M.41.GAMn - Documentation from the Minsk Region State Archive History of the Archive The Minsk Region State Archive (GAMn Archive) was established in 1938. The Archive was not active during the period of the German occupation, 1941-1944. All the documents describing the period before the October Revolution (the Bolshevik Revolution) were transferred to the Belorussian Central State Historical Archive in 1963. 600,000 files from the Minsk Region Communist Party Archive were given to GAMO in 1996. Material from the period of the October Revolution in 1917 until the present time has been preserved in the GAMn Archive. In the documents there is documentation from the Dzerzhinsk, Berezino, Uzda, Stolbtsy, Smolevichii, Pukhovichi, Nesvizh, Minsk, Kletsk and Cherven Districts in the Minsk Region. In the Minsk Region State Archive vast material that is considered an extremely important source for the study of the Nazi occupation period is stored. There are documents regarding the murder of the Jews in Minsk, 7-8 December 1941, the murder of mentally challenged persons, December 1941, lists of villages that were burned, orders issued by the German regime and announcements regarding the implementation of harsh means against the partisans and underground members. Additionally, in the State Extraordinary Commission for Investigation of Nazi War Crimes in the Soviet Union (ChGK) Collection there are documents regarding the investigation of atrocities of German war criminals and the damage they caused in the occupied section of the Minsk Region. Official documentation of the local occupation authorities in the Minsk Region, among them the local administrations of the Uzda District, the Kleck District, the Nieswiez District, the Dzerzhinsk District and the Karelicze District: - Lists of Jews from the villages and towns; - Orders, directives and permits given by the local administrative heads; - Lists of Jews who were sent to forced labor in a number of places; - Estimate of the value of the property that remained after the murder of the Jews; permits to take items that remained after the liquidation of the Jews; correspondence regarding the confiscation of the Jewish property; - Correspondence of the Generalkommissariat Weissruthenien with the local administrative heads regarding various matters pertaining to the economy and daily life, 1941-1943.