Zinaida Get Your Gun,
A young girl barely the age of 14, Zinaida Portnova had the horror of living under German occupation during World War II. When the German Army passed through her home town in Belorussia, they beat her elderly grandparents, hit her over the head with a rifle butt, and stole her cow. Determined to get revenge, Zinaida joined a local resistance group called the “Young Avengers”. Posing as a harmless little girl, she worked as a cook’s aid in a German Army camp where she would secretly poison the food. When suspicion fell upon her, she tasted the food to “prove her innocence” making herself sick but giving her time to escape. Eventually the Gestapo (secret police) caught up with her and had her arrested. During her interrogation, the Gestapo interrogator laid down a pistol in the middle of the table in an attempt to frighten her. She picked up the pistol and shot him, then shot two guards who rushed into the room. Zinaida escaped the prison but was recaptured. She was executed on January 15th, 1944 (age 17), and posthumously awarded the title Hero of the Soviet Union.