The National Historical Archives of Belarus has, for the first time, published documents relating to the First World War

By Mikhail Matievsky

The National Historical Archives of Belarus has, for the first time, published documents relating to the First World War

Archive Director Dmitry Yatsevich tells us that the Drama of the First World War project is devoted to the centenary of the beginning of the First World War. He explains, “Our establishment has issued a book called Belarus During the First World War. Documents.

It is the country’s first such publication of documents on this tragic period of history.” The edition presents more than 200 documents from the National Historical Archives and Grodno’s Historical Archives — each accompanied by editorial headings, notes, and nominal and geographical indexes.

Mr. Yatsevich comments that emphasis has been placed, foremost, on showing how Belarusians lived during the occupation, and what happened on the home front. Some documents reveal the problem of refugees during the First World War, telling of Austrian-Hungarian and German prisoners of war. The edition should prove useful to historians, students and all those interested in those dark days of history.