Documentary Exhibition for the 105th Anniversary of the People’s Commissariat of Health of the BSSR

On December 17, 2025, a documentary exhibition opened at the National Archives of the Republic of Belarus (hereinafter NARB) to mark the 105th anniversary of the People’s Commissariat of Health of the BSSR.

The Soviet government undertook extensive work to restore the national economy devastated during World War I. On December 17, 1920, by decision of the Congress of Soviets of the BSSR, the existing Commissariat of Health (created on the basis of the Minsk Provincial Department of Health) was reorganized into the People’s Commissariat of Health of the BSSR, and from 1946, into the Ministry of Health of the BSSR.

Since September 1920, S.D.Kaminsky (1861–1939) became the Commissar of Health of the BSSR. Semyon Davidovich Kaminsky was born in Barzna, Chernigov Governorate. He graduated from the Medical Faculty of Kyiv University in 1889. He worked as an ophthalmologist in Minsk. From 1923 to 1939, he headed the Department of Eye Diseases at BSU, and then at the Minsk Medical Institute.

The exhibition features archival documents from the NARB collection: a decree of the Council of People’s Commissars of the RSFSR on measures to combat epidemics in 1919; orders of the Minsk Provincial Department of Health; a registration book of infectious diseases in the city of Minsk for 1918-1920; regulations of the All-Russian Union of Medical and Sanitary Workers on standard pharmacy staffing levels; staffing lists of local health departments for 1920, and other documents.

The People’s Commissariat of Health of the BSSR was responsible for organizing medical institutions, combating epidemics, developing public health services and medical education in the republic, and improving the living conditions of doctors, pharmacists, and other medical workers.

Thus, the People’s Commissariat of Health of the BSSR was a key link in the formation of the Soviet healthcare system in Belarus, laying the foundation for the entire future medical sector of the country.

1. M.A.Starostenko, Head of the NARB Department, introduces a documentary exhibition dedicated to the 105th anniversary of the founding of the People’s Commissariat of Health of the BSSR.

2. M.A.Starostenko, Head of the NARB Department, introduces a documentary exhibition dedicated to the 105th anniversary of the founding of the People’s Commissariat of Health of the BSSR.

3. Archival documents on display.

4. Archival documents on display.

5. Archival documents on display.