celebrations. It was performed in a gala performance at Mariinsky Theatre, Performances were staged throughout Russia by schools, regiments and amateur companies. Pamphlets and the penny press printed the story of Susanin ad nauseam, and one newspaper told how Susanin had shown all soldiers how to fulfill their oath to the sovereign. At the bottom of the Romanov Monument in Kostroma, a female personification of Russia gives blessings to a kneeling Susanin. In Kostroma, Nicholas II was even presented with a group of Potemkin peasants, who claimed to be descendants of Susanin. See also Matvey Kuzmin (1858–1942): the World War II Russian hero who led a German battalion into an ambush, sacrificing himself. References Sources External links Ivan Susanin - Legendary hero of Russia IVAN SUSANIN: LIFE FOR THE CZAR The book "Ivan Susanin: legends and reality" written by N.A. Zontikov is dedicated to a Russian hero Ivan Susanin. Russian serfs 1613 deaths Russian people of the Polish–Muscovite War (1605–1618) Year of birth unknown