The Museum of the Obol Komsomol Underground celebrates its 55th anniversary
The "Young Avengers," famous throughout Belarus, were a youth organization of underground fighters who operated in the territory of the current Obel village council during the Great Patriotic War. Young men and women waged an irreconcilable struggle against the enemy, destroying food warehouses, blowing up trains with ammunition, and carrying out sabotage operations. For 605 days of the "Avengers'" existence, the Nazis could not track them down until many of them were arrested in August 1943 due to a traitor's denunciation.
Today, the memory of the martyred death of the youngest participant of the Obel underground, Zinaida Portnova, who endured torture and did not tell the punishers where to find other underground fighters, is alive. She was posthumously awarded the title of Hero of the Soviet Union. The leader of the "Young Avengers," Efrosinya Zenkova, was awarded the same honorary title, and active participants of the organization were awarded the Orders of the Red Banner and the Patriotic War, I degree.
The Obel Underground Museum houses unique exhibits – personal belongings of heroes, photographs, documents, as well as paintings by domestic artists, some of which are included in the State Catalog of the Museum Fund of Belarus.
The museum, which celebrated its 55th anniversary, is itself of considerable value: it is located on the territory of the former manor and park complex of the noble Grebnitsky family. Only ruins remain of the former "estate," but this architectural monument is considered a historical and cultural value and is protected by the state.
More than 1500 exhibits are presented in the main fund of the museum, and about 800 more belong to the scientific and auxiliary fund. Over 4.5 thousand people visit the exhibitions annually. Among the famous honorary guests of the cultural institution was the first secretary of the Central Committee of the All-Union Communist Party (Bolsheviks), Pyotr Masherov, who left an entry in the guest book in 1978.
However, the Obol Museum has become not only a place of pilgrimage for history enthusiasts; it also hosts lessons of courage and solemn assemblies for schoolchildren, children are invited to interesting quests, and excursions are held not only within the museum walls but also to places of military glory.