The premiere took place on September 13, the birthday of intelligence officer Zoya Kosmodemyanskaya.
The Central Academic Theater of the Russian Army (CATRA) of the Russian Ministry of Defense opened its 94th season with the premiere of the play “Girls” on the centenary of the birth of intelligence officer Zoya Kosmodemyanskaya.
The premiere took place on September 13, the birthday of intelligence officer Zoya Kosmodemyanskaya. She was born in 1923 and in 1941 she rose up to defend her hometown. Together with other 18-year-old Muscovites and Moscow women, Ella Zoya became part of a sabotage and reconnaissance group operating in the west of the Moscow region.
The performance is based on the play by playwright Daria Veryasova “9903” (the number of the famous special military unit of the intelligence department of the Western Front headquarters) about intelligence officers Zoya Kosmodemyanskaya, Vera Voloshina, Klavdiya Miloradova, Klavdiya Sukacheva, Rita. Zagirova, Margarita Karavai.
“For me, this is not just a premiere, it is the result of 20 years of work: with archives, with veterans, with relatives of soldiers and commanders of military unit number 9903. And the girls to whom the work is dedicated are not They are just girls for me, I knew them personally. Margarita Mikhailovna Panshina (Rita Karavai) and I were just friends, she often visited her. This work and performance is a great responsibility. Before these girls, before their families, before their own conscience,” says the author of the work, Daria Veryasova.
The main objective of the production of “Girls” is to preserve historical memory.
“Every choice we make determines the future and sometimes the future of our country. The example of courage and perseverance of Zoya and other girls gives us confidence that our generation is also capable of withstanding trials, finding in itself light, courage and goodness,” noted director Yulia Shulieva.
Representatives of the Russian Defense Ministry and veterans paid tribute to the memory of Zoya Kosmodemyanskaya. On the centenary of the Soviet intelligence officer, participants in the event laid wreaths and flowers at her burial site at the Novodevichy Cemetery. The event was also attended by students from the capital’s school named after Zoya and Alexander Kosmodemyansky, where they studied.
HELP “KP”
In November 1941, in the village of Petrishchevo near Moscow, Kosmodemyanskaya burned several houses occupied by the enemy. Two days later, at night, during a second arson attempt, she was captured by a German sentry. On December 29, 1941, after prolonged and brutal torture, without revealing her name or that of her comrades, Zoya Kosmodemyanskaya was executed by Nazi invaders in the village of Petrishchevo, Ruza district, Moscow region . A new museum was opened near the place of her death, telling about the defense of Moscow and the dramatic events that occurred in the village of Petrishchevo.
