Kuzmin, Matvey Kuzmich. Russian peasant, hero of the Soviet Union Matvey Kuzmich Kuzmin Hero Kuzmin

Do you know who was the oldest Hero of the Soviet Union? Well, in the sense that the oldest. For example, I learned about this quite recently. The name of the old Pskov hunter Matvey Kuzmich Kuzmin should (and simply must!) be included in school history textbooks. Let me briefly retell the story of the Hero of the Russian Land, who was 83 years old at the time of his feat. In Moscow, in the underground lobby of the Partizanskaya metro station, there is a monument to an elderly bearded man in a fur coat and felt boots. The bronze grandfather peers into the distance, and holds a strong club in his hand.

Muscovites and guests of the capital running past rarely bother to read the inscription on the pedestal. And having read it, they are unlikely to understand anything - well, a hero... well, a partisan. Matvey Kuzmin, whom everyone in the area called Grandfather Kuzmich, lived in the village of Kurakino, Pskov region. In the 30s, he categorically refused to join the collective farm and remained an individual peasant. He was mainly engaged in hunting and fishing. The war began, and in August 1941 his village was occupied by the Nazis. The new authorities learned about the individual peasant who miraculously survived under the Soviets, summoned him and offered him to become a village headman. Matvey Kuzmin thanked the Germans for their trust, but refused the troublesome position. He said that the matter was serious, but he became both deaf and blind. In February 1942, a battalion of the German 1st Mountain Rifle Division arrived in the village of Kurakino. Mountain rangers from Bavaria were transferred to this area to fight units of the Soviet 3rd Shock Army

For a raid behind our troops through dense forests, they needed a local guide, and the Germans again remembered Matvey Kuzmin. Grandfather was called by the commander of the German battalion and demanded that his detachment be withdrawn to the village of Pershino. For this work, Kuzmich was promised money, flour, kerosene, as well as a luxurious German hunting rifle. The old hunter examined the gun, assessed the “fee,” and replied that he agreed to become a guide. The rumor that Matvey Kuzmin would lead the Fritz to the Soviet rear instantly spread throughout the village. Fellow villagers looked in his direction with hatred. But none of them knew that immediately after grandfather Kuzmich’s conversation with the German commander, one of his sons, Vasily, slipped out of the village towards the forest. He made his way to ours, went to the location of the 31st Infantry Brigade, and informed its brigade commander, Colonel Gorbunov, about his father’s plans - that he would lead the Germans not to Pershino, but to another village - to Malkino, where he asked to set up an ambush. On the night of February 14, 1942, Matvey Kuzmin led selected rangers to their death. They walked all night along paths and bypasses known only to the old hunter.

Finally, at dawn, Kuzmich led the Germans to the village. But before they had time to catch their breath and turn into battle formations, heavy fire from Soviet soldiers was suddenly opened on them from all sides. The German detachment was completely defeated, the Nazi operation was disrupted, several dozen rangers were destroyed, some of them were captured. The detachment commander was also among the dead. But, as it turned out, before his death he realized that the old man had outwitted him, and in a rage he fired several bullets at his grandfather. The old hunter sank into the snow and stained it with his blood... The strong old man, who could have lived another ten years, was 83 years old... The hero, who repeated the feat of Ivan Susanin, was first buried in his native village of Kurakino, but in 1954 his remains were reburied in the fraternal Cemetery of the city of Velikiye Luki.

This fact is surprising: the feat of Matvey Kuzmin was officially recognized almost immediately, the famous military correspondent and writer Boris Polevoy was the first to talk about it, many newspapers wrote essays, stories and poems about Grandfather Kuzmich, but, oddly enough, for more than twenty years his feat was not recognized with state awards. Perhaps the fact that grandfather Kuzmich was a nobody played a role - not a soldier, not a partisan, but simply an unsociable old hunter who showed great fortitude and clarity of mind. He was awarded the title of Hero of the Soviet Union only 20 years after the Great Victory - in May 1965. Matvey Kuzmin, at the age of 83, became the oldest holder of the title of Hero of the USSR during its entire existence. If you find yourself at the Partizanskaya station, stop at the monument with the inscription “Hero of the Soviet Union Matvey Kuzmich Kuzmin” and bow to him. After all, without people like him, our Motherland would not exist today. 990

Similar feats were repeated several times during the Great Patriotic War.

2 Awards

3 Memory

4 Family

Notes
Literature

Introduction

Propaganda poster “The heroic feat of the Soviet patriot Matvey Matveevich Kuzmin” (1942).

Matvey Kuzmich Kuzmin(July 21, 1858, Kurakino village, Velikoluksky district, Pskov region - February 14, 1942) - Russian peasant, Hero of the Soviet Union (1965), the oldest holder of this title (performed the feat at the age of 83).

1. Biography

Born on July 21, 1858 in the village of Kurakino, now Velikoluksky district of the Pskov region in the family of a serf (three years before the abolition of serfdom). Russian by nationality. He was an individual peasant (he was not a member of a collective farm) and lived by hunting and fishing on the territory of the Rassvet collective farm. He was considered a "counter-contractor"; for his unsociable character he was nicknamed “Biryuk”.

In August 1941, the Pskov region and Kuzmin’s native village were occupied by the Nazis. The commandant moved into his house, driving the owners of the house into the barn. At the beginning of February 1942 (after the completion of the Toropets-Kholm operation), units of the Soviet 3rd Shock Army took up defensive positions near Kuzmin’s native places.

1.1. Feat

According to B.N. Polevoy, a battalion of the German 1st Mountain Rifle Division was quartered in Kurakino, which in February 1942 was tasked with making a breakthrough, going to the rear of the Soviet troops in the planned counter-offensive in the Malkin Heights area.

On February 13, 1942, the battalion commander demanded that 83-year-old Kuzmin act as a guide and lead the unit to the village of Pershino (6 km from Kurakin) occupied by Soviet troops, promising money, flour, kerosene, as well as a Sauer “Three Rings” hunting rifle for this. . Kuzmin agreed. However, having learned the intended route from the map, he sent his grandson Vasya to Pershino to warn the Soviet troops and assigned them an ambush site near the village of Malkino. Kuzmin himself led the Germans along a roundabout road for a long time and finally, at dawn, led them to Malkino, where the 2nd battalion of the 31st separate cadet rifle brigade (Colonel S.P. Gorbunov) of the Kalinin Front, which was then occupying defense on the Malkino Heights in the area of villages, had already taken a position Makaedovo, Malkino and Pershino. The German battalion came under machine-gun fire and suffered heavy losses (more than 50 killed and 20 captured). Kuzmin himself was killed by the German commander.

M.K. Kuzmin was first buried in his native village of Kurakino. In 1954, a ceremonial reburial of the hero’s remains took place at the fraternal cemetery in the city of Velikiye Luki.

2. Awards

By a decree of the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet of the USSR of May 8, 1965, Matvey Kuzmich Kuzmin was posthumously awarded the title of Hero of the Soviet Union for the courage and heroism shown in the fight against the Nazi invaders.

Also awarded the Order of Lenin.

3. Memory

Kuzmin’s feat first became known thanks to an article by war correspondent Boris Polevoy, published in the newspaper Pravda. (Polevoy happened to be in this area and attended Kuzmin’s funeral). On February 24, 1942, the Soviet Information Bureau reported the feat:

A Hitler officer called a resident of the village of K., 80-year-old Matvey Kuzmich Kuzmin, and ordered him to secretly lead a large group of Germans to the location of the military outpost of the unit, where the commander, Comrade. Gorbunov. Getting ready for the road, Kuzmin, unnoticed by the Germans, instructed his 14-year-old grandson Vasya to get to the Soviet troops and warn them of the impending danger. I drove comrade for a long time. Kuzmin sworn enemies along the ravines, circling through the bushes and copses. Completely tired and chilled, the Germans unexpectedly found themselves under machine-gun fire. Soviet machine gunners, warned in advance by Vasya, shot the Nazis point-blank. The field was covered with corpses. More than 250 German soldiers died here. When the German officer saw that his squad had fallen into a trap, he shot the old man. The heroic feat of the glorious Soviet patriot Matvey Matveevich Kuzmin will never be forgotten by the working people of our great homeland.

Leaflets were issued for the front, essays, stories, and poems were published in newspapers and magazines about Kuzmin; one of the stories (“The Last Day of Matvey Kuzmin”), the author of which was Boris Polevoy himself, was included in the elementary school curriculum. Writers, poets (for example, during the war years, E. Petunin’s ballad), and sculptors dedicated their works to him. Streets in many cities of the USSR were named after Hero of the Soviet Union Matvey Kuzmin (in particular, in the city of Velikiye Luki a school and a street were named after him). A Soviet (and now Russian) trawler is also named in his honor.

External images
	Modern view of the monument to M.K. Kuzmin.

Subsequently, in Moscow, his monuments were erected at the Izmailovskaya metro station (then called Izmailovsky Park, and now Partizanskaya) and at the grave of the hero, and an obelisk was erected at the site of the feat near the village of Malkino, at Malkinskaya Heights. Under the image of Kuzmin at the metro station it is indicated that he repeated the feat of Ivan Susanin. The village of Malkino is a memorable place.

4. Family

Father - Kosma Ivanov, mother - Anastasia Semyonovna (both Orthodox). Kuzmin's parents were serfs of the landowner Bolotnikov, who lived in the village of Kreplyanka (three miles from Antonovo-Kurakino, the Kuzmins' native village).

Matvey Kuzmich married twice: his first wife Natalya (a farm laborer from the village of Eremeevo) died in early youth. The second wife, Efrosinya Ivanovna Shabanova, came from the village of Troshchenka.

The Kuzmin family had 8 children (two from their first marriage and six from their second). As of 1968, the eldest daughter Ekaterina (born in 1903) lived in the village of Kurakino, son Ivan (born in 1906) worked in Velikiye Luki at the Locomotive Car Repair Plant (LVRZ), son Vasily (born in 1912) worked at the Velikiye Luki Mill Plant, son Alexey (born in 1915) is a retired military man and his youngest daughter Lydia (born in 1918) worked at a meat processing plant.

The sculpture at the Partizanskaya metro station was molded in the image of Akim Pavlovich Zhilkin.

Notes

1 2 3 Velikiye Luki. Guide for tourists. - www.vladsc.narod.ru/library/vel_luki/guide.htm#exc4 P. Ivanova. Lenizdat. 1968.
1 2 3 Polevoy B. N. “The most memorable: Stories of my reports.” - M.: Mol. Guard, 1980, pp. 173-179 - www.warheroes.ru/hero/hero.asp?Hero_id=1913.
1 2 3 4 From the war diaries of B. Polevoy - www.tverlife.ru/_content.php?Id=1.2.85&artid=305&parts=issue_d_hist//Tverskaya life, March 14, 2008
1 2 To accomplish the impossible: About famous and unknown heroes of the Great Patriotic War. - his.1september.ru/article.php?ID=200500806 “History”. No. 08 of 2005
Transferring the remains of Matvey Kuzmin to the fraternal cemetery - kuzminmatvei.narod.ru/perezaxoronenie.html
Evening message on February 24 - 9may.ru/25.02.1942/inform/m3345. From the Soviet Information Bureau (from the RIA Novosti funds) (February 24, 1942).
B. N. Polevoy. The last day of Matvey Kuzmin - school-litra.ru/stuf/3/Polevoy.htm
Ships Index - www.e-ships.net/index/M8.shtml on World Shipping Register. (English)
Partizanskaya station. - mosmetro.ru/pages/page_6.php?id_page=182 State Unitary Enterprise “Moscow Metro”.
Burials from the Great Patriotic War in the Pskov region. - www.soldat.ru/book/pskov.html A. Kuznetsov. Soldier.ru.

Literature

Heroes of the Soviet Union: A Brief Biographical Dictionary / Prev. ed. collegium I. N. Shkadov. - M.: Voenizdat, 1987. - T. 1 /Abaev - Lyubichev/. - 911 p. - 100,000 copies. - ISBN ex., Reg. No. in RCP 87-95382
Tatarovsky I. S. The cadets went into battle... // On earth, in heaven and at sea (Issue 8) - militera.lib.ru/memo/russian/sb_na_zemle_v_nebesah_i_na_more_8/09.html. - M.: Military Publishing House, 1986. - P. 309. - 398 p. - (Front-line soldiers tell). - 65,000 copies.
Pskov Encyclopedia. - 2nd ed., add. - Pskov, 2007. - P. 421.
Borisov N.V. They repeated Susanin’s feat. M., 1987.
Kovalenko A.P. Peaks of courage. M., 1995.
Arsenyev A. Ya., Arsenyeva A. P. Pskov-Heroes of the Soviet Union. - L., 1983. - P. 174-176.
Be worthy of the memory of the fallen!: mass graves, monuments, memorials. - Velikie Luki, 2005. - P. 75-77, portrait.
A feat to live for centuries! M., 1970.

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This abstract is based on an article from Russian Wikipedia. Synchronization completed 07/11/11 19:46:40
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03.08.1858 - 14.02.1942
Hero of the Soviet Union

Decree dates

08.05.1965

Monuments

		In Moscow at the Partizanskaya metro station
		Tombstone

Kuzmin Matvey Kuzmich - collective farmer of the Rassvet collective farm in the Velikoluksky district of the Pskov region; the oldest (by year of birth) Hero of the Soviet Union.
Born on July 21 (August 3), 1858 in the village of Kurakino, now Velikoluksky district, Pskov region, in the family of a serf. Russian. He lived by hunting and fishing on the territory of the Rassvet collective farm.
On the night of February 14, 1942, 83-year-old Matvey Kuzmich Kuzmin was captured by the Nazis, who demanded that he show the way to the rear of the positions of Soviet troops on the Malkin Heights, 6 kilometers southeast of the city of Velikiye Luki. Under threat of death, the old man “agreed” to be a guide...
Having warned the military unit of the Red Army through his 11-year-old grandson Sergei Kuzmin, M.K. Kuzmin led an enemy detachment to the village of Malkino in the morning under machine-gun fire from Soviet soldiers. The detachment was destroyed. The guide died at the hands of the Nazis, having fulfilled his patriotic duty and repeating the feat of the Kostroma peasant Ivan Osipovich Susanin, who in the winter of 1613, saving Tsar Mikhail Fedorovich, led a detachment of Polish interventionists into an impenetrable forest swamp, for which he was tortured.
He was buried in the military cemetery of the city of Velikiye Luki.
By Decree of the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet of the USSR of May 8, 1965, for special merits, courage and heroism shown in the fight against the Nazi invaders during the Great Patriotic War of 1941-1945, Kuzmin Matvey Kuzmich awarded the title of Hero of the Soviet Union (posthumously).
Awarded the Order of Lenin.
In the city of Moscow, at the Izmailovsky Park metro station (renamed Partizanskaya in 2006), a monument to him was erected, and an obelisk was erected at the site of the patriot’s feat. In the city of Velikiye Luki, a school and a street are named after Hero of the Soviet Union Matvey Kuzmin. The village of Malkino is a memorable place.

Boris Polevoy. "OBJECT LESSON":
The offensive of the troops of our front developed successfully. Every day, the Soviet Information Bureau listed more and more settlements recaptured from the enemy. The Velikiye Luki direction appeared. Velikolukskoye! What this meant was easy to understand by looking at the map, because from Kalinin, where the front began its offensive, it was almost four hundred kilometers to Velikiye Luki. Every day of the offensive brought new amazing examples of national heroism. How long ago have I written about the feat of Lisa Chaikina, whom German soldiers from Alsace called Joan of Arc. And then from the westernmost point of our offensive a message came that an old peasant from the Rassvet collective farm named Kuzmin had repeated the feat of the Kostroma peasant Ivan Susanin and led a battalion of German Alpine riflemen to our machine-gun ambush.
I learned about this from a liaison officer who had flown in from a division already fighting on the Lovat River and begged him to take me on a return flight. He knew where this event took place. The pilot, as it turned out, also knew, and we land directly on the snow in the riverine floodplain not far from Lovat, where, by decision of the army command, the old patriot should be buried with military honors. True, I couldn’t even see Kuzmin himself dead. The plane taxied to the funeral site when the commandant's platoon was already giving a farewell salute. But the people from the Rassvet collective farm, led by the chairman, a gloomy, large woman, were still near the mound of frozen earth, over which the sappers were erecting a small plywood obelisk. And from them I learned the story of the life and death of an old peasant whose name was Matvey. Almost out of habit I didn’t write “collective farmer”. No, as it turned out, he was not a member of the collective farm. He was, according to the chairman, the last individual owner in the area. He didn’t even cultivate the land on his plot near his hut. He lived by hunting and fishing, and exchanged the products he needed - bread, cereals, potatoes - for his fishing and hunting trophies.
He lived as Biryuk and didn’t hang out with anyone. When meeting: hello, goodbye - and the whole conversation. He lived separately from everyone, and, to be honest, we didn’t like him, we thought he had dark thoughts,” said the chairman.
So, when a company of alpine skiers stationed in the village from the Bavarian Jaeger battalion, which was apparently in the command reserve, received an order to make a roundabout maneuver through the forests and escape to the rear of our advancing units, the commander of this company, who knew about the old hunter, promised him money, a hunting rifle and invited Kuzmin to lead his rangers through the forest to a designated point located on the path of our advancing units. After bargaining, the old man agreed. A gun with the famous “Three Rings” brand was his long-time dream, and when dusk fell on the forests, he led the skiers along hunting paths familiar only to him, and they went, of course, not knowing that before dawn the old man had sent his grandson across the front with an errand find some older commander, warn him about the upcoming night campaign and ask him to arrange a machine-gun ambush at the place designated by the Germans.
And it was done. After long night wanderings through the forests, Kuzmin led the rangers straight to the ambush. Some of them died immediately under the dagger fire of machine guns, without even having time to offer resistance. Others, realizing the hopelessness of the struggle, raised their hands. The battalion commander, having guessed the old man's plan, also died, having, however, managed to shoot his guide before that.
That day I had a rare correspondent's happiness - I was able to talk about Kuzmin with the chairman of the Rassvet collective farm, and with the regiment commander, the major, whose people staged such a successful ambush, and with the eleven-year-old grandson of the old hunter Seryozha Kuzmin, the same one whom the old man sent through the front to our own. It was even possible to obtain a packet of letters from Germany and to Germany, extracted from the tablet of the deceased Jaeger commander.
Golden, well, just golden material fell into my hands. It burned my soul, especially since I knew: in the evening Evnovich had to convey a message about Kuzmin to the Soviet Information Bureau. But the army communications plane, naturally, had already taken off. The only thing that the regimental commander, at whose disposal I found myself, could help me with was a sleigh with a frisky, frost-covered horse, on which I got to the division headquarters. There he transferred to the return field mail truck, which brought an army newspaper. Then, when the truck turned off the route I needed, I was given a ride on a tractor sleigh carrying ammunition, and I walked to the village where the army headquarters and communications center were located.
The winter day was fading. There were only a few hours left for the transfer. The correspondence about Matvey Kuzmin has already formed in my head. I wrote it in the nook of the communications officer on duty, to the accompaniment of Baudot machines crackling next door, behind a curtain. It was incredibly easy to write. I didn't even feel tired. Fatigue came and overcame me at once when, having finished the essay, I asked Colonel Lazarev to give me immediate notification of the appointment. Having received a notification from the General Staff communications center that the correspondence had been accepted and reached the addressee, I, overcome by the cheerful fatigue that came from the feeling of successfully completed work, immediately, in the nook of the communications officer on duty, fell asleep on the floor, resting my head on a sheepskin coat.
Well, upon returning “home”, that is, to the village, to our “Korrespondenhaus” I already went, using a hunting term, holding my tail with a pistol. A telegraph notification awaited me that the correspondence about Kuzmin was published on the same day as the message from the Sovinformburo, which was considered a special chic.
After some time, when the offensive stopped and parts of the front began to regroup for a new breakthrough, I got the opportunity to fly to Moscow. Colonel Lazarev, a kind man with a very angry appearance, as always, reviewed my activities “at this period of time” with all its advantages and disadvantages. The correspondence that was difficult for me to obtain about the heroic death of Matvey Kuzmin was highly praised both for the topic and for the efficiency of its transmission. I remember I felt like a birthday boy, and then they just told me that the editor himself wanted to see me.
As soon as the front page lights up, you’ll go to him,” his assistant Lev Tolkunov told me, looking at me with black, lively and very cheerful eyes. “There will be a conversation.”
What are you talking about?
You’ll see there,” Tolkunov said mysteriously, narrowing his mocking eyes. - If you live, you will see, prepare for anything.
Pyotr Nikolaevich Pospelov, my fellow countryman from the old Tver Bolsheviks, a man of duty, able to encourage good initiative, appreciating journalistic skill, was at the same time completely intolerant of superficiality, superficiality, and any manifestation of ignorance and laziness. So what will the conversation be about? What lies behind the cunning, mocking gaze of Tolkunov, who is known in the team as a master of practical jokes?
In those days, the entire staff of Pravda, which had shrunk to the limit, occupying only two floors of a huge building, lived in their offices. The office that was assigned to me for housing was a few meters from the editorial office. Logically, I should have at least taken a nap on the couch on the fresh sheets they gave me. But I couldn’t sleep. We loved and were afraid of the editor. So what will the conversation be about? Until the moment when the last page of tomorrow’s issue “caught fire,” that is, it was directed into a stereotype, I never slept a wink and immediately, as soon as this happened, I knocked on the door of the editor’s office.
Did you call me, Pyotr Nikolaevich?
Yes, yes, of course... Please sit down. - The editor pointed to the chair that stood in front of his large desk. I sat down opposite, from which I concluded that, despite the late, or rather early, hour, because for the purpose of blackout it was not visible that the morning was lighting up outside the window, the conversation would be long.
As I sat down, I noticed on the editor’s desk a newspaper with my correspondence about Matvey Kuzmin, published under the title “The Feat of Matvey Kuzmin.” I noticed. Calmed down. He even jumped in spirit: well, they will praise him. But it didn't turn out that way. The editor took the newspaper and patted it on my knee.
Interesting correspondence. Thank you. At the meeting, both the theme and efficiency were highly appreciated. But you, Boris Nikolaevich, are not a chronicler. You are a writer. Could you really, you had to, you hear, dear comrade Polevoy, you had to tell about this?
In the editor’s huge office, lined with dark wood, it was cold, like on the front line, where, due to the proximity of the enemy, it was forbidden to light a fire. The editor, a large man with a professorial appearance, was in full partisan gear: in a quilted sweatshirt and pants tucked into felt boots. Words flew out of his mouth in lumps of steam. He breathed chillily into his folded palms and continued:
I am a historian and I can tell you with complete responsibility that history has never known such wars as we are forced to wage. Not only regiments, divisions, corps, armies are fighting, two ideologies, two diametrically opposed worldviews are fighting, and fighting fiercely. They fight for life and death, and you, war correspondents, are witnesses and participants in these battles.
He took off his glasses, began to wipe them, and his light eyes, which had just looked vigilantly and sharply, became as if unprotected, helpless. But only for a moment. The glasses were put back in place, and he again looked vigilantly and demandingly.
Here is your correspondence,” he again patted me on the knee with a rolled-up newspaper, “here he is, this Kuzmin, a Soviet man, as if repeating the feat of a Russian peasant accomplished more than two centuries ago. But Kuzmin is not Susanin. He is not for the father-tsar, not for the house of the Romanovs, he gave his life for his motherland. I emphasize: I deliberately gave it away. He saved Soviet power from the Nazi invasion, although you casually mention here that he was an individual farmer and did not go to the collective farm. Consequently, before the war he disagreed with us on some things, was offended by some things...
The editor stood up, breathed into his folded palms, warmed himself, and walked through the office, silently stepping with his felt boots on the parquet floor.
As a historian, I assure you that neither in ancient, nor in middle, nor in modern history has the world known such perseverance, such heroism, such selflessness as our people are showing now... Yes, there were heroes Peresvet and Oslyabya, there was Ivan Susanin , there were Minin and Pozharsky, there was the sailor Koshka, there were many unknown heroes. But now it is a mass phenomenon. Massive!.. Just on your front: Liza Chaikina, Alexander Matrosov, by the way, they told me that Matrosov was not alone on your front, right? After all, his feat was repeated?
Yes, back in the days of the battle for Kalinin, Yakov Paderin accomplished the same feat on the Volga, in the Ryabinikha area. He also rushed at the embrasure, at the enemy machine gun. I then wrote about him in my correspondence, or rather, mentioned him.
Mentioned it! Is this the word? After all, the man gave the most precious thing that people have - his life. Don’t mention it, talk about it, need to sing songs about it.
The editor sat down in a chair and moved closer to me.
How many such moral riches can go unnoticed, get lost, forgotten in the cataclysms of this huge, inhumanly difficult war! And you, war correspondents, who, so to speak, are writing a quick draft of future military history, yes, yes, exactly a draft of history, will be to blame for this. Write down, carefully write down all such cases. I tell everyone and I repeat to you: get a special notebook and write it down - with the names, with the surnames, with the exact location of the action, and if it happens, with the civil addresses of the heroes. Write it down for future use. It will not be included in the correspondence - it will be useful later. For history. For your own future stories, novellas, and maybe even memoirs. - He grinned: - What? Maybe someday you’ll sit down to write your memoirs?.. Write down - it’s your responsibility. If you like, your party duty. And for this,” he slammed his palm on the newspaper lying on the table, “thank you for this.” But how could you write about this, comrade writer! Take the example of Nikolai Tikhonov. His correspondence from besieged Leningrad is information, a subject for deep philosophical thought, and real - yes, real - literature...
I remember this conversation very well. This was a lesson, an object lesson, that I received in Pravda. The editor then seemed to see through the years. There is now Matvey Kuzmin Street in the old town of Velikiye Luki, and a monument to him has been erected. And an amateur choir of his fellow countrymen sings songs composed on the spot about him...
Well, after this conversation, I made it a rule to write a diary. I led it throughout the war, led it in the German city of Nuremberg, where the main war criminals of the Second World War were tried, and from these notebooks in the post-war period came the heroes of my stories, novels, even novels, appeared on the stage of theaters and even on the opera stage.
I always, always remember with gratitude my old night conversation with editor P.N. Pospelov in his huge office, lined with ebony, where at that time it was cold, like on the front line.
Polevoy B.N. "The Most Memorable: Stories of My Reporting." - M.: Mol. Guard, 1980, pp. 173-179.

The oldest Hero of the Soviet Union is buried in the military cemetery of the city of Velikie Luki.
Awards

Also awarded the Order of Lenin.
Memory

Kuzmin’s feat first became known thanks to an article by war correspondent Boris Polevoy, published in the Pravda newspaper. (Polevoy happened to be in this area and attended Kuzmin’s funeral). On February 24, 1942, the Soviet Information Bureau reported the feat:

A Hitler officer called a resident of the village of K., 80-year-old Matvey Kuzmich Kuzmin, and ordered him to secretly lead a large group of Germans to the location of the military outpost of the unit, where the commander, Comrade. Gorbunov. Getting ready for the road, Kuzmin, unnoticed by the Germans, instructed his 14-year-old grandson Vasya to get to the Soviet troops and warn them of the impending danger. I drove comrade for a long time. Kuzmin sworn enemies along the ravines, circling through the bushes and copses. Completely tired and chilled, the Germans unexpectedly found themselves under machine-gun fire. Soviet machine gunners, warned in advance by Vasya, shot the Nazis point-blank. The field was covered with corpses. More than 250 German soldiers died here. When the German officer saw that his squad had fallen into a trap, he shot the old man. The heroic feat of the glorious Soviet patriot Matvey Matveyevich Kuzmin will never be forgotten by the working people of our great homeland. Leaflets were issued for the front, essays, stories, and poems were published in newspapers and magazines about Kuzmin; one of the stories (“The Last Day of Matvey Kuzmin”), the author of which was Boris Polevoy himself, was included in the elementary school curriculum. Writers, poets (for example, during the war years, E. Petunin’s ballad), and sculptors dedicated their works to him. Streets in many cities of the USSR were named after Hero of the Soviet Union Matvey Kuzmin (in particular, in the city of Velikiye Luki a school and a street were named after him). A Soviet (and now Russian) trawler is also named in his honor.

Subsequently, in Moscow, at the Izmailovskaya metro station (then called Izmailovsky Park, and now Partizanskaya) and at the hero’s grave, his monuments were erected, and at the site of his feat near the village of Malkino, at Malkinskaya Heights, an obelisk was erected. Under the image of Kuzmin at the metro station it is indicated that he repeated the feat of Ivan Susanin. The village of Malkino is a memorable place.

This day in history:

Matvey Kuzmin, born three years before the abolition of serfdom, became the oldest Hero of the Soviet Union.

From serf to individual owner

In Moscow, at the Partizanskaya metro station, there is a monument - an elderly bearded man in a fur coat and felt boots peers into the distance. Muscovites and guests of the capital running past rarely bother to read the inscription on the pedestal. The person to whom the monument is erected deserves special attention. He gave his life for the freedom of his people. This man spoke little, preferring action to words.

On July 21 (August 3, new style. People), 1858, in the village of Kurakino, Pskov province, a boy was born into the family of a serf peasant, who was named Matvey. Unlike many generations of his ancestors, the boy remained a serf for less than three years - in February 1861, Emperor Alexander II abolished serfdom.

But in the life of the peasants of the Pskov province, little has changed - personal freedom did not eliminate the need to work hard day after day, year after year.

Growing up, Matvey lived the same way as his grandfather and father - when the time came, he got married and had children. His first wife, Natalya, died young, and the peasant brought a new mistress, Euphrosyne, into the house.

In total, Matvey had eight children - two from his first marriage and six from his second. Tsars changed, revolutions thundered, but Matvey’s life flowed as usual. He was strong and healthy - his youngest daughter Lydia was born in 1918, when her father turned 60 years old.

The established Soviet government began to gather peasants into collective farms, but Matvey refused, remaining an individual peasant. Even when everyone who lived nearby joined the collective farm, Matvey did not want to change, remaining the last individual farmer in the entire region.

"Kontrik" under occupation

He was 74 years old when the authorities sent him the first official documents in his life, which read “Matvey Kuzmich Kuzmin.” Until then, everyone called him simply Kuzmich, and when his age exceeded his seventh decade, he was called grandfather Kuzmich.

Grandfather Kuzmich was an unsociable and unfriendly man, for which he was called “Biryuk” and “Kontrik” behind his back.

In addition, grandfather Kuzmich preferred fishing and hunting to cultivating the land, in which he was a great master.

When the Great Patriotic War began, Matvey Kuzmin was almost 83 years old. When the enemy began to rapidly approach the village where he lived, many neighbors hurried to evacuate. The peasant and his family chose to stay.

Already in August 1941, the village where grandfather Kuzmich lived was occupied by the Nazis. The new authorities, having learned about the miraculously preserved individual peasant, called him and offered him to become the village headman.

Matvey Kuzmin thanked the Germans for their trust, but refused - it was a serious matter, and he had become both deaf and blind. The Nazis considered the old man’s speeches to be quite loyal and, as a sign of special trust, they left him his main working tool - a hunting rifle.

Deal

At the beginning of 1942, after the end of the Toropets-Kholm operation, units of the Soviet 3rd Shock Army took up defensive positions not far from Kuzmin’s native village.

In February, a battalion of the German 1st Mountain Rifle Division arrived in the village of Kurakino. Mountain rangers from Bavaria were transferred to the area to take part in a planned counterattack to push back the Soviet forces.

The detachment, based in Kurakino, was tasked with secretly going to the rear of the Soviet troops located in the village of Pershino and defeating them with a surprise attack.

To carry out this operation, a local guide was needed, and the Germans again remembered Matvey Kuzmin.

On February 13, 1942, the commander of the German battalion called him, declaring that the old man should lead the Nazi detachment to Pershino. For this work, Kuzmich was promised money, flour, kerosene, as well as a luxurious German hunting rifle.

The old hunter examined the gun, appreciating the “fee”, and replied that he agreed to become a guide. He asked to show the place where exactly the Germans needed to be taken out on the map. When the battalion commander showed him the desired area, Kuzmich noted that there would be no difficulties, since he had hunted in these places many times.

The rumor that Matvey Kuzmin would lead the Nazis to the Soviet rear instantly spread around the village. While he was walking home, his fellow villagers looked at his back with hatred. Someone even risked shouting something after him, but as soon as the grandfather turned around, the daredevil retreated - contacting Kuzmich had been costly before, and now, when he was in favor with the Nazis, even more so.

Poster “The heroic feat of the Soviet patriot Matvey Matveevich Kuzmin”, 1942.

Deadly route

On the night of February 14, a German detachment led by Matvey Kuzmin left the village of Kurakino. They walked all night along paths known only to the old hunter. Finally, at dawn, Kuzmich led the Germans to the village.

But before they had time to catch their breath and turn into battle formations, heavy fire was suddenly opened on them from all sides...

Neither the Germans nor the residents of Kurakino noticed that immediately after the conversation between grandfather Kuzmich and the German commander, one of his sons, Vasily, slipped out of the village towards the forest...

Vasily went to the location of the 31st separate cadet rifle brigade, reporting that he had urgent and important information for the commander. He was taken to the brigade commander Colonel Gorbunov, to whom he told what his father had ordered to convey - the Germans want to go to the rear of our troops near the village of Pershino, but he will lead them to the village of Malkino, where an ambush should await.

To gain time for its preparation, Matvey Kuzmin led the Germans along roundabout roads all night, leading them out under the fire of Soviet soldiers at dawn.

The commander of the mountain rangers realized that the old man had outwitted him, and in a rage he fired several bullets at his grandfather. The old hunter sank onto the snow, stained with his blood...

The German detachment was completely defeated, the Nazi operation was disrupted, several dozen rangers were destroyed, and some were taken prisoner. Among the dead was the detachment commander, who shot the conductor who repeated the feat of Ivan Susanin.

The country learned about the feat of the 83-year-old peasant almost immediately. The first to talk about it was war correspondent and writer Boris Polevoy, who later immortalized the feat of pilot Alexei Maresyev.

Initially, the hero was buried in his native village of Kurakino, but in 1954 it was decided to rebury the remains in the brotherly cemetery of the city of Velikiye Luki.

The feat of Matvey Kuzmin was officially recognized almost immediately, essays, stories and poems were written about him, but for more than twenty years the feat was not recognized with state awards.

Perhaps it played a role that grandfather Kuzmich was not a military man, he was not a partisan either, but was simply an unsociable old man-hunter who showed great fortitude, dedication and courage in hard times.

By decree of the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet of the USSR of May 8, 1965, for the courage and heroism shown in the fight against the Nazi invaders, Kuzmin Matvey Kuzmich posthumously awarded the title of Hero of the Soviet Union with the Order of Lenin.

83-year-old Matvey Kuzmin became the oldest holder of the title of Hero of the Soviet Union during its entire existence.

If you are at the Partizanskaya station, stop at the monument with the inscription “Hero of the Soviet Union Matvey Kuzmich Kuzmin” and bow to him. After all, without people like him, our Motherland would not exist today.

In the name of the Hero of the Soviet Union Matvey Kuzmich Kuzmina a fishing vessel belonging to Okeanrybflot OJSC is named.