Yakiv Hordiyenko

Yakiv Yakovych Hordiyenko, also Yakov Yakovlevich Gordienko (alternatively Romanised as Gordi'yenko; Яков Яковлевич Гордиенко; April 26, 1925 – August, 1942) was a Soviet partisan from Ukraine. He was leading youth wing of Odessa resistance group led by Molodtsov-Badayev and operated in Odessa catacombs.

Yakiv Hordiyenko was born in the family of a former sailor Yakiv Hordiyenko of the Imperial Russian battleship Sinop (scrapped by Soviets in 1922).

In 1941 he completed the ninth year of secondary school, then studied at the Navy specialized secondary school (Odessa). He was a member of the All-Union Leninist Young Communist League. In August 1941 he joined the detachment of the NKVD (People's Commissariat for Internal Affairs) captain Molodtsov-Badayev, which was formed to establish sabotage against the Nazis and Romanian invaders. First, he was liaison officer in a "flying squad". After, he became its leader.

Under the Nazis, Yakiv Hordiyenko proved a brave partisan, full of cunning and genius. Thanks to Yakiv and his group, the Moscow command received valuable informations. He participated in military operations against the German and Romanian occupation forces.

Betrayed by Anton Fedorovych-Boiko, on February 9, 1942, Yakiv, his chief Molodtsov-Badayev and some other members of the partisan group have been captured in the secure apartment. From 09.02.1942 to mid-May, Yakiv was locked in the prison of Siguranța (Romanian security service). He was sentenced to death. In late July 1942, the occupants took out Yakiv and some patriots to shoot them. During the trip to the artillery field, the young patriot began singing a revolutionary song. The guard soldiers shouted in vain to shut up. Finally, one of them shot Yakiv a shovel to the head. Yakiv died.

Yakiv Hordiyenko is buried at the Alley of Glory in Shevchenko Park in Odessa.