Anna Markovna
Zonova
1925-2019
Anna Markovna Zonova (nee Galak) was born on June 25, 1925 in the Ukrainian village of Gorodnitsa, Kiev region. She spent her childhood in Moscow, where her family moved in 1930, settling in house № 12 on Malaya Gruzinskaya Street. Her father, Mark Galak, a historian by training, served as the headmaster of a school on Ostapovskoye Highway. Being the eldest of two daughters in the family, Anna showed outstanding academic abilities, starting attending school at the age of six. In 1938, the Galak family moved to the steppe village of Askania Nova, where Anna died in 1941. She brilliantly completed her ten-year studies, receiving a certificate with honors. The beginning of the Great Patriotic War dramatically changed the life of the family – the father was called to the front, and the mother and her two daughters had to be urgently evacuated to the Stalingrad region, getting to the roofs of freight wagons in difficult conditions. On August 28, 1942, sixteen-year-old Anna was unexpectedly drafted into the Red Army. Despite her young age and fragile physique, she was sent to study radio engineering, and on September 22 of the same year. She began her military career as a radio operator of the 631st Artillery Regiment of the 57th Army under the command of General Tolbukhin. Her first combat award was the medal “For the Defense of Stalingrad”, received in December 1942. In the following years of the war, Anna Markovna fought from Stalingrad to East Prussia, participating in the liberation of Velikiye Luki, Staraya Russa, Smolensk and other cities. In July 1944, her skillful actions to ensure uninterrupted communications during offensive operations were awarded the Medal of Military Merit. She particularly distinguished herself during the storming of Konigsberg, for which she received her first medal for Bravery in May 1945. After the victory over Germany, Anna Galak was transferred to the Far East as part of the 5th Army, where she participated in the war with Japan. In September 1945 For her exemplary performance of combat missions during the breakthrough of the Japanese border, she was awarded the second medal for Bravery. After being demobilized in December 1945, Anna returned to her parents, who by that time were living in Moscow again. In June 1946, she married her front-line comrade Vladimir Zonov, whom she met back in November 1944. In 1947, their son Viktor was born. Despite frequent trips to military garrisons with her husband, Anna Markovna was able to get a higher education by graduating from the Kuibyshev Pedagogical Institute in absentia. After her husband graduated from the military academy, the family finally settled in Moscow. From 1965 to 1985, Anna Markovna held the position of Head of the Personnel Department at the All-Union Institute of Agricultural Machinery. Widowed in 1973, she never remarried, devoting herself to work and raising her son. After her retirement, Anna Markovna actively joined the veteran movement, for many years heading the Council of Veterans of the Biryulyovo Vostochnoye municipality. She became a frequent and welcome guest in Moscow schools, where she taught lessons of courage and shared her wartime memories with the younger generation. For many years of fruitful work on patriotic education of youth on March 18, 2010 Anna Markovna Zonova was awarded the title of honorary citizen of the district.
Address: Moscow, Mikhnevskaya str., 11, building 1
