New books of documents “Trostenets: Tragedy of Europe’s Peoples, Memory in Belarus”, “Camps of Soviet POWs 1941-1944” have been released
The publishing house “Petrus Brovka Belarusian Encyclopedia” has released a book of documents and materials entitled “Trostenets: Tragedy of Europe’s Peoples, Memory in Belarus”.
The edition has been prepared by the National Archives of the Republic of Belarus together with the Central Archives of the KGB (Committee on State Security) of the Republic of Belarus, the Belarusian State Museum of the History of the Great Patriotic War and the Minsk-based Johannes Rau International Center for Education and Exchange.
Trostenets is the largest place of mass execution of people in Belarus during the Nazi Occupation. It ranks with Auschwitz, Treblinka and Maidanek. Here perished many Minsk residents, resistance fighters, partisans as well as Jews from Belarus and Western Europe (Germany, Austria, Poland, Czechoslovakia).
The compendium of documents and materials “Trostenets: Tragedy of Europe’s Peoples, Memory in Belarus” acquaints with the documents of the National Archives of the Republic of Belarus, the Central Archives of the KGB of the Republic of Belarus, the State Archives of the Russian Federation, the State Archives of Latvia, the archives of Minsk City Executive Committee, the Council of Ministers of the Republic of Belarus etc.
The book includes 255 documents illuminating the dramatic events in the area of Trostenets and the history of the Memorial. These are reports, dispatches, certificates of forensic medical examination, testimonies and reports of interrogation of residents in the villages of Maly and Bolshoy Trostenets, former camp prisoners, soldiers of the police battalions, SD and security police. The history of the Memorial’s foundation can be traced in the resolutions and materials of the Council of Ministers of the BSSR (later Republic of Belarus), Presidium of the Supreme Council, Minsk City and Region Executive Committees etc.
The publishing house “Belarus” has released a book of documents and materials entitled ”Camps of Soviet POWs 1941-1944”.
The compendium has been prepared by the National Archives of the Republic of Belarus together with the Central Archives of the KGB of the Republic of Belarus and the “Kontakte-Kontakty” Public Association in Berlin.
About 29 million soldiers of different armies were taken prisoners during the Second World War. Part of them died of hunger, disease, cold or were executed. The Red Army soldiers and officers who turned out in German POW camps went through the most terrible ordeals. According to the Extraordinary State Commission, in Belarus perished over 810,000 Soviet POWs.
The book narrates about POW camps created by Nazis in Belarus, the tragedy of Soviet POWs in German captivity, the crimes committed by Nazis against the prisoners. The book contains 127 documents. These are reports of the Commandant of POW camps in District “Ja”, orders of the commandant’s office in Stalag No 352 and the Chief of Borisov; intelligence reports of operational groups of the BSSR NKVD, reports of regional, district and town commissions of the Extraordinary State Commission, transcripts of interrogation of Soviet POWs, witnesses, former members of POW camp administration and guard units, reminiscences of Soviet POWs.
The directory “Conviction of Foreign Prisoners of War and Internees in Belarus. 1941-1951 (Inventory of criminal files in Fonds 1363)” has been prepared the National Archives of the Republic of Belarus, the Foundation “Historical Memory” (Moscow) and the Ludwig Boltzmann Institute for Research on War Consequences (Graz, Austria).
3,618 foreign prisoners of war and internees were brought to trial for the crimes committed during the war and camp law infringements in Belarus after the war. The book describes contents of 2897 criminal files in Fonds 1363 of the National Archives of the Republic of Belarus.