In this article, we will talk about a woman who served as an executioner among the Nazis in order 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 the heroine of the Great Patriotic War.
Real surname Antonina
In 1921, Antonina Makarova, the future Tonka the machine gunner, was born. Her biography was noted by many interesting facts, as you will see by reading this article.
A girl was born in a village called Malaya Volkovka, in a large peasant family, headed by Makar Parfyonov. She studied, like others, in a rural school. It was here that an episode occurred that affected the whole future life of this woman. When Tonya came to study in first grade, she could not, due to shyness, give her name. Classmates began to shout: “She is Makarova!”, Meaning that Makar was called Tony's father. So, with the light hand of a local teacher, almost the only literate person in that village at that time, Tonya Makarova, the future Tonka the machine gunner, appeared in the Parfenov family.
Biography, photos of the victims, the lawsuit - all this interests the readers. Let's talk about everything in order, starting with Antonina’s childhood.
The childhood and youth of Antonina
The girl studied diligently, diligently. She also had her own revolutionary heroine, whose name was Anka the machine gunner. The real prototype was in this film image - Maria Popova. This girl once in a battle actually had to replace the dead machine gunner.
Having graduated from school, Antonina went to continue her studies in Moscow. It was here that she found the Great Patriotic War. The girl went to the front as a volunteer.
Makarova - the wife of a soldier
On the share of Makarova, a 19-year-old Komsomol member, all the horrors of the Vyazemsky cauldron fell. After the heavy fighting that took place in full encirclement, next to Tonya, a young nurse, only one soldier remained from the entire unit. His name was Nikolai Fedchuk. It was with him that Tonka wandered through the forests, trying to just survive. They did not look for partisans, did not seek to break through to their own people, ate what they had to, sometimes they stole. The soldier did not stand on ceremony with Tonya, making the girl his "camp wife." Makarova did not resist: the girl just wanted to survive.
In 1942, in January, they reached the village of Red Well. Here Fedchuk admitted to his companion that he was married. His family, as it turned out, lives nearby. The soldier left Tonya alone.
They didn’t drive Antonin from the Red Well, but the locals had enough worries without her. A stranger girl did not seek to leave for the partisans. Tonka the machine gunner, whose photo is presented below, tried to start an affair with one of the men who remained in the village. Confronting the locals 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. A notorious administrative-territorial entity, which was founded by Russian collaborators, was operating at that time. It was called Lokot Republic. They were, in essence, the same German lackeys that lived in other places. They were distinguished only by a clearer official design.
Tonya was detained by a police patrol. But the underground woman or partisan was not suspected of her. The girl liked the police. They took her to her, fed, watered and raped her. The latter, however, was very relative: the girl who wanted to survive agreed to everything.
Tonya briefly served as a prostitute at the police. Once she was taken out into the yard in a drunken state and put behind a maxim, an easel machine gun. Before him stood people - women, men, children, the elderly. The girl was ordered to shoot. For past at the time, not only nursing courses, but also machine gunners Tony, this was not a big deal. True, the drunken dead woman was not very aware of what she was doing. Nevertheless, Tonya coped with this task.
The next day, Makarova learned that now she is an official - an executioner and that she has been paid a salary of 30 marks, as well as her own bunk. The Lokot Republic mercilessly fought against the enemies of the new order - the Communists, underground, partisans and other unreliable elements, including members of their families. Arrested people were driven into a barn, which served as a prison. Then, in the morning, they were taken to execution. 27 people fit in the cell, and it was necessary to eliminate everyone 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 with the ability to shoot who appeared out of nowhere.
Tonka the machine gunner (Antonina Makarova) did not lose her mind. On the contrary, she decided that her dream came true. And let Anka shoot at enemies, and she shoots children and women - everything will be written off by the war! But at last her life was getting better.
1,500 killed
The daily routine of the girl 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 arms, went to dances and schnapps in a German club in the evening, and then, at night, love with a cute German or a policeman.
She was allowed as an encouragement to take away the things of the executed. So Tonya got a whole bunch of outfits. True, they had to be repaired - bullet holes and traces of blood interfered with wearing these things immediately. Sometimes, however, Tonya allowed a “marriage”. So, several children managed to survive, because the bullets passed over the head due to their small stature. Together with the corpses of children, local residents took out who buried the dead and handed them over to the partisans. Rumors about Tonka the Muscovite, Tonka the machine gunner, the executioner woman, crawled throughout the district. It was even declared a hunt by local partisans. However, they could not get to Tonka. About 1,500 people became victims of Makarova.
Tony's biography towards the summer of 1943 made another sharp turn. The Red Army moved westward, beginning the liberation of the Bryansk region. This did not bode well for the girl, but at that time, by the way, Tonka the machine gunner fell ill with syphilis. The real story of her life, you see, resembles an action movie. Due to her illness, the Germans sent her to the rear so that she would not rebuild the sons of Great Germany. Thus, the girl managed to escape from the violence.
Instead of a war criminal - an honored veteran
However, in the German hospital Tonke machine gunner also soon became uncomfortable. So quickly the Soviet troops approached that only Germans managed to evacuate. Nobody cared about their accomplices.
Realizing this, Tonka the machine gunner, the executioner, escaped from the hospital. History, a 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 Union. But now the necessary survival skills were honed: she managed to get 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 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, having married, left after the end of the war in the homeland of her husband Tony, in the city of Lepel (Belarus). So Antonina Makarova, the executioner woman, disappeared. Antonina Ginzburg, an honored veteran, took her place. However, Tonka the machine gunner was not completely gone. Real life in wartime Antonina Ginzburg 30 years later surfaced. Let's talk about how this happened.
New life of Antonina Makarova
Soviet investigators learned about the monstrous acts committed by Tonka the machine-gunner, whose biography interests us, immediately after the release of Bryansk. They found the remains of approximately 1.5 thousand people in mass graves. However, only 200 of them were identified. Witnesses were questioned, the information was clarified and verified, but still could not attack the trail of Makarova.
Antonina Ginzburg, meanwhile, led the ordinary life of a simple Soviet man. She raised her two daughters, worked, met even with schoolchildren, whom she talked about her heroic past. So, Tonka the machine gunner found a new life. 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 acts committed by the Tonka the machine gunner.
After the war, our "heroine" worked at a garment factory in Lepel, in the sewing department. She served as a controller here - checking the quality of products. The woman was considered a conscientious and responsible employee. Often a photograph of her was on the board of honor. Having served here for many years, Antonina Ginzburg made no friends. Faina Tarasik, who at that time worked at the factory as an inspector of the personnel department, recalled that she was unintelligible, withdrawn and tried to use as little alcohol as possible during collective holidays (most likely, so as not to let her slip). The Ginzburgs were respected war veterans and therefore received all the benefits due to veterans. Neither the husband, nor the familiar families, nor the neighbors knew that Antonina Ginzburg was Antonina Makarova (Tonka the machine gunner). Biography, photos of this woman were of interest to many. The unsuccessful search continued for 30 years.
Wanted Tonka the machine gunner (real story)
There are few photos of our heroine, as the secrecy stamp has not yet been removed from this story. In 1976, after a long search, the case finally moved off the ground. Then, in the city square of Bryansk, a man attacked Nikolai Ivanin, in which he recognized the head of the Lokot prison during the German occupation. Hiding all this time, like Makarova, Ivanin did not begin to unlock and spoke in detail about his then activities, mentioning Makarov at the same time (he had a brief affair with her). And although he mistakenly named the investigators her full name as Antonina Anatolyevna Makarova (having informed at the same time that she was a Muscovite), such a large clue allowed the KGB to develop a list of Soviet citizens bearing the same name. But Makarova, whom they needed, was not in it, since the list included only women registered under this name at birth. Makarova, who, as we know, needed the investigation, was registered under the name of Parfyonov.
First, investigators mistakenly went to another Makarova, who lived in Serpukhov. Nikolai Ivanin agreed to conduct an identification. He was sent to Serpukhov and settled 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, Parfyonov, a citizen, filed a questionnaire with information about relatives. For some reason, among the Parfenovs in them, like a sister, was Makarov Antonina, after her husband Ginsburg.
How did Tone help the teacher’s mistake! After all, Tonka the machine-gunner had been out of reach of justice thanks to her for so many years! Her biography and her photo have been hidden from the public for so long ...
KGB operatives worked in jewelry. It was impossible to blame an innocent person for such atrocities. From all sides checked Antonina Ginzburg. Secret witnesses were brought to Lepel, even the 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 a made-up pretext, Antonin 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 a worker in the local social security agency, to whom Makarov was allegedly called to recount a 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, later recalled that Antonina was very calm and immediately understood everything.
The capture of Antonina, the investigation
After the capture, Antonina was taken to Bryansk. Investigators first feared that Makarova would decide to commit suicide. Therefore, a woman "whisperer" 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 him the same composure, directly answering questions. In a documentary entitled “Retribution. Two lives of Tonya the machine gunner,” Sergei Nikonenko said that the woman was sincerely sure that there was nothing to punish her for, and attributed everything that happened to the war. She behaved no less calmly when she was brought to Lokot for investigative experiments.
Tonka the machine gunner did not begin to unlock. Her biography continued with the fact that the Chekists in Lokta led this woman through the well-known Antonina - to the pit near which she carried out monstrous sentences. The Bryansk investigators remember how the inhabitants, who recognized her, spat after him and shied away. But Antonina walked and remembered everything calmly, as about everyday affairs. She said that she was not tormented by nightmares. Neither her husband nor daughters Antonina did not want to communicate. Meanwhile, a front-line spouse ran around the courts, threatened to complain to Brezhnev himself, even at the UN, and asked for the release of his wife. Until the investigators told him what Tonya was accused of.
The brave, youthful veteran after that got old and turned gray in one night. The family disowned Antonina Ginzburg and left Lepel. You will not wish the enemy what these people had to survive.
Retribution
In Bryansk in 1978, in the fall, Antonina Makarov-Ginzburg was tried. This process was the last major in the USSR that took place over the traitors of the Motherland, as well as the only process against the punitive woman.
Antonina was convinced that the punishment for the prescription of years could not be too strict. She even thought she would be given a suspended sentence. The woman regretted only that she would again need to move and change her job due to shame. Even the investigators themselves, knowing that the post-war biography of Antonina Ginzburg was exemplary, believed that indulgence would be shown by the court. In addition, 1979 was declared the Year of the Woman in the USSR.
But in 1978, on November 20, the court passed a sentence according to which Makarov-Ginzburg was sentenced to death. The woman’s guilt in killing 168 people was documented. These are only those whose identities have been established. More than 1300 civilians remained anonymous victims of Antonina. There are crimes that are impossible to forgive.
In 1979, on August 11, at 6 o’clock in the morning, after all appeals of pardon were rejected, the verdict 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, May 31, the newspaper Pravda published a large article on the trial of this woman. It was called the 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 loud, even, one might say, unique. According to the court, for the first time in all the post-war years, a female executioner was shot, whose involvement in the execution of 168 people during the investigation was officially proved. Antonina became one of three women in the Soviet Union who were sentenced to death in the post-Stalin era and whose execution was established reliably. Bert Borodkin (in 1983) and Tamara Ivanyutina (1987) became two others.
The television series “The Executioner”, released in 2014, is remotely based on this story. In the story, 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.