Information technology and history: The Russian Military-Historical Society and Google to digitize wartime letters

The largest online-archive of letters of the Great Patriotic War period will be available thanks to Internet users.

The Russian Military-Historical Society and Google declare of the opening of the website “Living Memory”. This initiative, timed to the 70^th celebration of Victory in the Great Patriotic War, is aimed at creating the largest online-archive of wartime letters, sent from the front to the front in 1941-1945. 

The Great Patriotic War is one of the most significant periods of our history, which is depicted on the pages of textbooks, art and documentary works. But there is another perhaps the most important part of that time heritage, - personal memories of people. Today, most letters are scattered in private collections and are not available to the public, the purpose of the project – to collect, to digitize these letters and to preserve for future generations.

- We launch this project on the eve of the 70^th anniversary of the Great Victory, - says Vladimir Kononov, the head of the department of information policy of the Russian Military-Historical Society, - the Project is timeless and its purpose is to concentrate on one of the Internet resource of living testimony of the Great Patriotic War. The letters to the front by soldiers are living evidence and very important historical sources. 

The website “Living Memory”, developed by Google and located at www.pisma.histrf.ru, will allow bringing together wartime letters in one online-archive, giving everyone the opportunity to share family documents and read the letters. Easy-to-use online form allows downloading the necessary number of pages and letters, dated document, add a detailed description as well as any comments. An image can be submitted on the computer or smart phone.

Primary content of online-archive was held with documents from the autonomous non-profit organization promoting the conservation of historical and cultural heritage of the “People's Archives”, which for many years is collecting wartime documents. The website “Living Memory” will be open to all Internet users at the end of April.