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On Febrary 13, 2025 the collection of digitized archival documents, film, and photographic materials titled World War II in Archival Documents, which was posted on the Presidential Library's portal, has been expanded with more than 80 new documents covering key events from the Great Patriotic War between January 28 until February 13, 1945.
On February 13, 1945, the Budapest Offensive, conducted by the forces of the 2nd and 3rd Ukrainian Fronts of the Red Army, resulted in the complete liberation of Budapest. This final stage of the operation is documented in records from the Central Archive of the Ministry of Defence of the Russian Federation.
These are combat orders and operational directives from the front command for the offensive on Budapest, a map showing the encirclement and elimination of the enemy group in Budapest by the troops of the 2nd Ukrainian Front during December 1944 and February 1945. Additionally, there is a combat report from the headquarters of the 2nd Ukrainian Front to Supreme Commander J. V. Stalin regarding the complete capture of Budapest.
In the order issued by the Supreme Commander-in-Chief, No. 277, gratitude was expressed to the Red Army troops who distinguished themselves during the liberation of Budapest. It was stated that during the battles in Budapest, the troops of the 2nd Ukrainian Front captured over 10,000 enemy soldiers and officers, including the German commander of the Budapest force group, Colonel-General Pfeffer Wildenbruch, and his staff. They also seized a significant amount of weapons and military equipment. The archive of the Political Directorate of the Second Ukrainian Front contains information about the Jewish ghetto in Budapest, which was organized by the Nazis in collaboration with the Germans.
Among the documents of the Central Army of the Ministry of Defence of the Russian Federation are combat reports, orders, summaries, and maps from the headquarters of the 1st Belorussian and 1st Ukrainian Fronts and their subordinate units during the Vistula-Oder Offensive Operation (which ended on February 3, 1945).
Also included are photographs from collections of the Russian State Military Archive and Russian State Archive of Film and Photographic Documents that capture episodes of the Red Army's liberation of cities and towns in East Prussia, Poland, and Budapest. Photos from the Yalta Conference, held from February 4-11, 1945, between the leaders of the USSR, Great Britain, and the USA, are also posted, as are documents from the Archive of Foreign Policy of the Russian Federation covering the Yalta conference.
The documents of the Soviet intelligence services include secret service messages, or cipher telegrams, received from Soviet agents in Washington. One such document is a special message from Deputy People's Commissar of State Security B. Z. Kobulov to J. V. Stalin, V. M. Molotov and L. P. Beria regarding Great Britain's concerns about the development of Soviet-French relations. This message was sent on January 28, 1945 and is archived at the Russian Foreign Intelligence Service.
Another document is a memo from F. F. Kuznetsov, head of the intelligence directorate of the Red Army General Staff, to J. Stalin regarding the proposed transfer of the 6th SS Panzer Army from the Western European to the Soviet-German front. This memo was written on January 30, 1945 and are available in the Russian State Archives of Modern History.
The holdings of the Russian State Archive of Socio-Political History include documents from the Department of Propaganda and Agitation of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union (CPSU), including a memo from the deputy head of the Main Political Directorate of the Red Army, I. V. Shikin, addressed to the head of the department, G. F. Alexandrov, regarding the situation at the Auschwitz concentration camp and its liberation by the Red Army on February 9, 1945.
The collection also includes resolutions of the Council of People's Commissars (government) of the USSR, preserved in the State Archives of the Russian Federation, such as On the Stalin Prizes for Outstanding Work in the Fields of Science, Invention, Art, and Literature for the Years 1943-1944, dated January 29, 1945, and On the Organization of Printing Banknotes for the Allied Command in Germany, dated February 10, 1945.
On January 23, 2025 the collection of digitized archival documents, film, and photographic materials titled World War II in Archival Documents, which was posted on the Presidential Library's portal, has been expanded with more than 200 new documents covering key events from the Great Patriotic War between November 7, 1944 and January 27, 1945.
These documents describe the large-scale offensive operations of the Red Army in Hungary and East Prussia during this time period, as recorded in documents from the Central Archive of the Ministry of Defense of Russia. These documents include directives from the Supreme Soviet Command's headquarters and operational reports from the General Staff of the Soviet Army.
The new arrivals also include fragments from the documentary Winter and Spring of 1945 about the German offensive operation in the Ardennes and the start of the Vistula-Oder offensive by the Red Army. The exhibition also includes photographs that depict episodes of the liberation of Warsaw and Krakow.
The documents of the Soviet intelligence services are represented by secret messages (ciphered telegrams) received from agents of the Soviet intelligence abroad - from London, Washington and Bucharest. One of these documents is a memorandum from the Deputy People's Commissar for State Security of the USSR, B. Z. Kobulov, to the State Defense Committee of the USSR regarding the health of Adolf Hitler, the role of Heinrich Himmler in the domestic policy of the Third Reich, and the military and political plans of Nazi Germany, dated January 13, 1945.
The documents of the Russian State Archive of Socio-Political History (RGASPI) mainly consist of resolutions of the Politburo of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union (CPSU) and documents from the personal file of J. Stalin. These include personal messages from J. Stalin to the British Prime Minister, Winston Churchill, regarding the conclusion of the tripartite Anglo-Franco-Soviet Pact on December 7, 1944; joint policies regarding Yugoslavia on December 12, 1944; and the recognition of the Provisional National Government of Poland in Lublin by the Soviet Union on January 3, 1945, among other documents.
Documents from the archives of the Foreign Policy Archive of the Russian Federation are of particular interest: cipher telegrams from V.M. Molotov, People's Commissar for Foreign Affairs, to F.T. Gusev, the USSR ambassador to Great Britain, and A.A. Gromyko, the USSR ambassador to the United States, containing the texts of messages from Stalin to Winston Churchill and F. Roosevelt in January 1945. Additionally, there is a plan of action from the Soviet Foreign Ministry related to preparations for the Yalta Conference between the leaders of the Allied powers.
The Collection also contains decrees of the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet of the USSR, stored in the State Archive of the Russian Federation (GA RF), regarding the awarding of orders and medals of the USSR to officers, sergeants, and enlisted personnel of the Red Army, as well as senior command staff members of the armed forces of Great Britain and the United States, and officers of the French military unit "Normandy", including the awarding of the title of Hero of the Soviet Union.
Documents from the collections of the Russian State Archive of Economics (RGAE) reflect the activities of Soviet economic and planning authorities to rebuild industry and infrastructure in the regions of the RSFSR, Ukrainian SSR, Byelorussian SSR, Karelo-Finnish SSR, Lithuanian SSR, Moldavian SSR, and Estonian SSR after they were liberated from occupation. Additionally, important documents related to the development of weapons and aircraft construction are presented, including orders from the USSR People's Commissariat of the Aviation Industry regarding the creation of prototype launch devices for T. Chelomeya's catapult cannon to launch objects weighing 2.2-2.5 tons, dated December 9, 1944. There is also information about conducting factory tests on the experimental aircraft BI designed by T. Bolkhovitinov, dated December 12, 1944, and the release of Yak-3 aircraft equipped with VK-105PF engines and armed with three 20-caliber Berezin cannons at Plant No 292 of Narkomaviaprom, dated December 30th, 1944; the repor "On the Construction of a Jet Aircraft by T. Yakovlev" is also presented. Additionally, there are reports from various departmental research institutes related to military developments such as the construction of military roads in swampy areas, improvements to military uniforms, and methods for treating frostbite (based on materials from the Russian Academy of Defence in Samara).