"The Hunt for the Gauleiter", or How Soviet Women "Removed" the General Commissioner of Belarus Wilhelm Kube

2024 Author: Richard Flannagan | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-15 23:55

On September 22, 1943, partisans and underground fighters managed to liquidate the General Commissioner of Belarus Wilhelm Cuba. The operation to destroy one of the fascist leaders, who was guilty of the deaths of a huge number of civilians, was of great importance - the myth of the inaccessibility of leaders of such rank collapsed, confidence grew in the need to actively fight the enemy by all possible means.

When the decision was made to conduct Operation Retaliation

In 1941, Wilhelm Kube was appointed commissar general of occupied Belarus. There could be no question of sovereignty, which Cuba had always strived for - they had to put up with the fact that the SS had great powers. There was a chronic conflict between the SS Gruppenfuehrer Kurt von Gottber and Cuba, and the difference in approaches to occupation policy often became a reason for confrontation. So, Gottberg was going to fulfill Hitler's decree on the final solution of the Jewish question, and Cuba was against it: 80% of qualified doctors, tailors and shoemakers were Jews, they were necessary to serve the population in the occupied territory. Cuba was ready to get rid of only those who were disabled.

Cuba was also not a friend of the Belarusian people - the extermination machine worked properly under it, during the two years of its management of the occupied territory, 400 thousand people were shot (and the Fuhrer was promised the destruction of two million people). National-socialist slogans about Belarusian independence under German democracy continued to sound under the gunfire of punitive detachments. The partisans received the order to liquidate Cuba in July 1942 after the mass extermination of Jews in the Minsk ghetto - 2,500 people died in four days. Representatives of the central headquarters of the partisan movement and the main directorate of the general staff of the spacecraft, state security agencies and military intelligence hunted for the Gauleiter. Cuba's residence in Minsk was literally packed with Soviet agents. However, of the 30 attempts on the life of the Gauleiter, none were successful.

An order for three, or how preparations were made for the operation to liquidate Cuba

Operation Retribution, the result of which was to liquidate Cuba, was prepared by the reconnaissance and sabotage detachment "Uncle Dima" (commander D. I. Keimakh), located in Yanushkovichi (Logoisk district) and operating in the Minsk region. Thanks to this partisan detachment, the center continuously received information about the actions, and sometimes the plans of the enemy. With "Dima" (David Ilyich Keimakh), the liaison and leader of the underground group "Black" - Maria Osipova, who had two higher educations and was in the ranks of the CP, worked for a long time. She, on the instructions of Kueimakh and his deputy Fedorov, is looking for a suitable person surrounded by a Gauleiter in order to get closer to him. After all, until now Cuba has miraculously managed to avoid death.

Another partisan brigade "Uncle Kolya" under the command of State Security Captain Pyotr Lopatin at the end of summer sends a scout Nadezhda Troyan to Minsk, who was supposed to find out where Cuba is, how it is being guarded, is it possible to establish contact with someone from those who worked in his mansion.

The underground worker Osipova, pondering a plan to assassinate the Gauleiter, contacts Nikolai Pokhlebaev, the director of the Minsk cinema. Who is well acquainted with the cleaning lady in the German court Valentina Shchutskaya. Her sister, Elena Mazanik, works as a servant in the house of Cuba (he personally selected her among the staff of the officer's casino, where she worked as a cleaner, and then as a waitress) - she did her job well, had a pleasant, attractive appearance. In the house of Cuba she was known as Galina. Gauleiter's young wife Anita was very pleased with her. Elena got along well with their children and was a good housekeeper. Anita, and Cuba himself, was trusted.

Elena is the only servant who left the mansion to spend the night in her apartment, everyone else always stayed in the house and lived on the basement floor. But the first to come out on Elena Mazanik is the scout Nadia from the Lopatin NKVD detachment. She offers Elena to kill Cuba. But the cautious and prudent Elena was afraid that this was a provocation by the Gestapo. Elena learned to be extremely prudent back in those years when she worked at the dacha of Lavrenty Tsanava (People's Commissar of the VDBSSR in 1938-1941), one of the organizers of mass repressions (only in the first year after his appointment, 27,000 people were arrested in the republic). Elena was especially overwhelmed by doubts when Troyan brought her a lot of money, which, allegedly, she took in the detachment. In addition, Elena somehow saw that Nadezhda Troyan was walking after the adjutant of Cuba. What could she think of her? Their connection was cut off.

Then Mazanik, through Nikolai Pokhlebaev, summons Maria Osipova to a meeting. Elena again behaved carefully, and this time she did not rule out provocation. The Soviet army was actively advancing, therefore, most likely, Osipova hinted to Mazanik that everyone would have to answer - did you fight against the enemy or only served him? Elena demanded a meeting with the commander of the partisan detachment to make sure that this was not a provocation. She herself could not leave the mansion for a long time, so Mazanik's sister Valentina joined the detachment along with Osipova. After that, Mazanik agrees to complete the task, but puts forward a condition - at the end of the operation, she and her sister Valentina were to be sent to a partisan detachment and then taken to Moscow (Mazanik-Tarletsky's husband was there).

"The clock stopped at midnight", or in what way Mazanik decided to "remove" Cuba

At first, it was assumed that Cuba should be destroyed with the help of poison. The area in which the mansion was located was cordoned off, the servants were monitored. On all floors of the house there were security officers on duty. But Elena was rarely in the kitchen, and Cuba, according to eyewitnesses, was taken to food only after his children had eaten. Therefore, it was decided to use an English magnetic mine with a chemical fuse - it worked after a certain time, and Mazanik had every chance to leave under a plausible pretext before the explosion, which means to stay alive. Osipova delivered a mine from the detachment. Mazanik carried the explosive device into the mansion in a handbag, covering it with a beautiful scarf. The officer at the entrance wanted to take the handkerchief, but Mazanik said it was a birthday present for Frau Anita.

Elena was in good standing at the Gauleiter's house, which helped her at that moment, and the officer did not insist. After going into the room, Elena ran into the toilet and hid the mine under her clothes. Then she went into the dining room and arranged with the chef Domna to treat the officer who guarded the entrance to the Gauleiter's bedroom with a cup of coffee. When asked why this was needed, Mazanik replied that this was her beau, and so she wanted to please him, and she would then thank Domna. She herself went upstairs and asked the officer on duty if he was already drinking coffee. He replied that not yet, then Elena said that if he went to the kitchen now, Domna would treat him to a cup - another. It worked. During his absence, Mazanik ran into the bedroom and planted a mine under the mattress with springs. She carefully found out in advance what kind of bed Cuba himself was sleeping on, and on which his wife Anita was sleeping. Pale, with a sinking heart, she left the bedroom and went downstairs. When Kube asked why she was so pale, Elena replied that she had a toothache, and asked to leave early - it was necessary to visit a doctor. At night, an explosion was heard in the Gauleiter's house - the elusive "lucky Cuba" died, and his pregnant wife survived (they were expecting their fourth child). Elena Mazanik herself, her sister and Maria Osipova were already far away. They arrived at the detachment and were transported to Moscow. Nadezhda Troyan also arrived there with them.

What did Soviet women get for the elimination of Hitler's deputy in Belarus

The women faced long interrogations. They were accommodated in different rooms and interrogated each separately from the others. After clarification of all the circumstances, Mazanik Elena Grigorievna, Osipova Maria Borisovna and Troyan Nadezhda Viktorovna were presented for the award - each of them was awarded the title of Hero of the Soviet Union and awarded the Order of Lenin and the Gold Star medal.

Hope Troyan Hitler was subsequently declared his personal enemy.