Farida Saliksjanowa – Female soldier behind enemy lines

Farida Saliksjanowa came from a large family belonging to the Tatar minority. A member of the youth organization of the Communist Party, she volunteered for service in the Red Army after the German attack. Following brief training, the architecture student was assigned to duty behind German lines. She was betrayed in 1943. When she refused to work for the Germans as an agent, she was deported. In the Meuselwitz women’s subcamp from October 1944 onward, she was assigned exclusively to heavy and dangerous labour. After fleeing a death march, she hid on a farm. Back in her home country she later worked as an interior decorator.