Fame
The story of Zoya Kosmodemyanskaya became popular after a Pravda article which was written by Pyotr Lidov, was published on January 27, 1942. The journalist had heard about Zoya's execution from an elderly peasant, and was impressed by the young woman's courage. The witness recounted: "They were hanging her and she was giving a speech. They were hanging her and she was threatening them." Lidov travelled to Petrishchevo, details were collected from local residents and published in an article about the then-unknown partisan girl. Soon after, the article was noticed by Joseph Stalin who proclaimed: "Here is the people's heroine", which started a propaganda campaign honouring Kosmodemyanskaya. In February, she was identified and was immediately awarded the order of Hero of the Soviet Union.
Many streets, kolkhozes and Pioneer organizations in the Soviet Union bore the name of Zoya Kosmodemyanskaya. Soviet poets, writers, artists and sculptors dedicated their works to Kosmodemyanskaya. In 1944, the film Zoya was made about her. The Soviets erected a monument in her honour not far from the village of Petrishchevo (sculptors – O.A.Ikonnikov and V.A.Feodorov). Another statue is prominently located at the Partizanskaya Moscow Metro station. A 4108-meter (13,478 feet) mountain peak in Trans-Ili Alatau is named after her. A minor planet 1793 Zoya discovered in 1968 by Soviet astronomer Tamara Mikhailovna Smirnova is named after her. Zoya Kosmodemyanskaya is buried at Novodevichy Cemetery in Moscow.
In the 2002 book Zoya's Story: An Afghan Woman's Struggle for Freedom the narrator tells of her decision to use the name "Zoya" as one of her pseudonyms when she joined The Revolutionary Association of the Women of Afghanistan in her fight against fundamentalism. She cites the story of Zoya Kosmodemyanskaya as an inspiration in her own struggles.
Zoya Phan, an outspoken political activist for the Karen people and member of the Burma Campaign UK, was named after Zoya Kosmodemyanskaya by her father, Padoh Mahn Sha Lah Phan. Her father chose this name because he had read about Zoya Kosmodemyanskaya while studying at Yangon University and saw several parallels between the Karen resistance against the Burmese government and the Soviet resistance against the Nazis in Europe.
Read more about this topic: Zoya Kosmodemyanskaya
Famous quotes containing the word fame:
“Today one does not hear much about him.... The fame of his likes circulates briskly but soon grows heavy and stale; and as for history it will limit his life story to the dash between two dates.”
—Vladimir Nabokov (1899–1977)
“Alas I find the Serpent old
That, twining in his speckled breast,
About the flow’rs disguis’d does fold,
With wreaths of Fame and Interest.”
—Andrew Marvell (1621–1678)
“People feel fame gives them some kind of privilege to walk up to you and say anything to you, of any kind of nature—and it won’t hurt your feelings—like it’s happening to your clothing.”
—Marilyn Monroe (1926–1962)