most likely, it was a voluntary choice.

Some believe that to take up the craft, from which even the men who went to the service of the Germans shied away, Makarov was forced to cloud his mind after the horrors of the environment, captivity and wandering through the forests. Others, that the point is banal greed, because the position of the executioner was paid higher. One way or another, the true motives of Tonka the machine gunner remained a mystery.

In the vast annals of the Second World War, the names of Bronislav Kaminsky and Antonina Makarova occupy a special place. Before the German invasion of the USSR, they were "ordinary Soviet workers." Thunderstorm events have made them unique criminals. Komsomol member Makarova was drafted into the Red Army, but was captured and turned into the sinister executioner of the Lokotsky district prison, Tonka the machine-gunner. On her account - about one hundred and fifty personally shot opponents of the "new order". And these are only episodes proven during the investigation, since there are practically no witnesses to her crimes. An unknown chemist-technologist Kaminsky turned into an assistant to the invaders, the chief burgomaster of the Lokot self-government, the head of the Russian Nazi party. He dealt mercilessly with all who remained loyal Soviet power. In 1943, the district and its armed units were evacuated from the Bryansk region to Belarus, and then to Poland. Kaminsky became the Brigadeführer of the SS troops, and his subordinates arranged ...

In the vast annals of the Second World War, the names of Bronislav Kaminsky and Antonina Makarova occupy a special place. Before the German invasion of the USSR, they were "ordinary Soviet workers." Thunderstorm events have made them unique criminals. Komsomol member Makarova was drafted into the Red Army, but was captured and turned into the sinister executioner of the Lokotsky district prison, Tonka the machine-gunner. On her account - about one hundred and fifty personally shot opponents of the "new order". And these are only episodes proven during the investigation, since there are practically no witnesses to her crimes. An unknown chemist-technologist Kaminsky turned into an assistant to the invaders, the chief burgomaster of the Lokot self-government, the head of the Russian Nazi party. He mercilessly cracked down on everyone who remained loyal to the Soviet regime. In 1943, the district and its armed units were evacuated from the Bryansk region to Belarus, and then to Poland. Kaminsky became the Brigadeführer of the SS troops, and his subordinates staged a bloody massacre in the insurgent Warsaw. The authors tried to honestly and objectively tell the story of collaborators from the south of Bryansk. The study is based on unique documents from the criminal case of A.M. Makarova-Ginzburg, materials from domestic and foreign archives, many of which are being introduced into scientific circulation for the first time.

Oleg Nikolaevich Borisov

– How do you imagine what happened? I want to know before we start stabbing local crooks. To not waste time.

Turning the mute head in his hands, Klakker threw it back and dusted off his palms:

– Yes, this is our client… But I see the picture like this. Three, maximum, four hard workers in the evening noted something in the warehouse. Here, at the pillar, they encountered a creature and were forced to fight to stay alive. Two died, the rest killed the beast ... Probably, there were still three of them. The boxes were then obviously turned over by a loner ... He washed away the blood as best he could. Sprinkled with sawdust all around. I wanted to take the bodies on a cart to the river and drown them. But on the way he fancied, or in fact noticed a second beast. He dumped the dead and fled back. Surprisingly, he didn't leave the cart. And then we walked around the district and puzzled over what really happened.

- Difficult. - Scholz settled down at the entrance and got his favorite cigarillos out of his pocket. “That’s why we’ll dance for now.” Moreover, the first client is being dragged out. Raukh is working smartly, my school ... Okay, let's take a break, and with renewed vigor we will take on the darlings ...

In the evening, Klakker celebrated the first completed business with old Martha. She was not too lazy to look at the market, where she bought provisions for generously poured coppers. And now Scholz, Rauch and former veteran His Majesty's infantry chewed a pork chop and washed down their dinner with strong beer.

- So I'll say, boy, you're lucky. And in our business it is very important. I can even add that this is the main thing for you. To be the first to strike any infection, to dig even a tiny trace and reach the goal ...

Did you find a smart guy?

- Found. Unter suggested. While he was raking the workers, he managed to collect more information about who breathes what ... Former studious. He studied all sorts of sciences, but he began to indulge in rubbish and flew out of the university. Attached to the warehouse near Sivashov. In a petty way, he stole the dope that they packed and sent further down the river. That evening, two local ragamuffins came to see him for a light. Apparently, through them, he was selling something on the streets in a small way. We drank, inhaled pollen, sat well. Then one of them dreamed that his muzzle was sticking out of the pillar. He came up with a laugh and smacked a couple of times. He firmly attached it, the mute was already pulled out of the post. Well, he grabbed on ... While he was finishing off the second one, the Studiosus grabbed the ax and finished off the beast. Then - as you said: he washed the blood, sprinkled it with sawdust. Bodies on the cart and to the river. On the way, I heard screams from behind the fence, I dumped my friends and put them back in my pants. But he didn’t completely ruin his brains, he managed to figure out how to cover up the traces. Maybe he heard somewhere about the executioners, maybe just on a whim. So we turned circles then along the walls and sheds, and the beast in the box came out with smoke. Another week and only the stink remained.

Klakker reached into his pocket and groped for the overstuffed purse. A handful of coins for the first mute, and two more receipts with monograms in the inside pocket of a new warm shirt. And a lined tarpaulin hoodie bought at lunch on a bench nearby. Well ... And as he finishes his mug, it will become even better. Alive, will be at home before sunset. Next week - to the bank to pay off debts. And there you can slowly and prepare for a new hunt. Fortunately, there are now good friends in the port areas. They promised to give up an excellent shotgun and a hand ax to boot. No bastard will be scary anymore. Though with claws, even with fangs ...

Scholz leaned back in his chair and patted his tight, buzzing belly.

- Everything, the week ended successfully. You can also relax ... I'm waiting for you, murderer, on Tuesday. On Monday I will receive the medal "For Valor", it will not be up to you. The mayor was very impressed with our successes, he wants to bask in the rays of glory ... So - on Tuesday. At ten o'clock, so that I could recover in the morning after the banquet ... And I ask for one thing. You now not only do not go into dark corners unnecessarily. Now you look behind your back. Because in the warehouse we raked out several boxes of pollen. And Sivashov is not the person who forgives such insults. The confiscated goods were dumped on the workers, turned out, as if it had nothing to do with it. But he held his grudge anyway. Before me, his hands are a bit short, but he can quite get even with you. So…

The executioner paused, then nodded and glanced at the window, estimating how much time was left before the advancing dusk. There is still time to go for the shotgun. Right now. And then we'll see who has the longest list of grievances. Klakker is also not the kind of person who forgives anyone. One bastard in the list of enemies more? And okay. Where did ours go...

Whom does the lord want? Chubby, skinny, or a little "hot pepper"? I can show all free girls. Or leave the choice to me? You will not regret.

I'm looking for Clara. - The visitor carefully put the helmet with dull gleaming glasses into his pocket and rubbed his clean-shaven cheeks frozen in the wind.

“Sorry, honey, but she doesn’t work for us anymore.

The hostess of the brothel leaned on the bar, hoisting countless folds of fat on top, barely covered by a semblance of a nightgown. Behind the duty smile was an unmistakable arithmometer, which had already managed to evaluate the tall man to the last copper in his pocket: he was dressed soundly and warmly, but did not show off, there were no decorations, but he had a good chronometer on his hand. Obviously one of the factory masters, he ran before returning home to lower the unexpectedly paid bonus.

Klakker thought for a moment, then tried to make inquiries:

– Where can I find it? Maybe moved to the neighbors? She and I got on well.” A silver quarter-note lay on the bar.

Madame stretched out her hand to the coin, but nevertheless greed won out and with a sigh moved the kruglyash to the owner:

- No idea. I got lost somewhere, I didn’t even collect my junk. And it was in good standing, customers liked it. Well, yes, you yourself know: a laugher, she didn’t burden anyone with problems ... But - she quit her job and disappeared. You can drop in on Samoss, she and her friends were filming a corner in that bedbug. Three blocks from here and left to the bazaar.

- I know where it is. Thanks, maybe I'll take a look there. - The hunter for evil spirits put his helmet back on and pointed his finger at the quarter: - Buy sweets for me for the “peppers”. Consider sacrificing for good luck.

- For luck? A plump hand brushed the coin away, surprise flickering in the woman's eyes. “Listen, boy, who are you anyway?” Factory workers in life will not put a penny on fate.

Already opening the door, the visitor replied:

- I am an executioner in the local area, butting heads with Shadows.

– Ah… Listen, wait a minute! You come in the evening, do you hear? In the evening! At the same time, you will inspect the house so that no infection starts! I'll give you a discount, we'll agree on half!

The last words managed to escape into the street, where they were immediately swept away by a cold wind. The door slammed, and only a cloudy spot flashed in the tiny window, lost in the gray twilight. The first month of winter reigned on the streets of the frozen City.

“And the cavalcade rushes, prum-pum, purum ...” climbing onto a newspaper carefully laid in the middle of the table, Mr. Ober-Craze wiped the chandelier with a wet rag, while singing something from the ceremonial hymns of the Imperial cavalry. In the two-plus months since the start of the new Shadowspawn slayer, a few expensive knick-knacks have been added to the office. Scholz kept his word - exactly a third of the voiced coin was wrapped in his pocket. True, from the same funds, the head of the Investigation and Inquiry department paid extra to personal informants, rumor collectors, journalists in small newspapers and others. useful people. But what was left more than covered the little pleasures of life, from a new fashionable leather chair to a gas chandelier that gave bright light on dark evenings and cheekily collected dust and cobwebs from all over the room.

Knocking, Klakker burst into the office. The executioner preferred to spend his free time in numerous eateries throughout the area, communicating with a diverse audience and tasting strong drinks. A pile or two could not harm the hunter's mighty body, but it completely brightened up the working days. Moreover, during daylight hours he managed to comb the streets more than once, looking for traces of any reptile who dared to poke their nose at his site. If he appeared in the government house, it was only in the early morning a couple of times a week: to exchange gossip with the non-commissioned officer on duty and listen to brief instructions from the leadership.

- Prum-poom... What kind of people, yes... A letter was sent from the town hall yesterday. You and I saved them a lot of money. For the first time in twenty years, not a single call from the Imperial Purifiers. And not a single attack on people for the whole month ... You're doing a great job, killer, just fine. Thank you received.

The big man lifted his head, admired the damply shining chandelier, and inquired:

- If you saved money, why did you decide to get off with gratitude? The award would have been better.

- Well, thanks to you, and a bonus to me. Once again they will be generous, and I will share with you ... What did you complain about? - The policeman, like a balloon inflated to a critical size, groaning, climbed down from the table and settled in a dimensionless chair. - What happened? Why dont know?

Klakker took the only free chair and began to unload crumpled papers onto the edge of the table, laying them out one by one, then from the other pocket.

- No, it's quiet. It's actually strangely quiet. A trifle under your feet comes across, but that week I drove a snake at the brewers. The first time I saw such rubbish - a head with a brick, spikes on the back, like a hedgehog, and a tail like a blade. Barely shot off the head, infection.

- I remember ... The University bought the carcass from us, for the collection ... And that everyone hid, so your merit. Every day you patrol, except perhaps from the neighbors who will drop in. And it's good to keep it that way. We’ll hold out until spring, they’ll definitely raise me ... But you came for something else, Klakker. Why is the face so sour?

The executioner hesitated, then complained:

I can't find the girl. Kyu's mother worked. Good girl, calm, without cockroaches in my head. I occasionally went to her, you can’t make a fuss on old incomes. But - I liked it.

Did you decide to marry? – surprised Scholz, having opened a box with expensive cigarillos. - A prostitute?

No, I just wanted to chat. It was easy with her. I thought I might become a regular customer. Or something else...

“It’s a good thing,” the policeman wrapped himself in clouds of smoke. - Her house, her friend ... She is unlikely to be able to knock out a residence permit from the Sunny Side, but to furnish a nest here and rest from righteous labors in the evenings - that's it ... And what, she moved out? What did you get tired of with a visiting guest performer?

The hunter rustled his papers, then took out a clumsily written list and showed it to his interlocutor:

- It's not clear yet. I gathered news from the newspapers and talked with the locals ... You see, in six months several girls have left in a hurry. And all to one - chubby, short, fair-haired. One of them left a note that she had found another job. Some just disappeared. Nine souls.

Scholz released a chain of smoke rings and grunted:

“They lose ten every day in the City. It's the wrong side, the killer. Every day ... And here - the girls. One owed money, the other found the love of her life. What, you want to earn a detective patent and take my place, how will I retire?

- I would like to find Clara and make sure that everything is fine with her. And that's enough... Mind if I dig into it carefully?

- Against? You'd think you'd listen to me, you stubborn thug... A month ago, I had a dream that they were following you. Six have not yet been discharged from the hospital.

Literature review

Why and how do revolutions happen? What is the nature of betrayal, and from what unknown depths does the indomitable will to win come from? Books about the paradoxes of history and great turning points are interesting not only for red dates.

Vyacheslav Nikonov "October. 1917"

“The opening of the Second Congress of Soviets was scheduled for two in the afternoon. Lenin and Trotsky did not want to start the congress as long as the Winter Congress held. An emergency meeting of the Petrograd Soviet was opened: the Hall listened to the leader, and Molotov looked at Lenin from behind. While delivering a speech, Lenin raised one leg... How many times have I heard this story from my grandfather: the sole was rubbed down to a hole through which the insole looked out. Such a detail, against the backdrop of formidable events, seems to rhyme with the slogan “Who was nobody, he will become everything!” emblazoned on the cover! An analysis of what happened from February to the world-shaking night of November 7-8 and the first day new era, occupies 1185 pages. The main messages: "Nicholas II relied too much on fate and the patronage of heavenly forces, but showed indecision when it came to the use of force." The provisional government liquidated the entire state apparatus and fell due to ideological futility. The Bolsheviks ideologically outplayed everyone. But the role of the individual in history was decisive: without Lenin, the revolution would not have happened.

Dmitry Zhukov, Ivan Kovtun "The Burgomaster and the Executioner"

The story about the Lokot self-government was hidden behind seven seals in the days of the USSR, and even later it was not particularly spread about. It is not easy to admit that for more than two years in the fascist-occupied Bryansk region, in the village of Lokot, there was an anti-Soviet "republic" with a population of many thousands, where under supervision german army local police brutally cracked down on partisans, communists, and Jews. Where did so many collaborators come from? You can probably answer only by remembering the predatory collectivization and the pre-war Stalinist terror. And although there is no justification for either the burgomaster, or Tonka the machine-gunner, who personally shot 138 people, or the entire “Lokot” army that showed itself during the suppression of the Warsaw Uprising, it is still worth thinking about the fate and origins of this unusual autonomy:

Maria Sharapova Unstoppable. My life"

The five-time Grand Slam and 39-time WTA winner's most famous performance was not on the court, but at a press conference in Florida in 2016, when she announced her use of meldonium, which had only recently been on the banned drug list. It was this recognition of the tennis player that gave impetus to a grandiose wave of doping scandals with Russian athletes. But Sharapova's book, of course, is not only and not so much about this. It is about the brilliant path of a girl from the polar town of Nyagan to the top of the sports and life Olympus. The autobiography, published in September in English, was translated into the language of native aspens, preserving the author's style. Here is an example of such statements: “All the past has one positive side“During all this time, so many fans came out to me, who were inspired by my example and my life.” Well, yes, to an athlete, and even really unstoppable, a lot is forgiven. It's just a style - not meldonium.

Antonina Makarova (married Ginzburg) - "Tonka the machine-gunner" of bad memory. Photo 1979

The history of Russian collaboration during the Great Patriotic War still largely remains a white spot, an ominous terra incognita of an already bloody military history.

This was partly due to the fact that in the West (and, naturally, in Western historiography) in the context cold war Vlasovites and policemen became an organic part of the ideological confrontation with the Eastern bloc. As a result, the recent punishers and employees of the concentration camps were thought of as "ideological fighters" against the Stalinist dictatorship and appeared on the pages of the Russian press abroad and scientific university publications in the form of a revision of the revisionist concept of a "pure Wehrmacht". Say, political leaders were criminals Nazi Germany and the SS, and the rest only with "disgust" "followed orders."

Alas, things were no better in Soviet historiography. First, the question itself was preferred to be hushed up. Secondly, those few publications that did appear reproduced arguments about "despicable cowards." At the same time, no one thought that a coward would hardly ask for weapons and rush to the front line or to a counter-partisan detachment. Also, the reasons for the betrayal were not covered. To what extent social experiments and cataclysms after 1917, primarily repressions and dispossession, created a motivational (and ideological) basis for subsequent betrayal.

Indeed, under “damned tsarism”, even during serious military failures - how First stage The Patriotic War or the Crimean and Russo-Japanese Wars that ended in defeat - there was no such percentage of traitors.

Articles and books that appeared after 1990 partly filled this gap. But many topics are still not fully covered, and some are just waiting for "their Pimen".

A new book by Moscow historians Dmitry Zhukov and Ivan Kovtun is dedicated to one of the most dramatic pages of the war - the repressive activities of the 29th SS division, better known as the Russian Liberation people's army(RONA). The division was created from the self-defense detachments of the town of Lokot (then the Bryansk region) in the fall of 1941. Later, becoming first a brigade, and then an SS division, its ranks participated in punitive actions in the territories of the Grodno and Vitebsk regions, completing their journey outside Soviet Union- Suppressing the Warsaw Uprising. By this period, the collaborators had decomposed quite seriously, they not only killed and robbed local citizens (including those who did not join the uprising), but also attacked German military personnel. As a result, the division commander, a former Soviet citizen of the Waffen-Brigadeführer, SS Major General Bronislav Kaminsky, was shot by his masters. In order to somehow discipline his rabble (a definition given by the Germans themselves), another 150 RONA officers had to be executed. The remnants of the division were transferred to the formation of the armed forces of the Vlasov Committee for the Liberation of the Peoples of Russia.

Zhukov and Kovtun's book examines the history of Russian SS men through the prism of prosopography - that is, the biographies of the individuals who were part of the division. They reconstruct the life of Kaminsky and Antonina Makarova - the bad memory of Tonka the Machine Gunner. The authors draw attention to the different motivations of people who have become traitors. If Kaminsky really was an ideological enemy (before the war he was repressed for Trotskyism and the presence of relatives abroad), then Makarov, a sergeant of the Red Army, had not been captured in the fall of 1941, would hardly have become a cruel punisher. Most likely, she would be remembered by every ordinary respected veteran ...

Something similar happened in other parts of the collaborators. The closest associates of Andrei Vlasov, Major General Viktor Maltsev and Vasily Malyshkin, were convicted during the so-called great terror. Another Vlasov general, Sergei Bunyachenko, according to some reports, defected to the Germans, fearing punishment for military failures. Vlasov himself, however, was not subjected to repression - his opposition to the Soviet regime was the product of a rather long reflection. But there were many like Tonka in his army. At the beginning of the war, they surrendered to the Germans, seeing in them the only real strength (longing for a strong hand), and when the situation at the front changed in favor of the Kremlin, their relative combat effectiveness went down sharply, and the traitors themselves began to betray their recent masters, going over to the side of the Red army.

However, the presence of sincere ideology did not justify the collaborators. The price they were forced to pay for collaborating with the Nazis undermined any original intentions. Still, no one canceled the maxim about a tear of a child. Dostoevsky was right.