p Dear Mum and Dad,

p I’m writing you my last note. 27-VII-42. That makes exactly a month from the day they passed sentence. My time is running out, and perhaps I won’t live till next letter. I don’t expect any mercy. These rats know full well who I am (thanks to the swine who gave me away). At the inquest I kept pretty cool. I refused to answer. They took me away for beatings. Three times they took me and beat me up for about four to five hours. At half past three they stopped beating me. In that time I lost consciousness three times and once I made as if I had fainted. They beat me with a rubber hose, braided with a thin wire. Then with a wooden stick, about five feet long. Iron rods on my arms—-After that battering I still have the scars on my legs and higher up. Now I can’t hear very well.

p The rest of the boys in my group needn’t worry. No torture could tear their names from me. I led the boys on the job. I gathered information. I was going to blow up a house where the Gerries were (a new building next to the Red Army House). But the old geezer putting me up got the wind up. He knew if I’d got hold of the bloke that gave me away I would have throttled him. I’d already done one bloke in. Shame I didn’t have enough time. ...

p I reckoned on escaping. But a couple of days ago some criminals here were going to make a break and they were 73 found out. Now there’s no chance of getting out and there’s not much time left. Keep your end up. Sasha Khoroshenko swore he wouldn’t leave you in the lurch if anything happened to me. You can bet your boots he’ll be out. He has time and he’ll pick his moment to make a break. Our cause will win all the same. The Soviets will mop up the Gerries and cornchewing “liberators” this winter. They’ll get it back a thousand times worse for the blood of the partisans shot by these bastards. I’m just sorry I won’t be able to help my companions when the time comes.

p See if you can get hold of my documents. They’re buried in the shed. About a foot down under the first board from the whetstone. There you’ll find photos of my pals and companions and my Y.C.L. card. The sigurantsa couldn’t get it out of me that I’m in the Y.C.L.

p There’s a photo of Vova F., please take it to 7 Lutheransky Lane, to Nina Georgievna. Take it to her and tell her to make a copy, and take the photo back. Maybe you’ll meet him one day. My letters are also there. And a box too. You can open it. There is a vow inside, a vow of eternal friendship and solidarity to each other. But we found ourselves all over the place. I’m condemned to be shot. Vova, Misha and Abrasha have been evacuated. They were wonderful chaps though. Maybe you’ll come across some of them.

p Good-bye Mum and Dad. Get well soon, Dad. That’s what I want. Just ask you not to forget us and to get your own back on the rats who gave us away. Give my regards to Lena.

p Lots of love to you all. Don’t lose heart. Keep your ends up. Best wishes to all the family. Victory will be ours!

p 27.VII.42.

p Yasha

p During the heroic days of the Odessa defence in August 1941, a stocky figure turned up in Captain Molodtsov’s "flying detachment”. He was given a signaller’s job. It was sixteen-year-old Yasha Gordienko. The young lad dreamed of great feats and burned to get hold of a gun to defend his home town from the nazi invaders. But the soldiers kept him in check. Son of a Black Sea sailor, he had only just finished school before war broke out. Who would have thought then that a few months later he was to be a victim of the nazi murderers?

p On October 16, 1941, after 73 days of defence, the Soviet troops had to withdraw from Odessa As the last Soviet ship put out of the port, the Rumanian and German troops marched into the town

p Captain Vladimir Molodtsov, known then as Badayev, and a group of underground fighters took to the Odessa catacombs. Yasha Gordienko joined Captain Molodtsov’s band and acted as a scout He collected information on the nazis’ movements, distributed leaflets and carried on political work among the townspeople. The brave boy often had a hand in the operations-blowing up railway lines, i aiding enemy lorries, cutting telephone wires, etc

p Once, due to his initiative and courage, Yasha Gordienko succeeded in rescuing some 50 prisoners

p Yasha was caught in June 1942 at a secret address in Odessa After taking a traitor in for questioning, agents of the Rumanian political police (sigurantsa) learned the secret addresses of the underground members. It had taken the nazis a long time to catch up with the legendary Badayev. But one evening, when Yasha Gordienko and his commander Badayev were unsuspectingly leaving their hidmgplace, the police pounced Nothing could break their will. The young boy stood up to the torture just as bravely as the experienced Communist Vladimir Molodtsov. They were condemned to death and shot in late July 1942 Yakov Gordienko was posthumously awarded the Order of Lenin and the Partisan of the Patriotic War medal, First Class

Realising that he was to die in a couple of days, Yasha wrote his last letter home on half a dozen cigarette papers which his cell companions managed to smuggle out to the address indicated