Memory of Russia: Documentary encyclopedia of war years comes out in Tambov

Presentation of the book entitled “People of Tambov on World War II fronts in 1939-1945” took place in the Tambov Oblast Administration. It was prepared by workers of the State Archive of Socio-Political History of Tambov Oblast.

The documentary encyclopedia consists of two sections: "Battle and soldiers’ psychology in war-time documents" and "Mode of life and psychology of front in post-war documents". The collection contains 1418 documents from the holdings of the State Archive of Socio-Political History of Tambov Oblast, private collections, the archive of the Federal Security Service of Tambov Oblast, the Department of Internal Affairs Museum of History of Police of Tambov district, the G.R. Derzhavin State University Museum.

The book provides a chance to find a lot of rare previously unpublished information. E.g. the “Soldiers’ diaries” section includes five genuinely unique documents, as only few people had diaries on the front. There are a lot of documents dealing with correspondence of front-line soldiers with the home front. Special attention deserve documents of 1939 - June 1941, which used to remain unknown for a long time for history professionals and buffs. Meanwhile they indicate that the life of Tambov Oblast in the initial stage of the World War II was very large-scale, rich in political and social events. Readers will definitely take a keen interest in a small section entitled “Soldier’s folklore”, which includes poems ("self-made", and those written by poets), lyrics, texts of “chastushki” (humorous rhyme) from front letters, albums and diaries. This very edition is especially vital for understanding not political, but a human side of the war tragedy, revealed through lives and feelings of certain people – people of Tambov Oblast.