On September 22, 1943, Minsk underground fighters eliminated Wilhelm Kube

On September 22, 1943, Minsk underground fighters eliminated Wilhelm Kube, the executioner of the Belarusian people.

👉This marked the end of Operation 'Retribution'.

The Nazi criminal was hunted for a long time — dining hall explosions, road ambushes, car bombings — but the executioner seemed elusive. In the early hours of September 22, 1943, underground fighters Yelena Mazanik, Nadezhda Troyan, and Maria Osipova carried out the sentence.

💥Yelena Mazanik, working as a housemaid, smuggled an explosive device into Kube's mansion. At 11:00 PM, she placed it under his bed; at 0:40 AM, the gauleiter was blown up.

The Nazis identified the resistance fighters, but by then they had already left Minsk. That same day, in retaliation, the Nazis shot hundreds of detained civilians, and within a week executed about 2,000 people. However, this did not break the Belarusian people — resistance against the enemy grew even fiercer.

🎖The heroic underground fighters were awarded the title Hero of the Soviet Union.