Yevhen Bereznyak

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Cyrillic ( Ukrainian )
Євген Степанович Березняк
Transl. : Jevhen Stepanovyč Bereznjak
Transcr. : Yevhen Stepanovych Bereznyak
Cyrillic ( Russian )
Евге́ний Степа́нович Березня́к
Transl .: Evgenij Stepanovič Bereznjak
Transcr .: Yevgeny Stepanovich Bereznyak
2 ₴ commemorative coin for the 100th birthday of Yevhen Bereznjak

Yevhen Stepanowytsch Beresnjak , Ukrainian Євген Степанович Березняк , (born February 12 . Jul / 25. February  1914 greg. In Yekaterinoslav , yekaterinoslav governorate , Russian Empire ; † 23. November 2013 in Kiev , Ukraine ) was a Soviet -ukrainischer soldier and Agent last in the rank of major general . He became known as the savior of Krakow in the novel and feature film "Major Whirlwind".

Life

Yevhen Bereznyak was born in Yekaterinoslav, today's Dnipro, in 1914. He studied pedagogy and worked from 1932 as a teacher and from October 1939 as the head of the Lviv City Education Office . After the city was occupied by the Germans, he was evacuated to Dnipropetrovsk and in August 1941 went underground to work behind the enemy lines. At the end of 1943 he went to Moscow to train at the General Staff Reconnaissance Office (GRU) as a commander of reconnaissance and sabotage groups. After completing his training, he led a military intelligence group code-named "Голос" (voice) as Captain Mikhailov , which landed on the night of August 19, 1944 with parachutes near Krakow . In Krakow he was arrested and interrogated by the Gestapo , but was able to flee and provide valuable information to the Soviet side about the planned destruction of Krakow by bombs hidden by the Nazis and thus prevent it.

After the end of the war he was awarded numerous medals by the Polish side for his service in Krakow. In the Soviet Union, on the other hand, he was suspected by the SMERSch because they did not believe that he had escaped the Gestapo. He was only able to avoid persecution through the advocacy of the KGB, and it was only years later that his achievements were recognized in the Soviet Union.

Bereznjak worked in the field of education in Lviv after the war and campaigned for the veterans of World War II. In the last few years before his retirement, he worked as a research assistant at the Institute of Pedagogy of the Academy of Pedagogical Sciences of Ukraine, of which he was an honorary member of the academy. He retired in April 1998, moved to Kiev and died there at the age of 99. He was buried in the city's Baikowe Cemetery.

His military ranks were: 1945 captain (Soviet Union), 1977 major (Soviet Union), 2004 colonel (Ukraine) and 2005 major general (Ukraine).

Novel and film adaptations

The novel "Майор Вихрь" (Major Whirlwind) by Julian Semjonowitsch Semjonow , published in 1967, formed the basis of his life, as was the Soviet film adaptation of the same name by director Yevgeny Tashkov from 1968. In Germany, the novel and film appeared under the title "Dynamit unter der Stadt". In addition, a Polish feature film (Ocalić miasto, 1976; English title To Save the Town ) and several documentaries were shot about him .

Honors

Yevhen Bereznyak received numerous honors. Including:

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ^ History of Stalingrad - Yevhen Bereznjak, "Major Whirlwind" greets from Kiev ; Retrieved November 9, 2015
  2. ↑ The legendary "Major Whirlwind" tells , on segodnya.ua of March 11, 2009; Retrieved November 8, 2015
  3. ↑ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p Jewhen Beresnjak on Heroes of Ukraine ( Memento from March 4, 2016 in the Internet Archive ), accessed on November 9, 2015
  4. ↑ In Kiev, the prototype of the "Major Whirlwind" Yevhen Bereznyak died on aif.ru biography from November 25, 2013; Retrieved November 9, 2015
  5. ↑ a b Bereznyak, Eugene Stepanovich, Honored Teacher of Ukraine on WK. II soldier , accessed November 9, 2015
  6. ↑ Honorary Citizen of Kiev - Yevhen Bereznjak on the website of the city of Kiev , accessed on November 8, 2015
  7. ↑ President Putin honored the former underground fighter, the prototype of the "Major Whirlwind", on newsru.com on May 10, 2007; Retrieved November 8, 2015
personal data
SURNAME Bereznyak, Yevhen
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Bereznyak, Yevhen Stepanovych (full name); Березняк, Євген Степанович (Ukrainian); Березняк, Евгений Степанович (Russian)
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Soviet-Ukrainian soldier and agent, most recently in the rank of major general
DATE OF BIRTH February 25, 1914
PLACE OF BIRTH Yekaterinoslav , Yekaterinoslav Governorate , Russian Empire
DATE OF DEATH 23rd November 2013
Place of death Kiev , Ukraine