Activity of the Academy of Sciences of the BSSR During Evacuation (Based on Archival Materials from the CSL NAS of Belarus)

Based on materials from the personal archive of K.V. Gorev, President of the Academy of Sciences of the Belorussian SSR (AS BSSR, since 1991 — the Academy of Sciences of Belarus, since 1997 — the National Academy of Sciences of Belarus, NAS of Belarus), which are housed in the Ya. Kolas Central Scientific Library of the NAS of Belarus, this article explores the activities of the AS BSSR during the evacuation of 1941—1943.

The publication addresses the activities of the scientific center during the first days of the Great Patriotic War. It establishes that the centralized evacuation of the AS BSSR did not take place due to a combination of objective and subjective factors. Key among these were the rapid advance of Wehrmacht forces, the disruption of transport communications, and the sluggishness of those authorized to organize the evacuation of material assets and citizens from the capital of the BSSR.

During the first months of the war, members of the Soviet government, the leaders of the AS BSSR, and individual employees formulated a number of proposals regarding the utilization of the scientific potential of Belarusian scientists during the Great Patriotic War. These proposals included assigning employees of the AS BSSR to research organizations operating in the rear areas of the Soviet state, establishing a branch of the AS BSSR at a scientific institution in Saratov or Kazan, and organizing the AS BSSR as an independent institution. The prevailing viewpoint was that of scientists who advocated resuming the activities of the scientific center during the evacuation. Beginning in early 1942, a number of measures were taken to establish a scientific center in the Uzbek SSR. Scientists defined the research areas for the AS BSSR during wartime and evacuation. Priority was given to studying the economy, raw materials, and agriculture of the Uzbek SSR and restoring the national economy of the BSSR. However, financial problems and the overcrowding of Tashkent with evacuated scientific institutions prevented the establishment of full-fledged work of the Belorussian scientific center in Uzbekistan, which ultimately led to the relocation of the AS BSSR to the Moscow region in 1943.

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7. Kedrov-Zikhman O.K. Memorandum to the Central Committee of the All-Union Communist Party of Bolsheviks on Measures to Organize the Work of the Academy of Sciences of the BSSR During Evacuation (copy), Department for Research of Manuscripts of the Ya. Kolas Central Scientific Library of the National Academy of Sciences of Belarus, coll. 57 (K.V. Gorev), aids 1, fol. 178, 1 p. (in Russ.).

8. Excerpt from the Minutes of the Meeting of the Bureau of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of Uzbekistan on Organizing the Work of the Academy of Sciences of the BSSR in Tashkent, Department for Research of Manuscripts of the Ya. Kolas Central Scientific Library of the National Academy of Sciences of Belarus, coll. 57 (K.V. Gorev), aids 1, fol. 183, 1 p. (in Russ.).

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17. Materials (Memo, Telegrams, List of Employees) Concerning the Re-Evacuation of a Group of Employees of the Academy of Sciences of the BSSR from Tashkent, Department for Research of Manuscripts of the Ya. Kolas Central Scientific Library of the National Academy of Sciences of Belarus, coll. 42 (M.Ya. Grinblat), aids 1, fol. 1268, 8 p. (in Russ.).