# Fame.am profile — machine-readable export
# Canonical URL: https://fame.am/person/vasily-zaitsev
# Generated: 2026-08-31T14:41:07.764Z

schema: https://schema.org/Person
url: "https://fame.am/person/vasily-zaitsev"
name: "Vasily Zaitsev"
slug: "vasily-zaitsev"
description: "A Soviet sniper who killed 225 German soldiers in two months during the Battle of Stalingrad — a tally that made him a wartime legend and the central figure in a 2001 Hollywood film."
tagline: "Soviet sniper (1915-1991)"
image: "https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Special:FilePath/Vasily_Zaytsev.jpg?width=1200"
gender: "male"
category:
  name: "Writers"
  slug: "writers"
profileType:
  name: "Writer / Author"
  slug: "writer"
birthDate: "1915-03-23"
deathDate: "1991-12-15"
livingStatus: "DECEASED"
scores:
  popularity:           61.29
  momentum:             16.19008803390936
  historical:           25.5237
  currentAttention:     11.64317154967628
  sourceConfidence:     60
  profileCompleteness:  60
  trendDirection:       "RISING"
ranks:
  global:   null
  country:  null
  category: null
tags:
  - name: "Historical Figures"
    slug: "historical-figures"
  - name: "Comedian"
    slug: "comedian"
  - name: "Stand Up"
    slug: "stand-up"
  - name: "20th Century"
    slug: "20th-century"
sources:
  - url: "https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q183381"
    title: "Wikidata"
    type:  "WIKIDATA"
  - url: "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vasily_Zaitsev"
    title: "Wikipedia"
    type:  "WIKIPEDIA"
  - url: "https://pantheon.world/profile/person/Vasily%20Zaitsev"
    title: "Pantheon 2.0"
    type:  "DATABASE"
  - url: "https://arz.wikipedia.org/wiki/%D9%81%D8%A7%D8%B3%D9%8A%D9%84%D9%89_%D8%B2%D8%A7%D9%8A%D8%AA%D8%B3%D9%8A%D9%81"
    title: "فاسيلى زايتسيف"
    type:  "WIKIPEDIA"
  - url: "https://az.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vasili_Zaytsev"
    title: "Vasili Zaytsev"
    type:  "WIKIPEDIA"
  - url: "https://bg.wikipedia.org/wiki/%D0%92%D0%B0%D1%81%D0%B8%D0%BB%D0%B8%D0%B9_%D0%97%D0%B0%D0%B9%D1%86%D0%B5%D0%B2"
    title: "Василий Зайцев"
    type:  "WIKIPEDIA"
  - url: "https://bn.wikipedia.org/wiki/%E0%A6%AD%E0%A6%BE%E0%A6%B8%E0%A6%BF%E0%A6%B2%E0%A6%BF_%E0%A6%9C%E0%A7%87%E0%A6%87%E0%A6%A4%E0%A6%B8%E0%A6%BF%E0%A6%AD"
    title: "ভাসিলি জেইতসিভ"
    type:  "WIKIPEDIA"
  - url: "https://br.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vasily_Grigorievitch_Zaitsev"
    title: "Vasily Grigorievitch Zaitsev"
    type:  "WIKIPEDIA"
  - url: "https://ca.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vassili_Z%C3%A0itsev"
    title: "Vassili Zàitsev"
    type:  "WIKIPEDIA"
  - url: "https://cs.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vasilij_Zajcev"
    title: "Vasilij Zajcev"
    type:  "WIKIPEDIA"
  - url: "https://da.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vasilij_Sajtsev"
    title: "Vasilij Sajtsev"
    type:  "WIKIPEDIA"
  - url: "https://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wassili_Grigorjewitsch_Saizew"
    title: "Wassili Grigorjewitsch Saizew"
    type:  "WIKIPEDIA"
  - url: "https://el.wikipedia.org/wiki/%CE%92%CE%B1%CF%83%CE%AF%CE%BB%CE%B9_%CE%96%CE%AC%CE%B9%CF%84%CF%83%CE%B5%CF%86"
    title: "Βασίλι Ζάιτσεφ"
    type:  "WIKIPEDIA"
  - url: "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vasily_Zaitsev_(sniper)"
    title: "Vasily Zaitsev (sniper)"
    type:  "WIKIPEDIA"
  - url: "https://eo.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vasilij_Zajcev"
    title: "Vasilij Zajcev"
    type:  "WIKIPEDIA"
  - url: "https://es.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vasili_Z%C3%A1itsev"
    title: "Vasili Záitsev"
    type:  "WIKIPEDIA"
  - url: "https://et.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vassili_Zaitsev"
    title: "Vassili Zaitsev"
    type:  "WIKIPEDIA"
  - url: "https://eu.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vasili_Zaitsev"
    title: "Vasili Zaitsev"
    type:  "WIKIPEDIA"
  - url: "https://fa.wikipedia.org/wiki/%D9%88%D8%A7%D8%B3%DB%8C%D9%84%DB%8C_%D8%B2%D8%A7%DB%8C%D8%AA%D8%B3%D9%81"
    title: "واسیلی زایتسف"
    type:  "WIKIPEDIA"
  - url: "https://fi.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vasili_Zaitsev"
    title: "Vasili Zaitsev"
    type:  "WIKIPEDIA"
  - url: "https://fr.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vassili_Za%C3%AFtsev"
    title: "Vassili Zaïtsev"
    type:  "WIKIPEDIA"
  - url: "https://he.wikipedia.org/wiki/%D7%95%D7%A1%D7%99%D7%9C%D7%99_%D7%96%D7%99%D7%99%D7%A6%D7%91"
    title: "וסילי זייצב"
    type:  "WIKIPEDIA"
  - url: "https://hi.wikipedia.org/wiki/%E0%A4%B5%E0%A4%B8%E0%A5%80%E0%A4%B2%E0%A5%80_%E0%A4%9C%E0%A4%BE%E0%A4%87%E0%A4%A4%E0%A5%8D%E0%A4%B8%E0%A5%87%E0%A4%B5"
    title: "वसीली जाइत्सेव"
    type:  "WIKIPEDIA"
  - url: "https://hr.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vasilij_Zajcev"
    title: "Vasilij Zajcev"
    type:  "WIKIPEDIA"
  - url: "https://hu.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vaszilij_Grigorjevics_Zajcev"
    title: "Vaszilij Grigorjevics Zajcev"
    type:  "WIKIPEDIA"
  - url: "https://id.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vasily_Zaitsev"
    title: "Vasily Zaitsev"
    type:  "WIKIPEDIA"
  - url: "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Vasily_Zaytsev"
    title: "Wikiquote"
    type:  "WEBSITE"
  - url: "https://sl.wikiquote.org/wiki/Vasilij_Grigorjevi%C4%8D_Zajcev"
    title: "Wikiquote"
    type:  "WEBSITE"
  - url: "https://af.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wasili_Zaitsef"
    title: "Wasili Zaitsef"
    type:  "WIKIPEDIA"
  - url: "https://ar.wikipedia.org/wiki/%D9%81%D8%A7%D8%B3%D9%8A%D9%84%D9%8A_%D8%B2%D8%A7%D9%8A%D8%AA%D8%B3%D9%8A%D9%81"
    title: "فاسيلي زايتسيف"
    type:  "WIKIPEDIA"

# bio (long form, separated for readability)
bio: |
  Vasily Grigoryevich Zaitsev was born 23 March 1915 and served as a sniper in World War II. Between 22 September and 19 October 1942, he killed 40 enemy soldiers; then, from 10 October through 17 December during the grinding fight for Stalingrad, he killed 225 more. The Soviet Union made him a Hero, and his wartime exploits became the spine of William Craig's 1973 book Enemy at the Gates: The Battle for Stalingrad, which in turn became the 2001 film of the same name, with Jude Law playing Zaitsev. David L. Robbins featured him again in the 1999 novel War of the Rats. He died 15 December 1991, decades after the siege that fixed his name in place.