Fonds of the commissions and research institutions which investigated Nazi crimes, the extent of damage caused by the war and Occupation, and other issues relating to the Great Patriotic War

National Archives of the Republic of Belarus (NARB)

Belarusian Central Commission for Assistance to the Extraordinary State Commission for Investigation of Nazi crimes and war damage in the Belarusian Soviet Socialist Republic – NARB, fond 845, 217 items, 1943-1945

Instructions of the USSR Council of People’s Commissars, the resolutions of the BSSR Council of People’s Commissars and of the Central Committee of Communist Party (of Bolsheviks) of Belarus about the order of ascertainment and calculation of the damage caused to the citizens and the state, public and cooperative organizations and enterprises. Minutes of the commission’s sittings and witnesses’ questioning. General report about the extent of damage caused to Belarus’ national economy and people by Nazi invaders. Certificates, lists and registers for different fields of national economy. Generalized data about the certificates of damage. Summary collation statements. Documents concerning the work of the regional commissions (reports, certificates, data, lists, correspondence, and decisions of legal-medical examination). Data about the number of concentration camps and mass deportation of Belarusian citizens into Germany. Letters of the persons deported to Germany to their relatives. Lists of the Nazi criminals and their allies, the victims of the regime, the inmates of special children’s homes, the persons who were released from concentration camps and who were in quarantine, the persons who underwent a course of medical treatment after staying in concentration camps and their epidemic anamneses. Cards and questionnaires of the persons who returned home from Germany; applications for reparation of damages; documentary photographs concerning Nazi crimes. Lists, certificates and references of the commissions’ personnel. 

Regional commissions for assistance to the Extraordinary State Commission for Investigation of Nazi crimes and war damage in the Belarusian Soviet Socialist Republic

Brest – State Archives of Brest Region, fond 514, 348 items, 1944-1946

Bobruisk – Zonal State Archives in Bobruisk, fond 1569, 62 items, 1944-1945

Gomel – State Archives of Gomel Region, fond 1345, 28 items, 1944-1947

Grodno – State Archives of Grodno Region, fond 1029, 137 items,1941-1969

Minsk – State Archives of Minsk Region, KMF № 1, 91 496 microimages, 1944-1945

Mogilev – State Archives of Mogilev Region, fond 306, 115 items, 1944-1945

Pinsk – Zonal State Archives in Pinsk, fond 118, 173 items, 1944-1946

Polesie – Zonal State Archives in Mozyr, fond 310, 22 items,1944-1945

Polotsk – Zonal State Archives in Polotsk, fond 687, 224 items,1944-1945

Vitebsk – State Archives of Vitebsk Region, fond 2748, 83 items, 1944-1945

Instructions of the USSR Council of People’s Commissars, resolutions and instructions of the BSSR Council of People’s Commissars concerning the investigation of Nazi crimes and calculation of the damage caused by the war and Occupation. Minutes of the commissions and military tribunal about accusation of war criminals; certificates, different information and reports about work of the Extraordinary State Commission and economic state of the BSSR. Register of the damage calculation. Lists of the destroyed localities and killed local people. Questionaires of the persons who returned home from Germany.

Commission for the History of the Great Patriotic War at the Central Committee of the Communist Party of Belarus – NARB, fond 750, 358 items, 1941-1953

Resolutions of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of Belarus concerning the creation and work of the commission; instructions about work of the commissions and museums of the history of WW2. Minutes and instructions of the commission. Schedules of the commission’s work, the preparation, organization and realization of different mass actions (meetings and rallies). Newspaper articles, literary works, leaflets, and reports of Sovinformbureau. Manuscripts of reminiscences, scientific essays and literary works about World War 2; stenograms of interviews with partisans and underground fighters; certificates about partisan groups. Maps of location of the editorial and printing offices of the underground regional and district newspapers. Lists of the central, regional and district newspapers of Belarus, and of the Occupation newspapers; reviews of the Occupation press. Biographical particulars and lists of partisans – heroes of the Soviet Union, generals and admirals of the Soviet Army. Chronicle of World War II. Different data, certificates and photodocuments about the crimes of the Nazi invaders. Standard forms of the registration, administrative and other documents of partisan groups.  Leaflets; texts of speaches, addresses and slogans. Register of leaflets printed by the Communist Party and Komsomol. Letters of the Belarusian partisans to I. V. Stalin. Correspondence with party and Soviet organizations about collection of the documents. Register of documents and materials collected by the commission; notes of receipt. Staff lists; estimates of costs; personal account of the commission’s members; personal files of the persons dismissed; autobiographies; applications for admission and dismissal; payment sheets.

Institute of Party History at the Central Committee of the Communist Party of Belarus – NARB, fond 4683, 2689 items, 1946-1986

Minutes of the meetings of the academic council, the council for coordination, the translation department, the department for the history of World War II, and of the chief editorial staff of the three-volume edition “The struggle of the Belarusian people against the Nazi invaders in World War II (June, 1941 – July, 1944)”. Plans of research works, individual plans, and reports on their implementation. Plans and lists of the project themes for Ph.D. theses; reviews and comments on the research projects. Correspondence with the Party and Soviet organizations, research institutions and separate citizens relating to the history of World War II, publication of monographs, documents and articles. Documentary photographs concerning World War II.

Party Archive of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of Belarus – NARB, fond 511, 952 items, 1925-1944

Budget estimates and performance reports. Correspondence with the party and Soviet organizations about the issues relating to the archive. Documents concerning the Occupation and Belarus’s liberation (certificates, letters, acts, and more). Inquiries of the Party and Komsomol bodies, and their performance reports (letters, archival certificates, archival transcripts). Information on  ration cards and bread cards. Correspondence with the Party and Komsomol organizations about registration cards, Party-and Komsomol-membership cards. Register of incoming and outgoing documents. Register of the correspondence sent by mail; business trip documents; waybills.

Commissions for the issue of the Partisan of Belarus certificate at the local council executive committees – NARB, fond 1256, 68 163 items, 1969-1992

Minutes of the commission’s sittings; personal files of the Partisans.

Belarusian State Museum of the History of the Great Patriotic War – NARB, fond 1246, 137 items, 1943-1965

Resolutions of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of Belarus and of the Council of Ministers of the BSSR relating to the museum’s work; orders of the museum’s director about the museum’s activities. Exposition schedules. Correspondence with different organizations, institutions and private persons about expositions, collection of documents and exhibits, publication of different materials on the history of World War II, scientific expeditions, organization of the musems of the history of World War II and Belarusian National Resistance.