Zonal State Archives in Orsha

Description of holdings

Amount of holdings: 1 397 fonds and collections, 248 270 items

Chronological scope: from 1917 to the present

Geographical coverage:

• the town of Orsha and the Dubrovno, Orsha, Senno and Tolochin districts of the Vitebsk region
• abolished Bogushevsk, Kokhanovo, Kopys and Orekhovo districts of the Vitebsk region

Contents:

The main bulk of the archive’s holdings are records created by local authorities and various organizations that operated in the region after the Second World War.

The period before WWII is represented by records of revolutionary committees and the executive committees of the deputies’ councils (so-called Soviets). These records illustrate the struggle for the establishment and strengthening of Soviet power in the Orsha, Senno, Bogushevsk, Dubrovno, Kokhanovo, Kopys and Tolochin districts, and the first steps in social and economic developments in the region.

The fonds of the district, town and village councils and executive committees contain certificates of damage by the Nazi occupation of the region in WWII; lists of residents of the town of Orsha and residents of certain localities in the Dubrovno and Orsha districts who died or were sent for forced work in Germany and other countries in Western Europe; lists of military cemeteries, communal graves and individual burials of soldiers and partisans; maps of mine-strewn areas and mine clearance; materials on resettlement from the Dubrovno and Senno districts into the Kaliningrad region in Russia; data on the postwar restoration and further development of industry, agriculture, health care, public education, culture and sports; information on the establishment of the Orsha coat-of-arms, the relationship between the twin cities, the cession of various churches to religious believers, the process of democratization in the society, the liquidation of the aftermath of the Chernobyl nuclear catastrophe, the allotment of land areas for farming, etc.

The fonds of the Orsha and Senno district executive committees contain documents concerning the organization of the Ianka Kupala Literary Museum in the village of Levki (Orsha district), and the restoration of the house in the village of Belitsa (Senno district) where the famous Belarusian poet lived.

The fonds of industrial enterprises contain data on the construction and restoration of various enterprises in the postwar time, the expansion and startup of new enterprises, the development of engineering, light, timber and fuel industries.

The fonds of the Orsha flax mill contains the historical essay “The Best Practices in the Production” written by the factory’s director G. V. Semenov, which illustrates the factory’s history from 1929 to 1960.

The fonds of the agricultural and forest institutions, the collective and state farms contain data on the first agricultural communes, the liquidation of the landed property of landlords, churches and monasteries, the procedures of land tenure, the organization and reorganization of agricultural artels, state farms, and machine-&-tractor stations, land surveying, forest management, reclamation and drainage works, and more.

Records of public education, culture, healthcare and sports are held in the fonds of the respective divisions of the executive committees and in the fonds of various educational, cultural and health institutions. The development of public education, culture and healthcare in the period before WWII is illustrated in the fonds of the Orsha Belarusian State Teachers College and in the fonds of various educational and health institutions.

The Archives holds records of the prosecutor’s offices in the Bogushevsk, Orekhovo and Kokhanovo districts, the people’s court of the Bogushevsk district, and the Orsha municipal and district notary offices, in which there are many civil and criminal case files, agreements of purchase, gift and building, and more.

Records of various finacial and statistical agencies contain extensive information on the development of all sectors of national economy.

A substantial group of records is represented by the fonds of various trade unions, which illustrate the participation of those organizations in the protection of workers’ rights, and contain information on the socialist competition, shock-workers, etc.

The issues of construction and architecture are reflected in the fonds of various construction organizations and boards, the town and district chief architects.

Records of trade, purchasing and sale institutions illustrate the condition of trade, provision, and the purchasing of agricultural products.

Records of communal services contain data on the improvement of towns and districts, the restoration of public service after the Second World War, the work of public utilities.

Records of power system are represented by the collection of documents created by various energy and electrification enterprises in the Bogushevsk, Orekhovo, Orsha, Senno and Tolochin districts of the Vitebsk region.

Records dating to the period of the Republic of Belarus are represented by the fonds of various public companies and closed corporations, liquidated private organizations, cooperatives, limited liability companies, trade and multipurpose commercial firms, small and lease companies, private and individual businessmen.

The Archives contains personal fonds of P. G. Lubenkova, BSSR Honorary Doctor; B. A. Leoshko, Honorary Citizen of Orsha; F. A. Timkaeva, participant in WWII, secretary of Veterans Council of Air Squadron 876, the BSSR honorary worker in trade and catering, and the BSSR honorary railroader; A. K. Miloserdny, Honorary Citizen of Orsha, and more.