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This was the story of the heroic liaison "Kalina," Halina Kostenievich. However, she was also known for writing denunciations about her fellow villagers. Alongside the partisans, underground NKVD regional and district committees operated, issuing "sentences" and conducting executions. Consequently, Halina's reports were far from harmless games; they carried significant consequences. These documents are fascinating testimonies to the divisions that emerged in occupied villages:

 

Tatiana Bartkevich, born 1910, village of Pristromy, from a peasant family. Her brother fled with the retreating Polish forces, as he had been aiding them in locating Bolsheviks. He remains abroad to this day. Tatiana was "dekulakized" before collectivization but later joined the kolkhoz. Suspicious fires frequently occurred in the kolkhoz, often linked to her. The NKVD had been investigating her before the German invasion.

 

When the Germans entered the village on June 25, 1941, Tatiana and her husband Dmitry Kozlovsky openly sided with the occupiers, voicing anti-Soviet rhetoric. Dmitry proclaimed, "For ten years, I waited, and now my time has come." He was later appointed brigadier after the Soviet leader was dismissed.

 

Petro Borovsky, born 1884, village of Pristromy, an illiterate peasant. When the Germans arrived, he welcomed them as "liberators" and lamented about his hardships under Soviet rule. His son Nikolai, aged 12, was tasked with identifying local Komsomol and Pioneer members. Petro acted as a double-dealer, siding with whoever seemed advantageous at the time.

 

Ivan Karankevich, born 1895, became the village elder under the Germans and actively supported their authority. He spread anti-Soviet propaganda, accusing Soviet leaders of tyranny, and celebrated the persecution of Jewish people under Nazi rule. However, as the partisan movement grew stronger, he tried to shift alliances. His son briefly joined the partisans but later became a German informant, reporting on partisan activities.

 

Stepan Borovsky, born 1895, opposed Soviet policies from the start and later became a German collaborator. His son Ivan, born 1923, joined the Germans in raiding partisan families and boasted of his violence against the resistance. He actively participated in ambushes and sought rewards for his actions.

 

These records, written in Halina's own hand, reveal the complex and often dark dynamics of collaboration, resistance, and survival in occupied Belarusian villages.

 

Halina was ideological and principled. She wrote denunciations not only against anti-Soviet individuals from her village but also reported on the partisans: "They didn’t join to protect Soviet power but simply to profit and loot wealth." This testimony is also important for a fuller understanding of the situation. Here is the text of the document (spelling preserved as in the original):

 

August 18, 1943
According to the account of Comrade Vasily Kozlovsky and his wife from the village of Shury, Prilepsky village council, Smolevichi district, it is evident that the behavior of certain groups of partisans is very poor. From their actions, it’s clear that they and their families did not join to defend Soviet power but simply to profit and loot wealth, and so on.

For example, in Prudyshchi (beyond Bayary), partisan families, mostly from the village of Pagareltsy, Prilepsky village council, have settled. A group of partisans (engaged in food requisition) arrived and brought an ox. Right there in the village, they distributed it among their families, warning them: "Quickly, make sure the leadership doesn’t see." Similarly, along the way, they dropped a sack of clothes, and partisan families rushed to grab it. One pulls it for herself, another drags it away, and they nearly fight. Someone shouts: "This silk scarf is for me, and you can have the dresses," and so on. Whatever less valuable items remained were taken to the unit.

For instance, Lagunych Sergey’s mother from Pagareltsy told Kozlovsky’s wife to send her daughter to collect suitcases of looted clothes. Everyone has a lot of clothing.

I believe this kind of behavior is entirely wrong because confiscated items should be sent to the camp, where the leadership decides where they are most needed.

August 24, 1943

Source: Minsk Region Archive