Maya Peglivanova Member of the underground organization 'Young Guard'. Date of Birth: 20.05.1925 Country: Ukraine

Biography of Maya Peglivanova

Maya Konstantinovna Peglivanova was born on May 20, 1925, in the city of Rostov-on-Don in a family of civil servants. After the death of her husband in 1926, Maya's mother, Anna Vasilyevna, moved with her ten-month-old daughter to the village of Pervomayka in the Krasnodon district, where her mother, Maria Trofimovna, lived. Anna Vasilyevna started working at the savings bank, while Maya stayed at home with her grandmother, who instilled in her a love for work from a young age. They would tend the gardens, wash dishes, and maintain cleanliness in the house. Maya learned to darn, sew, and embroider at a young age. She loved listening to fairy tales and soon began to compose her own.

In 1932, at the age of seven, Maya started attending the first grade of Pervomayskaya School No. 6. She attracted attention with her inexhaustible energy, joyfulness, and ability to overcome difficulties. As a 6th grade student, she became a pioneer leader in the junior squad. She dedicated all her free time to the younger children.

Maya had a great love for reading. One spring day in 1941, Maya entered the school library and approached the librarian, asking for recommendations after having read all the works by Tolstoy, Dostoevsky, Danilevsky, and Mamin-Sibiryak. Someone standing nearby suggested Pushkin, Lermontov, and Nekrasov. She smiled and said, "Could I not have read them? I know many of their works by heart." She also had a passion for mathematics and chemistry. This was noticed by her young teacher, Alexandra Emelyanovna Dubrovina, who often tutored her in chemistry. They became friends. In 1940, Maya was accepted into the Komsomol (Young Communist League). She was soon elected as the secretary of the school's Komsomol organization and later became a member of the Komsomol district committee. She held this position until the end of her school years, enjoying high authority among her comrades. She was the soul of all student initiatives and the organizer of various events. With Maya's participation as the Komsomol secretary, the school planted a park and laid stone pavements between two school buildings.

The leaders of the "Pyatiletka" collective farm and the "Pervomaysky" state farm expressed their gratitude to the school administration for the assistance provided by the students during the summer holidays and particularly highlighted Maya Peglivanova's excellent organizational skills as a Komsomol leader. In difficult times for the country, the Komsomol secretary, under the guidance of the school administration, organized the collection of gifts for the frontline soldiers and worked with the students in the collective farm fields.

During the occupation of Krasnodon, Maya was among the first to join the underground Komsomol organization "Young Guard." In order to avoid being taken to Germany, she found work at the A.M. Gorky Club. She joined the string ensemble and played the guitar and piano well. She also participated in the choir and drama circles. Most importantly, she actively participated in the preparation of combat operations at the headquarters of the Young Guards.

Maya, brave and determined, excelled in any tasks assigned by the underground organization. She wrote and distributed leaflets, helped Soviet prisoners of war escape, collected medicines and bandages, and conducted anti-Hitler propaganda among the population. On January 11, 1943, Maya was arrested. After brutal torture, she was thrown into the shaft of Mine No. 5.

The translator Reiband informed Maya's mother that during the interrogation, Maya confessed to being a partisan and defiantly cursed and scorned her captors. Maya was tortured. Her breasts were cut off, and her legs were broken. The police tried to hide the extermination of the partisans from the people. The mothers who brought supplies were told, on the second day after the execution, that the girls had been taken to correctional camps.

The walls of the cell had the names of the girls – Maya Peglivanova, Shura Dubrovina, Ulyasha Gromova, and Gerasimova – written on them. The rest of the writing was illegible. "How sad that we will never see you again." "Long live Comrade Stalin."

Maya's body was disfigured: her breasts were cut off, and her upper clothing was removed. She was buried in a mass grave of heroes on the central square of Krasnodon.

Maya Konstantinovna Peglivanova was posthumously awarded the Order of the Patriotic War 1st Class and the Medal "Partisan of the Patriotic War" 1st Class.