Presentation of the edition “Minsk Region in Documents and Materials”, 12 November 2009

On 12 November 2009, the Pushkin Regional Library in Minsk hosts a meeting with the staff of the State Archives of Minsk Region and the National Archives of the Republic of Belarus – the authors and publishers of the two-part edition, “Minsk Region in Documents and Materials”. The first part of the book, called “The Beginning”, was published in 2008 to mark 70 years since the foundation of Minsk Region (Oblast). This part covers the events between January 1938 and June 1941.

Recently the second part titled “The Rebirth” has been published, which covers the events from 1946 to 1953. The book presents, for the first time in print, 70 unique documents that bear evidence to the hard times of postwar reconstruction in Minsk Region. The main types of documents included in the book are memoranda, certificates, and special reports to the Central Committee and the Minsk Regional Committee of the Communist Party (of Bolsheviks) of Belarus. The book also contains documents of the Minsk Region Executive Committee and the Molodechno Region Executive Committee of the Communist Party (of Bolsheviks) of Belarus. There are also decision making documents such as resolutions of the Central Committee of the Communist Party (of Bolsheviks) of Belarus, the Council of Ministers of the BSSR, and materials describing the process of decision making. Of considerable interest are the supplement of 171 short biographies, the list of executives and leading employees in Minsk and the Minsk region, and the chronicle of events 1946-1953. The book is illustrated with facsimile copies of documents and photographs, which are now preserved at the Belarusian State Archives of Films, Photographs and Sound Recordings, as well as by private individuals.