January 9: A Partisan of the Minsk Ghetto

Emma Radova, a 21-year-old communist partisan in the Minsk Ghetto who served as an internal liaison for the ghetto underground, was executed by the Nazis on this date in 1943. Radova, writes Barbara Leslie Epstein (The Minsk Ghetto, 1941-43), “knew the name and addresses of more underground members than did anyone else, and she stayed in the ghetto longer than many, helping to sustain the work of the underground as others in leadership positions left for the forest.” She was close to leaving the ghetto herself when she was arrested. Subjected to extensive torture, she gave her killers no information.

“Modest, not talkative, courageous, she did the riskiest things. Her dark, intelligent eyes reflected both determination and sadness.” —Sarah Levina