Zinaida Portnova: The teenage partisan of the Soviet resistance

By Harsh Thakor* 

February 20 marked the birth centenary of Zinaida Portnova, one of the youngest recipients of the Soviet Union’s highest wartime honour. Remembered for her role in the anti-Nazi underground in occupied Belarus during the Second World War, Portnova became a symbol of youth participation in the Soviet resistance.

She was born on February 20, 1926, in Leningrad (now St. Petersburg), the eldest daughter of a working-class Belarusian family. Her father worked at an industrial plant, and she had a younger sister, Galya. In 1941, when Nazi Germany invaded the Soviet Union, Portnova was visiting relatives in Belarus and found herself in territory that soon came under German occupation.

The German invasion of the Soviet Union, launched under the leadership of Adolf Hitler, led to rapid advances into Soviet territory and heavy military and civilian casualties. Occupied regions such as Belarus witnessed harsh reprisals, forced labour, and widespread destruction. It was in this context that underground resistance networks began to emerge.

Portnova joined the youth resistance organisation known as the Young Avengers, linked to the Komsomol (All-Union Leninist Young Communist League). According to accounts, including Henry Sakaida’s book Heroines of the Soviet Union 1941-45, an altercation between German soldiers and her grandmother over confiscated livestock is said to have influenced her decision to join the resistance.

Initially, Portnova distributed leaflets and carried out small assignments such as gathering intelligence and assisting in the theft of weapons. Over time, she received training in handling firearms and explosives from other members of the underground. She took part in sabotage activities targeting German infrastructure, including facilities such as a local power plant, a pump station, and a brick factory, according to Soviet-era accounts.

One of the most widely cited episodes associated with Portnova occurred in August 1943, when she reportedly infiltrated a German garrison kitchen in Obol and poisoned food intended for German personnel. When suspicion arose, she is said to have eaten some of the food herself to avoid detection. She later fell ill but survived and went into hiding. Following this incident, she joined a partisan detachment named after Kliment Voroshilov.

In 1944, Portnova was assigned a reconnaissance mission to investigate a failed sabotage operation. She was captured and handed over to German authorities. During interrogation, she reportedly seized a pistol and shot her interrogator and two guards in an attempted escape. She was recaptured shortly thereafter near a river and taken to Goryany, where she was interrogated and eventually executed by gunshot in January 1944. She was 17 years old.

On July 1, 1958, Portnova was posthumously awarded the title of Hero of the Soviet Union, one of the country’s highest distinctions. She was also awarded the Order of Lenin. Over the decades, her story became part of Soviet wartime memory. Monuments and plaques commemorating her were erected in various cities, including Minsk, and youth groups during the Soviet period were named in her honour.

Zinaida Portnova’s life and death remain part of the broader history of youth resistance in the Soviet Union during World War II, reflecting the role played by young partisans in occupied territories.

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*Freelance journalist