Informational and educational event at the Ministry of Justice of the Republic of Belarus dedicated to the Year of the Belarusian Woman

On August 6, 2026, the Ministry of Justice of the Republic of Belarus (hereinafter referred to as the Ministry) held an informational and educational event titled «Daughters of the Fatherland: Feats of Arms in the Name of Life», dedicated to the Year of the Belarusian Woman. As part of the event, a showcase exhibition of the same name was presented to employees of the Ministry’s Central Office.

M.N.Skomoroshchenko, Head of the Ideological Support Department of the Ministry’s Personnel Policy and Ideological Support Directorate, delivered a welcoming speech. He noted that the choice of date for the event was highly symbolic: 85 years ago, on August 6, 1941, the Supreme Soviet of the USSR issued decrees awarding Belarusian partisans. The first «people’s avengers» to be awarded the title Hero of the Soviet Union during the Great Patriotic War were Tikhon Bumazhkov and Fyodor Pavlovsky, and female partisans were also among those awarded state orders and medals.

M.A.Starostenko, Head of the Document and Information Management Department of the National Archives of the Republic of Belarus (hereinafter NARB), led ministry employees on a tour of a specially prepared thematic exhibition, which features copies of over 50 documents documenting the history of Belarusian women’s participation in the partisan and underground struggle in the BSSR during the Nazi occupation. The exhibited materials included combat leaflets and handwritten journals from partisan units, materials on awards and incentives for distinguished female partisans, posters, photographs, and drawings by partisan artists.

NARB Publications Department Head U.A.Kolobaeva presented the documentary publication «Women in the Partisan Movement of Belarus». She emphasized the book’s popular science nature and its rich illustrations, and described in detail the painstaking preparatory work and the composition of the published documents. Everyone was given the opportunity to examine this unique publication.

NARB staff also answered questions from event participants regarding the possibility of using documentary sources to determine the fates of relatives who participated in the Great Patriotic War, and provided practical recommendations for preserving personal and family archives.

1. Exhibition Poster

2-3. M.A.Starostenko, Head of the NARB Department, introduces Ministry staff to archival documents

4. U.A.Kolobaeva, Head of the NARB Publications Department, talks about the documentary publication «Women in the Partisan Movement of Belarus»

5. Ministry staff review archival documents

6. Ministry staff review the exhibition and the documentary publication

7-8. Archival documents at the exhibition