The presentation of the collection of documents "Vitebsk Region Liberated. 1943-1945" will take place on June 23 in Vitebsk

June 21, Vitebsk / Sergei Kochetov - BELTA/. A presentation of the collection of documents "Vitebsk Region Liberated. 1943-1945", prepared for the 65th anniversary of the liberation of Belarus from the Nazi invaders, will be held on June 23 in Vitebsk. This was reported to a BELTA correspondent by the regional archive. The collection presents archival materials on the history of the restoration of peaceful life in the Dvina region, reflecting events in the region from October 1943 to December 1945. The project is being implemented jointly with the National Archives of Belarus and will open a series of document collections planned for publication in three books, united under the title "Memory of Vitebsk Region". In total, the collection "Vitebsk Region Liberated. 1943-1945" includes over 130 documents, including 25 materials from the collections of the National Archives of Belarus, and 2 documents from the collections of the State Archive of the Russian Federation. Most of the documents are little-known and are published for the first time. The publication is illustrated with photographs from the Belarusian State Archive of Film, Photo and Sound Documents and museum institutions of the region. The preservation and popularization of documentary heritage reflecting the history of the Great Patriotic War and the first years of peaceful life is of particular relevance today, given that, unfortunately, there are fewer and fewer living participants of those events, the archive noted. The collection includes documents testifying to measures to establish order in the liberated cities and rural areas, measures to restore industry, agriculture, transport, communications, and other life support systems. Here you can also learn about the organization of the process of returning residents of the region who were taken to Germany and Austria. Special attention in the publication is paid to materials on the progress of demining the region, investigating the crimes of the invaders and the damage they caused. In the Vitebsk region during the war, over 4.8 thousand industrial and production buildings, about 1.5 thousand school and children's institutions, 205 hospital buildings, and over 1.1 thousand clubs, theaters, and cinemas were destroyed. Of the 213 enterprises of union and republican significance, only two survived. Every third resident of the region perished. Of the 628 settlements in Belarus burned down with their inhabitants, 221 were in the Vitebsk region. Almost 70 thousand residents of the region were taken to Germany. The State Extraordinary Commission estimated the damage caused by the Nazi invaders to citizens, enterprises, state and public organizations of the Vitebsk region at more than 25 billion rubles at 1941 prices. -0-