29. Becoming a Partisan Martyr
In 1943, Zinaida Portnova got a job in a kitchen that served the German garrison of Obol, and poisoned their food. When suspicion fell upon her, she demonstrated her “innocence” by eating the food to prove that it was not poisoned. When she did not exhibit immediate ill effects, she was released. She became violently ill soon thereafter, but survived. Fleeing Obol, she joined another partisan unit and served as its scout.
In late 1943, contact was lost with the Obol partisans, and Zinaida was infiltrated back into the city to investigate. She was captured almost immediately, but managed to grab a pistol her German interrogator had carelessly left lying atop his desk and shot him to death, as well as two guards who rushed in upon hearing the gunfire. She escaped the building, but was eventually tracked down and captured, after which she was tortured and executed on January 15th, 1944, at aged 17.