Defending Leningrad: Women Behind Enemy Lines (Part I: Inna Konstantinova; Part II: Masha Poryvayeva and Part III: Zoya Kruglova Baiger)

This book tells the story of a middle-class teenager, recent high school graduate, who ran away from home to join the partisans after her boyfriend was killed. She served with another girl, of working class background, whose story is also told. The third young woman, whose parents were farmers, supplied important intelligence to Soviet army which, in the long run, assisted the Western powers in defeating the Nazis. Some American universities are using this book as a textbook. Unlike Anne Frank who died in a German concentration camp, Ina Konstantinova, the main heroine of the book, perished while covering the retreat of fellow partisans. This book is a source of information about the German occupation of Soviet Russia and the struggle behind enemy lines on the Eastern Front. The book's North American editor was awarded the 1999 Mary Zirin Prize by the Association for Women in Slavic Studies (affiliated with the American Association for the Advancement of Slavic St! udies).