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

On April 14, 2025 the collection of digitised archival documents, film and photo materials World War II in Archival Documents posted on the Presidential Library's portal was enriched with 200 documents covering the events of the Great Patriotic War in the period from 13 March to 13 April 1945.

Documents from the fonds of the Central Archive of the Ministry of Defence of the Russian Federation reflect the course of the largest offensive operations of the Red Army in the final period of the Great Patriotic War: Vienna offensive operation conducted by the forces of the 2nd and 3rd Ukrainian Fronts, East Pomeranian offensive operation (conducted by units of the 1st and 2nd Belorussian Fronts), offensive operation to retain and expand the bridgehead in the area of Küstrin, conducted by units of the 1st Belorussian Front, and Königsberg offensive operation of the 3rd Belorussian Front (part of the East Prussian offensive operation). The documents on these operations are represented in the Collection by combat orders, directives, orders, combat reports, summaries, reports of the command of the fronts and subordinate units, as well as information reports of the political departments of the 1st Ukrainian and 3rd Belorussian Fronts and report maps of combat operations of the Red Army units.

Also placed orders of the Supreme Commander-in-Chief J. V. Stalin with greetings to the troops of the 1st Ukrainian and 3rd Belorussian fronts.Stalin's orders with greetings to the troops of the 2nd Belorussian Front who captured the city and fortress of Gdansk (Danzig) (30 March 1945), to the troops of the 2nd Ukrainian Front who captured the city of Bratislava (4 April 1945), to the troops of the 3rd Belorussian Front who captured the city and fortress of Koenigsberg (9 April 1945), and to the troops of the 3rd Ukrainian Front who captured the city of Vienna (13 April 1945).

The new addition includes photographs from the collections of the Russian State Military Archive and the Russian State Archive of Film and Photo Documents, depicting episodes of the Red Army liberation of cities and towns in Poland, Czechoslovakia and East Prussia. There are also fragments of sound recordings of Marshal of the Soviet Union A. I. Yeremenko's memoirs of 1970 about the liberation of the concentration camp Auschwitz and the town of Ratibor in Poland and Army General A. P. Beloborodov's memoirs of 1972 about the actions of the 43rd Army of the 3rd Belorussian Front during the storming of Koenigsberg.

Included are documents of Soviet intelligence agencies: agency reports (cipher telegrams) received from Soviet intelligence officers in Washington, London and Stockholm, in particular about German attempts to start separatist negotiations with the USSR's allies in the anti-Hitler coalition. Among the intelligence documents there is also a report of the USSR Commissar of State Security V. N. Merkulov sent to the USSR State Defence Committee, the USSR People's Commissariat of Foreign Affairs and the USSR People's Commissariat of Internal Affairs on the intentions of the Polish emigration government in London to continue the struggle for Poland's borders with the USSR by force (7 April 1945).

From the documents of the Russian State Archive of Social and Political History are presented the report of the 7th Department of the Political Department of the 1st Belorussian Front "On the life of Soviet prisoners of war and prisoners of war of allied states in German captivity" (21-22 March 1945), sent to the Propaganda and Agitation Department of the Central Committee of the All-Union Communist Party of Bolsheviks (b), a personal message from J. V. Stalin to US President F. D. Roosevelt with an assessment of the separatist negotiations in Bern between representatives of the United Kingdom and the United States and representatives of Germany (3 April 1945).

Of interest are the documents from the holdings of the Archive of Foreign Policy of the Russian Federation: correspondence of the USSR Commissar for Foreign Affairs V. M. Molotov with the US Ambassador to the USSR A. Harriman, concerning the negotiations between representatives of the English-American and German command in Bern (15-16, 21-22 March 1945); the draft note of the Soviet government on the convening of the Constituent Conference in San Francisco on 25 April 1945 for the establishment of the General International Organisation for the Maintenance of Peace and Security (24 March 1945).

The collection World War II in Archival Documents includes resolutions of the Council of People's Commissars of the USSR, stored in the State Archive of the Russian Federation, including resolutions "On the USSR representatives in the Reparations Commission in Moscow" and "On the State Budget of the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics for 1945" (14 March 1945), "On the Soviet Delegation to the Conference in San Francisco" (22 March 1945), "Marking the death of US President Franklin D. Roosevelt" (13 April 1945).

Fragments of documentary films about the capturing of Königsberg and the liberation of Vienna in April 1945, filmed by cameramen of the 3rd Belorussian and 3rd Ukrainian Fronts, are also presented in the collection.

!!! 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)