Archival documents on military-industrial production in 1943 presented on Presidential Library's portal

The collection of digitized archival documents, films and photographic materials World War II in Archival Documents on the Presidential Library's portal has been supplemented with 400 resolutions of the USSR State Defense Committee (GKO) Nos. 3235-3637 from April 22 to June 23, 1943, permanently stored in the Russian State Archive of Socio-Political History (RGASPI).

During the months of April and June 1943, the GKO continued to address issues related to increasing and strengthening weapons production (Nos. 3236 and 3316). For example, on May 17, the USSR GKO adopted a resolution concerning the production of Il-2 aircraft in a single-seat fighter configuration (No. 3386). On May 28, resolutions were also adopted regarding the production of modified Yak-9 aircraft equipped with M-107A engines (No. 3448), and Pe-2 aircraft designed for fighter use (No. 3449).

On June 19, 1943, the designers of the artillery systems E. A. Berkalov, E. P., Ikonnikov, S. I., Lodkin, A. F., Smirnov, G. N., Rafalovich, and M. Y. Tsirulnikov were awarded amnesty by a decree of the State Defense Committee of the USSR (No. 3612). They were working in the artillery department of the 4th special department of the NKVD.

On the territory of the Soviet Union liberated from Nazi forces, production of radio stations, wagons, and pipelines continued. Power plants, railways, and communication facilities were also restored.

To provide defense plants with everything necessary, the State Defense Committee of the USSR adopted resolutions on the supply of equipment and fuel to factories (Nos. 3239, 3261, 3347, and 3348), plans for the extraction of coal and shale (Nos. 3323 and 3494), and petroleum products (No. 3495). Additionally, decisions were made regarding the construction of new factories (No. 3444 and 3508) and the restoration of damaged ones (Nos. 3376 and 3582), as well as the provision of labor force to these facilities (No. 3595).

Furthermore, the resolutions of the State Defense Committee approved repair plans for various types of machinery and equipment, including tractors (No. 3238), automobiles (No. 3240), airplanes (No. 3264), tanks (Nos. 3364 and 3383), and power plants (No. 3268).

To support social competitions, the State Committee of Defense (GKO) of the USSR also established rolling Red Banners for enterprises of various industries. These included:

- No. 3297: People's Commissariat of Shipbuilding Industry

- No. 3342: People's Commissariat of Food Industry

- No. 3435: People's Commissariat of Electrical Industry

- No. 3436: People's Commissariat of Rubber Industry

- No. 3457: People's Commissariat Light Industry

- No. 3510: People's Commissariat Meat and Dairy Industry

- Textile industry (No. 3537)

In addition, on May 7, 1943, the GKO adopted a resolution regarding the museum-exhibition of captured weapons and equipment. J. Stalin himself made edits to the concept and list of exhibits for this event. The exhibition was opened on June 22, 1943 - the second anniversary of the start of the Great Patriotic War - at the Gorky Central Park of Culture and Recreation in Moscow.

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 Administrative Directorate of the President of the Russian Federation and the Presidential Library.

The Collection is carried out by Rosarkhiv 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 and others.

To date, the volume of the Collection is over 15 thousand materials: maps, diagrams, periodicals, photographs, newsreels for the period from January 1933 to December 1944.

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.

Materials are provided by the Federal Archival Agency