Memory of Russia: Saint-Petersburg to host the exhibition "Behind Enemy Lines. Partisans and Underground Fighters during the Great Patriotic War"

The State Museum of Political History of Russia (Saint-Petersburg) opened the exhibition "Behind Enemy Lines. Partisans and Underground Fighters during the Great Patriotic War", devoted to people's resistance in the territories occupied by Nazi Germany.

Weapons, documents and photographs, leaflets and certificates, awards and personal belongings represent the history of the partisan movement and the fate of people who fought for Victory behind enemy lines. Little-known materials, including declassified documents, create a balanced and comprehensive picture of the partisan struggle.

The formation of the museum collection devoted to the partisan movement was launched in the years of the Great Patriotic War. A large part of valuable exhibits was collected by the museum specialists in the 1960s – 1980s. Museum materials show the geography of the people's struggle - the resistance development in Leningrad Region (including Novgorod and Pskov lands), Bryansk Region, Ukraine, Belarus and the Baltic states. Particular attention is paid to the Partisan Territory in Leningrad Region with dozens of villages turned into the solid fortresses of armed resistance.

The exhibition features the banners of the Leningrad partisans, medical instruments of partisan doctors, trophy weapons captured in battles. Photographs, magazines and wall newspapers recreate the everyday life of partisans. Cinema posters, literary works, paintings and graphics reveal a significant place of the image of partisans and underground fighters in the art of those years.

A separate section spotlights the activities of the Central Headquarters of the Partisan Movement at the Headquarters of the Supreme Command, which engaged the creation of detachments and the coordination of separate partisan formations and Red Army units. Examples of Nazi propaganda showcase the punitive policy of the invaders concerning partisans and people who helped them.

The final section highlights the participation of Soviet citizens in the European Resistance Movement. Soviet soldiers and ordinary people - former prisoners, escaped from concentration and labour camps, fought in partisan detachments and underground units in Italy, France, Poland, Czechoslovakia, and Yugoslavia.