Lesson on «The Great October Revolution in Archival Documents» held at the State Archive of the Gomel Region as part of the «Archives for Schools» initiative

On November 4, 2026, ahead of the anniversary of the Great October Revolution, the State Archive of the Gomel Region hosted a lesson titled «The Great October Revolution in Archival Documents» for 11th-grade students from Secondary School No.1 in Gomel. The lesson aimed to foster a sense of patriotism, as well as a respectful and careful attitude toward national history and the memory of past generations, through the study of documents and materials concerning the revolutionary movement in the city of Gomel.

Leading archivist Maya Vashchenko prepared a selection of archival records and newspaper materials for the students, illustrating the political climate and revolutionary life in Gomel at the beginning of the last century. By examining these accessible documents, the students explored issues of local newspapers published in Gomel in 1920—such as «Polesskaya Pravda», «Sokha i Molot» (The Plow and the Hammer), and the «ROSTA Wall Newspaper» — which captured the turbulent events surrounding the change in the country’s political regime. Through accounts of revolutionary leaders in Gomel — including the local revolutionary and political figure Samuil Khavkin—the students learned about the underground activities of revolutionary M.Khatayevich, as well as figures such as V.Volodarsky, Artem, and P.Bogdanov (after whom several streets in our city are named), and viewed photographs of these individuals. The lesson took the form of an interactive discussion, during which the students shared their own knowledge of the revolutionary events and asked questions about topics that interested them. Continuing the exploration of the history of the October Revolution, students were shown a documentary film—sourced from the Belarusian State Archive of Film, Photo, and Sound Documents (BGAKFFD) — depicting the 65th-anniversary celebrations of the Great October Socialist Revolution in Gomel. To conclude the event, a tour of the archival repository was organized for the high school students; during this tour, archivist (1st qualification category) Viktoriya Rudenko demonstrated and explained how documents are preserved within the archive.

1. Leading archivist M.Vashchenko discusses the documents during the session

2–3. High school students examine documents and photographs

4. Screening of the documentary film

5. Archivist V.Rudenko and students during the tour of the archival repository