Materials on the economy entered the collection “World War II in Archival Documents”

The Collection of Digitized Archival Documents, Film and Photo Materials “World War II in Archival Documents” has been entered with documents of the Russian State Archives of Economics (RGAE) now available on the website of the Presidential Library.

Documents reflect the work of defence industry in extreme wartime conditions, the increase in production volumes of basic industries (metallurgy, mechanical engineering, chemical industry, fuel and energy complex, etc.), the improvement of technologies and the development of new types of military equipment, the relocation of production facilities to the rear of the country and the restoration of their work in a short time.

The Collection features documents from the holdings of the People’s Commissariat of Armament of the USSR (F. 8157), People’s Commissariat of Aviation Industry of the USSR (F. 8044), People’s Commissariat of Munitions of the USSR (F.7516), People’s Commissariat of Machine Tool Industry of the USSR (F. 8259), People’s Commissariat of the Shipbuilding Industry of the USSR (F. 8899), People’s Commissariat of Heavy Machine Building of the USSR (F. 8243), People’s Commissariat of Coal Industry of the USSR (F. 8225), People’s Commissariat of Oil Industry of the USSR (F. 8627), People’s Commissariat of Non-Ferrous Metallurgy of the USSR (F. 9022), People’s Commissariat of Ferrous Metallurgy of the USSR (F. 8875), People’s Commissariat of Electronics Industry of the USSR (F. 8848), People’s Commissariat of Communications of the USSR (F. 2527), created due to the needs of the war People’s Commissariat of Tank Industry of the USSR (F. 8752) and the People’s Commissariat of Mortar Armament of the USSR (F. 2183), People’s Commissariat of Foreign Trade of the USSR (F. 413). There are about 200 documents in total covering the period from June 22, 1941 to November 19, 1942 (about 1,000 digital items).

A massive production base has been created in Ural and other safe regions in the east of the country in order to supply the army with ammunition and military equipment. Decrees and orders of the People’s Commissariats of June–August, 1941 highlight the issues of evacuation of defence enterprises and the deployment of production in new areas:

• Decree № 93ss of June 26, 1941 issued by People’s Commissar of Ferrous Metallurgy of the USSR I. F. Tevosyan on the organization of a new base for the production of armor and tanks “KV”. RGAE. F. 8875. Inv. 1. C. 99. P. 171-168 (reverse numeration);
• Decree № 84ss of July 4, 1941 issued by People’s Commissar of Machine Tool Industry of the USSR A. I. Yefremov on the organization of the relocation of production to other areas of the country. RGAE. F. 8259. Inv. 4. C. 20. P. 49-50;
• Decree № 236ss of July 4, 1941 issued by People’s Commissar of Munitions of the USSR P. N. Goremykin on the evacuation of enterprises from Leningrad. RGAE. F. 7516. Inv. 1. C. 805. P. 58-62;
• Decree № 141ss of July 5, 1941 issued by People’s Commissar of Oil Industry of the USSR I. K. Sedin on the organization of the evacuation of enterprises and workers. RGAE. F. 8627. Inv. 1. C. 33. P. 141;
• Decree № 291s of July 15, 1941 issued by People’s Commissar of Munitions of the USSR “On the creation of a base for the production of armor-piercing and anti-aircraft shells in Ural and Siberia”. RGAE. F. 7516. Inv. 1. C. 806. P. 162-169.

The People’s Commissariat of Mortar Armament of the USSR, created in the beginning of the war on the basis of the People’s Commissariat of General Engineering of the USSR, was engaged in the production of mines and shells for the M-8 and M-13 (“Katyushas”) rocket launchers. In October, 1942 enterprises of the People’s Commissariat of Electronics Industry of the USSR manufactured special-purpose mines for the Central Headquarters of the Partisan Movement (Decree № MK-443ss of October 21, 1942 issued by People’s Commissar of Electronics Industry of the USSR I. G. Kabanov on the manufacture of special-purpose mines for the Central Headquarters of the Partisan Movement. RGAE. F. 8848. Inv. 1. C. 266. P. 33-37).

By the autumn of 1941, the Soviet Government realized that the management bodies of the tank industry, enterprises of which were dispersed between the People’s Commissariat of Medium Machine Building, People’s Commissariat of Shipbuilding Industry, People’s Commissariat of Heavy Industry and other People’s Commissariats, required reorganization. Thus, in September, 1941 the All-Union People’s Commissariat of Tank Industry was created. It included tank, diesel and armor factories and was headed by V. A. Malyshev. On September 12, 1941 the Decree № 530 of the People’s Commissariat of Medium Machine Building of the USSR on the establishment of the People’s Commissariat of Tank Industry of the USSR was issued (RGAE. F. 8752. Inv. 4. C. 82. P. 169-167).

In accordance with the Resolution of the State Defence Committee of the USSR (GKO of the USSR), on November 17, 1941 People’s Commissar of Tank Industry of the USSR V. A. Malyshev issued the Decree “On increasing the production of tanks to 140 vehicles per day” (RGAE. F. 8752. Inv. 4. C. 4. P. 87-81). At the same time, measures were taken for the improvement of the quality of tanks by enhancing their construction, manufacturing technology and eliminating manufacturing defects (Decree № 435ss of June 8, 1942 issued by People’s Commissar of Tank Industry of the USSR V. A. Malyshev on the improvement of the combat qualities of tanks T-34. RGAE. F. 8752. Inv. 4. C. 90. P. 138-134; Memo of November 2, 1942 from Director of the Factory № 112 E. E. Rubinchik to People’s Commissar of Tank Industry of the USSR I. M. Zaltsman about the acquirement by the German army of new shells, able to pierce the armor of the T-34 tanks, and the implementation into production of a new method of shielding for the protection of the T-34 tanks in a short time. RGAE. F. 8752. Inv. 4. C. 105. P. 139-138).

The People’s Commissariat of Aviation Industry of the USSR (NCAP), headed by A. I. Shakurin, was engaged in ensuring the production of aircraft. Thanks to the well-prepared mobilization plan, the NCAP noticeably increased the production of aircraft and engines in the first months of the war. Above all else, it was necessary to supply the front with the fighter aircrafts Yak-1 and LaGG-3, dive bombers Pe-2, ground-attack aircrafts Il-2:

• Decree № 716ss of July 19, 1941 “On the production of the Yak-1 and Yak-3 aircrafts”. RGAE. F. 8044. Inv. 1. C. 557. P. 46-47;
• Decree № 862ss of August 15, 1941 “On the production of the Pe-3 aircrafts”. RGAE. F. 8044. Inv. 1. C. 571. P. 67;
• Decree № 863ss of August 15, 1941 “On the production of the LaGG-3 and Yak-1 aircrafts”. RGAE. F. 8044. Inv. 1. C. 572. P. 4-5;
• Decree № 589ss of August 5, 1942 “On the increase in the production of fighter and ground-attack aircrafts”. RGAE. F. 8044. Inv. 1. C. 780. P. 96-101.

Enterprises of ferrous and non-ferrous metallurgy, coal industry, oil production worked for the needs of the front, increasing the production and carrying out geological-exploration activities in Ural and Siberia.

The main task of the People’s Commissariat of Oil Industry of the USSR was the uninterrupted supply of petroleum products, the creation of raw-material bases, on the eve of the winter period especially. In April, 1942 the construction of the Buguruslan-Kuybyshev gas pipeline began. It was commissioned in September 1943 and became the first in the history of the gas transportation system of the USSR (Decree № 22ss of April 10, 1942 issued by People’s Commissar of Oil Industry of the USSR I. K. Sedin “On the construction of the Buguruslan-Kuybyshev gas pipeline”. RGAE. F. 8627. Inv. 1. C. 87. P. 128-134).

In wartime conditions, the People’s Commissariat of Coal Industry of the USSR carried out the norms of average daily coal productions on factories and trusts: 220 thousand tons in the 1st quarter of 1942 and 265 thousand tons in the 4th quarter of 1942 (Decree № 360s of December 20, 1941 “On the development of coal mining in the Eastern regions of the USSR”. RGAE. F. 8225. Inv. 2. C. 104. P. 60-76).

Following the liberation of the territory of the Donetsk Coal Basin from the enemy in January 1942, the decree was issued on the restoration of the Voroshilovugol and Rostovugol coal mines for the provision of industry and transport with Donetsk coal (Decree № 12s of January 24, 1942 issued by People’s Commissar of Coal Industry of the USSR V. V. Vakhrushev. RGAE. F. 8225. Inv. 2. C. 186. P. 22-29). In April-May, 1942 coal production increased in Ural and Kuzbass.

Documents of the RGAE from the fonds of the People’s Commissariat of Foreign Trade of the USSR highlight the military-technical assistance provided to the USSR by the countries of the anti-Hitler coalition. The Collection features documents of the Soviet Government Procurement Commission in the United States, correspondence, certificates and reports on the supply of military equipment (letter from Lieutenant General of the US Army Air Forces to Chairman of the Soviet Government Procurement Commission in the US A. I. Belyaev about the reason for the delay in the assembly of the A-20S aircrafts of May 18, 1942. RGAE. F. 413. Inv. 20. C. 44. P. 133; letter from Lieutenant General of the US Army Air Forces to Chairman of the Soviet Government Procurement Commission in the US A. I. Belyaev about the impossibility of increasing the supply of combat aircrafts to the USSR of September 11, 1942. RGAE. F. 413. Inv. 20. C. 44. P. 72-73).

The album “Gifts to the Motherland”, published by the Chelyabinsk Regional Committee of VKPB in October, 1942 and telling about the work of military-industrial enterprises in Ural, has been preserved in the Russian State Archive of Scientific and Technical Documentation (RGANTD) as part of the personal collection of A. I. Sokolov, military specialist in jet weapons, who was appointed Commissioner of the GKO of the USSR for the production of “Katyusha” launchers in Sverdlovsk Region.

In accordance with the List of instructions for the implementation of the Address of the President of the Russian Federation to the Federal Assembly of the Russian Federation dated January 15, 2020, the organizers of the Collection of Digitized Archival Documents, Film and Photo Materials "World War II in Archival Documents" are the Federal Archival Agency (Rosarkhiv), the Administration of the President of the Russian Federation and the Presidential Library.

The Collection content is carried out by the Federal Archives and federal state archives with the participation of the Ministry of Defence of the Russian Federation, the Ministry of Internal Affairs of the Russian Federation, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Russian Federation, the Federal Security Service of the Russian Federation, the Foreign Intelligence Service of the Russian Federation, the state archives of Belarus.

In 2020-2021 the Collection included more than 5.5 thousand archival documents, including maps, diagrams, periodicals, photographs, newsreels for the period from January 1933 to June 22, 1941. Today, the Collection exceeds 8 thousand materials.

Viewing archival documents of the Collection "World War II in Archival Documents" is available from anywhere in the world. Especially for the foreign audience, the titles and annotations to the documents and the texts of the accompanying articles are also published in English.

In addition to digitized archival documents, the Collection features a list of the main Internet projects, databases, other thematic Internet publications of 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.