113

p Not later than Januaiy 7, 1943  [113•* 

p My dearest Papa, Mama, dear sister Nyura and my darling son,

p Thanks a lot for the two notes I m very pleased to have heard your dear voice.

p We haven’t got any idea yet what they are going to do with us-either camp or the shooting squad It’s all the same to us whether we live like that or die There are many of us here who were arrested on political grounds And none of us is in low spirits .. . talking and thinking about the future, and not giving death a thought Papa, it’s better to die on our own soil than be taken to Geimany.

p I’m not scared of dying I’m just a bit sorry for you and my son. Still, let’s not think of death, let’s think of the future.

p Best wishes to you all....

Lots of love,
Lidia

p Lidia Bclova was a membei of Nikifor Taraskm s undei ground gioup of young people in the village of Alexeyevka, in Zaporozhye Region

p Their chief mission was to cairy out agitation among the popula tion Under Taiaskin s guidance, several biave girls, including Belova, wrote out leaflets and appeals to the local population urging them to combat the measures taken by the occupational forces, in particular the dispatch of young people to Germany They urged the people to destroy farm produce deliveries and disiupt enemy tiansport These leaflets were posted all over the distuct. 114

p Due to the inexperience of certain members of the organisation, the group was uncovered after it had been operating for over four months. At the end of November 1942, Taraskin was taken in along with other members. The arrested were detained in Nikopol prison until January 1943, from where they succeeded in sending several letters home.

p Neither the brutal interrogations, nor the torture, nor imminent death could break Lidia’s will or that of her wonderful companions.

On the morning of January 7, 1943, the nazis led the Komsomol girls out to be shot. They were taken by car to the edge of the town. When the car was drawing near their place of execution, the girls, at a sign from Taraskin, threw themselves on their guards, disarmed them, threw them out of the car and jumped down themselves. But the soldiers following in another car mowed them down with a burst of machine-gun fire.