The Military Archive in Podolsk - Documentation from the Central Archive of the Russian Ministry of Defence

The collection contains documentation from TSAMO (Central Archive of the Russian Ministry of Defence) including information regarding the murder of the Jews of Moldavia, Lithuania, Estonia, Poland, France, Belgium, Czechoslovakia, Romania, Hungary, Belorussia, Ukraine and more. There is also information regarding the Gypsies, such as the concentration of Gypsies, their living conditions and their murder.

Description of the collection:

1. Camps Concentration camps, extermination camps, camps for forced laborers, POW camps and more, transports of Jews, robbery, selection, those running the camps, executions, forced labor, extermination in gas chambers and gas vans, death marches, obscuring of evidence of the crimes, and more.Examples of camps according to the following countries:

   • Poland: Auschwitz-Birkenau, Belzec, Treblinka, Chelm, Majdanek, Plaszow, Sobibor, Lublin, Jaworzno and more;
   • Ukraine: Bogdanovka, Domanevka;
   • Belorussia: Koldychevo and others;
   • Germany: Goerlitz, Dachau (a branch of the camp), Stutthof, Gross-Rosen and camps in the Koenigsberg region (eastern Prussia);
   • Czechoslovakia: Theresienstadt;
   • Finland: POW camps.

2. Ghetto registration of the Jews, concentrating them, forced contributions, orders regarding the yellow badge, deportation of Jews to the ghettos, robbery of Jews, ghetto authorities, forced labor, executions, transports to death camps, obscuring of evidence of the crimes and more. Examples of ghettos according to the following countries:

   • Poland: The Warsaw Ghetto;
   • Hungary: The Budapest Ghetto;
   • Belorussia: The Slutsk Ghetto; the Borisov Ghetto;
   • Lithuania: The Kovno Ghetto; the Panevezys Ghetto.

3. Permanent places of residence Permanent places of residence of the Jews, the Jewish refugees from all the occupied areas as well as the Gypsies who lived in the areas of Czechoslovakia, Belorussia, Ukraine, Moldavia, Latvia, Poland and Russia. Included in the documentation are registration activities, the prohibition on changing places of residence, directives regarding the yellow badge, forced labor, the order to turn Jews over to the authorities, mass murder, poisoning of children (including sick children and mentally handicapped children), burning of people alive, death by starvation, executions by hanging, obscuring of evidence of the crimes, murder sites, burial sites and more.

4. Collaboration with the Nazis

5. The Nazi propaganda (including antisemitic propaganda)

6. Information regarding uprisings in the concentration camps and liberation of the inmates from concentration camps and death camps by the Red Army

7. Statistical documentation regarding the number of inmates in concentration camps, victims of the Nazi regime and more

The Records Group also includes documentation regarding the fate of the Jews during World War II

• Official documentation from the political departments in the Red Army units which was sent to the Red Army Main Political Headquarters. The documentation includes reports regarding the murder of Soviet POWs by Finnish soldiers and the damage caused to the Soviet economy, reports of exhumations from mass murder sites, reports regarding service conditions in the Italian Army and the damage caused by Italian soldiers to property, reports regarding the damage caused by the Germans to private and communal property belonging to Soviet citizens and lists of local residents murdered by the Germans and the local collaborators;

• Newsletter and opinions from the war fronts sent to the Political Headquarters, reports and excerpts from letters and diaries of POWs and others;

• Reports including testimonies and investigations of local residents who witnessed atrocities and more;

• Survey-reports of Nazi crimes prepared by Red Army representatives and local residents;

• Testimonies of Germany POWs;

• Testimony of Red Army soldiers who escaped from the German siege;

• Confirmations from the various Prosecuting Attorneys of various armies;

• Updates prepared by the Political Departments from the fronts where the Red Army was in combat;

• Testimonies of former inmates and local residents;

• Updates sent to the Security Police and SD commander, orders issued by the occupation authorities regarding the registration of the Jewish population, the wearing of the yellow badge, the prohibition on Jews changing their places of residence;

• The conclusions of the medical committees regarding the mass burial sites;

• Applications made to the local authorities including informing on Jews using false identities;

• Excerpts from the"News from the Soviet Paradise"newspaper, including antisemitic and anti-Soviet articles;

• Leaflet containing Hitler's appeal to the German soldiers and other documentation.

In the collection there are also confirmations regarding the awarding of medals to Jewish officers and soldiers including biographical statistics and a description of their brave deeds. For example, confirmations of medals received by Soviet heroes and Full Cavaliers (those awarded all three classes of medal).