Valia Kotik

(Valentin Aleksandrovich Kotik). Born Feb. 11, 1930, in the village of Khmelevka, now in KhmePnitskii Oblast; died Feb. 17, 1944, in Iziaslav, KhmePnitskii Oblast. A young participant in the partisan movement in the Ukraine during the Great Patriotic War of 1941–45; Pioneer; Hero of the Soviet Union (June 27, 1958, posthumously). Son of a peasant.

Kotik took up residence in the town of Shepetovka in 1937 and attended a secondary school. After fascist German troops occupied the town, he joined an underground organization and was a messenger; in August 1943 he joined the partisan detachment of I. A. Muzalev and engaged in combat. He was wounded twice and was later killed in action. He was awarded the Order of the Patriotic War First Class and a medal. A ship and various schools and Young Pioneer squads have been named in honor of Kotik. In 1960 a monument to Kotik from the Young Pioneers of the Ukraine was built in Shepetovka (sculpted by L. Skiba, P. Flit, and I. Samotes).