The Belarusian State Archives of Films, Photographs and Sound Recordings

Description of holdings

Amount of holdings:

• film documents: 60 177 items
• documentary photographs: 285 476 items
• sound records: 296 559 items
• video documents: 8 546 items

Chronological scope: from 1860 to the present

Geographical coverage:

• former Vilno (Vilnius), Vitebsk, Grodno, Minsk and Mogilev gubernias (provinces) of the Russian Empire
• Western Belarus as part of Poland
• Belarusian Soviet Socialist Republic (BSSR)
• Russian Soviet Federative Socialist Republic (RSFSR)
• Ukrainian Soviet Socialist Republic
• WWII Germany
• Republic of Belarus
• other countries (in the World Photos section, etc.)

Contents:

The Archives holds films, photographs and sound records illustrating the history of Belarus throughout one hundred years. These are documentary photographs of the prerevolutionary period, World War I, World War II and the contemporary period, film documents since 1916, sound recordings since 1906. The earliest photographs (1860-1890s) are studio portraits made in photography studios of T. Epifanov, M. V. Strashuner and M. Nappelbaum from the family album of participant in the First World War G. A. Lukovnikov. Of exceptional value are film pictures and photographs taken on the edge of the 19th and 20th centuries, highlighting the construction of the Moscow-Brest railway, Kurlovski’s execution in Minsk in 1905, visit of Tsar Nikolai to Belarus, fraternization of soldiers in the First World War. The Archives holds a collection of photos and postcards (over 400) with the views of Belarusian towns before 1917 (Minsk, Nesvizh, Borisov, Vileika, Molodechno, Zaslavl, Kobrin, Gomel, Pinsk, Grodno, Vitebsk, Polotsk, Mogilev, etc.).

One of the most valuable photograph collections held at the Archives is that of the dukes Radziwill, one of the biggest noble families in Belarus. It contains 55 photographs from the Radziwill family album. The collection tells about Nesvizh Palace–Radziwills’ residence, Radziwill family members, their friends and visitors. 

The Archives holds a great number of photographs relating to the Great October Revolution of 1917, the Civil War (1918-1921), and the Polish period, 1919-1939 (mass demonstrations, soldiers’ and local population meetings, food detachments, Red Army groups) as well as photographic portraits of the state functionaries and public figures, painters, poets, writers and actors of this period (A. F. Miasnikov, M. F. Frunze, A. G. Cherviakov, etc.).

The World Photo page presents works by foreign professional photographers of the early 20th century and the 1920s-1940s, that is, genre photos, landscapes, and the photographs of B. Show, F. Shaliapin, R. Tagor, C. Chaplin, I. Strauss, and more.

The Archives also retains documents reflecting the economic, social and political life in Western Belarus; the national liberation movement for the reunification with the Belarusian Soviet Socialist Republic.

The substantial part of the archives’ documents is represented by various film documents, that is, the scientific, educational & documentary films, feature films, animated cartoons and news films. Many interesting documentary pictures are included in the films “The finishing touches to the portrait”, “Prerevolutionary Belarus”, “The pages from the history of Minsk”, and more. The news reels “Soviet Belarus”, “Daily news”, “Belarusian arts”, “The Pioneer of Belarus” dating from the years 1939-1993 reflect the most significant events in the life of Belarus.

The years of the Second World War are depicted in the photographic documents and films created by the war reporters and operators M. Berov, P. Berstein, I. Veinerovich, M. Sukhova, O. Reizman, and V. Tsesliuk. Of interest are the films “The combat operations of our troops”, “Belarusian partisans”; “In the Batka Minai partisan group”, “Nazis’ crimes in Belarus”, “Combat operations of the Partisans”, “The battle for Belarus”, “In the liberated Minsk”, “The liberation of Soviet Belarus”, and more. Of great value are the captured German films, that is, the agitation and propaganda material shot by the German cameramen in Belarus during the Occupation, and also sixty three German photographic albums brought from Germany in 1945. These photographs depict the WWII events in the occupied countries and in Germany as well. The most interesting for researchers are the photographic documents on the following subjects: “The Nazi Occupation regime in the captured territories”, “Nazis’ crimes in Belarus”, “The destruction of Belarusian towns and villages”, “Combat activities of the Partisan groups”, “Partisans’ everyday life”, “Death camps” and “Jewish ghettos”. The Archives also holds a collection of 508 photos made by V. I. Arkashev in World War II. His photographs reflect the events of the early days of the war, army life, combat operations, medical work, etc. The Archives also preserves the captured German news reels and partisans’ film chronicle reflecting the very beginning of the war, combat operations, battles and partisans’ everyday life.

The Archives preserves interesting sound recordings with the voices of the outstanding politicians, scholars & the workers in Culture and Art of Belarus (Ia. Kolas, Ia. Kupala, M. Lynkov, K. Krapiva, T. Ia. Kisilev, P. M. Masherov, B. I. Kozlov, A. Bembel, Z. Azgur, M. Savitski, S. Staniuta, and more), & also the musical and drama recordings. The most significant among the sound recordings is a collection of the gramophone and tape recordings of the famous Belarusian tenor Zabeida-Sumitski containing his various songs, romances and opera arias in Russian, Belarusian, Ukrainian, Czech, Polish, German, Italian, English and Finnish. In all, the collection holds 40 items.

The Archives continues to enrich its holdings. The main sources of acquisition are the National Film Studio “Belarusfilm”, the National State Television & Radio Company of the Republic of Belarus, and also the photograph libraries of the central newspaper and magazine editorial offices.