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I reproduce today SPUTNIK Soviet Journal article of November 11, 1968, on the meaning of the Military Orders in the Soviet Union. SOVIET ORDERS Orders are few among the many prizes that include past and present of a country. By publishing an article on Soviet orders. SPUTNIK want to give your readers a glimpse of a not so distant past of the USSR.

The Kennan Institute and National Public Radio in the USA has established an online audio archive of Soviet and Russian history. "The archive consists of recordings dating back to the earliest years of the Soviet state. Included are the voices and speeches of key political figures, including Lenin, Kerensky, Kirov, Beria, Stalin, Gorbachev, and others. Among the recorded interviews are Anna Larina (Bukharin's widow); Valentin Berezhkov, Stalin's wartime interpreter; Yelena Bonner, Sakharov's widow; and Lev Pevsner, a survivor of the Leningrad Blockade. There is also on-the-scene recorded sound of many events in Soviet history, including: the Russian and American armies meeting at the Elbe; Stalin's funeral; the August 1991 coup against Gorbachev. [...] The material comes from Soviet and Russian sources, the NPR archives, the archives of the BBC, and individual donors. Some of the material is in Russian, some in English. "

The bulk of the audio files are in Russian, however if you scroll down closely there are speeches by significant Western figures too. Yet another excellent set of resources from the Woodrow Wilson Center.

he Pioneers Violin, 1971, directed by B. Stepantsev, Soyuzmultfilm. A Nazi soldier tries to force a young Soviet boy scout to play a German song on his violin. Instead he defiantly plays the [then] Soviet national anthem, The International, and is shot by the Nazi. Fyodor Khitruk: Patriotic themes existed and were included into the plan of Goskino (the State Film Committee)...We werent pushed to make films based on these themes, but the political repertoire was put together by what they approved or did not approve, as in feature films and literature. The Pioneers Violin probably wasnt promoted by somebody. They didnt write the scripts on Vasiliev Street [Goskino]. As I remember, Boris Stepanstev who made this film, made it honestly thinking it was needed.Category:Film & Animation

The Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) electronic reading room of the American Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) offers several primary source collections for the study of Central and Eastern Europe during and after the Cold War period. The FOIA Electronic Reading Room web site was established by the CIA "to provide the public with an overview of access to CIA information, including electronic access to previously released documents." Direct web access to the following collections is now possible: # The Soviet and Warsaw Pact Military Journals is a PDF collection of "sensitive Soviet and Warsaw Pact military journals from 1961 to 1984 providing a view into Warsaw Pact military strategy". # Preparing for Martial Law: Through the Eyes of Colonel Ryszard Kuklinski is "a captivating collection of over 75 documents concerning the planning and implementation martial law in Poland from mid-1980 to late 1981. The collection release coincided with a CIA symposium honouring Colonel Ryszard Kuklinski, a member of the Polish Army General Staff and the source of the documents."

Seems to focus especially on the Cold War. Definitely one for the conspirary theorists.

Primary sources from the Soviet History at Marxist.org

A collection of images and documents from the (now re-closed!) Soviet archives and maintained by the Library of Congress.

Primary sources and teacher resources on the Soviet Gulag system. Part of the excellent Center for History and New Media, George Mason, University

Fantastic resource. "SEVENTEEN MOMENTS IN SOVIET HISTORY was funded by a generous educational development grant from the National Endowment for Humanities (NEH). The project was directed and created by James von Geldern (Macalester College) and Lewis Siegelbaum (Michigan State University). Since 2007, Kristen Edwards (Menlo College) has collected materials for the website from the Hoover Archives and Stanford Libraries."

"KOREAN WAR, 1950-1953 A collection of primary source documents related to the Korean War. Obtained largely from Russian archives, the documents include reports on Chinese and Soviet aid to North Korea, allegations that America used biological weapons, and the armistice." Wilson Center Digital Archive

"This material covers the historical background of the Korean War, including the division of Korea at the 38th Parallel between US and Soviet occupation forces; reparations reports involving Korea and economic surveys of Korea following World War II; the United Nations Korean Commission and Reconstruction Agency; Office of Strategic Srevices [OSS] reports on Korea; and relations with Republic of Korea (ROK) President Syngman Rhee. This background material also includes the Wedemeyer Report on China and Korea in 1947. The material on the Korean War itself includes a chronology of events relating to the war in the papers of George M. Elsey; selected documents copied from State and Defense Department records relating to the Korean War; and materials from the files of the National Security Council [NSC] and the Psychological Strategy Board [PSB]. The Korean War material also includes information about General of the Army Douglas MacArthur and his dismissal as Supreme Commander Allied Powers; Commander in Chief, United Nations Command; Commander in Chief, Far East; and Commanding General, U.S Army, Far East."

I don't usually save blogs, but thought this might be useful for people when you're looking for places to find decorations for your classroom. Why pay a fortune for some dodgy poster from a textbook company when you can download posters directly (or even better, go to www.historicaltweets.com - I've got some up in my classroom in A3 and they rock!) and print them out. Saves on budget, too.

Between 1941 and 1944, almost one and a half million Ukrainian Jews were assassinated when Nazi Germany invaded the Soviet Union. The immense majority was killed by Einsatzgruppen firing squads (mobile execution units in the East), Waffen SS units, the German police and local collaborators. Only a small minority was assassinated after having been deported to extermination camps. Since 2004, Father Patrick Desbois and the Yahad-In Unum research team regularly travel across the regions of Ukraine, intent on identifying and assessing every site in eastern and western Ukraine in which Jews were exterminated by mobile Nazi units during World War II.The exhibition at the Shoah Memorial, from the 20th of June, 2007 to the 6th of January, 2008, presents their ongoing research. By reconstituting the assassins' procedural methods, it provides one with a better understanding of how the genocide of Eastern European Jews was actually put into practice. It has finally become possible to preserve and respect the victims' burial places

From 1939 to 1953, nearly one million people were deported to the Gulag from the European territories annexed by the USSR at the start of the Second World War and those that came under Soviet influence after the War: some to work camps but most as forced settlers in villages in Siberia and Central Asia. An international team of researchers has collected 160 statements from former deportees, photographs of their lives, documents from private and public archives and films. Many of these witnesses had never spoken out before. In these statements and these documents, the Museum invites you to explore a neglected chapter of the history of Europe.

'During World War II, the Soviet Union's news agency, TASS, enlisted artists and writers to bolster support for the nation's war effort. Working from Moscow, this studio produced hundreds of storefront window posters, one for nearly every day of the war.'  - Art Institute of Chicago

ustamente para as primeiras festas da Páscoa revolucionária, o governo provisório anuncia distribuições excepcionais de manteiga, farinha e leite nas grandes cidades. A multidão, que já se comprime nas igrejas, poderá festejar em regime republicano a ressurreição de Cristo com gigantescos ovos vermelhos. Precisamente naquele dia, um trem chega ao anoitecer à estação da Finlândia. Na Rússia, é um costume bem arraigado acompanhar os amigos até a estação, bem como lá ir receba-los; mas para Lênin, que acaba de atravessar a Alemanha, seus partidários desconhecidos, que se multiplicam de hora em hora, fizeram as coisas direito. Como as fábricas estão fechadas para as festas, os operários convocados estão presentes, e, pela primeira vez, as célebres tripulações da frota do Báltico, vindas de Kronstadt. Dispuseram-se na plataforma auriflamas e rosas em profusão, O presidente do Comitê Executivo do Soviete da capital, Tchekheidze, espera em pessoa, de péssimo humor, após ter atravessado a praça por entre uma imensa multidão.

A very nice collection of primary sources from the history of the Soviet Union: texts, images, films, audio.

An excellent resource for the Cold War! Clearly labelled and well-maintained links to primary source documents. Just what we like!