2022

June 1, 2022 There are presented the first 500 resolutions of the State Defence Committee of the USSR (GKO USSR) for the period from July 1 to August 16, 1941, which are stored in the Russian State Archive of Socio-Political History (RGASPI). The USSR State Defence Committee (GKO USSR) was the highest emergency authority in the country during the Great Patriotic War. It was formed on June 30, 1941 and operated until September 4, 1945. Throughout its history, the State Defence Committee of the USSR adopted over 10,000 resolutions and orders (from № 1 to № 9971, including those marked "secret" and "top secret").

Each resolution or order is presented in the Collection in two versions: a mailing copy (the final version on a letterhead and with the seal of the State Defence Committee of the USSR) and an original copy with signatures, resolutions and amendments of the Chairman of the State Defense Committee of the USSR I. V. Stalin, his deputy V. M. Molotov, other state, party and military leaders of the country. Also, the project contains additional materials to the resolutions: memorandums of members of the State Defence Committee, people's commissars and military leaders and other documents related to the adoption of a particular decision.

Among the resolutions of the State Defence Committee of the USSR in the first months of the Great Patriotic War are the most important documents on the production of weapons and military equipment (tanks, aircraft, warships, artillery, small arms, ammunition, communications), on the adoption of new models. Among them are the decisions of the State Defence Committee of the USSR №  337TS and 338TS of July 31, 1941 on the production of rocket artillery installations M-8 and M-13, known under the name "Katyusha".  

Much attention in the documents of July-August 1941 is paid to the evacuation of large industrial enterprises and the creation of new production bases in the east of the country, the construction of new factories and other industrial facilities, the evacuation of the population and material property from the front line, the construction of new railway lines and the organization of rail transportation.

Many decisions of the State Defence Committee of the USSR are devoted to issues of defensive construction, including the construction of defensive lines and structures around Moscow and Leningrad and the organization of the defence of these lines - for example, Decree  № 172TS of July 16, 1941 "On the Mozhaisk Defence Line" written by G. Malenkov.

During the first months of the war, several resolutions on the mobilization of conscripts and those liable for military service, on the creation of divisions of the people's militia and the financial support of members of the people's militia and personnel of partisan detachments were adopted. Among them is Decree № 10 of July 4, 1941 “On the Voluntary Mobilization of the Workers of Moscow and Moscow Region in the People’s Militia Division”, included in the State Register of Unique Documents of the Archival Foundation of the Russian Federation.

The documents feature important decisions on the leadership of the country's armed forces. These are the decisions of the State Defence Committee of the USSR on the appointment of commanders-in-chief of directions, commanders of fronts and armies, members of military councils, etc.; on the creation of new military formations and their armament. The most famous are the resolutions on the transformation of the Headquarters of the High Command into the Headquarters of the Supreme High Command and its composition (№ 83TS of July 10, 1941), the creation of the Reserve Front headed by G. K. Zhukov and the appointment of B. M. Shaposhnikov as Chief of the General Staff with numerous amendments by I. V. Stalin and V. M. Molotov (№ 325TS of July 29, 1941).

Many documents are associated with the appointments of authorized GKOs of the USSR for individual military plants or entire areas of building up armaments and manning the army. Such resolutions shall be accompanied by mandates of the Commissioners and brief curricula vitae.

 

July 1, 2022 Resolutions and orders of the USSR State Defenсe Committee (GKO USSR) №№ 501-1000 from August 16 to December 7, 1941 from the collections of the Russian State Archive of Socio-Political History (RGASPI) entered the Collection of Digitized Archival Documents, Film and Photo Materials dedicated to World War II and available on the Presidential Library’s portal.

The largest number of decrees and orders of the USSR State Defence Committee from August to early December 1941 was devoted to the production of military equipment, various types of weapons and ammunition, and the increase in production volumes. The number of decisions on the production of prototypes and the adoption of new weapons and ammunition has noticeably increased. So, on August 22, new DShK and DShKM-2 machine gun mounts and new 76.2-mm anti-aircraft guns were adopted by the Navy (decrees №№ 541ss and 542ss). On August 24, the M-82 engine was adopted by the Air Force, which was later massively used on bombers and fighters (№№ 574ss). On August 29, J. V. Stalin personally wrote down the text of the decree (№№ 597ss) on the adoption of the Simonov anti-tank rifle (PTSR) into service with the Red Army; in November 1941, the PTRS was first used in battles in the Moscow direction.

The successful and rapid development of rocket artillery in the first months of the war led to the formation of new military units - mortar units (№ 642ss of September 8). Within a few days from September 8 to 20, the State Defence Committee of the USSR adopted a number of resolutions on the organization of the Southern, North-Western, Bryansk, South-Western and Leningrad operational groups of mortar units M-8 and M-13 of the Headquarters of the Supreme High Command ((№(№ 643ss, 648ss, 659ss, 672ss, 693ss). On September 30, according to the results of tests at the Sofrinsky training ground, the army received the M-8 combat vehicles on the T-60 and M-13 tanks on the chassis of the STZ-5 tractor, and six new guards mortar regiments ((№ 726ss) were also formed.

As the enemy advanced to the east, the USSR State Defence Committee made decisions on conscription and mobilization, the evacuation of defense enterprises, important industrial facilities, the population and material property from the front line.

In August - September 1941, at the height of the battle for Kyiv, a number of decrees were issued on the evacuation of tank, metallurgical, chemical and other defense plants, coal industry enterprises and the Dnepropetrovsk hydroelectric station from the territory of the Ukrainian SSR. On September 12, the State Defence Committee of the USSR decided to evacuate the Kharkov plant № 183 and the Illich Iron & Steel Works at Uralvagonzavod in Nizhny Tagil (№№ 666ss, 667ss). In the shortest possible time, at this site, which received about ten exported enterprises, the Ural Tank Plant  № 183, an industrial giant of the Great Patriotic War period that produced T-34 tanks, was created and launched.

Interestingly, until the last opportunity, the defence enterprises of the Ukrainian SSR continued to fulfill and exceed the plan and master the production of new military equipment. This is evidenced by a note by N. S. Khrushchev to J. V. Stalin dated August 31, 1941, preserved among the materials for the decree of the USSR State Defence Committee № 640ss of September 8, - on the extra production of weapons and ammunition for the defenders of the republic of the Southern and South-Western fronts.

By the end of the summer of 1941, the stronghold around Leningrad was shrinking more and more. On August 26, the USSR State Defence Committee appointed commissioners for defence, evacuation of enterprises and the population of the city - V. M. Molotov, G. M. Malenkov, N. G. Kuznetsov, A. N. Kosygin, P. F. Zhigarev and N. N. Voronov (№ 586). Decrees were adopted on the evacuation of factories from Leningrad and Leningrad Region, including the largest - Kirov and Izhora. It was originally planned to evacuate them to Uralvagonzavod (№ 587ss of August 26). However, two days later this decision was canceled, and on October 4 a new decree was issued on their immediate evacuation (№ 734ss). Tank production and personnel of the Kirov Plant were evacuated to the Chelyabinsk Tractor Plant. Thus the history of the legendary "Tankograd" - the largest enterprise for the production of tanks, self-propelled artillery mounts and armored vehicles during the war years began.

At the same time, the USSR State Defence Committee appointed commissioners for individual plants and entire branches of the defence industry and approved plans to speed up production. So, for example, on November 14, Decree № 899ss was issued on measures to increase the production of tanks to 140 vehicles per day by the end of January 1942. In accordance with the same resolution, the People's Commissariat of Machine Tool Building was merged with the People's Commissariat of the Tank Industry.

In October 1941, alarming days for the whole country came when the enemy appeared close to Moscow. The USSR State Defence Committee adopts a whole range of resolutions on the organization of the defence of the capital: “On the protection of the Moscow zone” (№ 765ss of October 12), “On the construction of the 3rd line of defence of the mountains. Moscow” (№ 768ss of October 12), on the mobilization of military reserve up to 45 years of age and conscripts born in 1922-1923 in Moscow and Moscow Region (№ 807ss of October 16), on the introduction of a state of siege in Moscow and adjacent areas (№ October 19). On October 15, Decree № 801ss "On the evacuation of the capital of the USSR, Moscow" was adopted. The draft was handwritten by A. I. Mikoyan, the final version contains corrections and signature of J. V. Stalin. It is noteworthy that the very next day it was decided not to stop the operation of the metro and partially restore the work of factories in Moscow and the region - both those not evacuated and those expected to be evacuated (№ 808s dated October 16 – autograph J. V. Stalin).

In August - December 1941, the USSR State Defence Committee as before, continued to make decisions on the leadership of the Armed Forces - on the appointment of members of the military councils of military districts, directions, fronts and armies, on the formation and supply of military units. On August 22, J. V. Stalin signed Decree №562ss "On the introduction of vodka for supply in the active Red Army" - the famous "People's Commissar's 100 grams", on September 12 - Decree № 662ss "On the norms of the food supply of the Red Army".

Today, the website contains 1,000 decrees and orders of the State Defence Committee of the USSR with accompanying materials - this is more than 9 thousand electronic images. 4 thousand new archival documents from the initial period of the Great Patriotic War on June 22, 1941 - November 19, 1942, including recently declassified ones from the federal state archives, as well as the archives of the Ministry of Defence, FSB, SVR, Ministry of Internal Affairs, Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Russia, state archives of Belarus, archival institutions of the constituent entities of the Russian Federation will enter Rosarkhiv and the Presidential Library until the end of 2022.

 

August 11, 2022 The Collection of documents was replenished with a thousand resolutions and orders of the USSR State Defence Committee № 1001-2000 for the period from December 8, 1941 to July 7, 1942 (over 13.7 thousand digitized pages of documents).

As before (Decrees and Orders of the State Defence Committee of the USSR № 1-1000 were included in the Collection in June-July 2022), most of the documents are devoted to the production of military equipment, weapons and ammunition. So, in January-May 1942, a number of resolutions were adopted to increase the dynamics, improve patency and reduce the weight of heavy KV tanks (№ 1220ss and 1221ss of January 30, 1942, № 1331ss и 1332ss of February 23, 1942). In Decree № 1878ss of June 5, 1942, the State Defence Committee of the USSR drew attention to the serious shortcomings of the KV tanks revealed during their combat use, and ordered the Kirov Plant in Chelyabinsk from August 1, 1942 to switch to the production of new KV, lightened by 5 tons. The new tanks will be called KV-1s (that is, KV-1 high-speed), will be put into service in August 1942 and will join the Battle of Stalingrad. Also on June 5, 1942, decrees № 1879ss and 1880ss were issued on the constructive improvement and increase in the production of T-34 tanks.

Much attention is paid to increasing speed, improving design and armament, speeding up the production of aircraft of all types and creating new prototypes (№ 1048ss-1050ss, 1094ss, 1435ss, 1508ss, 1509ss, 1663ss, 1664ss and others). On March 24, 1942, the DB-3F and 103 aircraft officially received the names Il-4 and Tu-2 (№ 1498s). On April 24, 1942, the State Defence Committee of the USSR approves the use of PS-84 twin-engine passenger aircraft as night bombers (№ 1637ss). On March 13, 1942, a decree was issued on the creation in Moscow of a production base for the design bureau of A. I. Mikoyan (№ 1436s), on April 9, 1942 - for the Design Bureau of S. V. Ilyushin (№ 1573ss).

On February 12, 1942, the State Defence Committee of the USSR, based on the results of field tests, adopted the 76-mm ZIS-3 gun (№ 1274ss of February 12, 1942) into service with the Red Army. This gun, developed by the plant № 92 under the leadership of V. G. Grabin, became the most massive artillery gun of the Great Patriotic War and one of the best guns of the Second World War.

In connection with the successful counter-offensive of the Red Army in the winter of 1941-1942 and the retreat of the enemy to the west, decisions to restore production in the areas of the evacuated factories of Moscow and other liberated territories are made (№ 1038ss and 1039ss of December 17, 1941; № January 1942). Also in January-February 1942, the process of re-evacuation to the capital of people, industrial enterprises, people's commissariats, the highest authorities of the RSFSR and the USSR, other organizations and institutions begins (№ 1215, 1259s, 1296ss, etc.). In May 1942, several decisions about the Moscow Metro appeared: № 1766 and 1767 - on fares and operating hours, № 1822s - on the construction of the Zamoskvoretsky radius of the 3rd stage of the metro.

During this period, the State Defence Committee of the USSR adopts a number of important decisions concerning the supply of besieged Leningrad and the Leningrad Front. Decree № 1132s of January 11, 1942 approved new, increased food supply standards, which were introduced in February 1942. Decrees № 1423s of March 11 and № 1565ss of April 9, 1942 were called upon to organize the process of delivering goods to Leningrad through Lake Ladoga in the navigation of 1942. On April 25, 1942, the State Defence Committee of the USSR issued Decree № 1652ss "On the construction of an underwater 4-inch gasoline pipeline from Cape Karedzhi station to Ladoga Lake station (Leningrad)". In order to supply the city and the front with fuel, which was already running out, it was ordered to build an underwater gasoline pipeline along the bottom of Lake Ladoga as soon as possible - in just 55 days. On June 19, 10 days ahead of schedule, the first batch of fuel arrived in Leningrad through the underwater "artery of life". At that time, even without taking into account the circumstances and the most difficult conditions, this construction had no analogues not only in the USSR, but also in the world.

A large number of documents of the State Defence Committee of the USSR are devoted to the restoration and construction of new railways. Among them are those that soon became the "roads of life" for Stalingrad: Kizlyar - Astrakhan (№ 1003s of December 8, 1941) and the famous Volga Rokada - the Sviyazhsk - Ulyanovsk - Syzran - Saratov - Stalingrad highway (№ 1190s of January 23, 1942, № 1286ss of February 15, № 1375ss of March 3, № 1461s of March 16, № 1467s of March 17, № 1857ss of June 4, 1942). In the summer of 1942, railway and highway communications to Stalingrad were cut, but new railways were built in record time, gradually put into operation, and largely ensured the victory in the Battle of Stalingrad.

A significant part of documents consists of resolutions and orders on the creation of new military formations (№ 1211ss of January 25, 1942 on the creation of the Volga military flotilla), on the appointment of members of the military councils of military districts, fronts and armies authorized by the State Defence Committee of the USSR, and other personnel appointments. Among them is Decree № 1723 of May 11, 1942 on the appointment of A. M. Vasilevsky as Chief of the General Staff of the Red Army, handwritten by Joseph Stalin. On May 30, 1942, the Central Headquarters of the partisan movement (№ 1837ss) was created at the Headquarters of the Supreme High Command.

The last decrees from the published block of documents date back to the beginning of July 1942 and are devoted to the evacuation of the population and enterprises from the Voronezh, Oryol and Voroshilovgrad Regions, to which the front line approached (№ 1966ss - 1984ss of July 4, 1942; 1942).

 

August 25, 2022 The final part of the documents of the GKO USSR № 2001-2527 for the period from July 7 to November 19, 1942 entered the Collection. Thus, the Collection currently contains all the resolutions and orders of the GKO USSR № 1-2527 (with additional materials) for the initial period of the Great Patriotic War from June 22, 1941 to November 19, 1942, the original copies of which are permanently stored in the Russian Archive of Socio-Political History (RGASPI).

In late June - early July 1942, German troops launched a general offensive on the southern sector of the Soviet-German front. The main goal of the enemy was a breakthrough to Stalingrad and the capture of oil fields in the Caucasus. On July 6, 1942, enemy troops broke through into the western part of Voronezh and began advancing to the southeast along the right bank of the Don River. On July 17, the Battle of Stalingrad began in the big bend of the Don.

Part of the July decrees of the State Defence Committee of the USSR of 1942 is devoted to the issues of further evacuation of the population, enterprises, grain, agricultural property from the Tambov, Rostov, Voronezh, Oryol, Voroshilovgrad, Stalingrad and Saratov Regions, the Krasnodar Territory, the Kabardino-Balkarian, North Ossetian, Chechen-Ingush Autonomous Republics (№ 2007ss, 2014ss–2024ss, 2026–2027ss, 2029ss–2034ss, 2056ss, 2060s, 2064s, 2069s, 2086s, 2113ss, 2194ss–2199ss, etc.).

In August - October 1942, a number of decrees were issued on the preparation of "special measures" for the Baku oil industry, the export of petroleum products and petroleum raw materials from the Caucasus (№ 2057ss, 2167ss, 2173ss, 2185s, 2234s, 2298ss, 2415ss, 2459ss and etc.) At the same time, the decisions on the construction and commissioning of oil refineries and the speeding up of oil production in the rear (№ 2153ss, 2154s, 2325ss, etc.) are made. There is a growing number of decrees to increase coal production and the capacity of railways. On July 20, 1942, the decision “On speeding up the construction of the Saratov-Stalingrad railway” (№ 2065s) was dated.

In July 1942, decrees were issued on the formation and resupplying of military units for the North Caucasian Front (№ 2052ss, 2054ss, 2114ss), on August 18, 1942 - on urgent measures to help Stalingrad tank factories and ensure the smooth operation of the military industry of Stalingrad (№ 2182ss and 2183), in September and November 1942 - on the production of ammunition in Transcaucasia (№ 2324ss, 2488ss).

Several documents from this period concern the leadership of the partisan movement. On August 3, 1942, the Southern headquarters of the partisan movement was created under the Military Council of the North Caucasian Front (№ 2133ss), on September 9, 1942 - the Belarusian headquarters of the partisan movement under the TsShPD (№ 2285ss), on November 3 - the Estonian headquarters of the partisan movement under the TsShPD (№ 2469ss).

One of the main issues remained the production of military equipment and weapons, the creation of new and modernization of existing types of aircraft (№ 2058ss, 2060ss, 2104ss, 2105ss, 2145ss, 2170ss, 2272s, 2374ss, 2504ss and etc.), tanks (№ 2120ss, 2276ss, 2192ss, 2316ss and etc.) artillery (№ 2429ss), snowmobiles (№ 2236ss) and etc.

On July 15, 1942, "taking into account the importance of developing work on jet technology for the defence of the country", the State Institute of Jet Technology under the Council of People's Commissars of the USSR (№ 2046ss) was formed. On September 28, 1942, the State Defence Committee of the USSR issued Decree № 2352ss "On the organization of work on uranium", which became the starting point for the history of the Soviet atomic project.

 

September 2, 2022 The Collection of Digitized Archival Documents, Film and Photo Materials “World War II in archival documents” was updated with documents from the State Archive of the Russian Federation on the initial period of the Great Patriotic War (June 22, 1941 – November 19, 1942) – about 300 documents and over 1,200 electronic images.

For the most part, these are decrees of the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet of the USSR (F. R-7523) and resolutions of the Council of People's Commissars of the USSR (F. R-5446).

With the formation of the State Defence Committee of the USSR on June 30, 1941, this emergency supreme state body was vested with full power on the territory of the Soviet Union, which somewhat narrowed the range of issues considered by the Council of People's Commissars of the USSR. Nevertheless, the Soviet government continued its work throughout the war.  

The diversified activities of the Council of People's Commissars of the USSR are evidenced by the headings of the adopted resolutions: "On the creation of the Headquarters of the High Command of the Armed Forces of the USSR" (June 23, 1941), "On increasing the production of 37-mm automatic anti-aircraft guns" (June 25, 1941), "On measures to fight against paratroopers and saboteurs" (June 26, 1941), "On the arrangement of children left without parents" (January 23, 1942), "On the allocation of funds for the restoration of cities and regional centers of the Tula region" (February 5, 1942), “On measures to help Rostov Region to restore the economy in cities and regions liberated from Nazi invaders” (February 17, 1942), “On the manufacture of ZIS-5 vehicles with a wooden cabin” (April 27, 1942), “On the production of provitamin "A" - carotene", etc.

The issues of the evacuation of the population, institutions, military cargo and industrial enterprises from areas threatened by occupation by German troops were in charge of the Evacuation Council under the Council of People's Commissars of the USSR, formed on June 24, 1941. The Complex included the decisions of this state body (F.R-6822). The materials cover the evacuation of orphanages from Krasnodar Territory, the removal of family members of workers and employees from Moscow, Leningrad, Odessa, the placement of evacuated children in rural areas, the evacuation of factories, enterprises, educational institutions, organizations and institutions.

A special place among the archive documents of the central government bodies belongs to orders of the People's Commissariat of Internal Affairs of the USSR and the People's Commissariat of Public Health of the USSR. Especially for placement in the Collection, orders and circulars of the USSR Prosecutor on combating the theft of food and bread cards, supervising the arrangements for the evacuated population, as well as the exact implementation of laws in wartime conditions (F.R-9401) were revealed.

The orders of the People's Commissariat of Health (F. R-8009) are of interest: on the introduction of physiotherapy exercises in the treatment of wartime injuries and for convalescent soldiers (July 3, 1941), ensuring the correct management of evacuation hospitals (July 30, 1941). The text of the speech of the People's Commissar of Health of the USSR G. A. Miterev "The Great Patriotic War and the tasks of medical workers" (September 1941) is fully available.

The Collection includes documents of the Soviet Information Bureau under the Council of People's Commissars of the USSR, formed on June 24, 1941. The military reports compiled during the war years based on the materials of the main command were not deposited in the GA RF, other materials were preserved - reviews of the Sovinformburo, based on the information received: “War Diary”, “Review of Military Operations”, which described the situation in the first weeks of the war ( F. R-8581).

Of particular interest are the protocols of conversations with German prisoners of war, as well as summaries of the protocols of interrogation of captured German soldiers and officers received by the Soviet Information Bureau from the Main Directorate of Political Propaganda of the Red Army. The Set of Documents also includes materials on how the German command treated Soviet prisoners of war and the population of the occupied territories: these are photocopies of directives on the use of cut human hair and on branding Soviet prisoners of war with a distinctive sign, as well as an announcement by the command of the German troops on the procedure for registering and moving the population in the occupied territory.

From the collections “International Military Tribunal for the Chief German Criminals (Nuremberg Trials)” (F. R-7445) and “Extraordinary State Commission for the Establishment and Investigation of the Atrocities of the Nazi Invaders and Their Accomplices and the Damage They Caused to Citizens, Collective Farms (kolkhozes), public organizations, state enterprises and institutions of the USSR (ChGK) ”(F. R-7021) selected German documents that were presented at the Nuremberg trials as evidence of Nazi crimes against the USSR and its inhabitants: protocol of A. Hitler’s meeting with the leaders of the Reich on the purposes of the war against the USSR (July 16, 1941), from the minutes of the conference chaired by Reichsmarschall G. Goering on economic policy in the occupied territories of the USSR (September 16, 1941); the directive of the headquarters of the Supreme High Command of the Wehrmacht on the destruction of Leningrad, Moscow and other cities of the USSR (October 7, 1941), from the order of the High Command of the Wehrmacht Ground Forces on accelerating the pace of mobilization of Soviet labor for Germany (May 10, 1942), etc.

 

September 15, 2022 The Collection of Digitized Archival Documents, Film and Photo Materials “World War II in archival documents” available on the Presidential Library’s portal was entered with the documents from the Russian State Archive of Literature and Art (RGALI) on the initial period of the Great Patriotic War (June 22, 1941 – November 19, 1942).

The materials presented are diverse and include documents of cultural authorities, photographs and, of course, extracts of iconic literary and musical works created in the first months of the war.

The earliest document is dated June 23, 1941. It is a telegram addressed to the administration of the Moscow Art Theatre about the evacuation of the theatre troupe from Minsk, signed by the famous actor, People’s Artist of the USSR I. M. Moskvin and the legendary administrator of the MHAT F. N. Mikhalsky: “We left Minsk in two groups. Seventy seven people are in Borisov. Everyone is well. We are taking measures for departure. Moskvin, Mikhalsky”.

Behind those short lines there is one of the most dramatic episodes in the history of the national theatre. While Minsk was bombed nonstop, Moskvin took it upon himself to save the troupe that consisted of 117 people. He absolutely refused the offer to be evacuated alone (as a Deputy of the Supreme Soviet of the USSR, Moskvin was supposed to be provided with a car) and completed the entire two-hundred-kilometer journey to Orsha together with other artists and workers of the theatre.

Several days later, on June 26, 1941 at the Belorussky Railway Terminal in Moscow, one of the groups of the Red-Bannered Song and Dance Ensemble of the Red Army of the USSR performed the song “The Sacred War” written by V. I. Lebedev-Kumach for the first time. Easily recognizable from the first menacing chords and words “Arise, vast country!”, the song became a symbol of the fight for liberation of the Fatherland and faith in the victory of the Red Army. Autograph of the poem “The Sacred War”, included in the State Register of Unique Documents of the Archival Fonds of the Russian Federation, is also included in the Collection.

The theme of poetic understanding of the war is illustrated in the manuscripts of numerous famous poems of 1941–1942, such as “Do you remember, Alyosha, the roads of Smolensk…” and “Wait for Me” by K. M. Simonov, “In the Frontier Forest” by M. V. Isakovsky and others. The feat of the besieged Leningrad is immortalized in poems by O. F. Bergholz, including “Leningrad Poem” and “Addressing”.

On August 9, 1942 in Leningrad, the Big Symphonic Orchestra of the Leningrad Radio Committee under the direction of Karl Eliasberg performed the famous Seventh (“Leningrad”) Symphony of D. Shostakovich. To perform it, the surviving musicians were searched for all over city, brought from the front line and hospitals. The exhausted performers didn’t have enough strength for the wind-instruments parts.

Nevertheless, on August 9, the Seventh Symphony was heard in the crowded hall of the Leningrad Philharmonic, from where it was broadcasted via radio and loudspeakers of the city network, reaching the front positions of the Germans. The autograph of the Seventh Symphony of Shostakovich, included in the unique documents of the Archival Fonds, is featured in the Collection as well.

Undoubtedly, the beginning of the Great Patriotic War required cultural institutions to completely restructure their work and find its new forms both in the conditions of evacuation and in the field of cultural service to the army. The foundation for this was already laid in the early July of 1941 by the directive letter of the Committee on Arts of the Council of People’s Commissioners of the USSR on the necessity to restructure the activities of all institutions of art and its submission to the cause of defence and tasks of the Great Patriotic War.

From the first weeks of the war, one of the key directions of activity of theaters and concert organizations was the formation of front-line brigades, which began to depart to the front lines in August 1941. Many famous artists both of the older and the younger generations were members of the front-line brigades. The collections of the RGALI contain photographs of performances at the front by A. A. Ostuzhev, L. O. Utyosov, L. A. Ruslanova, A. I. Raykin, K. I. Shulzhenko and other artists, as well as reports of the brigades’ leaders and reviews of the performances written by soldiers and commanders.

Documents of the RGALI, associated with the Stalingrad Battle, are also undeniably interesting. They include images by the famous Soviet photographers Georgy Zelma that capture the scenes of street battles.

K. V. Yakovleva, RGALI.

 

September 22, 2022 Documents from the Russia State Archives of Economics (RGAE) entered the Collection of Digitized Archival Documents, Film and Photo Materials “World War II in archival documents” available on the Presidential Library’s portal.

Documents reflect the work of defence industry in extreme wartime conditions, the increase in production volumes of basic industries (metallurgy, mechanical engineering, chemical industry, fuel and energy complex, etD.), the improvement of technologies and the development of new types of military equipment, the relocation of production facilities to the rear of the country and the restoration of their work in a short time.

The Collection features documents from the holdings of the People’s Commissariat of Armament of the USSR (F. 8157), People’s Commissariat of Aviation Industry of the USSR (F. 8044), People’s Commissariat of Munitions of the USSR (F.7516), People’s Commissariat of Machine Tool Industry of the USSR (F. 8259), People’s Commissariat of the Shipbuilding Industry of the USSR (F. 8899), People’s Commissariat of Heavy Machine Building of the USSR (F. 8243), People’s Commissariat of Coal Industry of the USSR (F. 8225), People’s Commissariat of Oil Industry of the USSR (F. 8627), People’s Commissariat of Non-Ferrous Metallurgy of the USSR (F. 9022), People’s Commissariat of Ferrous Metallurgy of the USSR (F. 8875), People’s Commissariat of Electronics Industry of the USSR (F. 8848), People’s Commissariat of Communications of the USSR (F. 2527), created due to the needs of the war People’s Commissariat of Tank Industry of the USSR (F. 8752) and the People’s Commissariat of Mortar Armament of the USSR (F. 2183), People’s Commissariat of Foreign Trade of the USSR (F. 413). There are about 200 documents in total covering the period from June 22, 1941 to November 19, 1942 (about 1,000 digital items).

A massive production base has been created in Ural and other safe regions in the east of the country in order to supply the army with ammunition and military equipment. Decrees and orders of the People’s Commissariats of June–August, 1941 highlight the issues of evacuation of defence enterprises and the deployment of production in new areas:

Decree № 93ss of June 26, 1941 issued by People’s Commissar of Ferrous Metallurgy of the USSR I. F. Tevosyan on the organization of a new base for the production of armor and tanks “KV”. RGAE. F. 8875. Op. 1. D. 99. P. 171-168 (reverse numeration);

Decree № 84ss of July 4, 1941 issued by People’s Commissar of Machine Tool Industry of the USSR A. I. Yefremov on the organization of the relocation of production to other areas of the country. RGAE. F. 8259. Op. 4. D. 20. P. 49-50;

Decree № 236ss of July 4, 1941 issued by People’s Commissar of Munitions of the USSR P. N. Goremykin on the evacuation of enterprises from Leningrad. RGAE. F. 7516. Op. 1. D. 805. P. 58-62;

Decree № 141ss of July 5, 1941 issued by People’s Commissar of Oil Industry of the USSR I. K. Sedin on the organization of the evacuation of enterprises and workers. RGAE. F. 8627. Op. 1. D. 33. P. 141;

Decree № 291s of July 15, 1941 issued by People’s Commissar of Munitions of the USSR “On the creation of a base for the production of armor-piercing and anti-aircraft shells in Ural and Siberia”. RGAE. F. 7516. Op. 1. D. 806. P. 162-169.

The People’s Commissariat of Mortar Armament of the USSR, created in the beginning of the war on the basis of the People’s Commissariat of General Engineering of the USSR, was engaged in the production of mines and shells for the M-8 and M-13 (“Katyushas”) rocket launchers. In October, 1942 enterprises of the People’s Commissariat of Electronics Industry of the USSR manufactured special-purpose mines for the Central Headquarters of the Partisan Movement (Decree № MK-443ss of October 21, 1942 issued by People’s Commissar of Electronics Industry of the USSR I. G. Kabanov on the manufacture of special-purpose mines for the Central Headquarters of the Partisan Movement. RGAE. F. 8848. Op. 1. D. 266. P. 33-37).

By the autumn of 1941, the Soviet Government realized that the management bodies of the tank industry, enterprises of which were dispersed between the People’s Commissariat of Medium Machine Building, People’s Commissariat of Shipbuilding Industry, People’s Commissariat of Heavy Industry and other People’s Commissariats, required reorganization. Thus, in September, 1941 the All-Union People’s Commissariat of Tank Industry was created. It included tank, diesel and armor factories and was headed by V. A. Malyshev. On September 12, 1941 the Decree № 530 of the People’s Commissariat of Medium Machine Building of the USSR on the establishment of the People’s Commissariat of Tank Industry of the USSR was issued (RGAE. F. 8752. Op. 4. D. 82. P. 169-167).

In accordance with the Resolution of the State Defence Committee of the USSR (GKO of the USSR), on November 17, 1941 People’s Commissar of Tank Industry of the USSR V. A. Malyshev issued the Decree “On increasing the production of tanks to 140 vehicles per day” (RGAE. F. 8752. Op. 4. D. 4. P. 87-81). At the same time, measures were taken for the improvement of the quality of tanks by enhancing their construction, manufacturing technology and eliminating manufacturing defects (Decree № 435ss of June 8, 1942 issued by People’s Commissar of Tank Industry of the USSR V. A. Malyshev on the improvement of the combat qualities of tanks T-34. RGAE. F. 8752. Op. 4. D. 90. P. 138-134; Memo of November 2, 1942 from Director of the Factory № 112 E. E. Rubinchik to People’s Commissar of Tank Industry of the USSR I. M. Zaltsman about the acquirement by the German army of new shells, able to pierce the armor of the T-34 tanks, and the implementation into production of a new method of shielding for the protection of the T-34 tanks in a short time. RGAE. F. 8752. Op. 4. D. 105. P. 139-138).

The People’s Commissariat of Aviation Industry of the USSR (NCAP), headed by A. I. Shakurin, was engaged in ensuring the production of aircraft. Thanks to the well-prepared mobilization plan, the NCAP noticeably increased the production of aircraft and engines in the first months of the war. Above all else, it was necessary to supply the front with the fighter aircrafts Yak-1 and LaGG-3, dive bombers Pe-2, ground-attack aircrafts Il-2:

Decree № 716ss of July 19, 1941 “On the production of the Yak-1 and Yak-3 aircrafts”. RGAE. F. 8044. Op. 1. D. 557. P. 46-47;

Decree № 862ss of August 15, 1941 “On the production of the Pe-3 aircrafts”. RGAE. F. 8044. Op. 1. D. 571. P. 67;

Decree № 863ss of August 15, 1941 “On the production of the LaGG-3 and Yak-1 aircrafts”. RGAE. F. 8044. Op. 1. D. 572. P. 4-5;

Decree № 589ss of August 5, 1942 “On the increase in the production of fighter and ground-attack aircrafts”. RGAE. F. 8044. Op. 1. D. 780. P. 96-101.

Enterprises of ferrous and non-ferrous metallurgy, coal industry, oil production worked for the needs of the front, increasing the production and carrying out geological-exploration activities in Ural and Siberia.

The main task of the People’s Commissariat of Oil Industry of the USSR was the uninterrupted supply of petroleum products, the creation of raw-material bases, on the eve of the winter period especially. In April, 1942 the construction of the Buguruslan-Kuybyshev gas pipeline began. It was commissioned in September 1943 and became the first in the history of the gas transportation system of the USSR (Decree № 22ss of April 10, 1942 issued by People’s Commissar of Oil Industry of the USSR I. K. Sedin “On the construction of the Buguruslan-Kuybyshev gas pipeline”. RGAE. F. 8627. Op. 1. D. 87. P. 128-134).

In wartime conditions, the People’s Commissariat of Coal Industry of the USSR carried out the norms of average daily coal productions on factories and trusts: 220 thousand tons in the 1st quarter of 1942 and 265 thousand tons in the 4th quarter of 1942 (Decree № 360s of December 20, 1941 “On the development of coal mining in the Eastern regions of the USSR”. RGAE. F. 8225. Op. 2. D. 104. P. 60-76).

Following the liberation of the territory of the Donetsk Coal Basin from the enemy in January 1942, the decree was issued on the restoration of the Voroshilovugol and Rostovugol coal mines for the provision of industry and transport with Donetsk coal (Decree № 12s of January 24, 1942 issued by People’s Commissar of Coal Industry of the USSR V. V. Vakhrushev. RGAE. F. 8225. Op. 2. D. 186. P. 22-29). In April-May, 1942 coal production increased in Ural and Kuzbass.

Documents of the RGAE from the fonds of the People’s Commissariat of Foreign Trade of the USSR highlight the military-technical assistance provided to the USSR by the countries of the anti-Hitler coalition. The Collection features documents of the Soviet Government Procurement Commission in the United States, correspondence, certificates and reports on the supply of military equipment (letter from Lieutenant General of the US Army Air Forces to Chairman of the Soviet Government Procurement Commission in the US A. I. Belyaev about the reason for the delay in the assembly of the A-20S aircrafts of May 18, 1942. RGAE. F. 413. Op. 20. D. 44. P. 133; letter from Lieutenant General of the US Army Air Forces to Chairman of the Soviet Government Procurement Commission in the US A. I. Belyaev about the impossibility of increasing the supply of combat aircrafts to the USSR of September 11, 1942. RGAE. F. 413. Op. 20. D. 44. P. 72-73).

 

September 29, 2022 Wartime audio recordings of 1941–1942 from the Russian State Archive of Phonodocuments (RGAFD) entered the Collection of Digitized Archival Documents, Film and Photo Materials dedicated to World War II and available on the Presidential Library’s portal.

The most important audio documents include the radio appearances of Chairman of the Council of People’s Commissars of the USSR V. M. Molotov with the announcement of the Soviet government about the treacherous attack of Nazi Germany on the Soviet Union on June 22, 1941 and the address of J. V. Stalin to the Soviet people on July 3, 1941.

Writer A. N. Tolstoy, Chief Surgeon of the Red Army N. N. Burdenko, academician P. L. Kapitsa spoke about the noble task of defending the Fatherland, the heroism of the Russian people and the need to unite the peoples of the whole world to fight fascism, to defeat the enemy.

One of the symbols of wartime was the well-recognizable voice of the announcer of the All-Union Radio Y. B. Levitan, who read out the daily reports of the Soviet Information Bureau (Sovinformburo). Radio broadcasts were not recorded and therefore have not been preserved. However in the 1960s, Levitan was offered to re-read the reports of the Great Patriotic War, to live through all the events once again, thus preserving reports about the failures of the Red Army in the first days of the war, about the defeat of the German troops near Moscow, the liberation of cities and villages of the Soviet Union in the “sound chronicles” for the descendants.

The spirit of war, the strength and courage of the Russian people have been captured in poems, music, songs. The Collection includes the recording of the famous song “The Sacred War”. The lyrics were written by V. I. Lebedev-Kumach on June 22-23, 1941, and already on June 26, “The Sacred War” was performed for the first time at the Belorussky Railway Station in Moscow during the troops’ depart to the front. The recording of 1966 from the gramophone record “Melodiya” (Melody) is especially interesting, as it has been performed by the Twice Red-Bannered Song and Dance Ensemble of the Red Army of the USSR under the direction of B. A. Alexandrov – the son of the composer A. V. Alexandrov.

The Collection has been earlier updated with the autograph of D. D. Shostakovich – the dedication to the city of Leningrad – the Seventh Symphony (from the collections of the Russian State Archive of Literature and Art). It is complemented by the audio recording of the symphony’s fragment performed by the orchestra under the direction of Arturo Toscanini, first heard in the USA in July, 1942.

There are also presented the recordings of poems read by the authors, including “Wait for Me” by K. M. Simonov, “I will talk to you today” by O. F. Bergholz, “The fire is flickering in the narrow stove…” by A. A. Surkov, “In the Frontier Forest” by M. V. Isakovsky, “The unharvested rye sways…” by Y. V. Drunina.

 

October 7, 2022 Resolutions and decrees of the Moscow and Leningrad City Committees of the CPSU(b) on the most important issues of the organization of defence and mobilization, the transformation of urban life to a military way, evacuation of the population and enterprises, food supply, especially in the autumn of 1941, when the enemy was approaching the capital, and the ring around Leningrad was shrinking, entered the Collection.

Moscow and Leningrad photographers captured the formation of the people's militia regiments; Leningraders and Muscovites on the construction of barricades, the installation of anti-tank barriers, the camouflage of buildings, cultural facilities; columns of soldiers leaving for the front.

The documents contain information on the staffing of the divisions of the people's militia in Moscow and Leningrad, minutes of meetings of the Commission on the Defence of Leningrad, the evacuation of large defenсe enterprises and such an institution as significant for the country as the Lenfilm studio.

In December 1941 in the areas of Moscow Region occupied by the enemy partisan struggle was actively waged. The Collection includes references and notes on the activities of partisan detachments and underground organizations. Of particular importance is the decision of the executive committee of the Moscow City Council dated January 31, 1942 No. 3/10 “On carrying out restoration work in the areas of Moscow Region liberated from the German invaders”.

The hardships of wartime and the needs of the population after the defeat of the enemy near Moscow reflect the decisions of the executive committees of the Moscow Council and the Moscow Regional Council dated February 3, 1942 No. 3/14 “On the allocation of a fund of land plots for vegetable gardens to enterprises, institutions and the population of Moscow in the districts of Moscow Region adjacent to the city”, decision of the executive committee of the Moscow City Council of April 4, 1942 No. 8/11 "On the use of water bodies of the city of Moscow and its suburbs for growing and catching fish", as well as the decision of the executive committee of the Moscow City Council of February 20, 1942 No. 4/43 "On the placement of children left without parents".

The life of besieged Leningrad is available in notes and references to the secretary of the Leningrad Regional Committee and the Leningrad City Committee of the All-Union Communist Party of Bolsheviks, A. A. Zhdanov. For example, about food stocks on October 16, 1941, about the work of the food industry in the city (December 15, 1941), about the food situation in Leningrad (January 14, 1942), about the opening of canteens of an increased type in the city (April 26, 1942). The blockade period is reflected in the diaries and drawings of little Leningraders, photographs, texts of radio broadcasts "Leningrad Chronicle". The archives of St. Petersburg contain preserved cards for bread with the norms established on November 19, 1941 (125 gram of bread per day for dependents), and the very decision of the Military Council of the Leningrad Front on a temporary change in the norms for the sale of bread.

Of interest are the documents of research institutes in Leningrad on the organization of experiments on artificial freezing of ice and strengthening its strength on an industrial scale in October 1942, and on the approval of the power transmission route across Lake Ladoga in November 1942.

In total, more than 90 documents and photographs of the archives of St. Petersburg and 45 documents and photographs of the Central State Archive of Moscow were selected for the Collection, testifying to the courage, steadfastness, heroism of the Soviet people and faith in an early victory.

The Central State Archive of St. Petersburg features a valuable document dated June 22, 1941 - a message from the Patriarchal Locum Tenens, Metropolitan Sergius (Stragorodsky) of Moscow and Kolomna, calling on everyone to rally before the enemy, appealing to the historical memory and spirit of the Russian people, with the blessing of the defenders of the Motherland.

“In recent years, we, the residents of the Soviet Union, have consoled ourselves with the hope that the military fire that has engulfed almost the entire world will not touch our country, but fascism, which recognizes only naked force as law and is accustomed to mocking the high demands of honor and morality, also found itself on this time, true to themselves ... Our ancestors did not lose heart even in the worst situation because they remembered not about personal dangers and benefits, but about their sacred duty to the Motherland and faith, and came out victorious. Let us not disgrace their glorious name, and we are Orthodox, kindred to them both in the flesh and in faith. The Fatherland is defended by weapons and a common national feat, by a common readiness to serve the Fatherland in a difficult hour of trial with everything that everyone can” (TsGA St. Petersburg. F. 9324. Op. 1. D. 5. L. 1–3).

 

October 13, 2022 Documents from the archives of Republic of Belarus entered the Collection of Digitized Archival Documents, Film and Photo Materials dedicated to the Great Patriotic War and available on the Presidential Library’s portal.

Among the materials from the National Archives of Republic of Belarus, placed in the Collection, there are resolutions and directives of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of Belarus (Central Committee of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union (b) B), memorandums of the secretaries of the regional committees on the situation in the western regions, the progress of the evacuation, the activities of extermination battalions, detachments of the people's militia.  

On June 30 and July 1, 1941, the first directives of the Central Committee of the Communist Party (b) of Belarus were issued on the transition to underground work of party organizations in areas occupied by the enemy, as well as on the deployment of guerrilla warfare behind the enemy lines: “It is necessary to act without wasting a minute, and the enemy must be destroyed... All areas of Belarus occupied by the enemy must immediately be covered with a dense network of partisan detachments, waging a continuous fierce struggle to destroy the enemy... Firmly remember that partisan struggle has nothing in common with passive tactics. It has a military offensive character. No need to wait for the enemy – it is necessary to look for him and destroy him” (NARB. F. 4p. Op. 3. D.1209. L. 43-44).  

From the beginning of the war, the Central Committee of the Lenin Communist Youth Union of Belarus (LKSMB) was engaged in the mobilization of Komsomol members and youth for an armed rebuff to the enemy, the creation of a militant Komsomol underground behind the enemy lines, the organization of sabotage groups, sanitary squads. The results of the work of the Central Committee of the LKSMB for the first month of the war are set out in a memorandum from the Secretary of the Central Committee of the LKSMB M. V. Zimyanin to the Secretary of the Central Committee of the Communist Party (b) of Belarus G. B. Eidinov on July 23, 1941. If in the western regions of the Byelorussian SSR the leading Komsomol bodies were taken by surprise and for the most part evacuated without creating an underground network and combat formations, then in the eastern regions - Minsk, Vitebsk, Mogilev, Gomel, Polesia - literally everyone went to the fighter detachments and the people's militia Komsomol members capable of carrying weapons, there was no shortage of female volunteers for sanitary work, according to a note (NARB. F. 4p. Op. 29. D. 3. L. 83 - 87).

The combat diary of the Chapai partisan detachment (Mstislavsky district, Mogilev Region) for the period August 1941 - August 1942 spotlights the struggle against the field gendarmerie, consisting of Germans and Finns, as well as punishers (NARB. F. 4p. Op. 33a. D. 10. L. 31 - 33v.).  

In the documents of the NKGB of the Byelorussian SSR, agent reports on the operational situation in the areas occupied by the enemy were deposited. So, the intelligence officer Nyankin reported on July 13, 1941 on the advance of the main forces of the Wehrmacht in the direction of Slutsk - Bobruisk. The source said that along the way, the enemy was spreading provocative rumors among the population that German troops were supposedly already 50 km from Moscow, and the Soviet government was in Berlin. Information was received from refugees that in the territory occupied by the enemy in Western Belarus - Brest, Bialystok, Volkovysk, Lomzha - commandant's offices and departments of the Gestapo were organized. Gangs of local residents, mainly Poles, are fighting against people loyal to the Soviet regime, killing refugees and Red Army soldiers (NARB. F. 4p. Op. 29. D. 2. L. 4–8).

The Collection additionally contains documents of the occupying authorities (in German): the order of the commander of the gendarmerie of the General District of Belarus, Colonel Diermann, on the recruitment of labor (March 7, 1942), the report of the Gebietskommissar of the Gluboksky District to the General Commissioner of Belarus on the liquidation of the ghetto in Dokshitsy, Druya, Miory, Postavy, Opsa, Luzhki, Disna (July 1, 1942), which recorded the massacres of civilians and other crimes of the Nazis.   

The Collection features more than 20 photographs from the collection of the Belarusian State Archive of Film and Photo Documents (BGAKFFD), including those of German origin, which recorded episodes of the invasion of German troops into the territory of the USSR, the fighting of the Red Army in the western direction.  

 

October 20, 2022 Over 137 documents and photographs from the holdings of the Russian State Military Archive (RGVA) entered the Collection of Digitized Archival Documents, Film and Photo Materials dedicated to World War II.

They include documents from the first day of the Great Patriotic War: reports from the Baltic States, the Byelorussian, Ukrainian and Moldavian SSRs to the Main Directorate of the Border Troops of the NKVD of the USSR about the enemy’s offensive, the actions of Soviet border guards to repel the strike and the operational situation at the borders, as well as reports about the shelling and bombing of Soviet territories.

The journals of the border detachments of the Baltic, Leningrad, Murmansk and Karelian-Finnish districts, the Lithuanian, Belorussian, Ukrainian and Moldavian SSR highlight the combat activities of the Soviet border guards in the first days of the war.

The Collection includes orders of the People's Commissariat of Defence of the USSR and the Headquarters of the Supreme High Command (VGK) for the summer of 1941 - autumn 1942, including the order of the Headquarters of the Supreme High Command No. 270 dated August 16, 1941 on the responsibility of military personnel for surrendering and leaving weapons to the enemy; orders of the People's Commissariat of Defence of the USSR on the announcement of gratitude to the pilots - participants in the first Soviet bombing of Berlin on August 8, 1941, on the issuance of the so-called "People's Commissar's 100 grams" to military personnel on the front line of August 25, 1941, on conducting night bombing raids on the industrial and economic centers of the enemy from 28 September 1941, on the formation of women's aviation regiments of October 8, 1941, and many others. A digitized original copy of the famous order of the People's Commissar of Defence of the USSR No. 227 on measures to strengthen order and discipline in the Red Army and the prohibition of unauthorized withdrawal from combat positions dated July 28, 1942, known as "Not a step back!", is also available.  

Special reports of the 3rd Directorate of the People's Commissariat of Defence of the USSR and the Directorate of Special Departments of the NKVD of the USSR, included in the Collection, contain information about the first combat use of bottles of gasoline by Soviet troops, about the chaining of Wehrmacht soldiers by their own commanders to guns and tanks, about the facts of the mocking attitude of the Germans towards the Soviet prisoners of war.

The Collection also features photographs depicting the beginning of the Wehrmacht invasion on June 22, 1941 on the territory of the USSR, the fighting of the Red Army, the activities of Soviet partisans, the work of home front workers at defence enterprises and others.

The following captured documents are presented: excerpts from the military diary of the Wehrmacht Supreme High Command on the course of Operation Barbarossa during the first months of the war; directives and orders of the German command on the conduct of the war on the eastern front; records of conversations between A. Hitler and representatives of the German military command about the basic principles of waging war against the USSR, etc. (copies in German).

 

October 28, 2022 Photographs and newsreel fragments from the holdings of the Russian State Film and Photo Archive (RGAKFD) entered the Collection of Digitized Archival Documents, Film and Photo Materials dedicated to World War II and available on the Presidential Library’s portal.

The photographs of the first days of the Great Patriotic War depict anti-fascist rallies that took place throughout the Soviet Union, queues of volunteers in military registration and enlistment offices and factories, columns of soldiers going to the front.

In addition, the photographs show the preparation of the capital for a state of siege, the training of Moscow militias and the disguise of strategic and cultural sites.

Thanks to the work of front correspondents E. A. Khaldei, M. M. Kalashnikov, M. E. Runov, N. D. Kubeev, G. A. Zelma, R. A. Mazelev, B. V. Utkin, A. S. Shaikhet, G. G. Petrusov, O. B. Knorring, S. N. Strunnikov, G. I. Chertov, Ya. N. Khalip, N. P. Petrov, M. V. Alpert, M. S. Redkin, A. B. Kapustyansky and many others, the footage of the fighting of the Red Army, the offensive of the Soviet infantry and tank columns, the work of anti-aircraft gunners and artillerymen, the heroic battles of sailors and pilots have come to this day.  

The photographs, which depict the destruction of the cities of the USSR, the atrocities perpetrated by Wehrmacht soldiers against partisans and civilians are available together with these footage.

Fragments of the newsreel included in the Collection show the famous parade of troops on Red Square on November 7, 1941, the arrival of the Soviet delegation led by the People's Commissar for Foreign Affairs of the USSR V. M. Molotov in Great Britain in May for the negations about the opening of a second front and military operations in the Rzhevsky, Gzhatsk-Vyazemsky directions in September 1942.

 

November 10, 2022 Over 160 documents from the Archive of the Foreign Policy of the Russian Federation of the Historical and Documentary Department of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Russia are available in the Collection of Digitized Archival Documents, Film and Photo Materials dedicated to World War II.

On June 22, 1941, at 12:15, following the attack of Nazi Germany on the USSR, V. M. Molotov, Deputy Chairman of the Council of People's Commissars of the USSR and People's Commissar for Foreign Affairs, spoke on the radio on behalf of the Soviet government. The Collection features a draft of this speech, written by him with his own hand.

Almost simultaneously with Germany, its allies and satellites - Hungary, Italy, Romania, Slovakia – opposed to the USSR. However, official notifications of a declaration of war or a break in diplomatic relations reached Moscow, in some cases with great delay due to the intentional disruption of telegraph communications with the USSR by the Axis Powers. According to the submitted documents, the Soviet ambassadors in the aggressor countries and the diplomatic representatives of these countries in the USSR were in an information vacuum and were unable to contact their governments. In this regard, the example of Italy is particularly indicative: information from the Soviet ambassador in Rome, N. V. Gorelkin, about a summons to the Italian Foreign Ministry on June 22 in connection with Italy's declaration of war on the Soviet Union, was received in Moscow only on June 29 through the Soviet envoy in Sweden, A. M. Kollontai.

In connection with the “uncertain” position of the Finnish government, which troops, however, also attacked the Soviet border, on June 24, V. M. Molotov, during a conversation with the Finnish representative in Moscow, pointed out the facts of the armed participation of “neutral” Finland in the war against the USSR. From the very beginning of the conflict, the Soviet Union made diplomatic attempts to withdraw Finland from the war, including through the mediation of the US government. However, at the initial stage of the war, these attempts were unsuccessful.

The repeated diplomatic demarches of the Soviet government on the issue of violation of neutrality were also addressed to those countries that, formally remaining neutral, actually turned into a springboard for military operations against the Soviet Union or into a base for supplying Germany with military materials and weapons (Bulgaria, Sweden).

Documents of the Foreign Ministry spotlight the history of the formation and activities of the anti-Hitler coalition. In the first days of the war, the official representatives of Great Britain, the United States and China expressed support for the Soviet Union in connection with the attack by Nazi Germany and declared their readiness to provide the necessary assistance. On July 12, 1941, a Soviet-British agreement on joint actions in the war against Germany was signed in Moscow. At the same time, contacts were established with representatives of Yugoslavia, Czechoslovakia, Poland, the Free France movement and its leader, General Charles de Gaulle.

The restoration of diplomatic relations with the governments of Czechoslovakia and Poland (in exile) and allied obligations were recorded in the Soviet-Czechoslovak agreement of July 18, the Soviet-Polish agreement of July 30 and the Soviet-Polish treaty of December 4, 1941.

A special place belongs to documents about the events of December 1941. On December 6, Great Britain declared war on Hitler's accomplices - Finland, Romania and Hungary. On December 7, Japan attacked the US naval base at Pearl Harbor in the Pacific. On December 8, the United States declared war on Japan. On the night of December 9-10, China declared war on Germany and Italy. The war finally took on a global scale. However, in relations with Japan, the Soviet Union for the time being continued to remain neutral, justifiably arguing its position before the allies by the fact that the main battles against the Axis powers were unfolding on the Soviet-German front and the transfer of Soviet forces to the Far East would mean a catastrophe for all participants in the anti-Hitler coalition.

In December 1941, British Foreign Secretary E. Eden arrived in Moscow to negotiate the conclusion of two treaties - on alliance and mutual assistance in the war with Germany and on post-war cooperation. The very fact of the discussion in December 1941 of the issues of the post-war world order testified to the firm confidence of the allies in the victory over Nazism.

On January 1, 1942, in Washington, representatives of the "Big Four" - the USSR, the USA, Great Britain and China - signed the United Nations Declaration on cooperation in the fight against Germany and its allies. On January 2, 22 more states joined the Declaration.

Numerous cipher telegrams and materials of diplomatic negotiations, stored in the collections of the WUA of the Russian Federation, spotlight two main issues in the relations of the allies in the anti-Hitler coalition - about military-technical assistance to the Soviet Union and the early opening of a second front in the west. The starting point in the first question can be considered the Protocol of the Moscow Conference of October 1, 1941, presented in the Collection, which determined the volume of military supplies to the Soviet Union for the next nine months.

The documents show that there were many contradictions between the allies. In February - March 1942, negotiations were actively conducted on organizing a personal meeting between J. Stalin and US President F. Roosevelt to discuss issues of mutual trust, organizing military supplies and the possibility of an early opening of a second front in the west.

A significant set of documents is devoted to one of the most interesting stories in the history of Soviet diplomacy during the Great Patriotic War. In May-June 1942, People's Commissar for Foreign Affairs V. M. Molotov made an official visit to London and Washington for negotiations with British Prime Minister W. Churchill and US President F. Roosevelt. It was the first air flight of a representative of the Soviet government abroad, moreover, made in extreme conditions.

The result of difficult negotiations in London was the signing of the Soviet-British Treaty of May 26, 1942 on an alliance in the war against Nazi Germany and its accomplices in Europe and on cooperation and mutual assistance after the war. A Soviet-American treaty similar in spirit to it on the principles applicable to mutual assistance in waging a war against aggression was signed by the Soviet ambassador in Washington, M. M. Litvinov, on June 11, 1942, the day after V. M. Molotov's departure from the United States. As a result of negotiations in Washington, the Soviet side agreed to a 4-fold reduction in the tonnage of military supplies in the event that the allies open a second front in Europe in 1942.

However, the United Kingdom and the United States have decided to postpone this operation until next year. During his August visit to Moscow, Churchill personally informed Stalin about this, while notifying him of the preparation of a military operation in North Africa in the autumn of 1942. Materials about the Moscow talks are also included in the Collection.  

Since the events on the "diplomatic front" unfolded against the backdrop of fierce fighting on the Soviet-German front, in the midst of the battle for Stalingrad and the Caucasus, on October 19, 1942, Stalin sent a cipher telegram to the Soviet ambassador in London: "We all in Moscow have the impression that Churchill is heading for the defeat of the USSR ... Without such an assumption, it is difficult to explain Churchill's behavior on the issue of a second front in Europe, on the issue of arms supplies to the USSR, which are being progressively reduced, despite the growth in production in England ... finally, on the issue of the systematic bombing of Berlin by the British during September, which Churchill proclaimed in Moscow and which he did not fulfill one iota. This document captures the growing doubts in the Soviet leadership about the prospects for military and political cooperation with the allies in the anti-Hitler coalition, which resulted in serious contradictions between them at the end of the war.

The action is complemented with the activities of the Soviet Foreign Ministry of the circular notes of the People's Commissar for Foreign Affairs V. M. Molotov, addressed to all governments and missions of countries that are not at war with the USSR, about the atrocities of the German authorities in the Soviet territories they seized and against Soviet prisoners of war, as well as about the responsibility that the German government and command had to suffer for the atrocities committed.

 

November 18, 2022 Documents from the Central Archive of the FSB of Russia and the Central Border Archive of the FSB of Russia for the period from June 22, 1941 to November 19, 1942 are featured in the Collection of Digitized Archival Documents, Film and Photo Materials dedicated to World War II.

The journals of the border detachments of the NKVD of the USSR, operational reports and memoranda provide details about the combat operations of the border guards in the early days of the Great Patriotic War.

The troops of the NKVD and the NKGB of the USSR were put on mobilization readiness. They were entrusted not only with the organization and implementation of measures to secure and protect the most important industrial enterprises and strategically important facilities, but also with the prevention of all possible wrecking and sabotage acts. The work to stop the panic among the population depended on them. The Collection contains documents describing the implementation of the tasks set.

In the first days and months of the war, special attention was paid to the preservation of the cultural heritage of the Moscow Kremlin. The documents contain information about the protection and methods of camouflage of the Kremlin and the territory adjacent to it.

On the night of July 22, 1941 the capital was subjected to the first massive enemy bombardment. The Collection features documents on the results of the raid, the actions of the fighter battalions and police detachments to eliminate the consequences of the bombing.

Of interest are the documents about the organization of the parade on November 7, 1941 on Red Square, which became a symbol of the courage and stamina of the Soviet soldier.

The Collection also contains orders and directives of the NKVD of the USSR on the organization of fighter battalions, measures to combat paratroopers and saboteurs in different regions and republics of the USSR, the fight against espionage, and the general preparation of the population for air defence.

According to intelligence reports, notifications and certificates of departments and a special department of the NKVD of the USSR we learn about the behavior of enemy troops, their plans, the combat situation on the fronts and the course of military operations in Leningrad, Moscow, Tula, Kursk, Stalingrad Regions, Crimean ASSR.

An extensive block of documents spotlights the situation on the Don and Stalingrad fronts, military operations and preparations for the counteroffensive of the Red Army near Stalingrad. Staff reports of the UNKVD of Stalingrad Region show how the city was prepared for a state of siege. The troops of the NKVD of the USSR kept order in the city, organized the protection of its most important facilities and factories, and protected the city from enemy air raids.

Thanks to the intelligence received from the partisan detachments and local departments of the NKVD, analytical reports and memos have been preserved telling about the situation of the civilian population in the occupied territory, the activities of the occupying authorities and the atrocities committed by the Nazis against Soviet prisoners of war and civilians in the Byelorussian SSR, Ukrainian SSR, Leningrad, Smolensk, Bryansk, Rostov, Moscow and other regions.

In addition to documents, the project contains photographs - aerial photographs of the German bombing of Soviet cities: Brest, Minsk, Bryansk, Moscow, Leningrad and Stalingrad.

 

December 6, 2022 Over 100 documents from the Archive of the Foreign Intelligence Service of the Russian Federation entered the Collection “World War II in archival documents” available on the Presidential Library’s portal.

The documents are intelligence messages (cipher telegrams) from London, Tokyo, New York, Shanghai, Harbin, Stockholm, as well as reports, certificates and special messages from the Intelligence Directorate of the NKVD of the USSR to the top Soviet leadership for June 1941 - November 1942.

A significant part of the documents is devoted to military plans of Germany, its allies and satellites. Intelligence reports spotlight the reaction of the German military command to the first difficulties faced by the Wehrmacht in the USSR. Already in August 1941, the German General Staff recognized that the plan for the rapid defeat of the Red Army had been thwarted. Of interest are reports on disagreements within the military-political leadership of Germany on the issue of conducting military operations against the USSR, on attempts at peaceful negotiations between the military opposition of Germany and Great Britain for the period from April 1941 to June 1942, on the transfer of troops, the activities of German intelligence and etc.

A large number of intelligence reports contain information about the military plans of Japan in relation to the Soviet Union, the attempts of Nazi Germany getting the Japanese to enter the war against the USSR.

Intelligence reports show true activities of countries that formally remained neutral, but in one form or another provided assistance to Nazi Germany and its allies. This means, among other things, the production in Sweden and Switzerland of weapons for Germany and Finland.

Soviet residents regularly sent information to Moscow about the moods and intentions of the USSR's allies in the anti-Hitler coalition. These reports testify to the discussion by the British in the summer of 1941 of the possibility of bombing the Soviet oil fields in Baku if the Germans approached them. The documents contain information about military plans of Great Britain in relation to the Axis countries, including in the event of a Japanese attack on the USSR, about the attempts of Great Britain and the United States to persuade (at the insistence of the Soviet side) Finland, Romania and Hungary to conclude a separate peace.

The documents tell of Japanese-American negotiations leading up to Japan's attack on the US naval base at Pearl Harbor on December 7, 1941 and subsequent US attempts to persuade the USSR to declare war on Japan.

The project features intelligence reports of the NKVD of the USSR on the internal situation in Great Britain, its relations with the USSR, the USA and other countries (for January - September 1942). They paid close attention to the moods and disagreements in British government and military circles regarding the expansion or limitation of cooperation with the USSR, including after the end of the war. The documents reflect the issue that was of particular interest to the Soviet leadership - the possibility (or rather the impossibility) of opening a second front in the West in 1941-1942, as well as the opening of a front by the allies in North Africa in the autumn of 1942.

One of the most important topics in the reports of the London agents is the development of uranium work in Great Britain and the adoption in 1941 of a decision on the industrial production of uranium (atomic) bombs for their use in military purposes.

 

December 28, 2022 Over 450 documents from the Russian Archive of Socio-Political History (RGASPI) for the period from June 22, 1941 to November 19, 1942 entered the Collection of Digitized Archival Documents, Film and Photo Materials “World War II in archival documents”.

Today, the volume of the Collection exceeds about 10 thousand materials including maps, diagrams, periodicals, photographs, newsreels for the period from January 1933 to November 1942.

The Collection has been entered with documents from personal collections of J. Stalin, V. M. Molotov, A. I. Mikoyan, A. A. Zhdanov, G. M. Malenkov, E. M. Yaroslavsky, as well as the collections of the Politburo and the Organizing Bureau of the Central Committee of the CPSU (b) and departments of the Central Committee of the All-Union Communist Party of Bolsheviks, the Central Committee of the Komsomol, the Central Headquarters of the partisan movement.

The resolutions of the Politburo of the Central Committee of the All-Union Communist Party of Bolsheviks spotlight the restructuring in public administration and the creation of new state and military bodies and committees: the Headquarters of the High Command of the Armed Forces of the USSR, the USSR State Defence Committee, the Council for Evacuation Affairs, the Committee for Food and Clothing Supply, the Committee for the Distribution of Labor forces, etc., on the appointment of people's commissars and their deputies. They also provide an opportunity to learn about the progress of the evacuation of front-line factories, the population and archives. The Politburo also considered agricultural issues, such as harvesting and food distribution.

The documents of the departments of the Central Committee of the All-Union Communist Party of Bolsheviks contain information on the progress of mobilization throughout the Soviet Union, the mood of the population in connection with the outbreak of war, the measures taken to protect Soviet cities, the state of air defence and the construction of bomb shelters, the camouflage of individual objects, the collection of funds and things for the Red Army, the work of evacuation hospitals.

The situation in the temporarily occupied territory of the USSR and the cruelty of the Nazis against the civilian population are told by the reports of the Intelligence Directorate of the NKVD of the USSR, deposited in the materials of the Department of Agitation and Propaganda of the Central Committee of the All-Union Communist Party of Bolsheviks, as well as orders of the occupation authorities, stored in the collections of the Central Headquarters of the partisan movement. The documents of the collections  give an idea of the formation of a powerful partisan movement, the vigorous activity of partisan detachments behind enemy lines, and the creation of partisan schools. Among the presented documents are operational plans and maps of massive one-time attacks by partisan detachments on enemy communications.

The documents of the Komsomol Central Committee spotlight the participation of Komsomol organizations in combat operations on the fronts and their underground activities behind enemy lines in the temporarily occupied territories of the USSR.

The personal collections of J. Stalin, V.M. Molotov, A. I. Mikoyan, A. A. Zhdanov, G. M. Malenkov present the situation on the fronts and the course of combat operations, as well as the situation in Leningrad, its siege and assistance to the population - the construction of a winter road across Lake Ladoga and a gas pipeline along the bottom of Ladoga.

The Collection also features documents on the formation of the anti-Hitler coalition: correspondence between J. Stalin and W. Churchill, F. Roosevelt, the USSR Ambassador to Great Britain I. M. Maisky, records of conversations between Stalin and Molotov with the British Ambassador S. Cripps, personal representative of the President USA in Moscow G. Hopkins about the joint struggle against Germany, the opening of a second front and Lend-Lease supplies.

 

Viewing archival documents of the Collection is available from anywhere in the world. Especially for the foreign audience, the titles and annotations to the documents and 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 Internet publications of documents, virtual tours of the history of the Second World War, 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)