Inessa (Ina) Alexandrovna Konstantinova (russian: Инесса (Ина) Александровна Константинова; 1924–1944) was a wartime

Soviet The Soviet Union,. officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR),. was a List of former transcontinental countries#Since 1700, transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 to 1991. A flagship communist state, ...

diarist A diary is a written or audiovisual record with discrete entries arranged by date reporting on what has happened over the course of a day or other period. Diaries have traditionally been handwritten but are now also often digital. A personal ...

and

partisan Partisan may refer to: Military * Partisan (weapon), a pole weapon * Partisan (military), paramilitary forces engaged behind the front line Films * ''Partisan'' (film), a 2015 Australian film * ''Hell River'', a 1974 Yugoslavian film also know ...

, killed as a 20-year-old during

Nazi Germany Nazi Germany (lit. "National Socialist State"), ' (lit. "Nazi State") for short; also ' (lit. "National Socialist Germany") (officially known as the German Reich from 1933 until 1943, and the Greater German Reich from 1943 to 1945) was ...

's operations in the Soviet Union during

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...

in 1944.

Biography

Born in the village of Kiverichi in

Tver Oblast Tver Oblast (russian: Тверска́я о́бласть, ''Tverskaya oblast'', ), from 1935 to 1990 known as Kalinin Oblast (), is a federal subject of Russia (an oblast). Its administrative center is the city of Tver. It was named after Mikhai ...

in 1924, Ina Konstantinova grew up near the northeastern

Russia Russia (, , ), or the Russian Federation, is a List of transcontinental countries, transcontinental country spanning Eastern Europe and North Asia, Northern Asia. It is the List of countries and dependencies by area, largest country in the ...

n town of Kashin with her parents and sister.Holliday, Laurel. ''Why Do They Hate Me?: Young Lives Caught in War and Conflict''. New York: Simon and Schuster, 1999. , . P. 88. She was a sixteen-year-old

Komsomol The All-Union Leninist Young Communist League (russian: link=no, Всесоюзный ленинский коммунистический союз молодёжи (ВЛКСМ), ), usually known as Komsomol (; russian: Комсомол, links=n ...

member and student at the beginning of the

Nazi German Nazi Germany (lit. "National Socialist State"), ' (lit. "Nazi State") for short; also ' (lit. "National Socialist Germany") (officially known as the German Reich from 1933 until 1943, and the Greater German Reich from 1943 to 1945) was ...

invasion of the Soviet Union in 1941."Константинова Инесса Александровна (1924–44)
("Konstantinova Inessa Alexandrovna (1922–44)"). ''Энциклопедический Справочник "Тверская Область"'' (''Tver Oblast Encyclopedic Directory''). 2009. Retrieved 11 December 2009. Still too young to fight in the military in the first days of the attack in the summer of 1941, Konstantinova joined a voluntary aid detachment and helped assist wounded people with the district committee of the

Red Cross The International Red Cross and Red Crescent Movement is a Humanitarianism, humanitarian movement with approximately 97 million Volunteering, volunteers, members and staff worldwide. It was founded to protect human life and health, to ensure re ...

.Werner, Emmy E. ''Through the Eyes of Innocents: Children Witness World War II''. Boulder, Colorado: Westview Press, 2001. , . P. 36. Secretly leaving her parents' home at age 17 and proceeding towards

Moscow Moscow ( , US chiefly ; rus, links=no, Москва, r=Moskva, p=mɐskˈva, a=Москва.ogg) is the capital and largest city of Russia. The city stands on the Moskva River in Central Russia, with a population estimated at 13.0 million ...

to join the partisans as a saboteur, Konstantinova joined the 2nd Kalinin Partisan Brigade of the 1st Kalinin Partisan Corps in July 1942. Glantz, David M. "Women in War: The Red Army's Experience". ''The Journal of Slavic Military Studies'' 12.1 (March 1999): 208–212. Working among the partisans a reconnaissance scout for the brigade for the remaining years of her life during, Konstaninova would be sent behind enemy lines several times. She was awarded the

Medal "Partisan of the Patriotic War" A medal or medallion is a small portable artistic object, a thin disc, normally of metal, carrying a design, usually on both sides. They typically have a commemorative purpose of some kind, and many are presented as awards. They may be int ...

2nd class in 1943. Konstantinova perished on 4 March 1944, when, covering the retreat of her comrades away from an ambushed dugout in the course of a partisan reconnaissance operation with her

submachine gun A submachine gun (SMG) is a magazine-fed, automatic carbine designed to fire handgun cartridges. The term "submachine gun" was coined by John T. Thompson, the inventor of the Thompson submachine gun, to describe its design concept as an autom ...

firing, she was killed in a skirmish with an advancing German unit near the village of Lukyanovo (present-day

Pskov Oblast Pskov Oblast (russian: Пско́вская о́бласть, ') is a federal subjects of Russia, federal subject of Russia (an oblast), located in the west of the country. Its administrative center is the types of inhabited localities in Russia, ...

).Werner, Emmy E. ''Through the Eyes of Innocents: Children Witness World War II''. Boulder, Colorado: Westview Press, 2001. , . P. 37. Her corpse was located under a pine tree close to the scene the following day. Throughout the war, Konstantinova maintained a diary she had started as a teenager prior to the invasion. Her diary entries and letters were posthumously published in the

Russian language Russian (russian: русский язык, russkij jazyk, link=no, ) is an East Slavic languages, East Slavic language mainly spoken in Russia. It is the First language, native language of the Russians, and belongs to the Indo-European langua ...

in 1947 and subsequently translated into various languages for publication outside the Soviet Union. Her remains were reburied in the town of Kashin in 1949, where a street was also named after her in 1970.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Konstantinova, Ina Alexandrovna 1924 births 1944 deaths People from Rameshkovsky District Female resistance members of World War II 20th-century Russian diarists Russian people of World War II Soviet non-fiction writers Soviet partisans Soviet women writers Soviet writers Soviet civilians killed in World War II 20th-century Russian women writers 20th-century Russian writers Women diarists 20th-century non-fiction writers Resistance members killed by Nazi Germany Soviet diarists