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

On May 12, 2024, marking the 80th anniversary of the completion of the Crimean offensive operation and the complete liberation of Sevastopol and the Crimean Peninsula from the Nazi invaders, the collection "World War II in archival documents" is complemented by digitized archival documents of the Federal Archives of Russia: the State Archive of the Russian Federation, the Russian State Archive of Socio-Political History, the Russian State Archive of Economics, the Russian State Archive of Film and Photog Documents reflecting the events on the territory of the Crimean Peninsula in the period from the end of 1942 to November 1944.

Documents from the end of 1942 to the beginning of 1944 are represented by encrypted telegrams of the leadership of the Crimean Regional Committee of the CPSU(b) sent to the Central Committee of the CPSU(b) in Moscow, recently were declassified in the Russian State Archive of Socio-Political History. These are reports about the activity of Soviet partisan detachments in the territory of Crimea occupied by the Nazi invaders, about the state of enemy troops stationed in Crimea, about the situation in the liberated area of the Kerch Peninsula in November 1943. The Collection also includes a resolution of the USSR State Defence Committee dated January 25, 1944. "About the construction of a railway bridge across the Kerch Strait," which marked the beginning of work on the restoration of the transport infrastructure of the Crimea even before the complete liberation of the peninsula from the enemy.

In April – May 1944, during the Crimean offensive operation of the Red Army, Crimea and Sevastopol were completely liberated from the Nazi invaders. The report of the First Secretary of the Crimean Regional Committee of the CPSU (b) V. Bulatov to the Central Committee of the CPSU(b) dated April 24, 1944 tells in detail about the consequences of the enemy occupation, the state of the liberated cities and districts of the Crimea. The Collection includes resolutions and orders of the State Defence Committee of the USSR, the Council of National's Commissars of the USSR and the RSFSR, memos of the departments of the Central Committee and other documents from the holdings of the General Assembly of the Russian Federation, The Russian State Archive of Socio-Political History, The Russian State Archive of Economics, which reflect the difficult initial stage of restoration work on the territory of Crimea and Sevastopol. Restoration work was carried out in the summer and autumn of 1944. Among the most important of the documents are: the decree of the State Budget Committee of the USSR "About measures to ensure the restoration of priority facilities of the main naval base of the Black Sea Fleet in Sevastopol" (June 14, 1944), resolutions of the Council of National's Commissars of the USSR "About urgent measures to restore agriculture in the Crimea" (July 8, 1944), "About priority measures to restore the economy of the Crimea" (August 1, 1944), "About measures to restore sanatoriums in the resort Crimea and the relocation of hospitals" (August 28 1944), the resolution of the Council of National's Commissars of the RSFSR "About priority measures for the restoration of the economy of the Crimea" (July 20, 1944).

The orders of the Council of National's Commissars of the RSFSR about the restoration of winemaking in the region: "About measures for the restoration and further development of viticultural state farms and enterprises of the Crimean Trust of the Drug Food Industry of the RSFSR" (July 28, 1944), about the organization of new viticultural state farms and the expansion of existing state farms of the Massandra wine factory (August 20, 1944) are great value for the agriculture of the Crimea.

The certificates of various National's commissariats and departments prepared by the end of October 1944 and reflecting the interim results of the steps taken to restore various sectors of the economy and infrastructure of the Crimean Peninsula are of particular interest. The documents show that the departments performed the main tasks assigned to them by the Council of National's Commissars of the RSFSR by the date of July 20, 1944.

The Collection also includes photo documents from the personal holdings of K. Voroshilov (The Russian State Archive of Socio-Political History), who coordinated the fighting of the 4th Ukrainian Front and the Separate Primorsky Army on the Kerch Peninsula and in the Simferopol area together with the Chief of the General Staff of the Red Army A. Vasilevsky in April 1944. The holdings contain photographs of the storming of Sevastopol and the liberated city, taken by TASS photojournalist E. Khaldeem in May 1944, photo documents depicting the fighting of Soviet troops during the Crimean offensive operation (The Russian State Archive of Film and Photo Documents, The Russian State Archive of Socio-Political History).

!!! 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)