Why did war hero Elena Mazanik live in fear until the end of her life. Case of Gauleiter Wilhelm Kube Who blew up the Gauleiter of Belarus

The fate of the woman who destroyed the Gauleiter of Belarus turned out to be tragic

On September 22, 1943, a Soviet intelligence officer, risking her own life, destroyed the General Commissar of Belarus, Gauleiter Wilhelm Kube. In those years, both the partisans and the Germans knew Elena Mazanik under a different name - Galina. She went on a mission with explosives, which she hid under her clothes - for the Gauleiter, and poison - for herself, in case the operation failed.

King without a kingdom

The head of the occupation administration of the General District of Belarus, Wilhelm Kube, was not liked by the ruling elite of the Reich, to put it mildly. Maybe that's why he was practically exiled to the East. Although the position was leading, the Gauleiter got the too unstable region. The place promised to become profitable, but, according to forecasts, only in a couple of years, when the “victorious march” of Germany across Eurasia would come to an end with brilliance. And until all pockets of resistance were suppressed, a hard hand was required for dirty work, which could then be cut off as unnecessary.

Having seized power, Cuba immediately won the hatred of the Belarusians. Only on the day he took office, 2278 prisoners of the local ghetto were executed. Cuba was an intelligent person and understood that his position was more than nominal. The same Himmler, who could not stand Cuba, had in Belarus, as the Germans called Belarus, much more power than the Gauleiter. Yes, the Gauleiter became the full owner of the territories entrusted to him. But - later, when the Eastern campaign ends. In the meantime, Cuba had only to gnash its teeth, watching how pieces of its future possessions fall off either in favor of Lithuania, or in favor of Ukraine, or even simply in favor of their own.

An adherent of the Divide and Conquer theory, Cuba tried to stimulate Belarusian nationalism in order to build on it the future line of the policy of destruction of the Slavic world. But Belarusian nationalism turned out to be weak. Therefore, it was not possible to play on it. Although there were, of course, renegades who enthusiastically accepted the change of power.

Lucky Cuba

Cuba was said to have a devil on one shoulder and an angel on the other. This angel supposedly keeps him. Cuba has been getting away with it all his life. In 1936, he was not punished for the execution of several soldiers and officers. He simply had to leave the German Christians organization, of which he was one of the activists. A year later for gossip about the mother-in-law Martin Bormann, and at the same time for corruption and abuse of power, he was "only" removed from office, but left all the titles and the deputy position in the Reichstag.

By the time fate brought together the lucky Cuba, as the Germans called him, and the former canteen worker Elena Mazanik, the Gauleiter had already survived several attacks and sabotage, but remained alive. The bestial instinct of self-preservation helped him in the Minsk theater, from where he left in July 1943 just a couple of minutes before the bombing addressed to him. About 70 soldiers were killed then. At the beginning of September of the same year, Cuba was to be blown up at a banquet. But at the last moment he stayed at home and 36 high civil and military officials flew into the air. Ambushes on the roads also did not bear fruit. Either there was no car, then there was no Cuba in the car, then instead of a car, a car with a patrol came to Cuba.

How to become saboteurs

Elena Mazanik got a job at the Kube mansion in the early summer of 1943 under the patronage of a friend of the Gauleiter's wife Anita. A large, strong, quiet woman. She knew a lot about cleaning, cooking, and serving. Of course, she knew: after all, before the war, Elena managed to work in the dining room of the Council of People's Commissars of the Byelorussian SSR, then in the rest house of the same Council of People's Commissars, and later in the dining room of the Central Committee of the party. And there the requirements for the staff were high. Try not to match!

Elena's past played a role in what she had to do. Some Nikolai Khokhlov, a Soviet intelligence officer (then he fled to the USA), appeared at Elena's apartment and said that if she did not become the executor of the execution of Cuba, then her past work in the NKVD would cease to be a secret for the German masters. If everything goes well, then she and her sister's family will be evacuated to the Soviet rear. This is how Elena became a reluctant saboteur.

Bomb for Gauleiter

By September 1943, Elena already enjoyed the full confidence of the owners. Always helpful, efficient, never looking up, she became Anita's personal servant. Moreover, she needed special services: the hostess was pregnant again.

On September 21, 1943, Elena Mazanik entered the mansion on Teatralnaya for the last time. She had a bomb in her bag, the mechanism of which was already cocked. She managed to enter the territory of the house without a search. But the handbag could be inspected, and therefore Elena tied the bomb under her chest, covering it with an apron. For almost a day, the woman wore a device that could explode at any moment. According to Elena herself, she managed to plant the explosive only at 11 pm, 100 minutes before the explosion.

The bomb exploded at 0:40, killing only Wilhelm. His wife Anita was unharmed and was able to keep the child. However, he died at an early age from leukemia.

Guilt or fear?

After the operation, the intelligence officer was transferred to the Soviet rear. Subsequently, she was awarded the Golden Star of the Hero of the Soviet Union and the Order of Lenin.

Elena returned to Cuba's house only after the liberation of Minsk. Ironically, she was given an apartment with windows overlooking the mansion. Dubious neighborhood. She joined the party, graduated from the Higher Republican Party School, studied at the Minsk Pedagogical University, in the 50s she worked as deputy director of the Fundamental Library of the Academy of Sciences of the BSSR.

Kurt von Gottberg is the general commissar who replaced Cuba. Bloody executioner of Belarus.
Photo: wikipedia.org

Elena Grigorievna was invited to the “lessons of Glory”, she talked about the struggle of the Belarusian people in museums, on television, at meetings with pioneers and youth ... But one day, in 1976, a tourist from the GDR brought a letter from Anita Kube for her. It was said that after that Elena practically stopped her entire social life. In the post-war years, she was already so afraid that one of the surviving sons of Cuba would take revenge on her. Or one of the relatives of those three and a half hundred people whom the Germans shot as punishment for the death of the Gauleiter.

Elena refused to pick up and read the letters. She moved from apartment to apartment to avoid being found. Fear turned into paranoia that she would be found and poisoned. By old age, Elena was able to trust only one person: her own niece. Only she let her into the house, and, as it turned out, very in vain. The niece sold all her awards on the black market, presenting old Elena with a fake certificate that the awards were deposited in the Museum of the Great Patriotic War. Then, by proxy, she sold the dacha, for which Elena never saw the money. And after the death of her beloved aunt, she remained to live in her apartment at all, having entered into inheritance rights under the will, which was written after Elena was recognized as incapacitated.

Elena Grigoryevna died in April 1996.

Actress Anita Cuba was also not destined to end her days in a clear mind. The German press wrote that towards the end of her life she had a mental disorder. But Anita spent her old age in a very good nursing home with excellent medical care and died at 98 years old.

September 22 marks the 70th anniversary of the operation of Belarusian partisans to eliminate the Gauleiter of Belarus V. Kube. This largest operation behind enemy lines entered the annals of intelligence and was reflected in many films.

"The Clock Stopped at Midnight" (1958)

"Ruins Are Shooting" (1970), TV movie

Soviet films in which the official Soviet interpretation of events is presented.

In 2012, the series premiered "Hunting the Gauleiter". For the viewer, who is accustomed to the fact that Gauleiter Kube is an executioner, and partisans are heroes, the Belarusian-Russian TV series "Gauleiter Hunt" is a real shock.

The episode with E. Mazanik is in the documentary series "Saboteurs"(2013) 3 series. Historical reconstruction of events based on documentary sources.

In the TV series "Military Intelligence First Strike" Film 3. "Economic Strike" (2013)

events from Belarus moved to Ukraine. Something from the category of military fantasy, worse than The Hunt for the Gauleiter.

IMHO the most objective on this topic is a documentary by Leonid Mlechin

"Night Elimination"

HUNT FOR THE GAULEITTER: REAL FACTS AND ARTISTIC FIction

"TVNZ"

Hunt for Gauleiter": Anastasia Zavorotnyuk joined the partisans

Then the whole country followed the fate of the desperate partisan who killed the head of the occupation administration in Belarus, Wilhelm Kube, in 1943. But times have changed. And in the look at the well-known history, other colors appeared. This was the reason for the filming of an 8-episode television film, which will be shown by Inter next week.

This is not a remake at all, but a new story, - director Oleg Bazilov told reporters. - The war drama of 1954 was only a source of inspiration for writing the script. We added a few things from ourselves to better reveal the characters. We even changed the names of the characters so that the viewer would not try to judge us by what is written in the documents. For me, this story is interesting because it can give rise to disputes in the audience: who is right, who is wrong. The more disputes there are, the better I have fulfilled my task.

The plot of the war film directed by Oleg Bazilov intertwines a historical novel, a military-psychological drama and love lines against the backdrop of the struggle of the partisan underground against the fascist occupation in Belarus. In the occupation Minsk, Elena Mazanik (her friends called her Galina, under this name she was known to both the Germans and partisans) got a job as a cleaner in one of the German military units, then worked as a waitress in a kitchen factory and in a casino for German officers. In early June 1943, she was hired in a three-story mansion on the street. Theaterstrasse, 27, where the General Commissioner of Belarus Wilhelm Kube lived with his family. Mazanik and planted a mine in the Gauleiter's bed...

The main female role was played by the famous Russian actress Anastasia Zavorotnyuk. The actress does not hide the fact that this work is very expensive for her:

In fact, I have wanted to play this woman for a very long time. And I've been hunting for this script for two years. When I read it, I just fell ill with the role. I realized that no one will play her like me. There are no good characters and no bad ones. Excluding, of course, the very fact of the existence of fascism. After all, she accomplishes a feat not because she loved her Motherland, was torn for Stalin ...

It turns out that filmmakers came up with their own beautiful version:

We have a love triangle, and the main character lays a mine not for ideological reasons, but because of love. There is a man between two women, for the sake of him the main character decides on such an act, - the creators of the picture say.

Hunting in Cuba

Author Roshal Semyon

One of the most mysterious and at the same time well-known episodes on the “invisible front” of the 2nd World War is the liquidation of the Gauleiter of Belarus Wilhelm Kube on September 22, 1943. Recently, the series “Hunting for the Gauleiter” was filmed about this, but too free interpretation of historical events prompted us to turn to real facts.

Let's start with the identity of Cuba. In the film, he has the surname Kraube and positions himself as an old party ally of Hitler, in contrast to the chief SS officer Gottberg, who joined "our cause" only after 1933. In fact, Kube was extremely right (Hitler was formally left), he was in the German National People's Party (NNPP) and even headed its youth organization - Bismarck Youth. Then he ended up in another right-wing party - the German People's Freedom Party (NNPS), from which he was elected to the Reichstag, and only in 1928 he defected to the NSDAP, when Hitler's shares began to grow. After the Nazis came to power, Kube became chief president of the province of Brandenburg, and from 1936 Gauleiter of Kurmark. However, in 1936, Cuba's career almost came to an end - he was exposed as a slanderer. He stated that Martin Bormann's father-in-law was married to a Jewish woman. As a result, Cuba lost all his posts. But with the beginning of the Russian campaign, Hitler began to feel a shortage of personnel, Cuba was rehabilitated, and on July 17, 1941, he was appointed Gauleiter of Belarus (the general district of Weisrutenia).

From the very first days of his reign, Cuba began the Holocaust at his new post. In a report to the Reichskommissar Ostland Lohse dated July 31, 1942, he wrote: “In exclusively businesslike cooperation with SS Brigadeführer Zenner and especially the head of the SD, SS Obersturmbannführer Strauch, in the last ten weeks we have liquidated 55 thousand Jews in Belarus. In the Minsk region, Jewry has been completely exterminated, without causing any damage to the labor force. In the predominantly Polish Lida district, 16,000 Jews were exterminated, and in Slonim, 8,000 Jews.

In the film, on the contrary, Kraube is shown as relatively human, as if he opposed the SS in the senseless and bloody purges of the Jewish population of Minsk. There was a confrontation between him and Gottberg, they wrote denunciations against each other to Berlin. One way or another, but in Moscow it was decided to liquidate Cuba, at the same time 12 sabotage groups learned the task of liquidating it. A hunt began for Cuba, which resulted in a whole series of assassination attempts. So, on July 22, 1943, an explosive device was planted in one of the theaters in Minsk. As a result of the attack, 70 German soldiers and officers were killed and 110 wounded. However, Kube left the theater a few minutes before the explosion and remained alive.

On September 6, a large banquet was scheduled in Minsk with the participation of Cuba, which the partisans learned about. The direct executors of the action were Kapitolina Gulyeva and Ulyana Kozlova. The girls worked as waitresses in the canteen of the SD, which was located in the former building of the Faculty of History and Philology of Minsk University. This is where the banquet was to take place. On the night of September 6, Gulyeva and Kozlova were given 15 kg of tol and a mine with a clockwork. All this the girls laid in a tub with a palm tree, standing in the dining room. As planned, the explosion occurred on the evening of September 6, in the midst of the celebration. As a result, 16 officers were killed and 32 were wounded, but Cuba himself did not appear at the banquet.

A little later, another underground group organized an explosion in the officers' restaurant-casino on Sovetskaya Street, where, according to some reports, Cuba could appear. Like the last time, the performer of the action was a woman - an underground worker Raisa Volchek, who worked as a waitress in a restaurant. She planted a mine in the staff wardrobe in the main hall. As a result of the explosion, according to some sources, 22, according to others - 36 high-ranking occupiers, but Cuba again was not among them. Here is a very important point. Each such attempt, and in general any military operation of the partisans, caused a fierce reaction from the SS men - they killed hostages, carried out bloody purges in the Jewish ghetto, by the way, one of the largest in Europe, about 100 thousand people lived in it.

Despite repeated attempts by the NKVD to organize the murder of Cuba, military intelligence officers managed to eliminate Cuba - the fighters of the GRU special detachment "Dima", commanded by David Keimakh (according to the film Kleiman).

Elena Mazanik became the direct executor of the action of retribution (close people and acquaintances called her Galina - in the film Galina Pomazan, Anastasia Zavorotnyuk played her role). She was born on April 4, 1914 in the Minsk region in a peasant family. In 1928, after graduating from a rural school, she moved to Minsk. She was a housekeeper, cleaner, waitress in the dining room of the Council of People's Commissars of Belarus. Later she married an employee of the NKVD and in 1938 she went to work in the canteen of the Central Committee of the Communist Party (b) of Belarus. At the beginning of the war, Mazanik's husband was evacuated along with other NKVD workers, but she herself was unable to leave Belarus, and the woman remained in Minsk. In order not to die of hunger, at first she worked as a laundress in German military units, and in December 1941 she managed to get a job as a kitchen worker in a casino at the General Commissariat. In the film, this is not a casino, but a cabaret, but for some reason it is also called a “casino”, apparently mixed up. At the same time, Mazanik was cleaning the apartment of adjutant Cuba Vilenshtein, who recommended her to his boss as a maid. Before hiring, Mazanik took an oath of allegiance to the Reich and the Fuhrer, and also undertook to inform the German authorities about any manifestations of anti-German sentiment and not to disclose what she learns in the service.

In fact, in Soviet times, they already shot a film about the assassination attempt on Cuba. It is called "The clock stopped at midnight", meaning a fuse with a clockwork. But there were no clocks. Despite the fact that some watches are in the same exposition in the museum with a real Mazanik handbag and a model of a mine. The Hunt for the Gauleiter describes how this mine works. English-made, the mine had a special chemical fuse, when launched, acid pours out inside and after a long period of time, 24 hours, apparently corrodes the partition and the fuse works. Even here, however, there is ambiguity. According to other sources, the mine still had a mechanical fuse, its design allows for this. But not hourly.

The wife of an NKVD officer, who worked in the Kube mansion, attracted the attention of sabotage groups operating in Minsk. Maria Osipova managed to convince Galina to take part in the liquidation of Cuba (in the film, Maria Arkhipova - her role is played by Maria Mashkova). She was born on December 27, 1908 in the Vitebsk region in a working class family. At the age of 20, she joined the party, graduated from the Minsk Law Institute, after which she was appointed a member of the Supreme Court of Belarus. When the war began, Osipova, along with other members of the party, was left in Minsk to organize the underground.

Mazanik was very afraid to make contact with Osipova. Knowing that the SD had an extensive network of agents among the local population, she feared provocation from the German secret services. This is a key dramatic moment in the film. The fact is that Galina Pomazan is depicted as an absolutely apolitical woman who, in principle, does not care who she works for, as long as she gets paid. The irony of fate brings her to her husband Arkhipova, who escaped from captivity and hid in Minsk, working as a projectionist in an officer's club. A love triangle arose, and on this basis, hostility Anointed and Arkhipova. Although a certain Nikolai Furs, a cinema driver, also took part in the real operation.

The operation was originally planned to be carried out with the help of poison, but nevertheless they decided to eliminate Cuba with a directional mine. It was decided to put her in Cuba's bed, under the mattress. Mazanik managed to carry a mine with a pre-cocked fuse, set it in the right place and safely leave the mansion. On the night of September 22, 1943, 20 minutes after Kube went to bed, there was an explosion. In the “Conclusion of a special commission on the assassination of the General Commissar of Cuba,” the consequences of the explosion are described as follows: “On the night of September 22, 1943, at 0.40, a mine exploded in the bedroom of the General Commissar and Gauleiter Wilhelm Kube, the left side of the chest was torn out of Cuba and left arm torn off. The wounds are fatal. His corpse, in a half-burned state, was removed from the bedroom by the security guards and officials of the General Commissariat raised on alarm. His wife, Anita Kube, who was eight months pregnant, was lying next to him, was not injured and escaped with a nervous shock. His three children, who slept in another room separated from the bedroom by a bathroom, were also unharmed."

The search for saboteurs was immediately launched. By order of SS-Obergruppenführer Kurt von Gottberg, the city quarter in which Mazanik lived was cordoned off, and Belarusian Khivs seized 300 men, women and children and shot them. It was retribution for the liquidation of Cuba. The shooting was announced publicly. According to other sources, another 2,000 people were shot in the Jewish ghetto.

It should be noted that in the Soviet official history the operation was presented as a centrally planned action. In fact, everything was very complex and difficult, depending on the case. The feedback and controllability of agents was very poorly established. Thus, the head of the special department of the partisan detachments of the Vitebsk region, NKVD captain Yurin, sent a report to his superiors, in which he claimed that the murder of the Gauleiter was carried out by his people. He was immediately summoned to Moscow, arrested and sentenced to 6 years in the camps for fraud. There is also a version that Major Kazantsev's group liquidated Cuba, and Lev Lieberman, who worked as a laborer in the Cuba mansion, planted a mine. Allegedly, there is a report on the operation in the archives.

But one way or another, the liquidation of Cuba caused a huge resonance. Already on the day of the assassination, TASS, through its Geneva branch, spread the message to the whole world about a successful terrorist attack against Cuba, however, without specifying who carried it out.

The next day, on September 23, an article by Ilya Ehrenburg was published in Krasnaya Zvezda, where there were such words: “He thought to live in this fabulous country for many, many more years. But Belarusians thought differently. Berlin cries out: "Who killed Mr. General Commissar?" The people killed him, and our entire Motherland glorifies the unknown avenger.”

The funeral ceremony for Kube began on September 25 in Minsk. The collaborationist Belarusian Gazeta came out on that day with a mournful message signed by Gottberg: “As a result of a vile assassination attempt by vile Jewish-Bolshevik murderers, General Commissar Gauleiter Kube fell victim on the night of September 21-22, 1943 ... we honor his memory.” Hitler posthumously awarded Cuba the Knight's Cross with Swords. The coffin with the body of Kube was transported on a gun carriage through the streets of Minsk, and then loaded onto a plane and sent to Berlin.

Maria Osipova and Galina Mazanik were also taken by plane to Moscow, where on October 29, 1943, in Merkulov's office, they were awarded the title Hero of the Soviet Union. In the film, Arkhipova considers the assignment of such a high Anointed to be undeserved, believing that Anointed is just a Khiv and agreed to carry out a terrorist attack only under pressure and threats, as a result of her, Arkhipova's operational processing. Anointed, by the way, signed the agency card in the SD. In addition, Arkhipova's husband died while fleeing, for which she also blamed Pomazan.

But Stalin had already decided to make a loud propaganda action out of the elimination of Cuba, and to photograph the female heroines and place them on the front pages of newspapers. Then they traveled around the country with performances.
After the war, Osipova was again appointed a member of the Supreme Court of the BSSR. Mazanik graduated from the Higher Republican Party School under the Central Committee of the Communist Party (b) and the Minsk Pedagogical Institute, worked as deputy director of the library of the Academy of Sciences of Belarus.

An epic scene was played in the series finale. In 1970, Mazanik and Osipova spoke at the congress of the Komsomol of Belarus in Minsk, although it was known that they had hated each other since the war and the organizers of such meetings tried not to overlap. Women right on the stage in front of the Komsomol put up a fight. The role of Mazanik in adulthood is played by Lyudmila Chursina, and the role of Maria Osipova is played by Larisa Luzhina. The episode itself is historical, took place in real life.

Until now, hot debates have not subsided as to how necessary the liquidation of the Gauleiter was. After all, after this demonstration action, the Germans shot thousands of people.

From the testimony at the trial in the case of the atrocities committed by the Nazi invaders in Belarus, the defendant Eberhard Herf, Major General of Police and SS Brigandeführer:
"On the night of Kube's murder, I was summoned to Gothenberg, who told me that he was taking over the functions of the general commissar, which he radioed to Himmler, that for Kube's life he would ruthlessly deal with the Russian population, who was also there, the head of the SS and police, Galterman, officers The SD and I were ordered to raid and shoot mercilessly ... In these raids, 2,000 people were captured and shot, and a much larger number were imprisoned in a concentration camp.

At the same trial, some of the criminals tried to justify themselves: they say, if the partisans had not killed Kube, then we would not have killed 2,000 Minskers in a few days. To this, the prosecutor asked a reasonable question:
- Well, what about Operation Magic Flute, during which 52,000 Minskers were arrested and most of them were destroyed. After all, you spent it before the murder of Kube. And what about the plan of Dr. Wetzel, head of the colonization department of the first political department for the affairs of the occupied eastern regions, drawn up before the war and which you began to implement from the first day of the war?
Silence was the answer."

Based on the book by I. Damaskin "Spy and spies"

Shpakovsky Vyacheslav 11.05.2014 at 10:00

The feat of the Minsk shipboard partisans, who destroyed the Gauleiter of Belarus in Cuba during the war years, is well known. However, this story is still not all clear and logical. And some facts allow us to conclude that this action was probably a joint operation of the 4th Directorate of the NKVD and the Gestapo, in which the parties used each other "in the dark."

So, it is known that the liquidation of Cuba was the result of the patriotic actions of "simple Soviet workers, whom the war forced to take up the preparation of a terrorist attack." Yes, indeed, everything seems to be the way it was and no one argues with that. However, in jurisprudence there is an important rule: "Look who benefits!" and if we follow it, then we will have much more questions than we will get answers to them.

Let's start with what is strictly documented, that is, it is supported not by eyewitness accounts, but by quite official papers.

It is clear that Cuba would not have made a career in the Nazi Party if he had not been a "100% Nazi" and a faithful adherent of Adolf Hitler. However, it is known that party comrades-in-arms reproached Cuba for his predilection for the Jewish composers Offenbach and Mendelssohn. Cuba was blamed for not making a difference between Germans and Jews (especially participants in the First World War), and he called a policeman who shot a Jew in front of everyone a "pig." At the same time, Cuba did not protest against sending disabled Jews to the gas chambers and did not disdain to cash in on the appropriation of Jewish property. Wilhelm Kube became the General Commissar of Belarus on July 17, 1941, and his arrival was accompanied by the execution of 2278 prisoners of the Minsk ghetto.

Most sources report that during the entire period of occupation in this territory, from 74 to 82 percent of the Jewish population of Belarus were destroyed. But it was not he who led the shootings and executions, but the chief of the SS of Belarus, Kurt von Gotteberg. Cuba was openly indignant at the pogroms in the ghetto, and at the same time actively cooperated with Belarusian nationalist organizations, allowed them to use their national symbols (!), And in the summer of 1942, the creation of the Belarusian self-defense corps, which failed solely because of the position of the SS leadership.

In 1934, Wilhelm Kube declared that "the carriers of the plague must be destroyed", but, having become a Gauleiter, for some reason he protested and did not allow the German Jews deported to Minsk to be dealt with, among whom were many participants in the First World War. Then Kube replaced his guard from the SS with the police and began to sabotage orders to liquidate his Jewish compatriots. Cuba's double standards aroused Heinrich Himmler's sharp dissatisfaction, so that in the end, Alfred Rosenberg even had to send a special representative, Alfred Meyer, to Minsk to "seriously warn Cuba."

The widow of the murdered, Anita later recalled that Kube sometimes even cried, and at the same time repeated: "I am not a murderer, I am not a murderer." Of course, these words of hers may not be believed, but the fact that Cuba behaved clearly not in the way that a "note Nazi" should have behaved is undoubted! Moreover, it is known that all this was immediately reported to Hitler.

Of course, one should not consider Cuba a kind of intercessor of the Belarusian people before the SS, and it is hard to believe in his repentance. But it is obvious that he understood serving the Fuhrer and Germany in a completely different way than other fascist bosses, and this was already, in their opinion, a very serious offense, which should have been followed by an appropriate punishment.

As for the plans of the Soviet command to liquidate Cuba, the order to kill him from Moscow was simultaneously received by 12 special groups operating in the Minsk region, which literally began to hunt him. The first attempt was an explosion on June 22, 1943 in the Minsk theater, where 70 German soldiers and officers were killed and 110 wounded, but Cuba was not affected.

Having learned that the Gauleiter was a hunter, the partisans ambushed him in the forest and killed about 50 "hunters", but Kube was not among them.

Then the partisans managed to find out that on September 6, 1943, a banquet would be held in the officers' canteen on the occasion of the tenth anniversary of Hitler's coming to power. The partisans managed to mine the hall, where 36 high-ranking Wehrmacht officers died as a result of the explosion, but Cuba was lucky to stay alive this time, which is why he was even nicknamed "lucky".

Of course, he could not help but understand that he was being hunted, and that if he wants to stay alive, he simply needs to be as vigilant as possible. However, at the same time, he admitted that Elena Mazanik worked in his house almost as a senior maid, and besides, she alone was allowed to live outside his house. It seems that no sane person who cares about his own safety would not allow this. However, Cuba and his wife for some reason turned a blind eye to all this. Were they sure of her? Or were they assured of her absolute loyalty by the security service?!

The story with the device of the girl to work for him is also very mysterious. The protocol of interrogation of Mazanik in the NKVD cites her story that when she was sitting on the banks of the river, a German officer approached her and offered to work as a cleaner in a German military unit, and then she was taken to Cuba. Just like that, he approached, and just as simply they took her into the house of the Gauleiter himself! But where the Gestapo was looking at that time is completely incomprehensible.

When Maria Osipova was carrying Mazanik a mine in a basket of lingonberries, police patrols searched her several times, but found nothing. Elena then carried the mine in her purse to Kube's house, and was again stopped. Moreover, this time it was no longer policemen, but an SS officer, but again he let the girl through without looking at her purse: amazing bungling, especially on the part of an SS man who is in a hostile country among constant sabotage and partisans ready to kill in any minute.

Interestingly, after the murder of Cuba, when his performers were behind the front line in Moscow, for a long time they could not figure out who killed him after all. Only Elena Mazanik clearly told how it all happened, however, there are inaccuracies in her message. So, for example, at first she said that there was no security on the floors. But then she began to claim that there was a guard, and she outwitted her! Well, Maria Osipova, on the contrary, tried to take all the credit for herself, saying that Mazanik "just planted a mine." As a result, in the NKVD, the issue with the girls was resolved for so long that Stalin himself had to intervene in it, who personally gave the order to give the title of Hero of the Soviet Union to all three, although the third girl, Nadezhda Troyan, participated in the operation only at the very beginning!

The investigation conducted by the Germans established that the mine was of English manufacture and was planted on mattress springs. In all domestic sources, this mine is called a sentry. But… all English clock mines are known, and they all ticked quite loudly. It's essentially a small alarm clock attached to an explosive charge. But, if she was ticking, Kube should have heard her, because he was lying on her! There is even a clock by which Mazanik set the time of the explosion on the mine. Maria Osipova also reported specifically about the "ticking" mechanism. And yes, indeed, at that time even the small ladies' watch was ticking. But then how could this be? As a result, no one can say today what kind of mine it was!

No less surprising was the very flight of the girls after completing the task. They left Minsk in a truck the same night, and they were stopped several times by the military police (after all, there was a curfew!), but every time they checked their documents, they let them go! And when they began to take Mazanik's relatives to go to the partisan detachment, they demanded to take out not only them, but also all the belongings, which did not even fit on one cart, and they had to hire another one. However, despite such troublesome preparations, everyone safely reached the partisans, from where the girls were then taken to the mainland. Moreover, it is interesting that the Gestapo very quickly unwound the entire chain of conspiracy and arrested everyone who remained in Minsk, but, despite all their efforts ... it was too late!

Shpakovsky Vyacheslav 11.05.2014 at 10:00

Let's start with what is strictly documented, that is, it is supported not by eyewitness accounts, but by quite official papers.

Having learned that the Gauleiter was a hunter, the partisans ambushed him in the forest and killed about 50 "hunters", but Kube was not among them.

September 24, 1943 "Storch" took off from Minsk, heading for Berlin. On board was the coffin with the body of the General Commissioner of the General District of Belarus Wilhelm Kube.
On the night of September 22, 1943, in Minsk, as a result of an operation organized by Soviet partisans, Kube was killed.

Hitler appointed Cuba to the post of head of the civil occupation administration on July 17, 1941. On July 21, he sent the Führer words of gratitude for the appointment:
"For me, this day has become ... the most significant day in my life. For my courageous wife, it was a happy day in her life. In obedience and loyalty, we both thank you, my Fuhrer!"
Kube called this day "significant" and "happy" for a number of reasons. First of all, it meant the forgiveness of the party after five years of being out of work.

BIOGRAPHY
Since 1927, Cuba has linked his fate with Hitler's party. On December 1, he was presented with a membership card $71682.
A year later, on September 13, Hitler appointed Cuba the head of the NSDAP faction and Gauleiter of the province of Ostmark, which in May 1933 was merged with the province of Brandenburg under the name Kurmark.
Cuba became chief president. At that time, he was a member of the Reichstag, representing the interests of the Nazi faction, ennobling the plebeian ranks of his party lords with his aristocratic origin.
Before Kube appeared in the Ostmark, the Nazi Party had 60 members there. As a result of his activities, their number exceeded a thousand, which greatly contributed to Hitler's rise to power. Perhaps that is why in the future Hitler supported Cuba in difficult everyday situations.

On September 29, 1933, Kube received the title of SS Oberführer, and on January 27, 1934, an honorary SS Gruppenfuehrer and was awarded a gold party badge. At the same time, Kube met Anita Lidenkol, an actress from the provincial theater, who played her first major role in Kube's play "Totilla".

As the researcher Paul Kohl writes, "this hacky high-sounding tragedy about the last Gothic king Totilla after 1933 was staged everywhere in the Reich because of its Nazi content."
It would be possible not to write about the acquaintance of a 48-year-old politician with a young artist, if not for the actions and events that followed him.
In 1936, Kube left the SS, then for anti-party behavior, embezzlement, slander of a party member, he was deprived of the post of Gauleiter of the province of Kurmark. The basis for this decision was an anonymous letter in which the head of the highest party court, Reichsleiter Walter Buch, was accused of being a half-Jewish wife (whose son-in-law was Martin Bormann).
Cuba was recognized as the author of the letter. It was a hard blow, but a thorough investigation showed that the anonymous man had lied. Then the Gestapo discovered an anonymous person - Cuba! By the way, the search for "Jewish roots" was not only the favorite pastime of the Nazis.
This was done in the USSR for a very long time, and even now there are a lot of scum who hunt on this topic ... But let's return to the Third Reich ...

Goering, then the Prussian prime minister, dismissed Cuba. In the same 1936, Cuba divorced Margaret Schmidt. With her were his two sons, 15 and 20 years old. Soon he married Anita Lidenkol.
As a result, for 5 years Cuba did not work anywhere, was absent from the political arena. But, remembering his old services to the party, Hitler ordered that Cuba remain a member of the party and the Reichstag, and also retain the title of Gauleiter. In April 1941, he reminded Hitler of himself by sending a birthday greeting.
The surviving correspondence on the issue of employment in Cuba shows that various options were envisaged. In May 1941, there was talk about the position of the curator of the Higher Technical School and the Medical Academy of Danzig, in early June - about the position of the curator of the University of Königsberg.

On June 27, Bormann notified Reich Minister Dr. Hans Lammers:
"The Fuhrer did not wish such an appointment of a retired Gauleiter to Cuba, he wishes that Cuba would certainly be appointed to a responsible position in the east."
If Cuba were given the quiet post of curator of higher education in Prussia, much would have turned out differently in the fate of Wilhelm Janetsky. But Hitler, perhaps at the suggestion of Bormann, ordered otherwise.
If for Cuba the day of his appointment to the post of general commissar became, in his own assessment, "significant" and "happy", then Yanetske would not have said this about his appointment to Minsk. By the time he was appointed to the post of Minsk city commissar, he successfully headed the administrative and economic departments of district commandant's offices in various cities of Belgium and France.

DEATH
At 00:40 on September 22, 1943, there was an explosion in his bedroom.
The duty officer of the General Commissariat called Yanetske by phone to Cuba's apartment at 27 Teatralnaya (Engels) (wartime address).
Shocked Yanetske appeared only an hour and a half later. There were already Major General von Gottberg, the head of the Minsk garrison of the Wehrmacht, Major General Shperling, Police Major Bendzko, Colonel Keller, Lieutenant Colonel Hartmann, the head of the health department, Dr. Weber, and other heads of departments of the General Commissariat.
The General Commissar had the left side of his chest torn out and his left arm torn off. His half-burnt corpse was pulled out of the burning bedroom by an alarm team.
Sleeping next to his wife Anita Cuba, who was eight months pregnant, was shocked. Three small children who slept in another room separated by a bathroom were unharmed.

Cuba's body was placed in the mortuary of the former 1st Clinical Hospital (currently the 3rd).

Obituary
CONCLUSION IN THE CUBE CASE
The investigation into the death of the Gauleiter proceeded quickly and soon drew conclusions.
Elena Mazanik, an employee in the Gauleiter's house, was found guilty.
After the fall of Minsk, Elena (her friends called her Galina, under this name she was known to both the Germans and partisans) got a job as a cleaner in one of the German military units, then worked as a waitress in a kitchen factory and in a casino for German officers.
In early June 1943, she was hired in a three-story mansion on the street. Theatrical, 27, in which the General Commissioner of Belarus Wilhelm Kube lived with his family.

Elena Mazannik
Here is this long document that identified the culprits:

"" Final report on the assassination attempt on the General Commissioner of Belarus,
Gauleiter Major Wilhelm Kube2 on the night of September 22, 1943
Secret.

On the night of September 22, 1943 at 0 o'clock. 40 min. in the master's bedroom
Commissar and Gauleiter Wilhelm Kube, a mine exploded, in
as a result of which he tore the left side of his chest and
tore his left arm. The wounds were, of course, fatal.
His corpse, in a half-burned state, was taken out of the
fire-damaged bedroom alarmed by the duty officer
manda and employees of the gas team.
Next to him lay his wife Anita Kube, nee. Lindenkol,
who was 8 months pregnant. She remained un-
harmed and escaped with only a nervous shock. His three
small children who were in another room,
separated from the bedroom by a bathroom, slept and remained also neuro-
smoke.
From the impact of the blast wave, the bedroom furnishings were almost
completely broken. Located in Minsk on Teatral-
27 residential building, which bordered the immediate
directly with the building of the General Commissariat, outwardly not
Suffered.
When examining the scene of the "Big Special
commission"
, consisting of an SS-Sturmbannführer and Cri-
minal-adviser Bondorf - as a leader, and
also representatives from the SS Criminal Police Sector
Obersturmführer Breuer and the sector of the state political
SS Obersturmführer and Crime Commissar Heiss, during
while sifting debris and debris were found and
recovered material remains.
Guided by the materials of the investigation, the SS-Ober-
Sturmführer Breuer established that in this case speech
is about the remnants of the English magnetic mine retarder
origin.
The mine used was no doubt planted approximately
for 12 hours on the protruding springs of the metal mattress
Gauleiter's bed in Kube and exploded there. For this pre-
the position also speaks of the nature of the Gauleiter's injury. Day-
the effect of the mine was weakened by the mattress and the body of the Gauleiter.
This may also explain the safety of his wife.
Since the house of the Gauleiter was guarded day and night by its own
protection of 12 police officers, the question arose, first of all,
about a close circle of persons, consisting of service personnel
and entering the house.

Inquiry was therefore limited, first of all, to the
novke persons who during the last time before the
they did something by eating in the Gauleiter's house.
At the scene, workers were detained and
employed in the household by four maids.
Their examination at first did not show any connection with them.
eating.
Already on the morning of September 22, 1943, it was established that the only living
growing because of the lack of space outside the house, the maid Elena Maza-
nick4
, born April 4, 1914, living in Minsk on Teatralnaya street
No. 48 kv.10, was absent at home.
Her apartment was broken into. It turned out that the room was
almost completely cleared.
Her sister, who takes care of the household with her, Va-
lentina Shchutskaya5 (correctly Shchutskaya - Auth.), born in 1918,
was also absent.
Investigation at the sister's place of work (German casino
trial in Minsk) showed that Shchutskaya, allegedly due to pain,
caused by spasms of blood vessels, 21.9.43 at 10.30 left her
workplace. So that she does not need to continue to
to go to work, before she left, she asked for
Deliver to her 9/21/43 day off.

Upon further investigation, various trusted
persons who had contact with Sh., it was found out that Ma-
zanik, although she supported, obviously for the purpose of intelligence,
wearing with the Germans, spoke out anti-German.
So, recently, in front of her friend, she expressed herself that she was
yes, that she is Russian, and that the Russians under Soviet power had
much more than under the Germans.
It was also established that her first husband (actually
sister's husband.) was shot by the Germans as a partisan and
that her second husband worked as a driver in the NKVD.
She herself gave herself to a confidant as an employee
Central Committee of the NKVD. Therefore the assumption that
only Mazanik could be a criminal, it was right
nym. This assumption was further investigated.
backed up.
That there was a close connection with the NKVD makes it clear
evidence that Mazanik tried to recruit for spy
on activities against the German troops, a certain Galina
Lipskaya, from the circle of her acquaintances. Lipskaya, however, is
rejected the offer. Gaulyate your position in the house -
ra Mazanik definitely used for intelligence purposes,
since she repeatedly had the opportunity to clean up the occasional
Gauleiter's office.
In this regard, special attention is drawn to the fact that for all
other employees of the house (except Mazanik) general
the commissioner made proposals for verification through the Gestapo.
Therefore, the verification in respect of her did not take place.
Already a few days before the assassination attempt, the sisters sold their
belongings, wearables and underwear to unknown persons. Ma-
zanik came on 21.9.43 as usual at 7 o'clock in the morning to work
to the Gauleiter's house, complained to the other workers about
severe toothache and left the house at 10.30.
She treated her teeth, by special order of the Gauleiter,
despite the fact that she is Belarusian, at the German doctor, however
On September 21, 1943, she was not at the doctor's.

Upon further verification of the circle of acquaintances of both sisters,
allegedly pushed against Mazanik's lover named Stepan,
which was established in the person of Stefan Tillner, head of
post office manager at the general commissariat.
It was possible to establish a village near Minsk, where both sisters
went to look after their mother.
In this village - Malaya Malyukovchina - a house was actually installed
mother (mother of sister Elena Mazanik's husband), however
it was closed and completely empty. The keys were handed over
we are a relative of the sisters, a certain Anna Rulkevich, where they act
were properly kept.
The investigation found that all the property you-
two carters were carrying, of which one - a certain Pavel Karol -
lived in the neighboring village of Potrebi.
With his help, it was possible to establish an apartment in the suburbs
Minsk, Zaslavskaya street No. 35-a, apt. 6.
The owner of this apartment initially denied that she had taken
Gletsov, however, after the confrontation, she admitted that she was acting
indeed, for a fee of 100 Reichsmarks, she accepted them, and their im-
gave the property for safekeeping to her neighbor Nikolai Drozd6
.
The fugitives were Valentina Shchutskaya and her mother Anna Shchut-
Skye, as well as both young children per-
howl. During a search in Drozda's house, Drozda was indeed found
various clothes in a walled secret basement.
Among the things was also a dark blue coat, which
the swarm was irreproachably identified by the Gauleiter's maid
Galina Vigal as the property of Mazanik.
Later, in a wooden shed, in a pile of firewood, were found
two detonators, which, according to Drozd's testimony, were
carried by a certain Mary
, nicknamed Black Maria, who
Paradise was later installed as Maria Osipova. (At-
tags: 30 years old, height 1.75, flexible, black hair, swarthy
long face).
The owner of the estate Nikolai Drozd, born 15.8.1886, as well as his
wife Elena Drozd born in 1890 and their daughter Regina Drozd, 10/16/1923
born, were arrested shortly before their prepared escape
stva8
.
Drozd admitted that on 18.8.43 Maria Osipova and Maria Du-
eyebrows were waiting for him on the bridge in Minsk when he was returning from
village Vyacha from picking berries home, and he received from them two
mines.
These mines he brought to his house, where they were hidden by the Axis-
howl in the garden.
Dubrova, who was under arrest, was forced to
confirm that these data are true
and that she received mines in the forest near the village of Vyacha
from an unknown man. This unknown man is
strove, according to Dubrova, to the partisans.
During the inquiry, it was further established that Osipova had been
la s.g. lived with Drozd and repeatedly undertook this
called "business trips". She also during her
living near Drozd launched a strong anti-German
propaganda and in this sense acted authoritatively in part
with success to the circle of his friends.
Further, she kept in touch with a certain Tonya9
(signs:
about 40 years old, average height, flexible, straw hair
dark color, combed in the middle, face pockmarked, in black
headscarf, dark clothes and black boots), which was not
established, but apparently also applies to partisans.
Tonya and Maria Osipova had common affairs and were often
together. Tonya must also have known the Shchutskaya family,
since she was expecting her on September 20, 1943 and assisted in arranging
stve for the night.
Tonya and Osipova spent the night of 9/21/43 at Drozd's. Osipova
left Drozd's apartment on 21.9.43 at 5.30 am, while
Tonya on the same day at 6 in the morning, along with the fugitives and the driver, who
Rogo could not be established, left in an unknown direction.
It is known that Shchutskaya went to work in a German court in
7 am.
At 11 am Osipova returned to Drozd and soon after
left the house, allegedly in order to undertake the service again
chewy trip.
Drozd showed, touching Osipova, that it was an emergency
but an active agent of the partisans.
She offered him and his family in case of persecution
rule in Moscow.

Without a doubt, Maria Osipova brought mines on 9/21/43 in the morning
to Minsk and there, either personally or through a messenger, handed them over to Maza-
Nick, who at that time was still in her apartment on
Teatralnaya street 48.
This liaison was established in the person of Georgy Kulikov
Born May 28, 1914, whose task was to transfer letters and pa-
Kets Mazanik and Osipova.
In the future, his task was to intelligence-
for Osipova, the mood of the population, German units,
locations of individual units of the Wehrmacht and
other important events.
At the same time, he was assisted by a certain Vladimir Sibko,
11/17/1912, who worked as a musician in the "German
at home." He carried out his tasks, taking advantage of the fact that he
zykant and worked in the German House, forcing familiar officials
cyantok to show him mail from German soldiers, discharged
at the same time, separate numbers of field mails and other important
details from the letters, as well as by all means trying to
get information about German troops.

Both were arrested.
Both continued their activities for a long time and
transmitted Osipova's materials through Galina Lipskaya,
1/26/1919
Lipskaya, perhaps, knew about the affairs of Osipova and her liaisons,
However, her intelligence activities were limited only to
transfer of materials.
In connection with the arrest of Kulikov and Sibko, the
extensive and well-organized intelligence
partisan service. Significant traces were found, which
pointed to other liaisons, which will, however,
pursued under a special process.
As for the detained Kulikov, he should be dis-
watch together with Maria Osipova as the person who presented
Mazanik mines provided for an attempt on the Gauliai-
tera, since it is established that he often visited the apartment at
Mazanik and constantly brought packages and mail there.
Mazanik's former lover Stefan Tiller had an ex-
Yata's photograph is suitable for reproduction.
The ongoing search for Mazanik and her relatives, as well as
same Maria Osipova and Tony, could not be successful, since
the above after fulfilling his special order
Denmark with the help of Osipova were sent to Moscow for
plane from the nearest partisan area.
Osipova also used Maria Du-
eyebrow12, who without a doubt, like an inveterate communist,
received orders from her.
So, during the final search in her apartment,
wives hidden between the boards bags with five paper
mi wafers containing strychnine.
Chemical analysis clearly showed that we are talking about unconditional
but deadly poison.
Taking into account the close relationship of the above persons,
it can be concluded that in case of failure of the assassination attempt with mi-
Noah's Cuba family was supposed to be poisoned with strychnine.
The amount of poison seized would be enough to poison more
100 people.

An assessment of all aspects of the case shows that Maria Osipova -
a person acting on the instructions of the NKVD.
Direct performer - Elena Mazanik, as
already mentioned, also refers to the NKVD.
Information about the life and customs of the Kube family and other important
incidents thanks to Mazanik were transferred to Moscow.
Drozd and Dubrov must be regarded as hardened
bad communists.
They used Kulikov and Sibko as messengers.
Drozd's relatives under arrest (wife and daughter)
knew about the criminal activities of the above persons.
Lipskaya is an accomplice, but she rejected any action
active intelligence activities. to those arrested
I propose to use the sharpest means of the state
police.
The case must be transferred to the IV department for further processing.
work and use.
BONDORFF, SS-Sturmbannfuehrer and criminal adviser, head of the Great Special Commission ""
Here is such a long document.

PUNITIVE ACTIONS. PROPOSITION RECEIVED

The Nazis did not miss the opportunity to do what they love - genocide.

That same night, Gottberg telegraphed to Hitler's headquarters and the Eastern Ministry about what had happened and the measures taken.
Before the SD, he set the task liquidate the Polish intelligentsia, which was listed in the card index of the security service, and to carry out a public hanging of Soviet patriots in Minsk.
In response to the murder of Kube, 300 prisoners of the Minsk prison were shot on the same day.
Captured on May 7, 1945, SS Brigadeführer Gerf Ebergard, at the time of the assassination of Cuba, the head of the order police in Belarus, testified:
“Terrible atrocities in the city of Minsk after the assassination of Kube were committed by order of the Higher SS and Police Chief of Gottberg ... The following days, the police, together with the SD, conducted raids.
Innocent people, including women and children, caught in the streets and in houses, were shot ... Two thousand people were shot in these raids and a much larger number were imprisoned in a concentration camp "

CONCLUSION
67 years have passed since the destruction of the Nazi Gauleiter Wilhelm Kube, and a strong opinion has developed in society about the veracity of E. Mazannik's story.
The murder of Kube was planned and carried out very "jewellery", the bomb turned out to be under the Gauleiter, this all makes one wonder if everything was as it was said in the investigation report and the words of Mazanik.

In recent years, quite a lot of new circumstances, evidence and documents have surfaced that say that the story told by E. Mazanik is mostly invented.
The German investigation deliberately adjusted the investigation to this version, blaming the employee of the mansion.

In the conditions of numerous white spots and inconsistencies, as many as 12 versions of what happened have arisen, but none of them has an evidence base yet.
After 67 years, there is still no answer as to who, how and why liquidated Gauleiter Wilhelm Kube.