After the end of World War II, the Soviet authorities launched punitive operations and the search for collaborators. The country shudders from public executions, one of the most famous was the execution at the Leningrad cinema "Giant". These processes are filmed and shown in newsreels. On the traitors begins a real hunt and investigation. One of these criminals, who for a long time could not be caught and convicted of crimes, was the only woman - the executioner Tonka the machine gunner.
Lokot Republic
The urban-type village of Lokot, Bryansk Oblast, was captured by the Nazis. At its base, the Reichsführer SS Himmler ordered the creation of a republic under the control of the local population. Such an organization was supposed to show the locals how good it is to live without communists. The Autonomous Republic of Lokot became a place where peasants were allowed to work on their own land. But not all residents supported the new order, some went to the forests to continue the partisan war, which was quite active in the Bryansk region.
Bronislav Kaminsky - a former technologist at the local distillery became the new burgomaster of the republic. German generals showed him the highest confidence and allowed him to build a new future.
Private trade was allowed in the republic, and only a small tax was levied in favor of the new authorities. Against this background, constant guerrilla battles took place, as a result of which the new leadership captured partisans and other suspicious ones. The mass extermination of dissent was in the order of things and took place regularly.
Among the executed could well be Tonya Makarova, but she decided to survive at any cost, which turned out to be too high. Kaminsky personally invited her to do the work of the executioner of the new regime. The nineteen year old girl agreed. She could go into the woods to the partisans, but began to serve the new authorities. She seized on the opportunity to save her life.
She was charged with executing death sentences and was given a machine gun, and before that, she took the oath of allegiance to Germany.
Executioner woman
The local population had no problems with clothes or food. The Germans uninterruptedly supplied the region with essential goods.
Tone was allocated a room at the local stud farm and a salary of 30 marks was assigned. After long wanderings in the woods, after the Vyazemsky cauldron, it seemed to the girl that Kaminsky's proposal was not the worst option. By those standards, she lived in luxury. She had absolutely everything. But when it came to executions, there was no turning back.
And when Tonya already believed that luck smiled at her, a machine gun was put between her and the prisoners. Despite the fact that she was drunk, I remember this day well. Nobody was going to pardon the doomed, and Tonya Makarova forgot about all doubts.
At each execution, she shot about 30 prisoners from the Maxim machine gun. That is how much was placed in the stall of the former stud farm Mikhail Romanov. For two years, according to official figures, the girl killed about 1,500 thousand prisoners. Partisans, Jews, and individuals suspected of having links with partisans and their families fell into this category.
New life
Reckless life and prostitution in an entertainment institution led to a sexually transmitted disease. And Antonina was sent to Germany for treatment. But she managed to escape from the hospital, having made herself new documents, she got a job in a military hospital. There she met her future husband. They became a Belarusian soldier who was in the hospital after being wounded - Victor Ginzburg. The biography of the future wife was not known to him.
A week later, the couple signed, the girl took her husband's surname, which helped her to get even more lost and hide from justice.
During her work in the hospital, she earned a good reputation as a front-line soldier, and Viktor Ginzburg, Makarova’s husband, could not believe that his beloved wife was involved in such crimes.
A family
Victor Ginzburg, whose biography is almost unknown, was a native of a small Belarusian city, it was here that the family began a new life.
After the war ended, the family went to Lepel, where Antonina got a job at a sewing factory. The woman’s family - Viktor Ginzburg, Makarova’s husband, their children — lived in this city for 30 years and established themselves as an exemplary family. She was in good standing with the factory management and never aroused any suspicion. From the memoirs of contemporaries, everyone characterized the Ginzburg family as exemplary.
Arrest
The state security organs in relation to Antonina Makarova opened a criminal case in absentia, but could not get on its trail. The case was transferred to the archive several times, but it was not closed; she had committed too terrible crimes. Neither Victor Ginzburg, nor her inner circle even knew about the woman’s involvement in the brutal murders.
Investigators did not admit to the family why they arrested the woman, so Viktor Ginzburg, the husband of Tonka the machine gunner, a war and labor veteran, threatened to complain to the UN after his wife’s unexpected arrest. Although the tracks were lost, the surviving witnesses pointed to the criminal without a doubt.
Victor Ginzburg wrote complaints to various organizations, assuring that he loves his wife very much and is ready to forgive her all crimes. But he did not know how serious everything was.
When Viktor Ginzburg, Makarova’s husband, learned the terrible truth, the man turned gray in one night.
Surname
There are some ambiguities in the biography of Antonina Makarova. About she was born in the early 20s in Moscow. Her mother was a native of Sychevsky district of the Smolensk region. After finishing the seventh grade, Antonina lived in Moscow with her aunt.
As for her surname, the large family bore the surname of the Panfilovs, and their middle name was Makarovna / Makarovich. But at school, the girl was recorded by Makarova, either by chance or because of inattention. This surname was transferred to the girl's passport.
Finally, Antonina was sentenced to death, and Victor Ginzbrug, Makarova’s husband, together with his two daughters left the city in an unknown direction. Their fate is still unknown.