In an old notebook where I wrote down the sayings I liked, I saw the phrase “An obedient person will never get into trouble for his principles.” Obedience is the scourge of school.” Ariadna Kazei. I remembered that once upon a time, I read an interview with the elder sister of the famous pioneer hero. It just shocked me. This phrase alone is worth something, and from the lips of a teacher! Teachers usually have a completely different opinion.
I started searching on the Internet - maybe something was preserved. Not immediately and not completely, but I found it! Still, a wonderful thing is the Internet. (Thanks to schoolboy Nikita Volkov from Baltiysk and his teacher Maria Grigorievna Ukhabina, who apparently still has that old magazine http://zvezdu.ucoz.com/poet/Nikita_volkov_proza2.html)

Pioneers are heroes Soviet Union! This seems incomprehensible to me...Children aged 12-14 performed such feats for which they were awarded the highest award of the Motherland!

Narrated by Ariadna Kazei, sister of Hero of the Soviet Union Marat Kazei, and herself a Hero of Socialist Labor, an honored teacher.
Father, Ivan Georgievich Kazei, served in the Baltic Fleet for 10 years, brought a vest from the Baltic, which he then always wore under a leather jacket. And he also brought the name to her brother - Marat, in honor of the cruiser on which he served. Then he worked at MTS in his native village of Stankovo, Minsk region, and was a communist. But him, selflessly devoted to the Motherland and revolutions were repressed back in 1934 (rehabilitated in 1959)
Mom was also an activist and wore a leather jacket. The red scarf on her black hair was always defiantly bright red. She was also arrested as the wife of an enemy of the people.
- There is an expression: “Mad love.” Have you ever encountered such a strong feeling?
Yes.
Who are these two?
My parents.
Was there something they loved more?
Your country.
What can't a person live without?
Without friends.
What kind of person can have true friends?
The one who knows exactly where his enemy is.

Anna Kazei was released from her dungeons literally just before the war. When the Gestapo took her away from home for her connection with the partisans, her last cry remained forever in my memory: “Children, take care of each other. I'll come back!" She was taken from the house, then taken away from the village in a black covered car.
She didn't return. She was hanged on November 7, 1941.
This was one of the first public executions in Minsk.
After the death of his mother, Marat and Ariadne went to partisan detachment, she is 16 years old, he is 3 years younger.
- What do you consider your main duty?
Talk about your brother.
What is the hardest thing for you?
Talk about your brother. . .

:
“Maratik was a very handsome boy: blue-eyed, fair-haired. I hung his portrait in the school museum. That's where he looks most like himself. Then many artists painted him, but each in his own way and not always the way he was in life. When I was just creating the museum, the artist Yuri Vasilyevich Nezhura painted a large picture “ Last Stand Marat." The best photograph of Marat was taken by a German
When in 1965 a photograph was needed for the posthumous awarding of the title of Hero of the Soviet Union to Marat Kazei, approximately corresponding to the age of the deceased teenager, Ariadna Ivanovna sent to the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet of the USSR the highest quality photograph that she found in her family album. It was made well and conscientiously for a couple of eggs by a German who wandered into their hut in the first days of the war.
It was this photo that went into everything Soviet encyclopedias and textbooks and became textbook.”

Marat was a scout at the headquarters of the partisan brigade named after. K.K. Rokossovsky. I went on reconnaissance missions, both alone and with a group. Participated in raids. He blew up the echelons. For the battle in January 1943, when, wounded, he roused his comrades to attack and made his way through the enemy ring, Marat received the medal “For Courage” and “For Military Merit.”
The award list has been preserved, in which brigade headquarters reconnaissance officer Marat Kazei, born in 1929, a Belarusian by nationality, nominated himself for an award - the medal “For Courage”.
Marat wore an overcoat and tunic, which were sewn for him by the squad tailor. He always carried two grenades on his belt. One on the right, one on the left. One day his sister Ariadne asked him: why not wear both on one side? He answered as if jokingly: so as not to confuse one for the Germans, the other for himself. But the look was completely serious.


When Marat made his last feat, Ariadne was no longer in the squad.
During one of the operations, after lying long hours in the snow, hiding from the punishers, she suffered severe frostbite on her feet. Returning to camp, after some time they discovered that gangrene had begun. The head of the medical service decided to amputate the legs, because the consequences could be irreversible. She lay on the cart, under a spruce tree, fully conscious, not thinking about the upcoming operation, trying not to look at the guy accompanying her, who, knowing what was waiting for her now, cried silently, falling on the horse’s croup.
Her legs were amputated with a simple hacksaw, without anesthesia (where does anesthesia come from in the forest?)
In 1943, Ariadne was taken to a hospital near Moscow, where she had to undergo a complex operation. There were a total of five similar operations in the life of this courageous woman.
She returned to her native village at the end of the war, knowing that her brother had died. But, not knowing, of course, that he will forever stand as a monument on one of the squares in Minsk.


On that last day, Marat and the reconnaissance commander of the brigade headquarters, Larin, arrived early in the morning on horseback to the village of Khoromitsky. Larin needed to meet with his contact. No more than half an hour later, shots were heard. The village was surrounded by a chain of Germans and police. The partisans tried to leave. Larin was already caught up in the field by a bullet. Marat managed to reach the bushes, and there he had to fight.

This happened almost in front of the entire village. That's why everything became known...
The Germans and police wanted to take him alive, they saw that the teenager ran into the bushes and began to fight back
He fired until the last cartridge, then threw his first grenade, fell silent, then stood up and shouted: “That’s it, now take me!” - and they got up and ran towards him, - and then he took that second grenade from his belt. . .
Feeling that the bullet could hit him before the grenade raised above his head exploded, Marat rushed towards the taken aback Nazis. Several more fascists fell dead from the explosion...
Thus, 14-year-old Marat Kazei died.
Marat, Larina and another partisan, whom the raid found in the village, were buried with honors.
Of the orders for the Rokossovsky brigade issued in 1944, four were dedicated to Marat. Three - with an announcement of gratitude for completing combat missions. Fourth, it was prescribed to consider Marat to have died heroically in unequal battle With German fascist invaders May 11, 1944 in the village of Khoromitsky.
The young hero was awarded the order Patriotic War I degree. On May 8, 1965, by Decree of the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet of the USSR, Marat Kazei was posthumously awarded the title of Hero of the Soviet Union.
In October 1958, a monument to him was unveiled in the village of Stankovo, Minsk region, in Marat’s homeland. On the marble obelisk it is written:
ETERNAL GLORY TO THE PIONEER
KAZEY MARAT IVANOVICH
In Marat’s native village Stankovo, Dzerzhinsky district, Minsk region, it was named after him. high school and a museum was created. Every year on May 9, school students hold a ceremonial line near the Marat Kazei memorial.

The life of the hero's sister was full of losses, each of which can plunge the other into lasting despondency. And she perceived this life as an acquisition.
- What should a person be ashamed of in himself first of all?
Mental laziness.
As a child, she was called “Ognevka.” She danced with equal passion in the club, played with her mother in amateur performances, and sang. One day a military man approached her - there was a military unit in their place. "What do you want to become?" - he asked her. “A pilot,” she answered. “Please,” said the military man, “go to the ballet school. You were created to be a ballerina."
She became neither a pilot nor a ballerina. Ariadna Ivanovna graduated from the Pedagogical Institute, became an Honored Teacher of the BSSR, a Hero Socialist Labor, deputy of the Supreme Council.
She worked as a teacher at the 28th Minsk school, and through her efforts a museum named after Marat Kazei was opened there.
- Which psychology, in your opinion, is most harmful to the teaching profession?
Psychology of an old maid. You don't have to enter the classroom - you have to fly in on wings.
What kind of students do you like?
- “Unstoppable”, the exact Belarusian word is unstoppable. And with a sense of humor.
What about the obedient ones?
Obedience is the scourge of school.
Why?
- An obedient person will never get into trouble for his principles.

Journalist Vyacheslav Morozov, who worked as his own correspondent for Pionerskaya Pravda, wrote and published a book about the life of Marat Kazei, “A Boy Went on Reconnaissance.”
The writer Stanislav Shushkevich also wrote a book about Marat Kazei, which he called “Brave Marat.”
And writer Boris Kostyukovsky dedicated his book “Ariadne’s Thread” to Ariadne Kazei.

What do you think is the most important thing in a woman?
- Spicy.
- How do you like to spend your free time?
- Driving your car.
- Name one of your strong aesthetic impressions.
- “Judith” by Giorgione.
- What is despair?
- Don't know. I didn't experience this feeling.

There were so many blows of fate in this woman’s life that could have broken many. She also had to endure another loss. She knew that her brother had died, but when the sledges pulled up behind her at the small house of the station and she saw on them a boy with a thin neck and a big head, everything trembled, became confused, and she screamed, losing her memory: “Ma-ra-at !
It was indeed Marat. Truly a brother. Only another, cousin. And as fate would have it, she also lost this Marat, who from that day entered her heart forever. He rushed into the burning house of the widow of a front-line soldier and carried out the girl in his arms. And he lived for another eleven days - as if only to die on May 11, month after month, day on the day of her Marat’s death, but five years later.

What is courage?
Love for people.

Ariadna Ivanovna Kazei died in April 2008 and was buried in the Northern Cemetery of Minsk.

Series of messages "

Kazei Marat Ivanovich was born on October 10, 1929 in the village of Stankovo, Dzerzhinsky district. The parents of the future hero were staunch communist activists; his mother Anna Kazei was one of the members of the commission for elections to the Supreme Soviet of the USSR. The son was named after the Baltic battleship Marat, on which his father Ivan Kazei served for 10 years.

In 1935, Marat’s father, being the chairman of a comrades’ court, was repressed for “sabotage” and exiled to Far East, where he died. The boy’s mother was also arrested twice “for Trotskyist beliefs”; she was later released. The trials and shocks she endured did not break the woman and did not dispel her faith in socialist ideals. When the Great Patriotic War began, Anna Kazei began collaborating with the partisan underground in Minsk (she hid and treated wounded soldiers), for which she was hanged by the Nazis in 1942.

The military biography of Marat Kazei began immediately after the death of his mother, when he, together with his older sister Ariadna, joined the partisan detachment named after the 25th anniversary of the October Revolution, where he became a scout. Fearless and dexterous, Marat penetrated German garrisons many times and returned to his comrades with valuable information. Also, the young hero was involved in many acts of sabotage at sites important to the Nazis. M. Kazei also took part in open battles with the enemy, in which he showed absolute fearlessness - even when wounded, he got up and went on the attack.

In the winter of 1943, Marat Kazei had the opportunity to go to the rear with his sister, since she urgently needed amputation of both legs. The boy was a minor at that time, so he had this right, but he refused and continued his fight against the invaders.

The exploits of Marat Kazei.

One of his high-profile exploits was accomplished in March 1943, when, thanks to him, an entire partisan detachment was saved. Then, near the village of Rumok, German punitive forces surrounded a detachment named after them. Furmanov, and Marat Kazei was able to break through the enemy’s ring and bring help. The enemy was defeated, and his comrades were saved.

For the courage, bravery and feats he performed in battles and sabotage, at the end of 1943, 14-year-old Marat Kazei was awarded three high awards: medals “For Military Merit”, “For Courage” and the Order of the Patriotic War, 1st degree.

Marat Kazei died on May 11, 1944 in a battle near the village of Khoromitsky. When he and his partner were returning from reconnaissance, they were surrounded by the Nazis. Having lost a comrade in a shootout, the young man blew himself up with a grenade, preventing the Germans from taking him alive or, according to another version, preventing a punitive operation in the village in the event of his capture. Another version of his biography says that Marat Kazei detonated an explosive device to kill along with himself several Germans who came too close to him, since he had run out of ammunition. The boy was buried in his home village.

The title of Hero of the Soviet Union was awarded to Marat Kazei on May 8, 1965. In Minsk, an obelisk was erected for the brave guy, capturing the last moments before his feat. Many streets throughout the area were also named in his honor. former USSR, especially in his homeland in Belarus. Soviet-era schoolchildren were raised in the spirit of patriotism in the pioneer camp of the village of Gorval, Rechitsa district, Belarusian SSR. The camp was called “Marat Kazei”.

In 1973, the book “Life as It Is” by writer Boris Kostyukovsky was published (Moscow, “Children’s Literature”), who dedicated it to the biography and exploits of Marat Kazei and his sister Ariadna Kazei (died in 2008).

On February 16, 1944, in a battle for the city of Zyaslav, Khmelnitsky region, the young partisan reconnaissance Valya Kotik was mortally wounded and died the next day. On the day of his death he turned 14 years old. He will become the youngest Hero of the Soviet Union. The title was awarded to him posthumously. Valya Kotik was born on February 11, 1930 in the village of Khmelevka, Shepetovsky district, Khmelnitsky region of Ukraine. He was in sixth grade when the war broke out. The boy gathered his peers around him to collect and resend weapons to the partisans. He was a liaison in an underground organization. Since August 1943 in the partisan detachment. Personally destroyed the head of the field gendarmerie of the city of Shepetivka. In October 1943, he discovered an underground telephone cable, which the partisans had blown up. The connection between the local fascist garrison and Hitler's headquarters in Warsaw was disabled. At the end of the same month, while on duty, Valya noticed a punitive raid. He killed a German officer with a pistol shot and raised the alarm. Thanks to his vigilance, the partisans were able to repel the punitive forces. The young avenger took part in the blowing up of six enemy trains and a warehouse. Was wounded twice. He was awarded the Order of Lenin and the Order of the Patriotic War, 1st degree, and the medal “Partisan of the Great Patriotic War,” 2nd degree. Five days after his birthday, on February 16, 1944, the young partisan took part in the battle for the city of Zyaslav, Khmelnitsky region. He was mortally wounded and died the next day. He was buried in the central park of the Ukrainian city of Shepetivka. For his heroism in the fight against the Nazi invaders in 1958, Valentin Aleksandrovich Kotik was posthumously awarded the title of Hero of the Soviet Union. A ship and several schools bear his name. Monuments were erected to him in Moscow and at home. Streets that bear the name young hero, there are in Yekaterinburg, Kyiv and Kaliningrad. Marat Kazei is one year older than Valya Kotik. He comes from the village of Stankovo, Dzerzhinsky district of Belarus. Father, ?van Kasey, gave 10 years of his life to serve in the Baltic Fleet. Then he worked at MTS. He headed the training courses for tractor drivers and was the chairman of the comrades' court. In 1935 he was arrested for “sabotage.” Rehabilitated posthumously in 1959. Marat's mother, Anna Kazei, was a member of the electoral commission for elections to the Supreme Soviet of the USSR. She was repressed twice on charges of “Trotskyism.” However, she continued to support Soviet power, during the war she hid wounded soldiers. Hanged by the Germans in Minsk for association with partisans. After her death, the 12-year-old son of the “enemy of the people” and his older sister Ariadne joined the partisan detachment named after the 25th anniversary of October in November 1942. Later, Marat became a scout at the headquarters of the Rokossovsky partisan brigade. There were legends about the boy. He penetrated enemy garrisons, obtained valuable information that helped the partisans develop a daring operation and defeat the fascist garrison of the city of Dzerzhinsk. Participated in sabotage on highways and railways. In January 1943, being wounded in the arm, he not only did not leave the battlefield, but also raised the partisans to attack. Obtained secret maps and documents of the fascist command. In the spring of the same year, he broke through the German encirclement and brought reinforcements to the Furmanov detachment that was surrounded. He was awarded the Order of Lenin, the Order of the Patriotic War, 1st degree, and the medals “For Courage” and “For Military Merit.” ... On May 11, 1943, returning from reconnaissance, Marat was ambushed near the village of Khoromitskiye, Uzdensky district, Minsk region. He continued to resist until the last bullet. And then, in order not to be captured by the Nazis, he blew himself up with a grenade. He was buried in his native village of Stankovo, where an obelisk was later installed. In 1965, Marat Vanovich Kazei was posthumously awarded the title Hero of the Soviet Union. A monument to him was erected in the Yanka Kupala Park in Minsk. Streets, schools, pioneer squads and detachments, and a ship of the Caspian Shipping Company bear his name. In 1957, the film “Eaglet” was shot at the Odessa Film Studio. The film was dedicated to Valya Kotik and Marat Kazei. Victor Nikitin

Marat Kazei

On the first day of the war, Marat saw two people in the cemetery. One, in the uniform of a Red Army tankman, spoke to a village boy:

- Listen, where is your...

The stranger's eyes darted around restlessly.

Marat also drew attention to the fact that the pistol was hanging almost on the tankman’s stomach. “Our people don’t carry weapons like that,” flashed through the boy’s head.

- I'll bring... milk and bread. Now. – He nodded towards the village. - Otherwise, come to us. Our hut is on the edge, close...

- Bring it here! - Having become completely bold, the tanker ordered.

“Probably Germans,” thought Marat, “paratroopers...”

The Germans did not drop bombs on their village. Enemy planes flew further to the east. Instead of bombs, a fascist landing force fell. The paratroopers were caught, but no one knew how many of them were dropped...

...Several of our border guards were resting in the hut. Anna Alexandrovna, Marat’s mother, placed a pot of cabbage soup and a pot of milk in front of them.

Marat flew into the hut with such a look that everyone immediately sensed something was wrong.

- They are in the cemetery!

The border guards ran to the cemetery behind Marat, who led them along a short path.

Noticing the armed people, the disguised fascists rushed into the bushes. Marat is behind them. Having reached the edge of the forest, the “tankers” began to shoot back...

...In the evening a truck drove up to the Kazeevs’ house. Border guards and two prisoners were sitting in it. Anna Alexandrovna rushed to her son in tears - he was standing on the step of the cabin, the boy’s legs were bleeding, his shirt was torn.

- Thank you, mom! – the soldiers took turns shaking the woman’s hand. - We raised a brave son. Good fighter!

Marat grew up without a father - he died when the boy was not even seven years old. But, of course, Marat remembered his father: a former Baltic sailor! He served on the ship “Marat” and wanted to give his son a name in honor of his ship.

Anna Alexandrovna, the elder sister of the Komsomol member Ada and Marat himself - that’s the whole Kazeev family. Their house is on the edge of the village of Stankovo, near the highway that leads to Minsk.

Enemy tanks rumble along this road day and night.

Dzerzhinsk, a regional town, is occupied by the Nazis. They have already visited Stankovo ​​several times. They broke into Anna Alexandrovna's hut. They rummaged through everything, looking for something. It’s fortunate for the Kazeevs that they didn’t think of raising the floorboards in the entryway. Marat hid cartridges and grenades there. For days on end he would disappear somewhere and return either with a clip of cartridges or with some part of a weapon.

In the fall, Marat did not have to run to school, to fifth grade. The Nazis turned the school building into their barracks. Many teachers were arrested and sent to Germany. The Nazis also captured Anna Alexandrovna. The enemies got wind that she was in contact with the partisans and was helping them. And a few months later, Marat and his sister found out: their mother was hanged by Hitler’s executioners in Minsk, on Freedom Square.

Marat went to the partisans in the Stankovsky forest.

...Walks along a snowy road little man. He is wearing a tattered sweatshirt, bast shoes with onuchas. A canvas bag is slung over his shoulder. On the sides are the stoves of burnt huts. Hungry crows cawing over them.

German military vehicles pass along the road, and Nazis on foot also come across them. None of them could even imagine that a partisan reconnaissance was walking along the road. He has a fighting, even a little formidable name - Marat. There is no such dexterous scout in the squad as he.

A boy with a beggar's bag goes to Dzerzhinsk, where there are a lot of fascists. Marat knows the streets and buildings well, because he visited the town more than once before the war. But now the town has become somehow alien, unrecognizable. There are German signs and flags on the main street. In front of the school there used to be a plaster figurine of a pioneer bugler. In its place now stands a gallows. There are many Nazis on the streets. They walk with their helmets pulled down over their foreheads. They greet each other in their own way, throw away right hand forward: “Heil Hitler!”

Carried away by the task, he did not notice how he ran into a German officer. Picking up the dropped glove, the officer winced in disgust.

- Uncle! - Marat groaned. - Give me something, uncle!

...A few days later, a partisan detachment defeated the Nazis in Dzerzhinsk at night. And the partisans thanked Marat: intelligence helped. And he was already preparing for another journey, just as dangerous and just as long. The boy had to walk much more than the other fighters. And the dangers...

Marat went on reconnaissance missions both alone and together with experienced fighters. He dressed up as a shepherd or a beggar and went on a mission, forgetting about rest, about sleep, about the pain in his feet that were rubbed until they bled. And there was no case when a pioneer scout returned with nothing, with empty hands, as they say. Will definitely bring important information.

Marat found out where and on what roads the enemy soldiers would go. He noticed where German posts were located, remembered where enemy guns were camouflaged and machine guns were placed.

In winter, the partisan brigade was located in the village of Rumok. Every day we walked and walked to Rumok soviet people- old people, teenagers. They asked to give them weapons. Having received a rifle or machine gun, they took the partisan oath. Women also came to the detachments. The patrol posts let them through without delay.

On the frosty morning of March 8, large groups of women were moving along the roads that led to Rumok. Many carried children in their arms.

The women were already near the forest when three horsemen flew up to the headquarters on lathered horses.

- Comrade commander! It’s not women who are approaching—Germans in disguise! Alarm, comrades! Anxiety!

The horsemen rushed along the village, raising the fighters. Marat galloped ahead. The flaps of his oversized overcoat fluttered in the wind. And this made it seem as if the rider was flying on wings.

Shots were heard. Sensing danger, the “women” began to fall into the snow. They fell as well-trained soldiers can. They also unswaddled their “babies”: they were machine guns.

The battle has begun. Bullets flew over Marat more than once while he galloped to the command post and hid his horse behind the hut. Here two more saddled horses were tramping restlessly. Their owners, messengers, lay next to the brigade commander Baranov, waiting for his orders.

The boy took off his machine gun and crawled up to the commander. He looked back:

- Ah, Marat! Our affairs are bad, brother. They're getting close, you bastards! Now Furmanov’s detachment should hit them from the rear.

Marat knew that Furman’s men were about seven kilometers from Rumka. They really could have gone behind the Germans' rear. “We need to tell them!” The boy already wanted to crawl towards the horse. But the brigade commander turned to another partisan:

- Come on, Georgy! Jump ahead, don’t let them hesitate for a minute!..

But the messenger didn’t even manage to get out of the village. He fell from his horse and was cut down by a machine gun burst. The second messenger was not destined to get through either.

Without asking the commander anything, Marat crawled to his Orlik.

- Wait! – Baranov approached him. - Take care of yourself, do you hear? Jump straight, it will be more accurate. We've got your back. Well!.. – Marat felt the commander’s prickly cheek pressed against his face. - Son...

While shooting at the enemy, the commander kept raising his head to look at the field along which the winged horse was flying. The rider is almost invisible. He pressed himself against the horse’s neck, as if he had merged with Orlik. There were only a few meters left to the saving forest. Suddenly the horse stumbled, and the commander’s heart sank, his eyes involuntarily closed. “Is that all?” The brigade commander opened his eyes. No, it seemed that Marat continued to rapidly fly forward. Another jerk! More…

Everyone who watched Marat shouted “hurray.”

And yet, the brigade had to leave the burned village: partisan intelligence reported that the Germans decided to move tanks and planes to Rumok.

The troops left their old places.

But a few months later the partisans returned to the Stankovsky forest.

One day Marat went on reconnaissance with Komsomol member Alexander Raikovich. The scouts left, but didn’t return for a long time. The squad became worried: had something happened? Suddenly they hear a car speeding through a forest clearing. The partisans grabbed their weapons, they thought they were fascists. And when they saw what the matter was, they laughed. Marat and Alexander were sitting in the officer’s staff car. The scouts managed to obtain valuable information that time and stole a car from under the enemy’s nose.

But when the demolitionists, led by Mikhail Pavlovich, a former Stankovsky teacher, went “to work,” Marat himself saw them off with envious eyes. He had long wanted to go with Mikhail Pavlovich to the railway.

- You stuck to me like a burdock! - the miner once said. - Let’s go now to Comrade Baranov. What will he decide?

However, a lot depended on Mikhail Pavlovich. He turned the conversation so that Baranov answered:

“Well, I don’t mind,” and turning to Marat, he said: “You, son, tell your platoon commander our decision and get ready.” The road ahead of you is not easy.

There are ten people in Mikhail Pavlovich’s group. I had to be very careful all the way, making my way past enemy posts and outposts.

On the second day of the journey, the group reached the village of Glubokiy Log. A partisan liaison lived there. To move on, it was necessary to find out from him whether the bombers were in danger. Going to Glubokoye Log during the day was too risky. And waiting until dark meant wasting a lot of time.

And then Marat unexpectedly suggested:

- I'll go!

He pulled out bast shoes with onuchas and a tattered hat from his backpack. He took all this with him just in case.

Quickly changing clothes, Marat went to a quiet, deserted village. The partisans tried not to let him out of sight, and if something happened they were ready to immediately come to the rescue. But everything turned out well. Half an hour later Marat returned to his comrades.

- Mikhail Pavlovich! The Germans passed through Glubokoye Log in the morning. Forty people. They are in Vasilyevka now. You can’t go to Mostishchi: there will be ambushes.

From the reconnaissance report, the demolition men understood that they should now take roundabout routes.

The partisans walked in single file, at a distance of two or three meters from each other. They followed exactly the same steps. Marat had to jump to get on the trail.

The April snow on the roads has become watery. And my feet often sank all the way to the water.

It's getting late in the evening. From time to time, rockets flew into the sky, illuminating the entire area. Then the fighters fell onto the frozen ground. Marat injured his hand. It hurt. He almost screamed. Lying on the melted snow, Marat clearly heard about ten meters German speech. It was getting colder. The wet branches are frozen. When the partisans pulled them away with their hands, they rang.

Marat's back became wet with sweat, his legs gave way. He thought only about one thing: “I wish I could blow it up as soon as possible.”

How happy that moment seemed to the boy when he saw a sheaf of sparks flying out of the chimney of the locomotive. Mikhail Pavlovich tightly squeezed the boy’s elbow.

Breathing heavily, the partisans emerged from the darkness - they were planting explosives. One of them handed something into Mikhail Pavlovich’s hands and lay down. The rest were located nearby.

“So,” Mikhail Pavlovich said in a half-whisper, “so... now you can... Marat, hold it!” - He handed the boy a demolition machine, from which an electrical wire ran to the mines. - When I tell you, you turn the handle, as I taught you...

The train was traveling at high speed. The locomotive whistle barked, and almost at the same moment Mikhail Pavlovich shouted:

- Come on, Marat!

The boy turned the handle of the blasting machine. A short flash illuminated the platforms and the guns standing on them. A rumble swept through the forest.

Marat was pushed back by a hot air wave. But he did not take his eyes off the railway track. The carriages rolled downhill with a roar, bumping into each other.

- Move away! – Mikhail Pavlovich’s command sounded. Making their way in a chain to the appointed place, the partisans clearly heard the screams of crippled fascist soldiers.

Joy did not leave Marat all the way. “Today I took revenge on them!” - thought the boy, walking behind Mikhail Pavlovich.

Mikhail Pavlovich definitely saw all the forest paths under the melted snow. I chose from them those that led to the partisan camp. The ice crunched under the boots. It was freezing. Winter wanted to take over again. But it was already clear: spring would soon overpower her.

And she mastered it!

In May, when Marat Kazei went on a new reconnaissance mission, the birch trees were strewn with green fluff. Head of intelligence Mikhail Larin rode ahead.

...We went to the edge of the forest.

“Here, look,” Larin handed his binoculars to the boy. -Your eyes are sharper...

While the scouts were driving through the forest, it became noticeably dark. We drove out to the edge of the forest. Marat immediately climbed the tree. He managed to make out a village lying ahead. By all indications, there were no fascists in it. But still, Larin decided to wait in the forest and sneak into the village at night.

The village seemed to have died out: not a sound, not a light. But the scouts knew: silence can be deceptive, especially at night. Marat felt for the grenades in his belt. And his experienced horse walked carefully.

Through the backyard the partisans drove up to a hut that did not stand out among the other huts. Larin tapped the handle of his whip on the window. Nobody answered. You could hear a calf sighing in the barn.

They knocked again. A candle light floated in the darkness of the window.

An old man in a linen shirt opened the door. Without asking who came to him at such a late hour, he let the guests go ahead.

“Grandfather, you will wake us up at dawn,” Larin said to the old Belarusian, silently standing in front of him with a candle stub. - We are tired... And let the horses rest. Just feed them something.

The owner nodded. Marat was uncontrollably drawn to sleep. Without undressing, he lay down on a hard bench.

As soon as he closed his eyes, Larin shook him:

- Quicker! Fascists!

Marat jumped up and fumbled for the machine gun.

- On horses and to the forest! - Larin commanded. - Keep straight to the forest! And I'm more right...

Bent low to the horse's mane, Marat looked only forward, at the jagged edge of the forest, barely visible in the predawn darkness. And enemy bullets were already flying in pursuit. Suddenly, a machine gun suddenly began to chatter, and Marat’s horse fell to the ground. Without feeling the pain of the fall, Marat ran across the field towards the bushes. They were very close, tall, thick. “Just to get there!” The boy was already crawling for the remaining hundred meters - bullets whistled from different directions.

Marat pulled two grenades from his belt and placed them in front of him.

The Nazis were moving across the field in a long line. They walked boldly: they knew that there was only one partisan in the bushes.

Marat did not know that Larin did not have time to get to the forest, that he was killed with his horse in the middle of the field.

The boy still had hope that now another machine gun would be fired at the Nazis with him. Having fired a long burst, Marat listened. No, he was left alone. We need to save ammo.

The enemies lay down, but for some reason did not shoot. A few minutes later the chain rose.

Here she is approaching the shelter of the young partisan. You can already make out that an officer is walking in the center. Marat aimed at him for a long time. The machine seemed to stitch itself, viciously and accurately. The Nazis hit the ground again. And when they got up, the officer was no longer there. And the chain has noticeably thinned out.

Marat fell to the trembling machine gun. And then the cartridges ran out! The Nazis seemed to sense this. They were already running, skirting the bushes on both sides. And only now Marat realized: they wanted to capture him alive.

Marat waited until the Nazis ran up very close. He threw a grenade at them. Wild screams and moans were heard. Now the boy rose to his full height:

- Take me! Well!

Marat held a second grenade in his fist, which was about to explode. But he didn’t let her out of his hands. There was an explosion!

Several more Nazis were killed in the explosion.

New springs are coming to the place where the young partisan reconnaissance “held the defense.”

There is a light smoke over the cheerfully green meadow.

Birds are fussing about something in the birches.

There, residents of the surrounding villages erected a monument.

Detachments of pioneers go and go to Marat's homeland, to the village of Stankovo.

The kids walk many kilometers to look at the old Stankovsky Park, the river and the hut beyond the river. In it lived the same boy who, at the age of 14, became a Hero of the Soviet Union,

For participation in combat operations, the young partisan was awarded the medal “For Military Merit”, the medal “For Courage”, and the Order of the Patriotic War, 1st degree.

On May 9, 1965, by Decree of the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet of the USSR, Marat Kazei was posthumously awarded the title of Hero of the Soviet Union.

Many pioneer detachments bear the glorious name of Marat Kazei.

Every year on May 11, the day of Marat’s death, military friends, relatives, and representatives of various delegations gather at his grave to honor the memory of the hero.

On this day the pioneers of school No. 54 in Minsk come to Stankovo.

The pioneer squad of this school was the first in Belarus to be named after Marat Kazei.

A monument to the young hero was unveiled in the city of Minsk.

By resolution of the Council of Ministers of the RSFSR one of the ships Soviet fleet named after Marat Kazei.

If we consider all the pioneer heroes, then Marat Kazei was probably less fortunate than others. Soviet schoolchildren During the period of the late USSR, obscene rhymes were sung during breaks with his name mentioned. Of course, they did this out of childish stupidity, and not because of opposition views. Over time, some of the singers began to feel ashamed of their action, while the other part, to this day, sees it as a contribution to debunking the myths of the war. But true story the boy’s story was much more dramatic than the one that teachers talked about in schools. This does not make Marat's feat less significant. On the contrary, the boy’s courage and dedication evoke even greater respect.

Family

Kazei Marat Ivanovich, whose feat will be described in this article, was born in the village of Stankovo ​​(Belarus) in 1929. The boy's father was a convinced communist. In the past, Ivan Kazei served in the Baltic Fleet. He named his son in honor of the battleship on which he was a sailor. And he gave his daughter an unusual name - Ariadne, in honor main character An ancient Greek myth he liked.

Ivan met Anna, Marat’s mother, in 1927, when he came on leave. He fell in love with a girl without memory. A year later, the young man went ashore and married a beauty.

Father's arrest

Activist and communist Ivan Kazei was an ardent Bolshevik, was respected by his work colleagues, taught tractor driver training courses and headed the comrades' court. It all ended in 1935, when he was arrested for sabotage. The false denunciation was anonymous. Apparently, the ideological Ivan, who did not pocket a single penny of government money, greatly irritated those who wanted to fill their pockets at the expense of folk remedies. According to the verdict, he was exiled to the Far East and was rehabilitated only in 1959, posthumously. Marat Kazei, whose feat would inspire the fighters, was small at that time and did not understand what was happening.

Mother's arrest

After Ivan's exile, Anna was fired from her job, expelled from the institute and kicked out of her apartment. She had to send her children to relatives. And this was the right decision, since the woman was soon arrested for “Trotskyism.” But Anna did not repeat the fate of her husband. She was released before the war.

The imprisonment did not change the political views of the convinced communist. From the first days of the occupation, she actively collaborated with the Minsk underground. The history of the people who were part of it turned out to be tragic. Due to their lack of experience, they were quickly exposed and arrested by the Gestapo. Anna Kazei, along with her underground fighters, was hanged in Minsk.

Marat and Ariadne

The death of their mother served as an impetus for Marat and Ariadne to actively fight the Nazis. In 1942 they joined the partisan detachment. The boy was 13 years old and the girl had just turned 16.

Marat Kazei, whose feat is forever inscribed in the annals of the Patriotic War, became a scout. The boy was unusually clever in penetrating enemy garrisons, obtaining valuable information. In battle, he was distinguished by fearlessness. In 1943, being wounded, he repeatedly rose to attack the enemy. Also, the boy more than once participated in sabotage at sites that were of particular importance to the Nazis.

Once Marat Kazei, whose feat is known throughout the world, saved a partisan detachment named after Furmanov. The punishers surrounded him near the village of Rumok, and only the young scout managed to break through the barrier and bring help.

At the beginning of the winter of 1943, a partisan detachment, which included Marat and Ariadne, emerged from encirclement. The girl suffered severe frostbite. To save her life, doctors in the field amputated both of Ariadne's legs. Then the girl was taken by plane to the rear, where doctors managed to cure her. Marat remained at the front to avenge his crippled sister, murdered mother and desecrated homeland...

Last battle

In May 1944, Operation Bagration, which would liberate the Belarusian people from the German yoke, was in full swing. But the boy will no longer see this. On May 11 he will die near the village of Khorometskoye. Marat and the detachment commander were returning from a mission and came across the Germans. The commander was killed, the boy fired back until the cartridges ran out. There was nowhere to go, and besides, he was wounded. Then he took his last weapon - two grenades hanging on his belt, and when the Germans came very close, he blew himself up along with the enemies.

People who came to the funeral of the young hero carried posters with his photograph. They had the inscription “Marat Kazei - pioneer”. His exploits are still remembered by all residents of Stankovo, the boy’s native village, where the funeral took place.

Awards

• Medal "For Courage".
• (1st degree).
• Medal "For Military Merit".
• Hero of the USSR.

Conclusion

Now you know what feat Marat Kazei accomplished. What was he thinking about last moment your life? About how scary it is to die young? About what will bring victory closer by death? Or that he will no longer see his family?

Most likely, about all of this at the same time. And it is more likely that Marat was driven by fierce rage, coupled with desperate daring, characteristic exclusively of young fighters. Subconsciously, they understand that they only have time to live until the Germans approach. And death itself becomes not scary, because, as Gaidar wrote even before the war, the enemies will still run away, cursing in fear the amazing people of this country with its invincible army and unsolved military secret.

In 1965, Marat Kazei, whose feat will never be forgotten, received the title of Hero of the USSR posthumously. A monument to him was erected in Minsk.