The photo documentary exhibition «Tomorrow Was the War» opened at the Ministry of Justice of the Republic of Belarus

On June 16, 2025, the photo documentary exhibition «Tomorrow Was the War» opened at the Ministry of Justice of the Republic of Belarus. It was prepared by the National Archives of the Republic of Belarus and the Belarusian State Archive of Film, Photo, and Sound Documents, timed to coincide with the Day of National Remembrance of the Victims of the Great Patriotic War and the Genocide of the Belarusian People.

On this day in 1941, the bloodiest and most terrible war in the history of our country began.

The National Archives of the Republic of Belarus presents unique documents at the exhibition: a special message to the First Secretary of the Central Committee of the Communist Party (Bolsheviks) of Belarus P.K.Ponomarenko from the Chief of the Intelligence Department of the Western Special Military District Headquarters S.Blokhin about Germany’s preparation for war against the USSR; Protocol No.69 of the meeting of the Bureau of the Central Committee of the Communist Party (Bolsheviks) of Belarus on Germany’s attack on the USSR; Directive No.1 of the Central Committee of the Communist Party (Bolsheviks) of Belarus on the transition to underground work of party organizations in areas occupied by the enemy; Directive No.2 of the Central Committee of the Communist Party (Bolsheviks) of Belarus to party, Soviet and Komsomol organizations on the development of partisan warfare behind enemy lines; intelligence reports, special messages, diagrams of German troop groupings, articles from periodicals published on the eve of the war, and other documents.

This day reminds us of all those who died in battle, were tortured in Nazi captivity, and died in the rear from hunger and deprivation. We mourn for all those who, at the cost of their lives, fulfilled their sacred duty, defending their Fatherland in those harsh years.

1. Poster of the exhibition «Tomorrow Was War»

2. Exposition of the exhibition «Tomorrow Was War»

3. Archival photographs at the exhibition

4. Part of the exposition of the exhibition «Tomorrow Was War»

5. Archival documents at the exhibition