The documentary exhibition «Women of the Great Victory» opened at the National Archives of the Republic of Belarus
On May 8, 2026, the documentary exhibition «Women of the Great Victory» opened at the National Archives of the Republic of Belarus (hereinafter referred to as NARB). The exhibition is dedicated to the women whose heroism during the Great Patriotic War became legendary. The exhibition presents a unique collection of personal files, archival documents, and testimonies about the fates of snipers, nurses, demolition experts, and messengers who fought against Nazism during the war.
The exhibition centers on the authentic personal files of four legendary women — Heroes of the Soviet Union, whose names are inextricably linked with the liberation of Belarus: Elena Mazanik, Nadezhda Troyan, and Maria Osipova — participants in the operation to assassinate Wilhelm Kube, the executioner of the Belarusian people; and Anna Maslovskaya, the courageous assistant to the chief of staff of a partisan brigade who personally participated in the bombing of trains and in battles.
When war rolled like a fiery wave across Belarusian soil in June 1941, it discriminated against gender and age. But history has preserved for us a special phenomenon—mass female heroism. The exhibition dispels the stereotype that women’s role in war was limited to medicine and household chores. Of course, the heroism of nurses is invaluable: under heavy fire, they pulled out the wounded, becoming the last barrier between a soldier and death. But the exhibition’s documents also reveal other «specialties» mastered by these former schoolgirls and students.
In partisan units, women became accurate snipers, elusive messengers, and, most astonishingly, cold-blooded demolition experts. The personal files displayed in the display cases contain information about dozens of blown-up trains and disabled bridges. Their feminine intuition and natural caution, combined with their reckless courage, made them ideal participants in the underground movement.
The exhibition’s uniqueness lies in the opportunity to see autobiographies written by the heroines themselves. These handwritings—sometimes flowing and confident, sometimes hasty—capture the pulse of the times. The personal registration forms, filled out in the forests or immediately after liberation, tell of what these women endured: the death of loved ones, burned-out homes, and a conscious choice to fight to the end. This exhibition is a reminder that Belarus’s freedom was won, in part, by the gentle hands of women who learned to hold a rifle, bandage wounds, and plant explosives so that future generations could live in peace.
The exhibition was prepared as part of the Year of Belarusian Women.
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| 1. Exhibition poster |
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| 2. Speech by NARB Deputy Director S.V.Kulink at the exhibition opening |
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| 3. Speech by NARB Department Head M.A.Starostenko at the exhibition opening |
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| 4. Exhibition participants |
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| 5. Group photograph from the exhibition opening |
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| 6. Exhibition participants viewing archival documents |