Underground patriotic organizations of M.A. Koroban and I.P. Kondratov in Crimea in 1943

Based on the sources from the archival and museum fonds of the Republic of Crimea introduced into scientific circulation for the first time, the article considers the formation and development of the underground patriotic organizations of the city of Simferopol, of the Simferopol, Krasno-Perekopsky, Ak-Sheikhsky (Razdolnensky) and Larindorf (Pervomaisky) regions of Crimea. The focus of the article is directed to the issue of the functioning of the Crimean underground organizations and groups, practically unknown in Russian historiography. The scientific novelty of the research lies in the fact that it is largely based on the unpublished materials stored in the fonds of the State Archives of the Republic of Crimea, the Archives of the City of Sevastopol, the Municipal Archives of the Razdolnensky district of the Republic of Crimea, the Feodosiya Museum of Antiquities, the Krasnoperekopsky Local History Museum. A thorough analysis of historical documents allowed the author to prove that the underground anti-fascists, led by M.A. Koroban (Koraban, Karaban) and I.P. Kondratov, carried out active reconnaissance and sabotage activities on the territory of occupied Crimea, organized the collection of weapons and ammunition, released Soviet citizens and prisoners of war from the Nazi captivity, and were able to establish close contacts with the Crimean partisan movement, as well as with the state security agencies. All of the factors listed above played an important role in the liberation of Crimea from the Nazi invaders in the spring of 1944.

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