1. This Heroine Fought the Nazi Forces From the Baltics to Central Europe
After graduating from tank school, Aleksandra Boyko was commissioned as a lieutenant. She arrived at the front with her husband in 1944, in the couple’s brand new IS-2 heavy tank – she as commander, he as a driver. The Boykos first saw combat in the Riga Offensive, during which Aleksandra’s tank destroyed five Nazi tanks, including a Panzer VI Tiger, and two guns. For her exploits, she was awarded the Order of the Patriotic War, First Class.
A few months later, the Boykos’ tank was hit, and Aleksandra and Ivan were seriously injured. Their tank was repaired, and the couple eventually recovered from their wounds and returned to the front. All in all, Aleksandra and her husband fought from the Baltics, through Belarus, into Poland, and eventually ended up in Czechoslovakia at the war’s end. Upon demobilization, Aleksandra returned to Magadan, where she ran a bakery, and was eventually elected to the City Council. Unfortunately, the Boykos did not live together happily ever after. The couple divorced in the 1950s. Ivan died in 1995, and Aleksandra followed him a year later.
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Where Did We Find This Stuff? Some Sources and Further Reading
CMG Worldwide, Josephine Baker’s Official Site – Josephine Baker’s Biography
Cracked – 17 Stories of Women Who Fought Against the Nazis
Encyclopedia Britannica – Josephine Baker, French Entertainer
History of Sorts – The Murder of the Goebbels Children
Jerusalem Post, August 27th, 2017 – Nazi Goebbels’ Descendants Are Hidden Billionaires
Jewish Partisan Educational Foundation – Eta Wrobel
Jewish Virtual Library – The Revolt at Auschwitz-Birkenau
History Collection – Amazing Women Who Should Be Way More Famous
Jones, Sherry – Josephine Baker’s Last Dance (2018)
Boy and Girl in a Tank: How a Soviet Couple Bought a Tank and Drove Off to Battle
National Women’s History Museum – Josephine Baker
Ranker – The Tragic Story of the Goebbels Children, Adolf Hitler’s Favorite Kids
History Collection – 8 Tales of German Resistance in World War II
Spiegel, October 9th, 2009 – Murder in Hitler’s Bunker: Who Really Poisoned the Goebbels Children
State Historical Society of Missouri – Josephine Baker
Sydney Morning Herald, October 10th, 2009 – Papers Reveal How Goebbels Children Were Killed
Telegraph, The, October 8th, 2009 – Court Papers Shed Light on Killing of Goebbels Children
Spigel de – Who Really Poisoned the Goebbels Children?
Wrobel, Eta – My Life My Way: The Extraordinary Memoir of a Jewish Partisan in WWII Poland (2006)
