Exhibition «Testimonies of an Era: October 1917» Opens at the Ministry of Justice of the Republic of Belarus

On November 6, 2026, the Ministry of Justice of the Republic of Belarus hosted the grand opening of the exhibition «Testimonies of an Era: October 1917», prepared by the National Archives of the Republic of Belarus (NARB).

The exhibition is dedicated to the October Revolution of 1917—a pivotal political event of the 20th century that fundamentally altered the course of world history and provided the Belarusian people with a historic opportunity to establish genuine statehood on a Soviet foundation.

Many of the social achievements proclaimed at that time remain a solid cornerstone of the state’s social policy in the Republic of Belarus today. A prominent place in the exhibition is given to materials concerning the events of December 1917, when the Regional Executive Committee of the Soviets of Workers’, Soldiers’, and Peasants’ Deputies of the Western Region and the Front was established in Minsk, serving as the supreme authority of Soviet power in Belarusian lands.

Under the guidance of Soviet and party organizations, revolutionary transformations were carried out: banks and industries were nationalized; workers’ control over production and the distribution of goods was established; an 8-hour workday was introduced; landowners’ estates were confiscated, leading to the creation of the first collective peasant farms; the network of schools was expanded; free education was implemented; and a campaign to eradicate illiteracy among the adult population was launched.

The exhibition features documents from the NARB that chronicle the history of the October Revolution in Belarus. Posters, leaflets, telegrams, and proclamations from various political parties are of particular interest, while rare photographs from the Belarusian State Archive of Film, Photograph, and Sound Documents vividly recreate the atmosphere of the revolutionary era in our country.

A guided tour of the thematic exhibition for employees of the Ministry of Justice of the Republic of Belarus was conducted by V.P.Garmatny, a leading archivist at the National Archives of the Republic of Belarus (NARB) and a senior researcher at the Institute of History of the National Academy of Sciences of Belarus.

1. Exhibition poster

2. Documentary exhibition at the Ministry of Justice of the Republic of Belarus

3. V.P.Garmatny, a leading archivist at the NARB, introduces the exhibition to employees of the Ministry of Justice of the Republic of Belarus

4. Employees of the Ministry of Justice of the Republic of Belarus viewing the exhibition

5. Employees of the Ministry of Justice of the Republic of Belarus viewing the exhibition

6. Archival documents on display at the exhibition

7. Archival documents on display at the exhibition