In the year of the 76th anniversary of the beginning of the Great Patriotic War, the “victorious” collection of the Presidential Library was added with new items on the most difficult first stage of fighting fascism

Shortly before the Day of Remembrance and Sorrow June 22, the Presidential Library presents a substantially expanded collection of related to The Memory of the Great Victory sources: official documents, photographs and newsreels, wartime newspapers. All the newspapers responded then to the insidious attack of fascist Germany on the Soviet country. The books appeared, drawing without embellishment, the first most difficult months of the war.

Selected documents, various periodicals, bulletins, books, memoirs and other materials related to the initial phase of the war (June 1941 - November 1942) are available in The First Period of the Great Patriotic War catalog. No one knew at the time that in the history of mankind this war would remain as the longest and bloodiest, lasting 1418 days and nights. In a calico notebook with The Diary of Sementsov Yevgeny Ivanovich (1923-1944) missing in action lieutenant of field forces wrote down with a pencil after quoting from “The Hero of Our Time”: “Do not give my bike away to Vitka, I'll be back home in six months and spin the pedals myself.” Nobody even guessed that the Soviet people had to go through inhuman ordeal - to go in order to win. To save the world from fascism, demonstrating everyone that the invaders are not allowed to destroy a spirit of a soldier of the Red Army.

The frontiersmen and the fighters of the cover units bore the brunt first. They were defending themselves, but also engaging in counterattacks. The garrison of the Brest Fortress fought at the rear of the Germans for an entire month. Even after the enemy managed to seize the fortress, the surviving defenders continued their resistance. There is a digitized image of “The Brest Fortress” badge from “The Cities-heroes” series in the Presidential Library's stock.

Some works produced by the “365” Russian Historical Channel were also added in the library collection. Among them, a movie named A war in the crosshairs, which tells about snipers - heroes of the Great Patriotic War and the evolution of their weapons. Another significant replenishment of the Presidential Library stock is the movie entitled Coastal batteries from “The Great Patriotic War. The Battle of the Black Sea” cycle. This film is about a history of the coastal artillery weapons of Sevastopol.

The war was not going only over the land, but also afloat. The Russian fleet showed unprecedented bravery and spirit. The forces of the Northern Fleet destroyed more than 200 warships and assisting vessels, more than 400 transport units with a total tonnage of over 1 million tons, and about 1,300 enemy aircrafts. 1548 convoys were leaded over internal communications of the Arctic Ocean. A commemorative sign in the memory of the North Sea mariners in honor of the 50th anniversary of the Red Banner Northern Fleet, established in the Polar Town of the Murmansk Oblast, which could be found on the Presidential Library website.

Speaking of the war, we must not forget about long restless nights of mothers who allowed their children to war. This image is imprinted in the literature, cinema and numerous memorials across Russia. There is an image of The Grieving Mother memorial in the Borisovka Village of Belgorod Region from The perpetuation of the memory of the Great Patriotic War section of the “victorious” collection of the Presidential Library. Made of granite sculpture of figure of a woman, sorrowfully lowering her head - a personification of all the mothers of Russia who lost their children in the war. The Eternal Flame and plates bearing the names of 115 buried in a mass grave soldiers next to it complete this memorial.

Massive array of the most varied information about Soviets’ life during the war is gathered in the “Public authorities and society before and during the Great Patriotic War” section of Memory of the Great Victory collection. In particular, it gives a chance to get familiar with official speaking addresses of the state leaders. Along with the editions of speeches and decrees of Joseph Stalin there is a handwritten draft version version of a famous appeal of the People's Commissar for Foreign Affairs of the USSR V. M. Molotov, with which he appeared on the air on June 22, the day of Germany's attack on the Soviet Union, among these materials.

It ended with the words that became winged: “Ours is a righteous cause. The enemy shall be defeated. Victory will be ours.”