Maria Osipova - the famous underground anti-fascist

Maria Borisovna Osipova is a well-known underground anti-fascist. She was active in Minsk. During the occupation, she organized the first underground group there. Helped to develop a plan and participated in the liquidation of Wilhelm Kuba (High Commissioner of Belarus). In 1943, she became Hero of the Soviet Union. In this article we will describe her short biography.

Childhood

Maria Osipova (born Sokovtsova) was born in 1908 in the Mogilev province. The girl's parents worked at a local glass factory. Maria started working at the age of 13. Like her parents, she settled into a glass factory. The future underground worker was also actively engaged in social and political work. Sokovtsova headed the district organization of pioneers. In 1924 the girl visited the 6th Congress of the RCYM, where she was elected a delegate. It was there that she met Yakov Osipov, who eventually married.

Learning

In 1933 Maria moved to Minsk with her family. There the future heroine submitted documents to the Higher Agricultural School of Lenin. Two years later she successfully graduated from it. In 1940, Maria Osipova (photo below) defended her diploma from the Minsk Law Institute. After that she received a referral to work in the Supreme Court of the Byelorussian SSR.

The War Begins

When the occupation of Minsk began, Maria Osipova together with AA Sokolova (lecturer of the Law Institute) organized the first underground anti-fascist group. Initially, it had only 14 participants. But by September 1943 there were already 50 active members in Ganna Black's group. The underground helped their prisoners of war, hid Jews, distributed Sovinformburo summaries and leaflets. After establishing contact with the partisans (in 1941) they were often involved in reconnaissance and sabotage operations. In the same year, the group was released by the Minsk Conservative Gorkom. Maria Osipova was appointed as a liaison between the leadership of the underground and several partisan detachments. Among them: the 200th name of Rokosovsky, "Zheleznyak", the brigade "Uncle Kolya", "Local", "Dima".

Murder of Cuba

Operation "Retribution" became the largest in the underground activities of the heroine of this article. In the course of its liquidation, Wilhelm Kube, who was the general commissioner of Byelorussia, was liquidated. He was responsible for the death of a large number of civilians. The operation was based on data obtained through the exploration work of N. P. Fedorov. Using the available information, the deputy commander of the detachment "Dima" gave Maria Borisovna the assignment. Osipova was supposed to recruit an agent from among those who worked in the house of Cuba. Soon NV Pokhlebayev introduced her to a girl named Valentina Shutskaya. The latter was her sister Elena Mazanik, who worked as a servant in the house of Cuba. It was Shutskaya who organized the meeting of Mazanik and Osipova. As a result, the underground members persuaded Elena to their side. September 20, 1943 Maria Osipova, risking her own life, delivered a mine with a chemical fuse to the Belarusian capital. In order not to arouse suspicion, the girl disguised her in a basket with cranberries. Then Maria handed her to Elena, who laid the explosives under the mattress of the general's bed. The device worked at night on September 22, 1943. Wilhelm Cube did not survive. Osipova and Mazanik as active participants in the operation were awarded the title of heroes of the USSR.

After the war

When the Red Army liberated Belarus, a successful underground worker returned to Minsk. There Maria Osipova, whose biography was presented above, was actively involved in the process of rebuilding the city destroyed by the fighting. Then she took up politics, headed the pardon department of the Presidium of the Supreme Council of Belarus. Maria Borisovna was also a member of the Republican Committee for the Protection of Peace and the Supreme Court of the country. From 1947 to 1963 she worked as a deputy.

The great merit of Osipova is that she actively participated in the rehabilitation of the members of the Belarusian underground, who were unfairly accused of collaborating with the Germans. The woman vouched for several hundred people who were members of anti-fascist groups. After retirement Maria Borisovna participated in the veteran movement and was engaged in patriotic education of the younger generation. Osipova died in 1999. Her grave can be found on the Eastern (Moscow) cemetery of Minsk.