The collection of documents “You still have a choice…” was presented at the National Archives

On March 9, the National Archives of the Republic of Belarus (NARB) presented a collection of documents “You still have a choice …” about the decomposition of anti-Soviet military and police formations.

Director of the archive A.K. Demyanuk noted the importance of introducing such an array of new documents into scientific circulation and emphasized the relevance of the presented collection. For many years of fruitful cooperation, active scientific, methodological and practical assistance in the publication and publishing activities of the National Archives of the Republic of Belarus, as well as for the training of scientific personnel for archivists A.K. Demyanuk awarded the badge of the National Archives of the Republic of Belarus “For Merits” to the Academician-Secretary of the Department of Humanities and Arts of the National Academy of Sciences of Belarus, Doctor of History, Professor, Academician A.A. Kovalenya and Dean of the Faculty of History of the Belarusian State University, Doctor of History, Professor A.G. Kokhanovsky. Also, the latest editions prepared by the NARB were transferred to the Academy of Sciences of Belarus and the Faculty of History of the Belarusian State University.

Academician A.A. Kovalenya in his speech noted the many years of significant contribution of archivists to the study of various aspects of the history of the Great Patriotic War, their role in the fight against attempts to falsify history.

Dean of the Faculty of History of BSU A.G. Kokhanovsky noted the relevance of the chosen topic of the collection, noting that for a long time the decomposition of anti-Soviet formations was not in the research focus of historians. He also emphasized the importance of documentary publications for the educational process of history students.

Director of the Institute of History of the National Academy of Sciences of Belarus, Candidate of History, Associate Professor V.L. Lakiza emphasized the close and fruitful relationship between scientists and archivists, especially in the framework of the work on the study of the topic of the genocide of the population of Belarus during the Great Patriotic War, pointing out that many collections of documents became the starting point and foundation of this work.

Head of the Department of Organizational Work, Information and Use of Documents of the Department for Archives and Paperwork of the Ministry of Justice of the Republic of Belarus G.S. Zholnerkevich expressed his gratitude to the archive for systematic and fruitful publishing activity, emphasizing that the NARB has actually become one of the scientific centers for studying the history of the Great Patriotic War.

The author of the historical preface to the collection, head of the Center for Military History of Belarus of the Institute of History of the National Academy of Sciences of Belarus, Doctor of History, Professor A.M. Lytvyn pointed out the complexity of the chosen topic. He noted that the problem of the decomposition of anti-Soviet military-police formations requires a deep and systematic study, and the presented collection will become the foundation for the further development of this problem.

Head of the Department of History and Social Sciences of the Moscow State Linguistic University, Candidate of History, Associate Professor S.E. Novikov, who acted as a reviewer of the collection, pointed out the high scientific level of the publication, the diverse content of the published documents, their novelty and informativeness.

Head of the team of authors, Leading Researcher of the NARB Publications Department, Ph.D. V.D. Selemenev spoke about the preparation of the publication, its structure and published documents.

Professor of the Department of Social Sciences, Peter the Great St. Petersburg Polytechnic University, Doctor of History HER. Krasnozhenova noted the great work of the NARB in studying various aspects of the history of the Great Patriotic War, as well as close scientific cooperation between archivists and scientists from St. Petersburg.

Kind words about the presented publication were also expressed by the leading researcher of the Center for Military History of Belarus, Ph.D., Associate Professor A.A. Krivorot, researcher of the same center V.N. Nadtachaev, Head of the Department of History and Tourism, Polotsk State University named after I. Euphrosyne of Polotskaya, candidate of historical sciences, associate professor A.I. Korsak, Associate Professor, Department of Source Studies, Belarusian State University, Ph.D. K.I. Kozak, Executive Director of the Historical Memory Foundation (Moscow) N.V. Selyukin.

For all those present, a lay-out of original documents from the NARB funds was also presented, concerning the topic of the decomposition of anti-Soviet military-police formations.