Underground Partisan Press During the Great Patriotic War in Belarus

The article aims to explore the development of underground partisan press during the Great Patriotic War in Belarus. This study draws on documents from the archival collection of Belarusian historian and academician Ivan Sergeevich Kravchenko and the collection of underground partisan newspapers held in the Rare Books and Manuscripts Reading Room of the Ya. Kolas Central Scientific Library of the National Academy of Sciences (CSL NAS) of Belarus.

Archival documents from Coll. 19 (I.S. Kravchenko), aids 1, provide insight into the origins, formation, development, and operating conditions of underground partisan printing houses, as well as the publication of partisan newspapers during the difficult wartime period. Archival sources provide informative material on this issue — reports by underground newspaper correspondents who worked in partisan printing houses during the Nazi occupation. These include reports on the work of the Brest regional newspaper Zarya and the editorial and printing offices of the newspapers Bobruisk Partizan, Narodny Mstsivets (National Avenger), Gomelskaya Pravda, and others.

Important information for researchers studying the history of the partisan movement during the Great Patriotic War is contained in the sources themselves — newspapers and leaflets from 1941—1945, stored in the files of the I.S. Kravchenko archival collection. These documents include copies of the first underground newspaper, Zvyazda, which was published in Nazi-occupied Minsk. The article emphasizes the leading role of party organs and their assistance in organizing underground printing houses.

The article emphasizes the propaganda role of the partisan press in the fight against the Nazi invaders. Examples of the work of partisan newspaper editors, copies of which are held in the collections of the CSL NAS of Belarus, are provided. The key conclusions are that the partisan press played a key role in preserving the historical memory of the Great Patriotic War.

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