2024

On October 2, 2024, the portal of the Presidential Library has added more than 700 archival documents in collection. These documents include resolutions of the State Defence Committee of the USSR (GKO), which were issued between November 20, 1942 and April 22, 1943. These resolutions are permanently stored in the Russian State Archive of Socio-Political History.

In addition to regular resolutions regarding the construction of power plants and the production of military equipment, the GKO also adopted resolutions in November 1942 that focused on improving communication lines between Leningrad and the front lines in winter 1942-1943 (resolution No. 2531). Other resolutions included the establishment of the Southern and Lithuanian headquarters for the partisan movement (resolution No. 2541) and uranium mining operations (resolution No. 2542).

In December 1942, production of weapons continued to increase. Resolutions were adopted on the plans for the production of machine guns, mortars, ammunition, tanks, and shells. Plans were also made for the construction of ships and the release of aircraft.

In addition, in December 1942, the re-evacuation of individual workers and employees began. On December 4, an order was issued to return from the Kazakh SSR to Moscow the evacuated part of students, professors, and teachers of Moscow's Order of Lenin V. M. Molotov Energy Institute (No. 2563). On December 25, another order was issued for the return to Moscow of researchers, workers, and employees of the Dzerzhinsky All-Union Research Institute of Thermal Engineering (No. 2658).

In January 1943, the GKO of the USSR's main task was to solve material and technical problems in industry and the transport sector, including the construction of railway lines. By resolutions of the State Defence Committee, personal military ranks were introduced for military medical and veterinary staff in the Red Army (No. 2685). Guards mortar divisions (No. 2748) and ten tank armies (No. 2791) were formed.

On February 2nd, 1943, the Battle of Stalingrad came to an end with a complete victory for Soviet troops. The same day, the State Defence Committee (GKO) of the USSR issued a resolution on the reconstruction of the Stalingrad railway junction and the railway lines connecting Stalingrad with Tikhoretsk and Likhaya stations (Resolution No. 2815).

In the same month, new military ranks were introduced for engineering, legal, and administrative personnel in the Red Army (Resolution No. 2822) and for quartermasters, medical, veterinary, administrative, and legal personnel in the Navy (Resolution No. 2890).

In March of 1943, GKO approved plans for transportation and distribution of various national economic goods, including coal, chemicals, artillery, small arms, and petroleum products.

In connection with the liberation of the territories of the Soviet Union that were temporarily occupied by Nazi forces, resolutions were passed regarding the restoration of communication facilities and enterprises in these areas (Resolution No. 2990). Additionally, resolutions were made regarding the dissolution of the Central Headquarters for the Partisan Movement (Resolution No. 3000) and the restoration of power plants, networks, and substations in cities such as Grozny, Ordzhonikidze, Stalingrad, and Voronezh (Resolution No. 3014).

Among the resolutions passed by the State Defence Committee of the USSR in April 1943 related to plans for the production and enhancement of military equipment's combat capabilities, two stand out: the Resolution on the establishment of a trophy commission responsible for exporting captured property (Resolution No. 3123), and the On Prisoners of War resolution, which detailed food ration norms for captured enemy soldiers (Resolution No. 3124).

On April 13, 1943, a decision No. 3177 was made to establish the Museum of Captured Weapons and Equipment. On April 17, at the request of the regional headquarters of the partisan movement, the Central Headquarters of the Partisan Movement was reestablished at the headquarters of the Supreme High Command, with number 3195.

On April 22, the State Committee of the USSR approved a resolution on restoring the Stalingrad Tractor Factory, with document number 3230.

The addition of the World War II in Archival Documents collection on the Presidential Library portal will continue with documents from the Great Patriotic War up to November 7, 1944. These include resolutions from the State Budget Committee, other documents from RGASPI, including the resolutions of the State Budget Committee of the USSR, as well as other documents from RGASPI and the Archive of Foreign Policy of the Russian Federation, among other sources.

On June 29, 2024, the World War II in Archival Documents collection on the Presidential Library's portal has been expanded with digitized documents related to the partisan movement during 1942-1944, which were provided by the National Archives of the Republic of Belarus (NARB), the Central Archives of the Federal Security Service of Russia, and the Russian State Archive for Socio-Political History.

In the autumn of 1942, the partisan movement had a well-established structure in the central and local levels, and was active behind enemy lines. P.K. Ponomarenko led the Central Headquarters of the Partisan Movement (CHPM), and on September 6th, 1942, by decree of the State Defence Committee of the USSR, the position of commander-in-chief of the partisans was established, with Marshal of the Soviet Union K.E. Voroshilov taking the position. On November 19th, 1942, leadership of the partisan movement was once again entrusted to the Central Committee, which reported directly to the Supreme High Command Headquarters. Since May 1942, Ukrainian partisan headquarters operated, and on September 9th, Belarusian and Estonian bands were formed, followed by Lithuanian bands in November 1942.

The Collection contains a German document "10 Commandments for German Soldiers in the Fight Against Partisans" (December 7, 1942, RGASPI), which states that "the partisan struggle is a secret struggle, its success depends largely on speed, cleverness and disguise, as well as the courageous endurance of all hardships and difficulties, which corresponds to the whole essence of the Russians."

On July 14, 1943, the Central Shaking-up and Purging Department (CHPM) ordered the start of Operation Rail War. This carefully organized, one-time, and massive operation resulted in the breaking of 171,452 railway rails, or 1,060 kilometers of railway track, in the Belarusian Soviet Socialist Republic (105,846), Kalinin (19,973), Oryol (15,841), Smolensk (11,772), and Leningrad (11,020) regions. Ukrainian Soviet Socialist Republic also had 7,000 rails removed. This massive demolition significantly slowed the transportation of enemy troops and supplies. The results of the operation were summarized by the head of the Central Internal Affairs Department, P. K. Ponomarenko, and reported to I. V. Stalin on September 7, 1943. Additionally, the collection includes a plan for the continuation of the operation in Belarus from the National Archives of the Republic of Belarus.

The documents of the Federal Security Service of Russia contain letters from the head of the Fourth Directorate of the People's Commissariat for Internal Affairs of the Soviet Union, P.A. Sudoplatov, to the People's Commissar for Internal Affairs, L.P. Beria, in 1943, and to Deputy People's Commissar for State Security, A.Z. Kobulov, in 1944, regarding enemy actions in the fight against partisan movements. These letters discuss the use of Gestapo agents disguised as ragged policemen to eliminate commanders of partisan units, the development of instructions and precautions by the Germans to counter partisans, and the dispatch of German-trained doctors and paramedics into partisan areas to carry out acts of mass terrorism against partisans.

Intelligence agencies also operated within the structure of the Central Intelligence Service, extracting information from enemy-occupied territories. This information included:

- Preparation of German troops for chemical warfare against the USSR
- State of German defensive structures
- Damage caused by Soviet aircraft to enemy targets
- Preparation by the Germans for a major punitive operation against partisans in the areas of Bobruisk, Gomel, and Ovruch
- Deployment of toxic substances by the Germans in basements of buildings in Oryol

Additionally, reports were presented by the head of the Central Internal Affairs Department, P.K. Ponomarenko, about the results of partisan activities on various fronts. These reports included information about:

- Number of destroyed and captured German soldiers
- Captured equipment
- Blown up bridges and warehouses
- Losses incurred

The rapid offensive of the Red Army in the Belarusian Soviet Socialist Republic (Byelorussia) was supported by partisan detachments, who coordinated their actions with the central committee and leadership of the fronts. The National Archive of Belarus has documents that include cipher messages regarding the need for Belarusian broadcasts to assist units of the Red Army in crossing the Dnieper River on June 25, 1944, as well as the advance of troops of the 1st Baltic Front westward and the withdrawal of enemy forces on June 27, and the liberation of western regions of Belarus on July 15. The documents state that "brigades and detachments were constantly fighting alongside units of the Red Army, and many brigades and detachments joined up with Red Army units."

On July 1, 1944, the First Secretary of the Communist Party (B) of Belarus, P.K. Ponomarenko, reported to the Secretary of the Central Committee of the All-Union Communist Party (b), A.A. Andreev, about the state of affairs in the liberated cities of the Belarusian Soviet Socialist Republic and the contribution of partisans to the liberation of the country (RGASPI archive).

The collection also includes NARB documents from the personal files of P.M. Masherov, one of the organizers and leaders of the partisan movement in Belarus. He was awarded the title of Hero of the Soviet Union. There are also pages from the personnel record of S.N. Zorin, the commander of Jewish partisan unit No. 106 in the Naliboksky Forest. A fragment of the report of the Extraordinary State Commission on the mass execution of civilians in Minsk and the surrounding villages by Nazi invaders and their collaborators in 1941-1944 (25 August 1944, NARB). The act on the atrocities committed by the Nazi occupiers in the Ozarichy concentration camp in the Polesie region of Belarus (18 March 1944, NARB) and the statement made by the residents of Selishcha village, Kamensky Village Council, Pleshchenitsy district, Minsk region, on the burning of Khatyn village and its inhabitants (25 March 1943). Khatyn has become an image of all burned villages in Belarus, a symbol of eternal remembrance and sorrow for the Belarusian people.

On June 20, 2024, presented on the Presidential Library's portal, was enhanced with more than 200 documents from the FSB of Russia. These documents include records from the 4th Directorate of the NKVD/NKGB of the USSR and the Main Directorate for Counterintelligence, "SMERSH", about the activities of sabotage and intelligence groups behind enemy lines in occupied territories of Ukraine and Belarus, as well as intelligence reports on enemy activities in occupied areas, reports by agent "Colonist" (N.I. Kuznetsov) and intelligence information about enemy training of spies and saboteurs in secret schools, as well as reports from V.S. Abakumov, head of "SMERSH", to the Soviet State Defence Committee about the atrocities of Gestapo and the use of "death camps" to kill civilians.

The Collection also contains documents from the FSB Directorate for the Voronezh, Rostov, and Novgorod regions and the Krasnodar Territory. These are memos from the regional departments of NKGB (the Soviet secret police) containing intelligence information about the situation in territories temporarily occupied by Nazi Germany, the results of Chekist (Soviet security services) operations in liberated areas, Soviet citizens forced to work in Germany, captured documents from the German army, and occupation authorities, etc.

Of particular interest are the documents from SMERSH regarding the arrest of German intelligence agents and counterintelligence agents, particularly those related to the detention of German agents who were sent into the Soviet rear to assassinate Joseph Stalin. These include the cases of German agents P. Tavrin and L. Shilova.

The documents from the NKVD/NKGB of the USSR and the Main Directorate of Counterintelligence SMERSH from 1943 to 1944 focus on the activities of Ukrainian nationalist organizations (OUN and UPA) and efforts to combat them, as well as the liquidation of Baltic nationalist organizations like "Aizsargi" and the arrest of prominent figures from the Estonian nationalist movement.

The head of the 4th Directorate of the NKVD of the USSR, P. Sudoplatov, reported to the 3rd Directorate of the NKVD on December 9, 1942. He stated that the Organization of Ukrainian Nationalists (OUN) had taken an active part in the German war against the Soviet Union. The OUN's assistance to Germany was manifested in armed actions behind Soviet lines during the Red Army's retreat, as well as in espionage, sabotage, and the active creation of local governments and police forces in the occupied territories of the USSR. (Central Federal Security Service of Russia, archive 3, inv. 10, file 387)

A number of documents provide evidence of the attitude of Ukrainian nationalists towards the Polish population. One such document is a message from the 4th Directorate of the NKVD of the USSR, dated February 16, 1943. The message states that a group of OUN members, belonging to the Bandera movement, who were hiding in the villages of Sarny district in early February 1943, had massacred the Polish population in the village of Poroslya. The number of adults and children killed and injured in this incident was estimated to be 150.

Another document, dated May 28, 1943, provides information about the complete destruction of two Polish villages. It is not specified whether the destruction was carried out by the same group or another one. These documents shed light on the dark side of history and the atrocities committed by Ukrainian nationalists during the war.

In August 1943, a report spoke about the massacre of approximately 2,000 Polish civilians by the Bandera organization in Vladimir-Volynsky. The report stated that the German garrison, police, and Cossack forces, totaling up to 600 individuals, had not taken any measures to prevent the massacre. Instead, the German authorities issued an appeal to Poles to join the gendarmerie in order to fight against Bandera after the massacre (Central Office of the FSB of Russia, archive 4, inv. 1, file 477).

As a direct confrontation with the Red Army seemed imminent, Bandera decided to cooperate with the German occupation forces. A report from the Main Directorate for Counterintelligence, "SMERSH," to the State Defence Committee dated March 31st, 1944 included a translation of a secret German order regarding the treatment of members of the Ukrainian Insurgent Army, indicating an agreement between UPA leadership and German command (Federal Security Service of Russia, Central Archive, archive 14OC, inv.1, file 8).

On June 4, 2024, the Presidential Library added documents from the Russian State Military Archives to the World War II in Archival Documents collection on its portal. These documents include operational reports from the internal troops of the Soviet Union's People's Commissariat for Internal Affairs (NKVD) on the activities of Ukrainian nationalist armed formations, their collaboration with the German Wehrmacht, and documents from German occupation authorities regarding punitive actions against Soviet partisans in Belarus and Ukraine, as well as mass killings of Soviet civilians and forced labor in Germany.

The collection contains documents in German and Russian from the so-called "trophy" collections: "Commissioner for the Nazi Four-Year Plan - Goering, Berlin", "General Directorate of State Security of Germany, Berlin", "United Archive Holdings: Military and Construction Institutions of Germany", "Imperial Archive Collection (Potsdam)", and others.

Among these, there is a letter from the German minister of the occupied eastern territories, A. Rosenberg, to Reichsmarshall G. Goering regarding the fight against partisan activity in the General Commissariat of Belarus (December 23, 1942). There is also information from the economic headquarters "Vostok" regarding the use of labor in occupied Soviet territories (February 12, 1943). What also included is a circular from the Reich Commissioner for Ukraine, E. Koch, regarding the need to ensure spring sowing and the new forced shipment of workers to Germany (February 20, 1943). Finally, there is a report to Reichsmarshal G. Goering's speech on Germany's reliance on food supplies from occupied Ukraine (September 2, 1943) and the order from the command of Wehrmacht units in the Reichskommissariat Ostland to conscript Latvians into the Latvian SS Legion (June 21, 1944).

The order of the Chief of the Security Police and the SD (Sicherheitsdienst) of Belarus is significant. The SD, which stands for Sicherheitsdienst in German, was founded by E. Strauch and was responsible for the "resettlement" of Jews in the city of Slutsk. This operation involved employees of the SD, as well as 110 members of a Latvian volunteer unit.

The order begins by stating that on February 8th and 9th, 1943, the SD carried out the resettlement of the Jews living in Slutsk. However, in the section titled "Territory of Resettlement," it states that there were two pits in the area where the resettlements took place. Each pit had a group of 10 officers and soldiers who worked there for two hours, after which they were replaced.

At the end of the document, it is stated that this operation was known as "Hornung". Operation Hornung was an anti-partisan operation carried out by German forces in February 1943 on the occupied territory of the Byelorussian Soviet Socialist Republic. As a result of this operation, approximately 12,000 Soviet citizens lost their lives. The start of Operation Hornung marked the destruction of the Slutsk ghetto, where over three thousand people perished.

Documents from the holdings of various departments of the NKVD (People's Commissariat for Internal Affairs) of the USSR, including the Secretariat of the Deputy People's Commissar for Internal Affairs, the Department of Internal Troops, the NKVD District Department, the Border Troops Department of the Ukrainian Soviet Socialist Republic, and the NKVD Troops for the Protection of the Rear of the 1st Ukrainian Front, among others, contain materials about the guerrilla struggles that took place in the occupied territories of Ukraine and Belarus, as well as about operations conducted by the internal troops against the Ukrainian Insurgent Army (UPA) gangs.According to the SMERSH counterintelligence of the 47th Army, as well as the NKVD and NKGB of the USSR, three counterrevolutionary armies were organized in the Rivne region of the Ukrainian SSR. These armies included the Polesie Army, the Northern Army, and the Bulbov Army.

All these bandit groups were instructed by their leaders not to carry out open protests against the Red Army, but to attack citizens who supported or were friendly with the Soviet government. They were also instructed to exterminate military personnel and attack vehicles, as well as small garrisons located in populated areas.

On July 27, 1944, the NKGB department of the Volyn region reported that the Germans were training and equipping a group of Bandera fighters, numbering up to 100 people, with the intention of carrying out terrorist acts against the Red Army in the rear.

In the testimony of captured militant V. Marchenko, there is direct evidence of the Ukrainian Insurgent Army's (UPA) ties and cooperation with Nazi and Vlasov forces. During the interrogation, he stated: "On April 25, 1944, three parachutists were dropped near the villages of Selishche and Chabel. Four days later, one of the parachutists went west, attempting to cross the front lines to join the Germans. I am not sure what the purpose of the paratroopers was, or what instructions the Germans had given to the groups, including 'Pashchenko', but after the paratrooper left, 'Pashchenko' said that the groups would soon receive support from the German side."From later reports of the NKGB Directorate for the Volyn region, we learn about the atrocities committed by UPA bandits against civilians and representatives of the Soviet government. On the night of August 7, 1944, in the village of Rusnov, Vladimir-Volynsky district, Ms. Golovenko Yukhimiya was murdered. The murder was carried out by a group of up to 15 mounted bandits who emerged from the Rusnov forests. Golovenko was stabbed 24 times and her right arm was broken.

On the night of August 14, in the villages of Lutsk district, several UPA gangs, each numbering 12 to 20 people, presumably transferred from Demidovsky district in Rivne region, committed brutal murders. In the village of Lavrov, Burulevchuk Ivan, an accountant for the village, and Eschuk Vasily and his mother and four-year-old child were killed. In Mstyshin, the family of Kmet Solomiya consisting of four people, and in S. Rodomyshl, the deacon of a village church, were also killed.

All these documents provide authentic evidence of the bandit and terrorist activities of the Ukrainian Insurgent Army (UPA) against the civilian population in the liberated territories of the Ukrainian Soviet Socialist Republic (USSR).

Photographic materials documenting the course of the Great Patriotic War from 1942 to 1944 are housed in the "Anti-Fascist Department" collection at the Political Department of the Main Directorate for the Protection of Public Order (GUPVI) of the Ministry of Internal Affairs (MVD) of the USSR (F. 4p). These holdings include pictures of destroyed German tanks in Stalingrad, groups of captured German and Romanian officers and soldiers, and Red Army soldiers on the liberated streets of cities such as Rzhev, Novocherkassk, Minsk, and Kharkov.

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 Federations 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 and others.

To date, the volume of the Collection exceeds 12.6 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 and the texts of the accompanying articles are also published in English.

In addition to digitized archival documents, the Collection contains 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.

On May 12, 2024, marking the 80th anniversary of the completion of the Crimean offensive operation and the complete liberation of Sevastopol and the Crimean Peninsula from the Nazi invaders, the collection "World War II in archival documents" is complemented by digitized archival documents of the Federal Archives of Russia: the State Archive of the Russian Federation, the Russian State Archive of Socio-Political History, the Russian State Archive of Economics, the Russian State Archive of Film and Photog Documents reflecting the events on the territory of the Crimean Peninsula in the period from the end of 1942 to November 1944.

Documents from the end of 1942 to the beginning of 1944 are represented by encrypted telegrams of the leadership of the Crimean Regional Committee of the CPSU(b) sent to the Central Committee of the CPSU(b) in Moscow, recently were declassified in the Russian State Archive of Socio-Political History. These are reports about the activity of Soviet partisan detachments in the territory of Crimea occupied by the Nazi invaders, about the state of enemy troops stationed in Crimea, about the situation in the liberated area of the Kerch Peninsula in November 1943. The Collection also includes a resolution of the USSR State Defence Committee dated January 25, 1944. "About the construction of a railway bridge across the Kerch Strait," which marked the beginning of work on the restoration of the transport infrastructure of the Crimea even before the complete liberation of the peninsula from the enemy.

In April – May 1944, during the Crimean offensive operation of the Red Army, Crimea and Sevastopol were completely liberated from the Nazi invaders. The report of the First Secretary of the Crimean Regional Committee of the CPSU (b) V. Bulatov to the Central Committee of the CPSU(b) dated April 24, 1944 tells in detail about the consequences of the enemy occupation, the state of the liberated cities and districts of the Crimea. The Collection includes resolutions and orders of the State Defence Committee of the USSR, the Council of National's Commissars of the USSR and the RSFSR, memos of the departments of the Central Committee and other documents from the holdings of the General Assembly of the Russian Federation, The Russian State Archive of Socio-Political History, The Russian State Archive of Economics, which reflect the difficult initial stage of restoration work on the territory of Crimea and Sevastopol. Restoration work was carried out in the summer and autumn of 1944. Among the most important of the documents are: the decree of the State Budget Committee of the USSR "About measures to ensure the restoration of priority facilities of the main naval base of the Black Sea Fleet in Sevastopol" (June 14, 1944), resolutions of the Council of National's Commissars of the USSR "About urgent measures to restore agriculture in the Crimea" (July 8, 1944), "About priority measures to restore the economy of the Crimea" (August 1, 1944), "About measures to restore sanatoriums in the resort Crimea and the relocation of hospitals" (August 28 1944), the resolution of the Council of National's Commissars of the RSFSR "About priority measures for the restoration of the economy of the Crimea" (July 20, 1944).

The orders of the Council of National's Commissars of the RSFSR about the restoration of winemaking in the region: "About measures for the restoration and further development of viticultural state farms and enterprises of the Crimean Trust of the Drug Food Industry of the RSFSR" (July 28, 1944), about the organization of new viticultural state farms and the expansion of existing state farms of the Massandra wine factory (August 20, 1944) are great value for the agriculture of the Crimea.

The certificates of various National's commissariats and departments prepared by the end of October 1944 and reflecting the interim results of the steps taken to restore various sectors of the economy and infrastructure of the Crimean Peninsula are of particular interest. The documents show that the departments performed the main tasks assigned to them by the Council of National's Commissars of the RSFSR by the date of July 20, 1944.

The Collection also includes photo documents from the personal holdings of K. Voroshilov (The Russian State Archive of Socio-Political History), who coordinated the fighting of the 4th Ukrainian Front and the Separate Primorsky Army on the Kerch Peninsula and in the Simferopol area together with the Chief of the General Staff of the Red Army A. Vasilevsky in April 1944. The holdings contain photographs of the storming of Sevastopol and the liberated city, taken by TASS photojournalist E. Khaldeem in May 1944, photo documents depicting the fighting of Soviet troops during the Crimean offensive operation (The Russian State Archive of Film and Photo Documents, The Russian State Archive of Socio-Political History).

On May 3, 2024, the Collection "World War II in Archival documents" was replenished with more than 40 photographic documents and manuscripts from the collections of the Russian State Archive of Literature and Art (RGALI) and the State Archive of the Russian Federation (GARF) of the key period of the Great Patriotic War (from November 19, 1942 to November 7, 1944).

The Collection includes documents reflecting the cultural life of the country during this period, authors versions of wartime songs that gained national love, author's manuscripts of the most significant works of literature, cinematographic materials reflecting the heroic struggle of the Soviet people against the Nazi invaders, photographs of performances by concert brigades that went to the frontline to perform in front of the soldiers of the Red Army.

Alexander Tvardovsky's poem "Vasily Terkin" can be called without exaggeration one of the key works created during the Great Patriotic War. The image of a strong, good-natured and devoted Red Army soldier Vasya Terkin was bear by Tvardovsky back in the years of the Soviet-Finnish war, but he gained incredible popularity with the reader during the Great Patriotic War. The first chapters of the poem began to appear in frontline print in 1942, and work on it continued until 1945. The original of the 17th chapter of Vasily Terkin has been preserved in the holdings of Russian State Archive of Literature and Art, which is currently included in the State Register of Unique Documents of the Archival Holdings of the Russian Federation.

Few people know that Vasily Terkin had a real prototype – the poet-front-line soldier Vasily Glotov. Handing him the first edition of the Book about the Fighter, published in Smolensk, on Tvardovsky's native land, the poet wrote on the title page: "To Vasily Glotov, a close relative of Vasily Terkin, my dear comrade in the war. A. Tvardovsky. 1945. Galingen Castle. Prussia." Illustrations for the poem were created by many artists at different times, but for most readers, the most recognizable drawings were made by the wonderful artist Orest Vereisky.

The unprecedented feat of the underground Komsomol organization "Young Guards", which operated from September 1942 to January 1943 in the city of Krasnodon in the Donbas was praised in the novel of the same name by Alexander Fadeev. The beginning of the writer's work on this topic was the article "Immortality", published in the newspaper Pravda shortly after the liberation of Krasnodon from German occupation and the discovery of the disfigured bodies of young underground workers in one of the mines. Subsequently, Fadeev carefully collected material for his future novel, met with eyewitnesses, studied documents that reflected the history of the "Young Guards". The manuscript of this work, as well as the documents collected by the writer, are kept in his personal holding No. 1628 in Russian State Archive of Literature and Art.

Despite the enormous losses and difficulties that the Great Patriotic War brought, this period became a time of new prosperity and productive work for the Soviet cinematography. Being well aware of the ideological power of film, the country's leadership did everything possible for cinema to inspire the Soviet people to victory, create the best heroic and lyrical images, call for struggle and revenge, and inspire hope for an early meeting with loved ones.

In November 1941, the Mosfilm and Lenfilm studios were evacuated to Alma-Ata, where the Central United Feature Film Studio (TsOKS) was formed. Eventually it accounted for about 80% of all films shot during the war. The Alma-Ata Palace of Culture, where Central United Feature Film Studio settled, became home to the most important Soviet directors and cameramen for three years. The work was carried out in the most difficult domestic and industrial conditions: filming took place mainly at night, when part of the electricity was released, which went to military factories during the day; The film set was not heated, there was not enough tape, and it was almost impossible to find building materials for the scenery.

And yet, the work at the studio went on nonstop. In a short time, such diverse films as "The District Secretary" (1942, directed by I. Pyriev), "Actress" (1942, directed by L. Trauberg), "Wait for Me" (1943, directed by A. Stolper and B. Ivanov), "She Defends the Motherland" (1943, directed by F. Ermler) and dozens of other full-length and short films, as well as the epic "Ivan the Terrible" by Sergei Eisenstein, were shown to the public.

One of the films created in 1943 at the Central United Feature Film Studio was "Taxi to Heaven" (directed by G. Rappaport, screenwriter E. Petrov). As many film critics note, the war not only influenced the aesthetics and problems of feature films, but also "legalized" much of what was pushed off the screens in the 1930s, when Soviet cinema was focused mainly on reflecting the labor enthusiasm of the people – the builder of socialism. With the beginning of the war, "suffering, pain, separations, losses, tears, hunger, fear" returned to cinematography, there was a "turn to humanity" that would reach its peak in the cinematography of 1950- 1960.

"Taxi to Heaven", which was criticized for the fact that "its characters do not strive for any high goal" became a striking example of this new formation. However, the audience loved the film, not least because of the magnificent acting duo of Mikhail Zharov and Lyudmila Tselikovskaya. After the release of the film, the artists repeatedly went to the front as part of concert brigades, where they were invariably greeted by the warmest welcome of soldiers and officers (especially military pilots who recognized themselves in the characters of the film).

Songs of the war years occupy a special place in the history of the Great Patriotic War. Calling to battle, marching, lyrical, soul-grabbing, they have long been part of the cultural code of our country, they have lived and continue to live with us in sorrow and in joy. It was these songs that, at the request of listeners, were regularly played on the air of one of the oldest Soviet radio programs, "Meeting with the Song". The host of the program, Viktor Tatarsky, received thousands of letters in which people talked about what they had to do with the frontline song: "The older boys from our group went to the front. How many of them died. Dear boys. They didn't live to see it, they didn't have time to love, saving the world from fascism. This song is about them, "Nightingales, nightingales, do not disturb the soldiers"...", – A. Zvyagintseva from Novosibirsk wrote bitterly in 2015.

V. Buberman echoed in her letter about her brother, a front-line soldier: "And wherever Vasily Petrovich was, no matter what he did, his favorite song "Dark in the Night" constantly lived in him. At that time, he did not have a native home, nor a beloved one leaning over his son's bed, this was waiting for him after the Victory, but the song lay so firmly on his heart that it became a part of himself." Autographs of the wonderful songs "Nightingales" and "A Handful of earth" by A. Fatyanov, "Dark in the Night" by V. Agatov, "Smuglyanka" by Ya. Shvedova, "Song of the defenders of Stalingrad" by E. Dolmatovsky from the collections of Russian State Archive of Literature and Art are presented in the Collection World War II in archival documents.

Front-line concert brigades provided great moral support to the soldiers and commanders of the Red Army during the war. Their performances gave the fighters moments of rest, allowed them to return to peaceful life at least for a short time, enjoy works of Russian classical music and literature, see a fragment of a performance by the metropolitan theater or laugh at the caustic anti-Hitler satire. Frontline concert brigades were formed in almost all cultural institutions throughout the Soviet Union. From June 1941 to May 1945, the front-line brigades gave, according to various estimates, from 1 million 350 thousand to one and a half million performances and concerts with the participation of about 42 thousand artists from almost four thousand brigades.

The holding of the Central Committee of the Professional Union of Art Workers (CC Rabis) in the State Archive of the Russian Federation has preserved numerous photographs of performances by concert brigades of artists of the Turkmen and Kazakh SSR, Mari and Adjara ASSR, as well as other Soviet republics and autonomies, leading collectives of Moscow and Leningrad, frontline theaters in the Black Sea Fleet, Bryansk, Northwestern, Volkhov and others on the fronts, in the territories of the USSR liberated from occupation. Similar documents are kept both in the holdings of cultural institutions and in the personal holdings of artists, readers and musicians in Russian State Archive of Literature and Art. Now they are available to a wide audience in the Collection "World War II in archival documents" on the portal of the Presidential Library.

April 5, 2024 the “World War II in Archival Documents” Collection has been entered with more than 250 documents from the key period of the Great Patriotic War November 19, 1942 – November 7, 1944 from the collections of the State Archive of the Russian Federation (GA RF), the Russian State Archive of Film and Photo Documents (RGAKFD) and the FSB of Russia.

The Collection includes Decrees of the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet of the USSR on the establishment of the main military awards of the Great Patriotic War: the orders of "Victory" and "Glory", Bogdan Khmelnitsky, Ushakov and Nakhimov, medals "For the Defence of Leningrad", "For the Defence of Odessa", "For the Defence Sevastopol”, “For the Defence of Stalingrad”, “For the Defence of the Caucasus”, “For the Defence of Moscow”, “Partisan of the Patriotic War”, Ushakov and Nakhimov medals.

By decrees of the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet of the USSR, the military title of Marshal of the Soviet Union was awarded to army generals G. K. Zhukov (January 18, 1943), A. M. Vasilevsky (February 16, 1943), Supreme Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces of the USSR J. V. Stalin (March 6, 1943), army generals I. S. Konev (February 20, 1944), L. A. Govorov (June 18, 1944), K. K. Rokossovsky (June 29, 1944), R. Ya. Malinovsky (September 10, 1944), F. I. Tolbukhin (September 12, 1944), K. A. Meretskov (October 26, 1944).

During the Great Patriotic War, significant changes occurred in the administrative and territorial structure of the RSFSR: the city of Voroshilovsk, Ordzhonikidze Territory, was renamed the city of Stavropol and the Ordzhonikidze Territory - Stavropol Territory (January 12, 1943), Ulyanovsk and Kurgan Regions were formed (January 19, 1943, February 6, 1943), Karachay Autonomous Region (October 12, 1943), Kalmyk Autonomous Soviet Socialist Republic (December 27, 1943), the Chechen-Ingush Autonomous Soviet Socialist Republic (March 7, 1944) were liquidated, receiving a new administrative structure of the territories, Astrakhan and Grozny Regions.

After the liberation of Soviet territories from the Nazi invaders in 1944, by decrees of the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet of the USSR, new regions of the RSFSR were formed: Novgorod, Kaluga, Bryansk, Tomsk, Kostroma, Vladimir, Tyumen, Velikolukskaya, Pskov; within the Ukrainian SSR - Kherson Region, within the Byelorussian SSR - Bobruisk, Grodno and Polotsk Regions.

On October 13, 1944 the Tuvan People's Republic was admitted to the RSFSR as autonomous region.

Great importance in state policy was given to the social sphere, issues of protection of motherhood and childhood: on September 8, 1943, the Decree of the Presidium of the Supreme Council of the USSR “On Adoption” was issued, state assistance to pregnant women, large and single mothers was increased, on July 8, 1944, an honorary the title of “Mother Heroine” and the Order of “Maternal Glory” and the “Motherhood Medal” were established.

At the beginning of 1943, a resolution of the Council of People's Commissars of the USSR was adopted, which radically changed the school education system, “On the separate education of students (boys and girls) in schools in the mountains. Moscow” and July 16, 1943, “On the introduction of separate education for boys and girls in the 1943/1944 academic year in junior high and secondary schools in regional, regional cities, capital centers of the Union republics and large industrial cities”.

In the summer of 1943, the title “People's Artist of the USSR” was established, awarded to artists A. M. Gerasimov, B. V. Ioganson, S. D. Merkurov, V. I. Mukhina. Composers N. Ya. Myaskovsky, A. N. Alexandrov, S. S. Prokofiev and others received state awards.

In the liberated territories of the Soviet Union, active restoration of the national economy began. The resolutions of the Council of People's Commissars of the USSR and the Central Committee of the All-Union Communist Party (Bolsheviks) reflected priority measures to restore MTS and collective farms in areas cleared of Nazi occupiers, measures to restore the economy of Kursk, Novgorod, the housing and communal services of Stalingrad, and other cities destroyed by the Nazis.

With the expulsion of the Nazi invaders and their accomplices from Crimea, they were among the first to restore the sanatoriums of the resort area of the peninsula and relocate hospitals. On August 11, 1944, the Council of People's Commissars of the USSR adopted a resolution “On measures to restore the All-Union sanatorium pioneer camp “Artek” named after V. M. Molotov".

The Union Center made a significant contribution to the restoration of the economy and infrastructure of the Soviet republics: by resolutions of the Council of People's Commissars of the USSR, funds were released for urgent needs in the liberated regions of the Byelorussian SSR, funds were allocated for the restoration of power plants in the republic, on August 5, 1944, a resolution of the Council of People's Commissars of the USSR was issued “On the construction of a metro in the city” Kyiv.

From the documents of the Civil Code of the Russian Federation from November 19, 1942 to November 7, 1944, the Collection also contains materials from the collections of the Council for Religious Affairs (F. 6991). In September 1943, by resolution of the Council of People's Commissars of the USSR, the Council for the Affairs of the Russian Orthodox Church was formed, and in May 1944 - the Council for Religious Affairs. The Collection includes a note by the Chairman of the Council for the Affairs of the Russian Orthodox Church under the Council of People's Commissars of the USSR G. G. Karpov about the reception of J. V. Stalin of the hierarchs of the Russian Orthodox Church on September 4, 1943, the appeal of the Patriarch of Moscow and All Rus' Sergius (Stragorodsky) to the clergy and believers of the Russian Orthodox Church, issued in connection with the Nativity of Christ (January 1944), the Easter archpastoral message of Metropolitan Alexy of Leningrad and Novgorod (Simansky) to pastors and flock about the cities and villages of the Leningrad diocese, liberated from enemy occupation and Nazi oppression (January 1944), an appeal from the Exarch of Ukraine, Metropolitan of Kyiv and Galicia Nikolai (Yarushevich) to the clergy and believers about the advancement of Red Army units, about liberation of the Ukrainian land and the loyalty of archpastors, pastors and believers to the Mother Church (October 27, 1944), a certificate from the head of the Moscow Patriarchate, Archpriest Nikolai Kolchitsky, about donations for defence on Red Army Day from churches of various dioceses for 1944 and other materials.

Documents of the Central Archive of the FSB of Russia and the archives of its regional departments, that spotlight the events of the Great Patriotic War for November 1942 - November 1944, are presented by information messages and certificates of the 4th (intelligence and sabotage) Directorate of the NKVD-NKGB of the USSR and counterintelligence bodies "SMERSH" about the state of the enemy troops, about the atrocities of the Nazi invaders in the occupied regions and republics of the USSR, about the situation in the territories liberated from occupation, about the sabotage activities of operational groups of state security agencies behind enemy lines, including the results of the activities of the “Winners” reconnaissance and sabotage detachments and "Elusive". Among the most important documents is a special message from the 4th Directorate of the NKGB of the USSR dated June 23, 1943 about the alleged Wehrmacht offensive in the Orel-Belgorod-Kharkov sector, as well as an award sheet for the legendary intelligence officer of the “Winners” detachment Nikolai Ivanovich Kuznetsov with his nomination for the title of Hero of the Soviet Union.

The Collection includes fragments of newsreels from the holdings of the Russian State Archive of Film and Photo Documents (RGAKFD): about the defeat of Nazi troops at Stalingrad, breaking the siege of Leningrad, the liberation of Kharkov, battles on the outskirts of Warsaw, the battle for the Baltic states, the work of defence factories in the rear in the Urals.

From the RF GA fund R-7021, the Collection includes acts of the Extraordinary State Commission to establish and investigate the atrocities of the Nazi invaders and their accomplices, the crimes they committed in Orel, Kursk, Belgorod, Bryansk, Voronezh, Rzhev, Kalinin, Novorossiysk, Smolensk, in including the mass extermination of captured soldiers and commanders of the Red Army, civilians in concentration camp № 126, Rostov-on-Don, Stalingrad, Stavropol, Krasnodar, including the act of brutal murder by the Nazi occupiers of the pupils of the Krasnodar orphanage in Yeisk, about the mass extermination of civilians in Crimean Autonomous Soviet Socialist Republic, in a concentration camp on the territory of the Krasny state farm in Simferopol Region, about the atrocities of the Nazis and their accomplices in Kalmyk Autonomous Soviet Socialist Republic, Kabardino-Balkarian Autonomous Soviet Socialist Republic, North Ossetian Autonomous Soviet Socialist Republic, in the cities and regions of Leningrad region, Novgorod, Pskov, Velikiye Luki, a note from the NKGB of the Karelo-Finnish SSR “On the atrocities and bullying of the German-Finnish invaders in Petrozavodsk” was presented.

The Nazis and their accomplices showed particular cruelty in the occupied territories of the Ukrainian SSR and the Belarusian SSR. The bullying, inhuman torture, and targeted mass extermination of people in Voroshilovgrad Region (modern Lugansk People's Republic), Stalin Region (modern Donetsk People's Republic), Zaporozhye and Kherson are horrifying.

The Collection contains acts to establish the atrocities committed by the Nazis at the 4-4 bis mine in the city of Stalino (the bodies of 75-100 thousand civilians were dumped here), in the cities of Mariupol, Kramatorsk, Lisichansk, Melitopol, Slavyansk, Artemovsk. By decrees of the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet of the USSR on September 13, 1943, members of the underground Komsomol organization “Young Guard”, who were subjected to terrible and sophisticated torture by the Nazis, then thrown into the pit of mine № 5 in Krasnodon, were posthumously awarded orders; the titles of Hero of the Soviet Union were awarded to the organizers and leaders of the underground.

The documents and photographs of the Extraordinary State Commission illustrate one of the most massive exterminations of people by the Nazis in Babi Yar near Kiev, the killing of Soviet residents and prisoners of war in the Maly Trostenets concentration camp, located near Minsk, in the Alytus concentration camp in the Lithuanian SSR, in the Klooga concentration camp in the Estonian SSR, in a note by the Secretary of the Central Committee of the Communist Party (b) of the Latvian SSR Ya. E. Kalnberzin to the Secretary of the Central Committee of the All-Union Communist Party of Bolsheviks G. M. Malenkov is given data on the situation in the occupied republic and the atrocities of the Nazi invaders on its territory.

On April 19, 1943, according to the Decree of the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet of the USSR “On punitive measures for Nazi villains guilty of murder and torture of the Soviet civilian population and captured Red Army soldiers, for spies, traitors to the Motherland from among Soviet citizens and for their accomplices” based on the results of consideration of cases in court, criminals were sentenced to capital punishment. Nowadays, this day is celebrated annually as the Day of United Action in memory of the genocide of the Soviet people by the Nazis and their accomplices during the Great Patriotic War.

!!! Please note that the materials presented in the project contain shocking details and descriptions of atrocities and abuse of civilians; The photograph shows mass graves and the exhumation of remains. In accordance with the legislation of the Russian Federation, these visual materials are prohibited for viewing by children under 16 years of age, as well as by persons suffering from nervous and mental illnesses.

On March 20, 2024, photo and audio documents from the period November 19, 1942 – November 7, 1944 entered the Collection “World War II in Archival Documents” available on the Presidential Library's portal.

For the first time, the Collection includes more than 60 photographs from the Russian State Archive of Film and Photo Documents (RGAKFD), which testified to the cruel, inhumane crimes of Nazism against Soviet civilians, women, children, the elderly, and against Soviet prisoners of war. After the formation of the Extraordinary State Commission on November 2, 1942 to establish and investigate the atrocities of the Nazi invaders and their accomplices, work began on collecting and recording the crimes of the Nazis.

The photographs show the bodies of women and children shot by the Nazis in Kerch; tortured residents of Krasnodar and Orel; relatives identifying those executed in Sevastopol; recovery of the bodies of Soviet citizens in Petrushinskaya Balka in Taganrog; dead civilians in the courtyard of a prison in Rostov-on-Don.

The photographs of executed residents of Kharkov and Poltava are terrifying; a 62-year-old resident of Melitopol, shot by the Nazis for refusing to go to work in Germany; of an executed family from Berdyansk; photographs of the burial of men, women and children discovered during excavations of an anti-tank ditch along the Sokal - Tartakov road in Lvov Region of the Ukrainian SSR.

The photographs depict historical footage of the liberation of Petrozavodsk residents from a concentration camp by the Red Army, evidence of Nazi crimes in the Baltic states: the bodies of burned Red Army prisoners of war in one of the graves of the IX Fort of the Kaunas Fortress (Lithuania), the dead prisoners of the Klooga concentration camp (Estonia).

These photographs are clear and indisputable evidence of the genocide of the Slavic population.

Partisans made a great contribution to the future Great Victory over Nazism. The photographs depict partisans of Kursk and Orel, Crimea, partisans of the G. I. Kotovsky detachment of the Ukrainian SSR, the S. A. Kovpak 1st Ukrainian partisan division, Belarusian partisan detachments, and a parade of Belarusian partisans on the occasion of the liberation of Minsk.

Factories producing military equipment and ammunition operated in the Urals, Siberia, and Central Asia. Wartime photographs show factory workers producing and packaging shells for the front, accepting tanks from Uralvagonzavod workers in Nizhny Tagil, collective farmers of Ivanovo, Saratov, Leningrad, Tambov Regions exceeding the standards for supplies of meat, milk, and vegetables to the front.

The Collection also contains more than 20 fragments of sound recordings from the collection of the Russian State Archive of Sound Documents (RGAFD) with messages from the Soviet Information Bureau and orders of the Supreme Commander-in-Chief, read out by the announcer of the All-Union Radio Committee Yu. B. Levitan: about the defeat of the Nazi troops at Stalingrad and breaking the siege of Leningrad (January 25, 1943), about the liquidation by troops of the Don Front of a group of German troops surrounded to the west of the central part of Stalingrad, and the capture of the commander of the 6th German Army, Field Marshal F. Paulus (January 31, 1943), about the capture of the cities of Orel and Belgorod (5 August 1943), on the liberation of Donbass (September 8, 1943), Odessa (April 10, 1944), Kerch (April 11, 1944), Feodosia (April 13, 1944), Sevastopol (May 10, 1944), Minsk (3 July 1944), Vilnius (July 13, 1944), Chisinau (August 24, 1944), Bucharest (August 31, 1944), Sofia (September 16, 1944), Tallinn (September 22, 1944), Riga (October 13, 1944 year), Belgrade (October 20, 1944).

These historical moments were captured in photographs by famous front-line photojournalists M. A. Trakhman, E. A. Khaldei, L. O. Bernshtein, G. F. Konovalov, A. A. Arkhipov. The photographs depict the Romanian population greets Don Cossack guards passing through the village, local residents greet Soviet soldiers in Lublin, residents of Sofia greet Soviet soldiers, Soviet sappers with mine detectors check the streets of Belgrade.

Records of the speech of Metropolitan Nikolai (Yarushevich) of Kyiv and Galicia with a call to fight Nazi invaders and congratulations on the liberation of Kharkov (August 25, 1943) have been preserved. The commander of the troops of the Steppe Front, Colonel General I. S. Konev (August 30, 1943), speaks about the courage and heroism of the soldiers who liberated Kharkov in his speech. At the rally on November 7, 1943, in honor of the liberation of Kyiv, the commander of the 1st Ukrainian Front, Army General N. F. Vatutin, and the Deputy Supreme Commander-in-Chief, Marshal of the Soviet Union G. K. Zhukov, delivered their speeches. They talked about the successes of the Red Army in 1943, about the battles for Kyiv and the help of partisans in the liberation of the Ukrainian SSR, about the atrocities of the Nazis during the occupation.

On February 22, 2024, on the eve of Defender of the Fatherland Day, the Collection World War II in Archival Documents, available on the Presidential Library's portal, includes over 280 documents on the counter-offensive of Soviet troops at Stalingrad, offensive operations in the North Caucasus and Donbass.

Among the materials received from the Central Archive of the Ministry of Defence of the Russian Federation (CA MO RF) are the documents on the strategic offensive Operation Uranus, carried out by the forces of the Southwestern, Stalingrad and Don Fronts in the period from November 19, 1942 to February 2, 1943: directives Headquarters of the Supreme High Command, orders, combat reports and instructions, operational reports, reports, excerpts from combat logs, maps.

The documents illustrate the general course of the operation of Soviet troops to encircle and destroy German-Romanian troops in the Stalingrad area, including the implementation of Operation Little Saturn to destroy enemy positions in the Middle Don and Operation Ring to destroy the encircled enemy group in Stalingrad. Among the documents presented are analytical materials of the General Staff of the Red Army, prepared in April 1943, which summarized and analyzed the course and results of the counteroffensive of Soviet troops near Stalingrad.

The Collection includes operational documents on the North Caucasus strategic offensive operation of the Southern, Transcaucasian and North Caucasian fronts (January 1 - February 4, 1943) and on the Novorossiysk offensive operation of the Black Sea Group of Forces (January 11 - February 4, 1943). These are directives from the Headquarters of the Supreme High Command on the implementation of military operations to liberate Novorossiysk, Krasnodar and Bataysk, operational directives from the headquarters of the Northern Group of Forces of the Transcaucasian Front on striking in the direction of Stavropol - Tikhoretsk, on pursuing the enemy in the direction of Krasnodar and on destruction together with the left wing of the Southern Front and armies of the Black Sea Group of Forces of the 17th and 1st Tank Armies of the German Army.

The Collection also contains documents about the offensive operation of the troops of the Southwestern and Southern Fronts in the Donbass (January 29 - February 18, 1943): directives of the Supreme High Command Headquarters, orders, combat reports, operational reports, reports, excerpts from combat logs. Among the most important documents are combat reports from the headquarters of the Southwestern Front to the Headquarters of the Supreme High Command about the transition of front troops to a general offensive on January 29, 1943, about the liberation of Voroshilovgrad (now Lugansk) and Krasnodon on February 14, 1943.

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 12 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.

On February 9, 2024, 80 documents from the Russian State Archive of Economics (RGEA) and 15 thematic collections of documents from the Russian State Archive in Samara (RGA in Samara), relating to the period from November 19, 1942 to November 7, 1944, entered the Collection “World War II in Archival Documents” presented on the Presidential Library's portal.

The materials of the RGAE included in the Collection are mainly orders and memos of the People's Commissariats of the tank industry, weapons, ferrous metallurgy, heavy engineering, chemical industry, agriculture, internal affairs of the USSR, letters and reports of the State Planning Committee under the Council of People's Commissars of the USSR and local State Planning Commissioners.

The documents are devoted to the production of prototypes of new types of weapons (tanks and self-propelled guns), their testing and production, the modernization of military equipment already adopted by the army, as well as the introduction of new production methods, including the use of automatic welding by Academician E. O. Paton at tank factories.

Some of the documents spotlight the condition of factories destroyed by the enemy during hostilities, about measures to restore the work of industrial enterprises and infrastructure in areas liberated from Nazi occupation, and about measures to provide housing for the population of liberated areas. Documents on the development of the Stalingrad planning project are also available.

Documents of the Russian State Administration in the city of Samara are presented by reports from research institutes: on the creation of a chemical heating pad and the organization of their mass production for the Red Army, on the recipe for dry mashed potatoes, egg biscuits, on the development of a technological process and recipe for emulsions, ointments and pastes against burns and to speed up wound healing, about the use of field non-shedding surgical plaster bandage "RES", about the technological process of manufacturing threads for surgical purposes from horsehair.

The materials of the State Order of the Red Banner of Labor Research Institute of Civil Aviation (GosNIIGA) contain reports entitled “Partisan signaling device PSP-1”, “Pyrotechnic weapons of the Red Army Air Force”. Documents from the N. E. Zhukovsky Central Aerohydrodynamic Institute of the USSR Aviation Industry Ministry (TsAGI) provide work on modernizing the M-13 and M-31 projectiles in order to increase their accuracy.

The collection of the State Design and Survey Institute "Giprotransstroy" of the Ministry of Transport Construction of the USSR contains photographs of the construction of the Volga Rockade - the Saratov-Stalingrad railway line, which played a crucial role in the victory in the Battle of Stalingrad.

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.

To date, the volume of the Collection is over 11,5 thousand materials: maps, diagrams, periodicals, photographs, newsreels for the period from January 1933 to 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.

On January 18, 2024, on the day of the 81st anniversary of the breaking of the siege of Leningrad, the Collection “World War II in Archival Documents” which is available on the Presidential Library’s portal includes more than 250 documents about the defence of Leningrad in 1942–1944. The materials came from federal archives (RGASPI, GA RF, RGALI, RGANI, RGVA, RGAKFD, RGAFD) and departmental archives of the Ministry of Defence, FSB and the Ministry of Internal Affairs of Russia. Today one has an opportunity to view them from anywhere in the world.

These are documents on the planning and conduct of Operation Iskra (January 12–30, 1943): orders, combat reports, operational reports, excerpts from combat logs and other documents of the Leningrad and Volkhov fronts, the headquarters of the Red Banner Baltic Fleet. Among them are the order of the commander of the Leningrad Front dated January 11, 1943 on launching a decisive offensive to break the siege of Leningrad and the act of meeting units of the Leningrad and Volkhov fronts on the eastern outskirts of Workers' Village №1 at 9:30 a.m. on January 18, 1943, which recorded the historical moment of the breakthrough the siege.

In addition, the Collection “World War II in Archival Documents” includes documents on the preparation and conduct of Operation Polar Star, which was the coordinated actions of the Leningrad, Volkhov, North-Western fronts and a special group of troops under the command of M. S. Khozin in February–April 1943 with the aim of liberating the territory of Leningrad Region from the enemy, as well as subsequent military operations until the final liberation of Leningrad on January 27, 1944.

The documents illustrate the contribution of the partisan movement and the NKVD - NKGB of the USSR to the defence and liberation of Leningrad and Leningrad Region, and contain information about the situation in the besieged city and the occupied areas of the region.

Of great importance are the documents of the Central Committee of the All-Union Communist Party of Bolsheviks, Leningrad party and Komsomol bodies, local internal affairs bodies on activities to protect the city from artillery shelling and fires, to ensure the functioning of the city’s infrastructure, the work of industry and the food supply of Leningrad, on providing assistance to the families of front-line soldiers and disabled people of the Great Patriotic War, about the collection of funds by Leningrad residents for the needs of the Red Army in 1942–1944.

The reports and certificates of various departments for March–April 1944 summarize the heroic defence of Leningrad from the Nazi invaders for the entire period of the siege. Issues of mobilization and evacuation of the population, the work of road and water transport, the fuel and defence industries, the production of new types of weapons, the scale of destruction caused, and methods of combating diseases under the siege conditions are covered. There are certificates about the number of registered births and deaths in the city of Leningrad and Leningrad Region during the siege.

Acts of the Leningrad regional and city commissions to establish and investigate the atrocities of the Nazi invaders and their accomplices, documents of the Red Army that recorded facts of crimes of the Nazis and their accomplices against civilians, atrocities against prisoners of war, destruction of historical and architectural monuments, including barbaric ones, including the destruction of Petrodvorets (Peterhof) are available.

The project includes photographs capturing episodes of hostilities and moments of life in the besieged city, as well as those taken immediately after the liberation of Leningrad and surrounding areas from the Nazi invaders.

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.

To date, the volume of the Collection is over 10 thousand materials: maps, diagrams, periodicals, photographs, newsreels for the period from January 1933 to September 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.

Executive institution: Federal Archival Agency (Rosarkhiv)

Operator: Boris Yeltsin Presidential Library of the Administrative Directorate of the President of the Russian Federation

Participants:

Foreign Policy Archive of the Russian Federation (AVP RF)

Russian State Military Archives (RGVA)

Russian State Archive of the Navy (RGAVMF)

Russian State Archive of Social and Political History (RGASPI)

State Archives of the Russian Federation (GA RF)

Russian State Archives of Contemporary History (RGANI)

Russian State Archives of Film and Photo Documents (RGAKFD)

Russian State Archives of Economy (RGAE)

Russian State Archives in Samara (RGA in Samara)

Central Archives of the Ministry of Defence of the Russian Federation (CA MO RF)

Foreign Intelligence Service Archives of the Russian Federation (Archive of SVR)

Central Archive of the Federal Security Service of the Russian Federation (CA FSB)

German Federal Archives (Bundesarchiv)

National Archives of the Republic of Belarus (NARB)

Belarusian State Archives of Film and Photo Documents (BGAKFFD)

Belarusian State Archives-Museum of Literature and Art (BGAMLI)

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