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Let's make a reservation right away that several women are applying for the role of the prototype of the character of the cult film by the Vasiliev brothers. The article will focus only on the version of Evgenia Chapaeva, the great-granddaughter of the legendary divisional commander. By...

Anna's mother, Yulia Aronovna Mendeleva (pictured), had a difficult fate. At the age of eight, she survived a Jewish pogrom in Starodub, and at sixteen she entered the territory of the Kuban Cossack army. There she gave birth to a daughter from one of the Cossacks - Anna Steshenko.

Julia joined the RSDLP almost as a child, and by 1917 she already had a solid party experience. After the revolution, she headed the Institute of Mother and Child, created in Leningrad, where she gathered a brilliant team of scientists and was even able to protect many of them from repression. But she herself did not escape - in 1949, Yulia Aronovna was arrested for cosmopolitanism. She spent seven years in the Gulag, was rehabilitated, released and soon died.

But our story is not about her, but about her daughter - Anna.

Even during the First World War, a young nurse Anna met on the train with the warrant officer of the tsarist army and the head of the same train, Dmitry Furmanov, thus creating the epic image of division commander Chapaev. They got married, and later parted "on the basis of jealousy", as the sources say sparingly. But suddenly, in April 1919, Anna without warning came to the front to her husband, who was then already the commissar of the Chapayev division.

In times of peace, it is difficult to imagine what could force a woman to put herself in mortal danger: from the rear to come to the front line. But then there were completely different, desperate times. The war had been going on for six years - since 1914, men killed and died, youth passed. What were women to do? Anna Steshenko went to her husband.

Furmanov had an excellent relationship with Chapaev until his beautiful wife arrived. Having learned about the arrival of the commissioner's wife, Chapaev went to meet, and found the spouses in bed. He was outraged by the violation of army discipline and ... fell in love with the wife of his commissar.

From Furmanov's diary: “I'm leaving. Naya is leaving with me. Chapaev hung his head, walks gloomy. "

Dmitry and Anna Furmanov

Historical evidence describes Anna Steshenko as a beauty, although the photographs do not convey this.

Furmanov's archive preserved an exchange of letters from the chief of the division and the commissar about a love conflict that had arisen.

Chapaev: “… I once told you that I would never encroach on the wife of my comrade. You never know what is in my soul, no one can forbid me to love ... So what if Anna Nikitichna herself didn’t want to, then I wouldn’t. ”

Furmanov replied: “You ... tried to explain everything with some ridiculous jealousy because of Anna Nikitichna. But think for yourself, it's very funny and stupid if I really decided to be jealous of you. Such rivals are not dangerous, she showed me your last letter, where it says "Chapaev, who loves you." She was really indignant at your baseness and insolence, and in her note, it seems, she expressed her contempt to you quite clearly. All these documents are in my hands, and on occasion I will show them to whoever should, in order to reveal your nefarious game. You cannot be jealous of a low person, and I, of course, was not jealous of her, but was deeply outraged by the impudent courting and constant harassment, which was obvious and about which Anna Nikitichna repeatedly told me. This means that there was not jealousy, but indignation at your behavior and contempt for you for mean and low methods. "

The command resolved the conflict simply - the commissioner was recalled. Anna left with him. Soon after that, Chapaev's headquarters was defeated, and he himself was killed. Ironically, the sudden arrival of his wife and the passions that followed, most likely saved Furmanov's life - if the writer had remained at the front, he would most likely have shared the sad fate of the division commander.

Fate decreed otherwise: Furmanov was destined to glorify and romanticize the image of his rival, to make him a legend. And again, by a strange irony, folk art somehow read something between the lines, and Chapaev and Anka for decades were the most popular characters in numerous anecdotes, most of them desperately indecent.

Chapaev's personal life did not develop even before these events. His wife Pelageya left the house of Chapaev's parents along with their three children for a neighbor, a conductor. The next lady Chapaeva, also Pelageya, the widow of his front-line friend, cheated on him with the head of the artillery depot. Chapaev's daughter Klavdia describes that different types of small arms were involved in resolving that conflict - a common story at that time.

Anna Steshenko became a widow just six years later. In 1926 Furmanov fell ill. At first, the malaise seemed like a nonsense cold, but it turned into meningitis and at the age of 35, Dmitry Furmanov died.

Anna Steshenko, on the basis of the novel and the diaries of her deceased husband, and other documents, wrote the script, according to which the Vasiliev brothers shot the famous film "Chapaev" in 1934. It was this cinematic Chapaev that became the very folk hero and the character of anecdotes.

Anna married again - to the heroic brigade commander Lajos Gavro, who was called the "Hungarian Chapaev". Simultaneously with the release of the film, in 1934, they had a boy and a girl. And in 1938, the "Hungarian Chapaev" was shot. Anna survived her husband by only three years and died at the age of 42.

The daughter of Anna Kira Mendelev, who inherited the Jewish surname of her grandmother, became the first wife of the brightest writer of the "thaw" Vasily Aksyonov. How can one fail to recall Woland's words about a fancifully shuffled deck?

Singer Natalya Stupishina, nicknamed Anka Machine-gunner, was born in 1960 April 4. An interesting fact from the life of Natalia, one can consider her birthday, which is indicated in her passport and other documents as the day of April 3.

This happened because the girl's father himself was born on April 3 and therefore decided to combine these two events.

The girl from an early age was engaged in creativity, at 6 she was sent to a music school, and from 12 little Natasha went to figure skating.

Since 1983, the girl has been studying in "Gnesenki", but on the stage of "Luzhniki" she managed to get only with the ensemble, which was called "Moskvichki". The girl sang and played the guitar.

Thanks to the celebrity of the vocal and instrumental ensemble, Natalya managed to travel all over Russia, at that time it was still the Soviet Union. The famous Anka's schedule was so tight that sometimes she had to perform up to 5-6 times per day in completely different places.

But the Machine Gunner never upset her fans and continued to perform hits for them.

Released in 1988, the disc by Stupishina was not met with special applause, which greatly upset the girl, so she began to ask the author of some poems for songs to create for her unique poems on the subject of the civil war.

It was from the 1990s that Natalya appeared in the image of the recognizable Machine Gunner, because in her songs there were three main characters Anka, Chapaev, Petka.

"Tachanka gave us a ride" and "You're not a pilot" long time were heard by fans of Stupishina's work. For the performance of the first song, the artist was awarded the prize... In a short period of time, the singer receives universal recognition, there are a lot of tours, so many that poems for songs and music were created right on the way from one city to another.

Unfortunately, the excitement around the artist's repertoire quickly began to bore the public, so she had to leave the stage when her popularity went to zero. Opinions were divided over Anka's departure, with some believing that the lack of proper management was to blame. Others say that the hits that Natalia's team were promoting are too few to keep afloat for a long time.

The latter argue that the woman herself stopped striving for popularity, deciding to open a recording studio and engage in the promotion of other talents. In fact, Natalya herself did not say anything about this. She really began to engage in the fact that she opened a studio and there she recorded songs of unknown or little-known singers.

The image of the singer was invented by her husband. In a simple vest, they cut holes, sewed a hat for the girl and made a roll of ordinary paper on which a light was drawn.

In addition, at first Anka performed with real cartridges at the ready, however, due to their heavy weight, the girl asked to replace them with dummy cartridges made of wood, which they often did not want to pass at customs, as they were made realistically.

The very first requisites of clothing were not in full force for the construction of the house. For the first time, fans took the artist's hat from the stage. The woman threw the hat at one of the emotional moments and she did not see any more made-to-order things.

The second time she was robbed, when all the details of her clothes were stolen from the summer part of the house where Natalya and her family lived. Some time after the Machine Gunner began to perform her songs, the girl realized that such an image of a slightly vulgar woman would quickly begin to bore the audience, so there was an attempt to change her image on the assistant to the deputy in the Duma.

But due to the fact that both the song and the image itself were considered offensive, the woman's performance was not broadcast on television.

Personal life

The first and only husband of Stupishina became Ruslan Gudiev... The man himself was a creative person. He was not only an artist, but also music was not alien to him. Therefore, the man had no complaints about his wife's work.

He helped her create an image, supported her in difficult moments and made CD covers for a woman.

Now the woman devotes time to her family and creates jewelry.

The wedding took place when Natalia was 22 years old, in 1982. Live happily so far, although often creative people disagree precisely because of creative differences. However, there were no serious quarrels in this union.

Children

Daughter Polina Gudieva was born shortly after the wedding. Despite the birth of the baby, Natalya still performed for a long time, and she had to take her daughter with her on tour.

Now the girl has grown up and lives in the United States of America. In addition, Polina followed in her mother's footsteps and also sings. She is a very creative person, like her parents.

Many famous film images have real prototypes. Despite the fact that there was no machine gunner Anka in the legendary Chapaevsk division, this character cannot be called completely fictional.

This image was given life by the nurse Maria Popova, who once in battle really had to shoot from a machine gun instead of a wounded soldier. It was this woman who became the prototype for Anka from the film "Chapaev", included in the hundred best films in the world. Her fate deserves no less attention than the exploits of the movie heroine.

Maria Popova

In 1934, the directors Georgy and Sergei Vasiliev were tasked by the party to make a film about the victories of the Red Army. There was no Anka in the first version. Stalin was dissatisfied with the viewing and recommended adding a romantic line and a female image, which would be the embodiment of the fate of a Russian woman during the Civil War. The directors accidentally saw a publication about the nurse Maria Popova, who was forced by a wounded machine gunner on pain of death to shoot from the "Maxim".

This is how Anka the machine gunner appeared. The story of her love with Petka was also invented - in fact, there was no romance between Chapaev's assistant Pyotr Isaev and Maria Popova. In the first two years after the film's release, Stalin watched it 38 times. Chapaev had no less success among the audience - huge queues lined up at the cinemas.

Maria Andreevna Popova with her daughter

Maria Popova with her husband

As part of Chapaev's 25th rifle division, not only Maria Popova fought - there were enough women there. But the story of the nurse impressed the filmmakers the most. In the same division was the wife of the red commissar and writer Furmanov Anna, in whose honor the main character of the film was named.

By the way, there was no such character in Furmanov's story, based on which the film was filmed.

Varvara Myasnikova in the movie * Chapaev *

Maria Popova was born into a peasant family in 1896. She lost her father at the age of 4, and her mother at the age of 8. From this age, she had to work for wealthy fellow villagers, including the Novikovs, which is why she was subsequently accused of not being who she claims to be.

In 1959, the fighters of the same Chapayev division wrote a denunciation to Maria Popova that she was allegedly the daughter of Novikov's kulak, fought on the side of the White Guards, and when the Reds prevailed in the Civil War, she went over to their side. All this turned out to be untrue, but it cost her health.

Still from the movie * Chapaev *, 1934

In fact, Maria Popova at the age of 16 married a poor fellow villager, but her husband died soon after. In 1917 she joined the Red Guard and took part in the battles for Samara. In 1918 she became a member of the party, in the same year she was included in the Chapayev division. She was not only a nurse - she served in cavalry reconnaissance, performed the duties of a military doctor.

This is connected with one curious incident, told by Maria Popova herself. Once she brought two bags of soda to the division from a smashed pharmacy - there was nothing else there. She cut strips of paper, sprinkled the powder in them and signed "from the head", "from the stomach", etc. Some fighters claimed that they were helped.

Anna Nikitichna Furmanova-Steshenko

After the Civil War, Maria graduated from the Faculty of Soviet Law at Moscow State University, then was engaged in intelligence activities in Germany. She was sent there as an assistant in the legal department of the Soviet trade mission. Then her daughter was born, whose father's name Maria hid until the end of her days. During the Great Patriotic War, she was again at the front as part of a propaganda brigade. In 1981, Maria Popova died at the age of 85.

Varvara Myasnikova as Anka the machine gunner

This article will focus on a woman who served as an executioner for the Nazis to save her life. The main character of our story is Tonka the machine gunner. The biography of this woman, whose real name is Antonina Makarova, is presented in the article. For about 30 years she posed as a heroine of the Great Patriotic War.

Antonina's real surname

In 1921, Antonina Makarova, the future Tonka the machine gunner, was born. Her biography was marked by many interesting facts, as you will see after reading this article.

A girl was born in a village called Malaya Volkovka, in a large peasant family, headed by Makar Parfenov. She studied, like others, in a rural school. It was here that an episode took place that influenced the entire future life of this woman. When Tonya came to study in the first grade, she could not, because of shyness, give her last name. Classmates started shouting: "She is Makarova!", Meaning that Makar was the name of Tony's father. So, with the light hand of a local teacher, almost the only literate person in this village at that time, Tonya Makarova, the future Tonka-machine gunner, appeared in the Parfenov family.

Biography, photos of the victims, the trial - all this interests readers. Let's talk about everything in order, starting from the very childhood of Antonina.

Childhood and adolescence of Antonina

The girl studied with diligence, diligently. She also had her own revolutionary heroine, whose name was Anka the machine gunner. The real prototype was for this film character - Maria Popova. This girl once in battle actually had to replace the deceased machine gunner.

After graduating from school, Antonina went to Moscow to continue her studies. It was here that the Great Patriotic War... The girl went to the front as a volunteer.

Makarova - the soldier's marching wife

All the horrors of the Vyazemsky boiler fell to the lot of Makarova, a 19-year-old Komsomol member. After the heaviest battles, completely surrounded by Tonya, a young nurse, only one soldier remained from the whole unit. His name was Nikolai Fedchuk. It was with him that Tonka wandered through the forests, trying to simply survive. They did not look for partisans, did not strive to get through to their own people, they ate whatever they had to, sometimes they stole. The soldier did not stand on ceremony with Tonya, making the girl his "field wife". Makarova did not resist: the girl just wanted to survive.

In 1942, in January, they reached the village of Krasny Kolodets. Here Fedchuk confessed to his companion that he was married. His family, as it turned out, lives nearby. The soldier left Tonya alone.

Antonina was not driven out of the Red Well, but the local residents had enough worries without her. And the strange girl did not seek to go to the partisans. Tonka the machine gunner, whose photo is presented below, tried to have an affair with one of the men who remained in the village. Having turned the local residents against herself, Tonya was eventually forced to leave the village.

Salary killer

Near the village of Lokot in the Bryansk region, Tony's wanderings ended. The notorious administrative-territorial entity, which was founded by Russian collaborators, operated here at that time. It was called the Lokot Republic. These were, in essence, the same German lackeys who lived in other places. They were distinguished only by a clearer official design.

Tonya was detained by a police patrol. But the underground worker or partisan was not suspected of her. The girl liked the police. They took her to them, fed her, gave her drink and raped her. The latter, however, was very relative: the girl, who was striving to survive, agreed to everything.

Tonya did not perform the function of a prostitute for a long time under the police. Once she was drunk and taken out into the courtyard and put behind a maxim, a heavy machine gun. There were people in front of him - women, men, children, old people. The girl was ordered to shoot. For the past at one time, not only nursing courses, but also machine gunners Tony, this was not a big deal. True, the woman, drunk to death, was not very aware of what she was doing. Nevertheless, Tonya coped with this task.

Makarova learned the next day that she was now an official - the executioner and that she was entitled to a salary of 30 marks, as well as her own bed. She fought ruthlessly against the enemies of the new order - communists, underground fighters, partisans and other unreliable elements, including members of their families. The arrested people were herded into a barn, which served as a prison. Then, in the morning, they were taken out to be shot. 27 people fit into the cell, and it was necessary to eliminate all in order to make room for new victims.

Neither the Germans nor the locals, who became policemen, wanted to take on this work. And here Tonya came in very handy, a girl who appeared out of nowhere with the ability to shoot.

Tonka the machine gunner (Antonina Makarova) did not go crazy. On the contrary, she decided that her dream had come true. And let Anka shoot at enemies, and she shoots children and women - the war will write off everything! But her life was finally getting better.

1,500 killed

The girl's daily routine was as follows. In the morning, Tonka the machine-gunner (Antonina Makarova) shot 27 people with a machine gun, finishing off the survivors with a pistol, then she cleaned her weapons, in the evening she went to dances and schnapps in a German club, and then, at night, love with a cute German or policeman.

She was allowed to take the belongings of those who were shot as an incentive. So Tonya got a whole bunch of outfits. True, they had to be repaired - bullet holes and traces of blood immediately interfered with wearing these things. Sometimes, however, Tonya allowed "marriage". So, several children managed to survive, since the bullets, due to their small stature, passed over the head. Together with the corpses of the children, local residents, who buried the dead, were taken out and handed them over to the partisans. Rumors about Tonka the Muscovite, Tonka the machine gunner, the woman executioner, spread throughout the district. She was even hunted by local partisans. However, they were never able to get to Tonka. About 1,500 people became victims of Makarova.

By the summer of 1943, Tony's biography took another sharp turn. The Red Army moved to the west and began the liberation of the Bryansk region. It didn’t promise anything good girl, but at this time, very opportunely, Tonka the machine-gunner fell ill with syphilis. Real story her life, you see, resembles an action-packed film. Due to illness, the Germans sent her to the rear so that she would not infect the sons of Greater Germany. Thus, the girl managed to escape from reprisals.

An honored veteran instead of a war criminal

However, in the German hospital Tonka the machine-gunner also soon became uncomfortable. The Soviet troops were approaching so quickly that only the Germans had time to evacuate. Nobody cared about their accomplices.

Realizing this, Tonka the machine-gunner, the executioner, fled from the hospital. The story, the photo of this woman - all this is presented so that the reader understands that evil is always punished, although one can argue for a long time about the justice of what happened to Makarova at the end of her life. But more on that later.

Antonina was again surrounded, this time in the Soviet. But now the necessary survival skills were honed: she managed to get the documents. They said that Tonka the machine gunner (whose photo was presented above) all this time served as a nurse in one of the Soviet hospitals.

The girl managed to enter the hospital for the service, where a young soldier, a war hero, fell in love with her in early 1945. He proposed to Tone, and the girl agreed. The young couple got married and left after the end of the war to the homeland of Tony's husband, to the city of Lepel (Belarus). So Antonina Makarova, the woman executioner, disappeared. Antonina Ginzburg, an honored veteran, took her place. However, Tonka the machine-gunner did not disappear for good. Real life in Antonina Ginzburg has surfaced 30 years later. Let's talk about how this happened.

New life of Antonina Makarova

Soviet investigators learned about the monstrous deeds committed by Tonka the machine gunner, whose biography interests us, immediately after the Bryansk region was liberated. They found the remains of about 1.5 thousand people in mass graves. However, only 200 of them were identified. Witnesses were questioned, the information was clarified and checked, but still they could not get on the trail of Makarova.

Antonina Ginzburg, meanwhile, led the ordinary life of an ordinary Soviet person. She raised her two daughters, worked, even met with schoolchildren, to whom she told about her heroic past. So, new life was acquired by Tonka the machine-gunner. Biography, children, her occupation after the war - all this is very curious. Antonina Ginzburg is not at all like Antonina Makarova. And, of course, she took care not to mention the deeds committed by Tonka the machine gunner.

After the war, our "heroine" worked at a sewing factory in Lepel, in the sewing department. She served as a controller here - she checked. The woman was considered a conscientious and responsible worker. Often a photograph of her ended up on the honor roll. Having served here for many years, Antonina Ginzburg did not make any friends. Faina Tarasik, who at that time worked at the factory as an inspector of the personnel department, recalled that she was quiet, withdrawn and tried to consume as little alcohol as possible during collective holidays (most likely, so as not to let her slip out). The Ginzburgs were respected front-line soldiers and therefore received all the benefits that veterans were entitled to. Neither her husband, nor family friends, nor neighbors knew that Antonina Ginzburg was Antonina Makarova (Tonka the machine gunner). Biography, photos of this woman were of interest to many. An unsuccessful search continued for 30 years.

Tonka the machine gunner is wanted (real story)

There are not many photographs of our heroine, since the secrecy label has not yet been removed from this story. In 1976, after a long search, the case finally got off the ground. Then, in the city square of Bryansk, a man attacked Nikolai Ivanin, in whom he recognized the head of the Lokot prison during the German occupation. Hiding all this time, like Makarova, Ivanin did not open up and told in detail about his then activities, mentioning at the same time Makarova (he had a short romance with her). And although he mistakenly gave the investigators her full name as Antonina Anatolyevna Makarova (at the same time reporting that she was a Muscovite), such a large lead allowed the KGB to develop a list of Soviet citizens bearing the same name. But it did not contain the Makarova they needed, since the list included only women registered under this surname at birth. Makarova, the investigation needed, as we know, was registered under the name of Parfenov.

First, the investigators mistakenly went to another Makarova, who lived in Serpukhov. Nikolai Ivanin agreed to conduct an identification. He was sent to Serpukhov and lodged here in a hotel. However, Nikolai committed suicide the next day in his room. The reasons for this remain unclear. Then the KGB found surviving witnesses who knew Makarov by sight. But they could not identify her, so the search was continued.

The KGB spent more than 30 years, but found this woman almost by accident. Going abroad, Parfenov, a certain citizen, submitted questionnaires with information about relatives. Among the Parfenovs, for some reason, Antonina Makarova, married to Ginzburg, was listed as a sister.

How Tonya was helped by the teacher's mistake! After all, Tonka the machine gunner was out of reach from justice thanks to her for so many years! Her biography and photos were hidden from the public for so long ...

The KGB operatives worked very well. It was impossible to blame an innocent person for such atrocities. Antonina Ginzburg was checked from all sides. Witnesses were secretly brought to Lepel, even a policeman who was her lover. And only after confirming the information that Tonka the machine gunner and Antonina Ginzburg are one person, the woman was arrested.

For example, in 1978, in July, investigators decided to conduct an experiment. They brought one of the witnesses to the factory. At this time, under an invented pretext, Antonina was taken out into the street. Watching the woman from the window, the witness identified her. However, this was not enough. Therefore, the investigators conducted another experiment. They brought two other witnesses to Lepel. One of them pretended to be an employee of the local social security office, to which Makarova was summoned, allegedly to recalculate her pension. The woman recognized Tonka the machine gunner. Another witness was outside the building with the KGB investigator. She also recognized Antonina. Makarova was arrested in September on her way to the head of the personnel department from her place of work. Leonid Savoskin, the investigator who was present at her arrest, recalled later that Antonina behaved very calmly and immediately understood everything.

Capture of Antonina, investigation

After the capture, Antonina was taken to Bryansk. At first, investigators feared that Makarova would decide to commit suicide. Therefore, a "whisperer" woman was put in her cell. This woman recalled that the prisoner was cold-blooded and confident that due to her age she would be given a maximum of 3 years.

She volunteered for interrogation herself and showed the same composure in him, directly answering questions. In a documentary film entitled "Retribution. Two Lives of Tonka the Machine Gunner," he said that the woman was sincerely convinced that there was nothing to punish her for, and wrote off everything that happened to the war. She behaved no less calmly when she was brought to Elbow for

Tonka the machine-gunner did not open up. Her biography continued with the fact that the Chekists in Lokte took this woman by the well-known path to Antonina - to the pit, near which she carried out monstrous sentences. Bryansk investigators remember how residents who recognized her spat after her and shied away. And Antonina walked and recalled everything calmly, as if it were everyday affairs. She said that she was not tormented by nightmares. Antonina did not want to communicate either with her husband or with her daughters. In the meantime, a front-line spouse was running around the authorities, threatening to complain to Brezhnev himself, even to the UN, asking for the release of his wife. Until the investigators told him what Tonya was accused of.

The brave, dashing veteran then aged and turned gray overnight. The family disowned Antonina Ginzburg and left Lepel. You will not wish the enemy what these people had to endure.

Retribution

In Bryansk in 1978, in the fall, Antonina Makarova-Ginzburg was tried. This trial was the last major trial in the USSR that took place over traitors to the Motherland, as well as the only trial over a woman punisher.

Antonina, however, was convinced that the punishment for the prescription of years could not be too severe. She even believed that she would be given suspended sentence... The woman only regretted that she would again need to move and change jobs because of the shame. Even the investigators themselves, knowing that the post-war biography of Antonina Ginzburg was exemplary, believed that leniency would be shown by the court. In addition, 1979 was declared the Year of Women in the USSR.

But in 1978, on November 20, the court passed a sentence, according to which Makarov-Ginzburg was sentenced to death. It was documented that this woman was guilty of killing 168 people. These are only those whose identities have been established. More than 1,300 civilians remained unknown victims of Antonina. There are crimes that cannot be forgiven.

In 1979, on August 11, at 6 o'clock in the morning, after all requests for clemency were rejected, the sentence against Makarova-Ginzburg was carried out. This event ended the biography of Antonina Makarova.

Tonka the machine gunner became very famous throughout the country. In 1979, on May 31, the Pravda newspaper published a long article on the trial of this woman. It was called "Fall". It spoke of the betrayal of Makarova. The documentary biography of Tonka the machine gunner was finally presented to the public. Antonina's case turned out to be high-profile, even, one might say, unique. By a court decision, for the first time in all post-war years, a woman executioner was shot, whose involvement in the execution of 168 people during the investigation was officially proven. Antonina became one of three women in the Soviet Union who were sentenced to death in the post-Stalin era and whose execution was reliably established. The other two were Berta Borodkina (in 1983) and (1987).

The 2014 television series The Executioner is loosely based on this story. In the plot, Makarova was renamed Antonina Malyshkina, played by Victoria Tolstoganova.

Now you know who Tonka the machine gunner is. Biography, photos and some facts related to this woman were presented in this article.

Romania is just a country that is a mine of mysticism and various devilishness. In addition to the gloomy castle of Vlad Tepes, known to everyone as Count Dracula, there are still places where it is undesirable for the especially impressionable to go. But if you are tired of conventional routes, you adore nature and are looking for adventure on your head, then this selection is for you.

Hoya-Bachu forest

Dubbed the "Bermuda Triangle of Transylvania", the forest near the city of Cluj-Napoca is one of the most paranormal regions in the world. Once a shepherd disappeared here along with his flock, and no one was able to find either him or even a part of the sheep. Since then, the forest has been notorious. Locals say that those entering Khoya-Bachu suddenly experience a strange feeling of nausea and at the same time constantly feel that someone is following them. And these are not only impressions. Inexplicable phenomena were captured by cameras: UFOs hovering in the air, shadows, strange silhouettes.

Witch lake

Continuing the mystical excursion, you can look into another forest of Bold Kretieaska, 30 kilometers from Bucharest. There is mysterious lake... Its depth is 1.5 meters and remains unchanged in hot weather and during the rainy season. There are no frogs or birds here. Animals always bypass this place and do not drink enchanted water even in a drought. Locals say that witches and sorcerers have come to the lake for a long time to carry out secret rituals. It is believed that the lake is a source of some kind of mental energy for those who can feel it. It seems, a good place for meditation.

Radovan's forest

And in this forest, located in Dolj County, ghosts live. More precisely, the ghost of a young woman dressed in a wedding dress. They say: this is a ghost of a girl who came from Moldova to earn money for her family, but hanged herself in the Radovan forest, thinking she was pregnant. Others believe that the ghost of a girl appears in the forest, whose groom died just before the wedding. The news of his death made her jump into the well in a wedding dress. But even after her death, she did not stop looking for her beloved. This is why the bride only appears in front of the cars of unmarried guys. Legends are legends, but on the road passing along the forest, you really need to be very careful.

Longgang Hill

On Longgang Hill between the villages of Sarka and Longan of Yasi County, you will not be able to enjoy the local beauty in silence either - and mysterious phantoms wander here. They say that soldiers who died during the First World War were buried in a mass grave at this place. Buried without a religious ceremony, their souls did not find rest. So the restless ones walk on the earth.

Trowante Museum-Reserve

In the south of Romania, ghosts are not found among the sandy quarries of the Valcea region, but “living” stones, called “trovantes”, grow there. Their size ranges from a few grams to several tons, and the largest specimens reach a height of 10 meters. The most interesting thing is that such huge boulders many years ago were just small stones. According to geologists, the reason for the growth of stones lies in the increased mineralization of sandstone rocks. Rainwater activates a chemical reaction inside the trowants, and the pressure inside the stone causes it to grow. The whole process resembles budding, and scientists are seriously thinking about the question: are not stones an inorganic form of life still unknown to mankind?

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