80 years of the Belarusian State Museum of the History of the Great Patriotic War

Header – Arch. №1-019200. View of the building of the Belarusian State Museum of the History of the Great Patriotic War and the Palace of Culture of the Belarusian Council of Trade Unions on the Central Square (panorama from the Central Telegraph building), /1970s/ Photo library of the Belarusian State Museum of the History of the Great Patriotic War, photo by E.M.Artemchik

In 2024, the Belarusian State Museum of the History of the Great Patriotic War celebrates its 80th anniversary. The history of this institution dates back to the resolution of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of Belarus of September 30, 1943 on the establishment of a museum on the history of the struggle of the Belarusian people against the Nazi occupiers during the Great Patriotic War. Since the territory of Belarus was under German occupation at that time, it was decided to place the museum in the building of the State Historical Museum in Moscow on the basis of the exhibition «Belarus lives, Belarus fights, Belarus was and will be Soviet».

After the liberation of the capital of Soviet Belarus, the leadership of the BSSR decided to allocate one of the few surviving buildings in the center of Minsk – the House of Trade Unions on Freedom Square – for the museum. In the issues of the newspapers «Zvyazda» and «Sovetskaya Belorussiya» from October 21 and 22, 1944, the opening date was indicated as October 22 at 12 o’clock. The first two exhibitions that opened for visitors were «Armament of Belarusian Partisans» and «Bolshevik Press of Belarus during the Great Patriotic War».

In February 1966, the Museum opened an exposition at a new address – Leninsky Prospekt, 25a (now – Nezavisimosti Avenue). The facade of the museum overlooked Oktyabrskaya Square. The new museum building became one of the famous symbols of the Belarusian capital.

On the eve of the 70th anniversary of the liberation of Belarus, on July 2, 2014, a new building of the museum was opened, built in 2010-2014 according to the design of the architect V.V.Kramarenko.

1. Archive №0-004254. In one of the halls of the Belarusian State Museum of the History of the Great Patriotic War, May 1951. Photo library of the editorial office of the newspaper «Minskaya Pravda», photo by V.L.Martsionko

2. Archive №0-012558. Artists of the artistic ensemble of youth of China in one of the halls of the Belarusian State Museum of the History of the Great Patriotic War, January 20, 1952. TsGAKFD USSR, photo by M.Minkovich

3. Archive №0-009309. Twice Hero of the Soviet Union, Belarusian I.I. Yakubovsky in the Belarusian State Museum of the History of the Great Patriotic War, 1953. Photo library of the editorial office of the newspaper «Sovetskaya Belorussia», photo by L.I.Papkovich

4. Archive No.0-015311 In one of the halls of the Belarusian State Museum of the History of the Great Patriotic War, August 1954. Photo library of BelOKS, photo by Gesselberg

5. Archive No.0-015309. Schoolchildren of the Krupskaya Secondary School on an excursion to the Museum of the History of the Great Patriotic War, 1954. Photo library of BelOKS, photo by Gesselberg

6. Archive No.0-038021. Admission of 3rd grade students No.12 of Minsk into the Young Pioneers in one of the halls of the Belarusian State Museum of the History of the Great Patriotic War, May 23, 1955. BelTA photo chronicle, photo by V.N.Lupeiko

7. Archive No.0-091102. Construction of the building of the Belarusian State Museum of the History of the Great Patriotic War, October 3, 1961. Photo library of the Minsk television studio, photo by Alkhimovich

8. Archive No.1-019360. During the filming of the feature film «Little Dreamers» (short story «Star on the Buckle») of the Belarusfilm studio (directors O. Grechikho, V.Turov, A.Yastrebov, cameramen G.Vdovenkov, A.Zabolotsky, Yu.Marukhin, I.Remishevsky) on the Central Square of Minsk; In the background on the right is the building of the Palace of Culture of Trade Unions; on the left is the construction site of the building of the Museum of the Great Patriotic War, /1960-1962/ Photo library of the National Film Studio «Belarusfilm»

9. Archive №0-067016. A group of activists of the «Italy-USSR» society in one of the halls of the Belarusian State Museum of the History of the Great Patriotic War, November 4, 1965. Photo library BelOKS, photo by V.Kozlov

10. Archive №0-081212. Senior researcher of the Belarusian State Museum of the History of the Great Patriotic War G.F.Rubezhina leads a tour, February 22, 1966. Photo chronicle BelTA, photo by I.Zmitrovich

11. Archive №1-019454. Fragment of the exposition of the Belarusian State Museum of the History of the Great Patriotic War, /1960s/ Photo library of the collector M.P.Ananyin

12. Archive No.0-106805. Fidel Castro Ruz and the First Secretary of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of Belarus P.M. Masherov in one of the halls of the Belarusian State Museum of the History of the Great Patriotic War, 1972. Photo library of the Belarusian State Museum of the History of the Great Patriotic War, photo by V.Ya.Kitas

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