World War II in archival documents (collection of digitized archival documents, film and photo materials)

April 5, 2024 the “World War II in Archival Documents” Collection has been entered with more than 250 documents from the key period of the Great Patriotic War November 19, 1942 – November 7, 1944 from the collections of the State Archive of the Russian Federation (GA RF), the Russian State Archive of Film and Photo Documents (RGAKFD) and the FSB of Russia.

The Collection includes Decrees of the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet of the USSR on the establishment of the main military awards of the Great Patriotic War: the orders of "Victory" and "Glory", Bogdan Khmelnitsky, Ushakov and Nakhimov, medals "For the Defence of Leningrad", "For the Defence of Odessa", "For the Defence Sevastopol”, “For the Defence of Stalingrad”, “For the Defence of the Caucasus”, “For the Defence of Moscow”, “Partisan of the Patriotic War”, Ushakov and Nakhimov medals.

By decrees of the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet of the USSR, the military title of Marshal of the Soviet Union was awarded to army generals G. K. Zhukov (January 18, 1943), A. M. Vasilevsky (February 16, 1943), Supreme Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces of the USSR J. V. Stalin (March 6, 1943), army generals I. S. Konev (February 20, 1944), L. A. Govorov (June 18, 1944), K. K. Rokossovsky (June 29, 1944), R. Ya. Malinovsky (September 10, 1944), F. I. Tolbukhin (September 12, 1944), K. A. Meretskov (October 26, 1944).

During the Great Patriotic War, significant changes occurred in the administrative and territorial structure of the RSFSR: the city of Voroshilovsk, Ordzhonikidze Territory, was renamed the city of Stavropol and the Ordzhonikidze Territory - Stavropol Territory (January 12, 1943), Ulyanovsk and Kurgan Regions were formed (January 19, 1943, February 6, 1943), Karachay Autonomous Region (October 12, 1943), Kalmyk Autonomous Soviet Socialist Republic (December 27, 1943), the Chechen-Ingush Autonomous Soviet Socialist Republic (March 7, 1944) were liquidated, receiving a new administrative structure of the territories, Astrakhan and Grozny Regions.

After the liberation of Soviet territories from the Nazi invaders in 1944, by decrees of the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet of the USSR, new regions of the RSFSR were formed: Novgorod, Kaluga, Bryansk, Tomsk, Kostroma, Vladimir, Tyumen, Velikolukskaya, Pskov; within the Ukrainian SSR - Kherson Region, within the Byelorussian SSR - Bobruisk, Grodno and Polotsk Regions.

On October 13, 1944 the Tuvan People's Republic was admitted to the RSFSR as autonomous region.

Great importance in state policy was given to the social sphere, issues of protection of motherhood and childhood: on September 8, 1943, the Decree of the Presidium of the Supreme Council of the USSR “On Adoption” was issued, state assistance to pregnant women, large and single mothers was increased, on July 8, 1944, an honorary the title of “Mother Heroine” and the Order of “Maternal Glory” and the “Motherhood Medal” were established.

At the beginning of 1943, a resolution of the Council of People's Commissars of the USSR was adopted, which radically changed the school education system, “On the separate education of students (boys and girls) in schools in the mountains. Moscow” and July 16, 1943, “On the introduction of separate education for boys and girls in the 1943/1944 academic year in junior high and secondary schools in regional, regional cities, capital centers of the Union republics and large industrial cities”.

In the summer of 1943, the title “People's Artist of the USSR” was established, awarded to artists A. M. Gerasimov, B. V. Ioganson, S. D. Merkurov, V. I. Mukhina. Composers N. Ya. Myaskovsky, A. N. Alexandrov, S. S. Prokofiev and others received state awards.

In the liberated territories of the Soviet Union, active restoration of the national economy began. The resolutions of the Council of People's Commissars of the USSR and the Central Committee of the All-Union Communist Party (Bolsheviks) reflected priority measures to restore MTS and collective farms in areas cleared of Nazi occupiers, measures to restore the economy of Kursk, Novgorod, the housing and communal services of Stalingrad, and other cities destroyed by the Nazis.

With the expulsion of the Nazi invaders and their accomplices from Crimea, they were among the first to restore the sanatoriums of the resort area of the peninsula and relocate hospitals. On August 11, 1944, the Council of People's Commissars of the USSR adopted a resolution “On measures to restore the All-Union sanatorium pioneer camp “Artek” named after V. M. Molotov".

The Union Center made a significant contribution to the restoration of the economy and infrastructure of the Soviet republics: by resolutions of the Council of People's Commissars of the USSR, funds were released for urgent needs in the liberated regions of the Byelorussian SSR, funds were allocated for the restoration of power plants in the republic, on August 5, 1944, a resolution of the Council of People's Commissars of the USSR was issued “On the construction of a metro in the city” Kyiv.

From the documents of the Civil Code of the Russian Federation from November 19, 1942 to November 7, 1944, the Collection also contains materials from the collections of the Council for Religious Affairs (F. 6991). In September 1943, by resolution of the Council of People's Commissars of the USSR, the Council for the Affairs of the Russian Orthodox Church was formed, and in May 1944 - the Council for Religious Affairs. The Collection includes a note by the Chairman of the Council for the Affairs of the Russian Orthodox Church under the Council of People's Commissars of the USSR G. G. Karpov about the reception of J. V. Stalin of the hierarchs of the Russian Orthodox Church on September 4, 1943, the appeal of the Patriarch of Moscow and All Rus' Sergius (Stragorodsky) to the clergy and believers of the Russian Orthodox Church, issued in connection with the Nativity of Christ (January 1944), the Easter archpastoral message of Metropolitan Alexy of Leningrad and Novgorod (Simansky) to pastors and flock about the cities and villages of the Leningrad diocese, liberated from enemy occupation and Nazi oppression (January 1944), an appeal from the Exarch of Ukraine, Metropolitan of Kyiv and Galicia Nikolai (Yarushevich) to the clergy and believers about the advancement of Red Army units, about liberation of the Ukrainian land and the loyalty of archpastors, pastors and believers to the Mother Church (October 27, 1944), a certificate from the head of the Moscow Patriarchate, Archpriest Nikolai Kolchitsky, about donations for defence on Red Army Day from churches of various dioceses for 1944 and other materials.

Documents of the Central Archive of the FSB of Russia and the archives of its regional departments, that spotlight the events of the Great Patriotic War for November 1942 - November 1944, are presented by information messages and certificates of the 4th (intelligence and sabotage) Directorate of the NKVD-NKGB of the USSR and counterintelligence bodies "SMERSH" about the state of the enemy troops, about the atrocities of the Nazi invaders in the occupied regions and republics of the USSR, about the situation in the territories liberated from occupation, about the sabotage activities of operational groups of state security agencies behind enemy lines, including the results of the activities of the “Winners” reconnaissance and sabotage detachments and "Elusive". Among the most important documents is a special message from the 4th Directorate of the NKGB of the USSR dated June 23, 1943 about the alleged Wehrmacht offensive in the Orel-Belgorod-Kharkov sector, as well as an award sheet for the legendary intelligence officer of the “Winners” detachment Nikolai Ivanovich Kuznetsov with his nomination for the title of Hero of the Soviet Union.

The Collection includes fragments of newsreels from the holdings of the Russian State Archive of Film and Photo Documents (RGAKFD): about the defeat of Nazi troops at Stalingrad, breaking the siege of Leningrad, the liberation of Kharkov, battles on the outskirts of Warsaw, the battle for the Baltic states, the work of defence factories in the rear in the Urals.

From the RF GA fund R-7021, the Collection includes acts of the Extraordinary State Commission to establish and investigate the atrocities of the Nazi invaders and their accomplices, the crimes they committed in Orel, Kursk, Belgorod, Bryansk, Voronezh, Rzhev, Kalinin, Novorossiysk, Smolensk, in including the mass extermination of captured soldiers and commanders of the Red Army, civilians in concentration camp № 126, Rostov-on-Don, Stalingrad, Stavropol, Krasnodar, including the act of brutal murder by the Nazi occupiers of the pupils of the Krasnodar orphanage in Yeisk, about the mass extermination of civilians in Crimean Autonomous Soviet Socialist Republic, in a concentration camp on the territory of the Krasny state farm in Simferopol Region, about the atrocities of the Nazis and their accomplices in Kalmyk Autonomous Soviet Socialist Republic, Kabardino-Balkarian Autonomous Soviet Socialist Republic, North Ossetian Autonomous Soviet Socialist Republic, in the cities and regions of Leningrad region, Novgorod, Pskov, Velikiye Luki, a note from the NKGB of the Karelo-Finnish SSR “On the atrocities and bullying of the German-Finnish invaders in Petrozavodsk” was presented.

The Nazis and their accomplices showed particular cruelty in the occupied territories of the Ukrainian SSR and the Belarusian SSR. The bullying, inhuman torture, and targeted mass extermination of people in Voroshilovgrad Region (modern Lugansk People's Republic), Stalin Region (modern Donetsk People's Republic), Zaporozhye and Kherson are horrifying.

The Collection contains acts to establish the atrocities committed by the Nazis at the 4-4 bis mine in the city of Stalino (the bodies of 75-100 thousand civilians were dumped here), in the cities of Mariupol, Kramatorsk, Lisichansk, Melitopol, Slavyansk, Artemovsk. By decrees of the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet of the USSR on September 13, 1943, members of the underground Komsomol organization “Young Guard”, who were subjected to terrible and sophisticated torture by the Nazis, then thrown into the pit of mine № 5 in Krasnodon, were posthumously awarded orders; the titles of Hero of the Soviet Union were awarded to the organizers and leaders of the underground.

The documents and photographs of the Extraordinary State Commission illustrate one of the most massive exterminations of people by the Nazis in Babi Yar near Kiev, the killing of Soviet residents and prisoners of war in the Maly Trostenets concentration camp, located near Minsk, in the Alytus concentration camp in the Lithuanian SSR, in the Klooga concentration camp in the Estonian SSR, in a note by the Secretary of the Central Committee of the Communist Party (b) of the Latvian SSR Ya. E. Kalnberzin to the Secretary of the Central Committee of the All-Union Communist Party of Bolsheviks G. M. Malenkov is given data on the situation in the occupied republic and the atrocities of the Nazi invaders on its territory.

On April 19, 1943, according to the Decree of the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet of the USSR “On punitive measures for Nazi villains guilty of murder and torture of the Soviet civilian population and captured Red Army soldiers, for spies, traitors to the Motherland from among Soviet citizens and for their accomplices” based on the results of consideration of cases in court, criminals were sentenced to capital punishment. Nowadays, this day is celebrated annually as the Day of United Action in memory of the genocide of the Soviet people by the Nazis and their accomplices during the Great Patriotic War.

 

!!! Please note that the materials presented in the project contain shocking details and descriptions of atrocities and abuse of civilians; The photograph shows mass graves and the exhumation of remains. In accordance with the legislation of the Russian Federation, these visual materials are prohibited for viewing by children under 16 years of age, as well as by persons suffering from nervous and mental illnesses.

 

Archival documents of the Collection World War II in Archival Documents are available from anywhere in the world thanks to the Presidential Library’s portal. Especially for the foreign audience, the titles and annotations to the documents as well as the texts of the accompanying articles are also available in English.

In addition to digitized archival documents the Collection contains a list of the main Internet projects, databases, other thematic online documents, virtual tours of the history of World War II, developed by government agencies of the constituent entities of the Russian Federation and various organizations.

 

Executive institution: Federal Archival Agency (Rosarkhiv)

Operator: Boris Yeltsin Presidential Library of the Administrative Directorate of the President of the Russian Federation

 

Participants:

Foreign Policy Archive of the Russian Federation (AVP RF)

Russian State Military Archives (RGVA)

Russian State Archive of the Navy (RGAVMF)

Russian State Archive of Social and Political History (RGASPI)

State Archives of the Russian Federation (GA RF)

Russian State Archives of Contemporary History (RGANI)

Russian State Archives of Film and Photo Documents (RGAKFD)

Russian State Archives of Economy (RGAE)

Russian State Archives in Samara (RGA in Samara)

Central Archives of the Ministry of Defence of the Russian Federation (CA MO RF)

Foreign Intelligence Service Archives of the Russian Federation (Archive of SVR)

Central Archive of the Federal Security Service of the Russian Federation (CA FSB)

German Federal Archives (Bundesarchiv)

National Archives of the Republic of Belarus (NARB)

Belarusian State Archives of Film and Photo Documents (BGAKFFD)

Belarusian State Archives-Museum of Literature and Art (BGAMLI)