Organization of Archiving in the Red Army in the Prewar Years and in the Wartime: On Documents from the State Archive of the Russian Federation (GARF), the Russian State Military History Archive (PGVA), Central Archive of the Russian Ministry of Defence (

Print PDF

Hotyagov O.A., Moscow, Russian Federation

Organization of Archiving in the Red Army in the Prewar Years and in the Wartime: On Documents from the State Archive of the Russian Federation (GARF), the Russian State Military History Archive (PGVA), Central Archive of the Russian Ministry of Defence (TsAMO RF)

Abstract

The article reviews the formation history of organizational structures for acquiring and safe-keeping of archival documents of the Workers' and Peasants' Red Army in the prewar years, such as Military Archives Bureau, special archive depository for the Red Army documentation, Central Archive of the Red Army within the Central Archive of the Russian Federation. It studies minutes of the Commission of the Directorate of the Central Archive of the Russian Soviet Federative Socialist Republic (RSFSR) for developing project of Statute of the Military Archives Bureau on the theater of war; Statute and Instruction on acquisition and deposit of military history materials in the wartime; explanatory notes to the Statute and Instruction on the Commission papers (December, 1927), now stored in the State Archive of the Russian Federation (GARF). In February 1936 the Central Executive Committee (TsIK) and the Council of People's Commissars (SNK) of the USSR passed a resolution “On Regularization of Archiving in People’s Commissariats and Main Agencies of the USSR” followed by a People’s Commissariat for Defence (NKO) order, which validated staff and Statute of the NKO archives department. The archives department controlled correct usage of archival documents, development of statutes, instructions and recommended practices of safe-keeping and using archival documents, deposit of archival documents for safe-keeping, managed and controlled archiving in central directorates of the NKO, scientific study and issue of certificates. In 1938 national state archives passed under control of the People's Commissariat for Internal Affairs (NKVD). The author contends that the Central Archive of the Ministry of Defence founded during the Great Patriotic War ensured safekeeping of more than 9 million files on the war history.

Keywords

Archiving, Great Patriotic War of 1941-1945, Central Archive of the Ministry of Defence of the Russian Federation, archival documents, Red Army, Archives Department of the People’s Commissariat for Defence (NKO) of the USSR.

Download the article: pdf

About the authors

Hotyagov Oleg Aslangerievich, deputy department head of the Main Archives Administration of the Moscow Region, Moscow, Russian Federation, +7-915-301-48-69, This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it

You can read completely article in the russian historic-archival magazine “The Herald of an Archivist”. Read more about terms of subscription here.

Полностью материал публикуется в российском историко-архивоведческом журнале ВЕСТНИК АРХИВИСТА. Ознакомьтесь с условиями подписки здесь.