Information about the WWII participant by last name. How to find a WWII participant by last name in the military archive

The resource “Memory of the People” was created so that each user could find out where they fought and what awards their grandfathers or great-grandfathers who took part in the Great Patriotic War received. As part of the project, archival documentation such as award lists, orders, operational descriptions of the situation on the battlefield and other original written evidence of the events of those years were transferred into digital form. The site allows each user to find information about their relatives and create a personal archive from documents presented on the site. And, if you want to find out how to use the “Memory of the People” resource to search for WWII participants by the last names of those who returned from the war, then read on.

Project "Memory of the People"

To start the search, open https://pamyat-naroda.ru/, enter the “War Heroes” section, or use the form on the main page (in this case, we will still be automatically transferred to “War Heroes”). Enter the requested data (last name, first name, patronymic and year of birth) into the search bar of the People's Memory service and press the Enter key on the keyboard or LMB on the word “Find”.

Search for a fighter from the main page of the site

If there is not enough data and it was not possible to find a participant in the hostilities, click “Clarify” and enter the information that we know:

The place where the fighter was born.
Assigned title.
Place of service.
The date when the participant left the unit or died.
Database entry ID.

If this information is not enough, expand additional fields under the data entry form and fill each line with information known to us.

Enter additional information

In our case, only 4 documents were found. But it happens that the personal data of WWII participants coincides, and the search becomes difficult. Or there are a lot of documents, among which it is difficult to find what you need. To simplify the search, there is a panel located above the results.

The refinement panel makes searching easier

If we need information about which unit was commanded by the WWII participant we are looking for, or what awards he had, then click on the desired section in the above panel and narrow the search range. When switching between these sections, on the right in the “Information Sources” block, the places where information about awards or combat activities of a WWII participant are obtained are displayed. Below the search results is a list of all the awards for which the fighter is nominated.

View and save documents

So, the search has been completed, and we have several of the results we need from the People’s Memory service. How to save them so as not to lose valuable information and always have access to it? Opposite each document there are icons with which you can:

View original.
Download the file to your computer (scanned copy of an act, order or other document in jpg format).
Add information about the participant in hostilities to your personal archive on the “Memory of the People” website.

What can you do with documents?

If the load on the resource is too high, access to the personal archive and documents stored in it may be limited. Therefore, if information about a WWII participant is necessary for study or work, it is better to save it in a folder on your computer.

Detailed information about the war heroes on the People's Memory website

Now let’s see where on the “Memory of the People” resource there is more detailed information about the war hero found by last name. Click on the personal data of the WWII participant. A page opens where the last name, first name, patronymic and rank of the fighter are indicated.

Award Details

Also here is information about the award that we selected in the search results: who awarded, when the feat was accomplished, information about the place of birth and call of the hero and other data, including the name of the archive from which this data was taken. Scrolling down the page, we see a scanned document. This is a line on the award list.

Switching between sections, we read:

“Feat” is a detailed description of the feat for which the fighter was nominated for an award, contained in a combat journal or other documents that reflected the course of military operations.
“The first page of an order or decree” - information about the front and combat unit in which the WWII participant served, as well as on behalf of whom and for what he was awarded.
“Award sheet” is a document indicating the presentation of an award, with the fighter’s personal data and a brief summary of the feat.

Line in the award list

Documents from this page can be saved to your computer, scaled in height and/or width, and enlarged/reduced. It is also possible to view the originals of the submitted documents.

Combat path of the hero/unit

The “Memory of the People” resource allows us to track the combat path traveled by the hero and the unit in which he served. To do this, from the “Awarding Documents” section, go to “The Combat Path of the Hero/Unit.”

Combat path of the hero/unit

This page lists all the units in which the soldier served. Switching between them, we see his path and all the military actions in which he participated during the Second World War. Each of the coordinates of the military path means a specific battle. On the left in the table are the dates of operations linked to coordinates on the map.

The military path is shown from the very beginning (from the place of conscription at the regional military registration and enlistment office) to the victorious end. The scale of the map can be increased so that the outlines of the villages where battles took place or near which our army followed will be visible. This effect allows you to examine the course of the war in detail. There are symbols below the map. Based on them, we understand at what time the fighter we are looking for was in the hospital, received awards, where he was born, where he was drafted from, and much more. Also in the panel above the map you can add a higher part, which included the formation where the war hero served, and a lower part. All these nuances make it possible to recreate a more complete picture of the events of the Second World War.

When you click on a specific path coordinate in the upper right corner of the map, we see a sign that contains the following information:

The name of the unit where the soldier served.
Date of the battle indicated on the map.
The number of documents indicating this event.

Description of the battle at the selected coordinate

After clicking on the number of unit documents found, the next page with written evidence of specific battles is loaded. When searching for the desired order/report/report, you can use the general list or narrow your search by switching between section names. That is, if we only need combat logs or maps/diagrams, then we click on the selected category and look for the document that is needed, or look through everything one by one in the Memory of the People. You can also use the convenient filter located to the right of the list of documents. By unchecking or checking the boxes in the sections we need, we narrow our search and find information faster.

By clicking on the title of a report or diagram, journal or order, we study the original evidence of those events, written or drawn by the participants in the war themselves. Based on available information, we will find out in which archive each of the documents is now located, and who compiled them. From this page you can save to your personal archive on the website the found written evidence of the combat path of a WWII participant by the name of those who returned from the war.

Thus, by searching on the “Memory of the People” website for WWII participants by the names of those who returned from the war, you can not only obtain information about the hero’s awards, but also track the progress of battles as fully as possible (as far as available documents allow) from the very place where the soldier was called up.

Write in the comments below the article if you need more information. Many people view them and can help you find the information you need.

The website of the Ministry of Defense of the Russian Federation “Memory of the People” was created by decision of the Russian organizing committee “Victory”. The main goal of this project is to provide people with the opportunity to obtain the most complete information about the participants of the Great Patriotic War through modern interactive tools and the development of generalized data from the sites "" and "".

Home page of the site “Memory of the People”.

As part of the newest Internet project “Memory of the People,” about 425 thousand archival materials from fronts, armies and other military formations of the Red Army have been digitized and posted online for the first time. These materials included original documents about the course of hostilities, orders, commanders' reports and much more.

In addition, more than 100,000 military maps were digitized and electronically processed. Data from these materials were later entered into the database of the positions of all parts and connections marked on them. These documents and other data, including information about the places of conscription, death and last place of service of military personnel, make it possible to see the heroic path of all participants in the Second World War.

“Memory of the People”: search by last name

On the People's Memory website, a search by last name has been implemented. In addition, the structure of the site consists of thematic sections: Heroes of War; combat operations; military graves; parts documents. The site contains unique information about the burial places of WWII participants who fell in battle or died from wounds. Relatives of fallen veterans, knowing the burial address and finding this place on archival and modern maps, will be able to learn about the feat of their relatives who participated in the war of 1941-1945.

An example of a search result by last name on the “Memory of the People” website

As we can see, during the initial search by last name, first name and patronymic of a veteran, the search gives us 6 documents. From them we can learn about the combat path of the person we are looking for. In addition, an intelligent search by last name gives us the opportunity to see those documents that could have been lost forever due to unfortunate spelling errors.

A typical example of a mistake in spelling a surname.

The service, unique in its capabilities, allows you to clearly see the combat path of a soldier using the example of modern electronic maps that have become ubiquitous in modern life. Using the example of the same person, we can trace his entire military path from his place of conscription in the Kezhemsky district of the Krasnoyarsk Territory to Victory in the war in 1945.

The military path of a soldier on the map.

Database

www.podvignaroda.ru

www.obd-memorial.ru

www.pamyat-naroda.ru

www.rkka.ru/ihandbook.htm

www.moypolk.ru

www.dokst.ru

www.polk.ru

www.pomnite-nas.ru

www.permgani.ru

Otechestvort.rf, rf-poisk.ru

rf-poisk.ru/page/34

soldat.ru

memento.sebastopol.ua

memory-book.com.ua

soldat.ru - a set of reference books for independently searching for information about the fate of military personnel (including a directory of field postal stations of the Red Army in 1941-1945, a directory of the code names of military units (institutions) in 1939-1943, a directory of the location of Red Army hospitals in 1941-1945 years);

www.rkka.ru - a directory of military abbreviations (as well as charters, manuals, directives, orders and personal documents of wartime).

Libraries

oldgazette.ru – old newspapers (including those from the war period);

www.rkka.ru – description of military operations of the Second World War, post-war analysis of the events of the Second World War, military memoirs.

Military cards

www.rkka.ru – military topographic maps with the combat situation (by war periods and operations).

Search Engine Sites

www.rf-poisk.ru is the official website of the Russian Search Movement.

Partners of the Stars of Victory project

www.mil.ru – Ministry of Defense of the Russian Federation.

www.histrf.ru – Russian Military Historical Society.

www.rgo.ru – Russian Geographical Society.

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Database

www.podvignaroda.ru – a publicly accessible electronic bank of documents on recipients and awards during the Great Patriotic War of 1941-1945;

www.obd-memorial.ru - a generalized data bank about defenders of the Fatherland, those killed and missing during the Great Patriotic War and the post-war period;

www.pamyat-naroda.ru is a publicly accessible data bank about the fate of participants in the Great Patriotic War. Search for places of primary burials and documents about awards, service, victories and hardships on the battlefields;

www.rkka.ru/ihandbook.htm – awarded the Order of the Red Banner in the period from 1921 to 1931;

www.moypolk.ru - information about participants in the Great Patriotic War, including home front workers - living, dead, dead and missing. Collected and replenished by participants in the all-Russian action “Immortal Regiment”;

www.dokst.ru – information about those killed in captivity in Germany;

www.polk.ru – information about Soviet and Russian soldiers missing in action in the wars of the 20th century (including the pages “The Great Patriotic War” and “Undelivered Awards”);

www.pomnite-nas.ru – photographs and descriptions of military graves;

www.permgani.ru – database on the website of the Perm State Archive of Contemporary History. Includes basic biographical information about former servicemen of the Red Army (natives of the Perm region or called up for military service from the territory of the Kama region), who during the Great Patriotic War were surrounded and (or) captured by the enemy, and after returning to their homeland underwent special state inspection (filtration);

Otechestvort.rf, rf-poisk.ru – electronic version of the book “Names from Soldiers’ Medallions”, volumes 1-6. Contains alphabetical information about those killed during the war whose remains, discovered during search operations, were identified;

rf-poisk.ru/page/34 / – books of memory (by regions of Russia, with direct links and annotations);

soldat.ru – books of memory (for individual regions, types of troops, individual units and formations, about those who died in captivity, those who died in Afghanistan, Chechnya);

memento.sebastopol.ua – Crimean virtual necropolis;

memory-book.com.ua – electronic book of memory of Ukraine;

rgvarchive.ru – Russian State Military Archive (RGVA). The archive stores documents about the military operations of the Red Army units in 1937-1939. near Lake Khasan, on the Khalkhin Gol River, in the Soviet-Finnish War of 1939-1940. Here are also documents of the border and internal troops of the Cheka-OGPU-NKVD-MVD of the USSR since 1918; documents of the Main Directorate for Prisoners of War and Internees of the USSR Ministry of Internal Affairs and institutions of its system (GUPVI Ministry of Internal Affairs of the USSR) for the period 1939-1960; personal documents of Soviet military leaders; documents of foreign origin (trophy). On the archive's website you can also find guides and reference books that make working with it easier.

rgaspi.org – Russian State Archive of Socio-Political Information (RGASPI). The period of the Great Patriotic War in RGASPI is represented by documents of an emergency body of state power - the State Defense Committee (GKO, 1941-1945) and the Headquarters of the Supreme Commander-in-Chief;

Before you is the main page of the portal with the main thematic sections: War Heroes, Combat Operations, Military Graves, Documents of Units, Information about the Combat Operation, Interactive Map, Blocks of Additional Information, Access to the Personal Archive.

Enter the last name, first name and patronymic of the person you are looking for in the search bar. Click the "Find" button or the "Enter" key on your keyboard.

The line for searching for personalities is also located at the top of the page in the “War Heroes” section. The search engine will return all results that match your query.

To the right of the "Find" button is the "Refine" advanced search button. After clicking on it, an additional search menu will open into which you can enter data known to you for a more accurate search: a person’s military rank, place of birth, conscription, retirement or burial, date of retirement or death and other parameters.

You can also refine your search by indicating sources of information - documents on awards (record card, anniversary card file, award documents); documents on losses (reports on irretrievable losses, documents from hospitals and medical battalions, documents clarifying losses, documents on prisoners of war, etc.).

So, by studying authentic archival documents of the war step by step, you can find out what your relative’s everyday life was like in combat.

In the search results, in addition to the person’s full name, the name of the award (medal, order), date and place of birth, data source (consolidated card file, anniversary card file) may be indicated; place and reason for departure (killed, died of wounds, missing); data from a military transit point.

The system also automatically displays a selection with similar data on a war participant. This information may be more accurate or may vary. You can independently select the information relevant to your request.

By clicking on the full name of the person that matches your search, you will be taken to a page with an archival document, where the line relating specifically to the person you are looking for will be highlighted, and on the right - information about the archival document itself.

In the line with the person’s full name, you will see icons offering to view a digital copy of the document, save it, or add the page to your personal archive.

Awards and exploits

If the person you are looking for has been awarded orders and/or medals and has a Hero Star, information about this is available on the portal. You will see a highlighted line in the award list, and you will be able to go to the description of the accomplished feat, the award sheet.

Having learned about the place and time of the feat, you can completely reconstruct the circumstances of your relative’s service using military documents.

To work with found documents, create and save a selection of archival documents for a person or event, use the “Personal Archive” section.

Battle path

To find out the details of the service and restore the combat path of a participant in the Great Patriotic War, pay attention to the active link Combat path of the Hero/unit.

By clicking on this line, you will be taken to an interactive service, which includes documentary and geoinformation parts.

To the left of the map are the milestones of the battle path. By clicking on the “Recruitment Place”, you will “move” on the map to the corresponding point and see the active link “Heroes conscripted at this military registration and enlistment office.”

The next line after “Place of recruitment” will be the line about the first military operations in which the Red Army soldier took part. The system will determine their date, place on the modern and historical map, and also select documents that reflect military realities. These can be Military Operations Logs of front headquarters, Units' Combat Operations Logs, orders, reports, reports, maps, reports, reports, etc.

Based on the dates of the units' actions and geographic location, you can get an idea of combat operations, determine the movement of Soviet troops, and find out all the details of the course of the war.

On the main page, you can select the activity displayed in the center of the page using the time slider. Simply move the time slider to the date you are interested in.

You will see the name and description of the results of the combat operation. Below the description will be a list of military units and commanders with links to the corresponding pages of the military unit or military commander.

Having found information about the place and time of the death of your relative, you will be able to determine with a high degree of probability exactly what tasks were being solved by the unit, army, or front at that moment.

Memory

Similar to the “Combat Operations” section, you can also use additional search parameters in the “Military Graves” section.

In the central part of the page on the left is a list of burials (each of the names in the list is a link to the burial page); on the right is an interactive map with markers on the number of burials in a given area at the selected scale.

After zooming in, new markers with a more accurate location will be shown, and by clicking on the marker, you will see a window with information about the burial and a link to a page with more detailed information. The map shows modern burials, primary burials, disposal sites, hospitals and camps.

By clicking on any object (burial, hospital...), you will be taken to its page. For example, for hospitals there will be an active link to additional information and an alphabetical book of the deceased. The burial page will contain information, a list of those buried, and an object registration card.

View more details

“The data bank is like the Bible for us. It has made searching and identifying the names of soldiers more efficient, I’m afraid to say to what extent. We have always worked in the Central Archive of the Ministry of Defense... Even if we worked there ourselves, it took years. And now a few hours, "Even if it's night work, it's much faster. This is the highest achievement in recent years in matters of perpetuating the memory of the fallen defenders of the Fatherland."

Nina Kulikovskikh, chairman of the board of the Smolensk regional public organization "Search Association "Dolg".

Meeting of Russian Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev with representatives of search organizations. Smolensk, May 2017

With the help of the Ministry of Defense of the Russian Federation, an electronic bank “Feat of the People in the Great Patriotic War of 1941–1945” was created. which is located at podvignaroda.mil.ru, where you can find information about the exploits and awards of your fathers, grandfathers and grandmothers by first and last name. The search takes place using military archival documents that have been digitized and entered into the site database.

How and where to look?

The “Feat of the People” website is the most complete and up-to-date database on participants in the Great Patriotic War - there is information about almost all soldiers. At the first stage of digitization from 2010 to 2015, 30 million records were made on the awarding of orders and medals “For Courage” and “For Military Merit”, as well as information on 22 million Orders of the Patriotic War I and II degrees for the 40th anniversary of the Victory, and also 200 thousand archival files with a total volume of 100 million sheets!

Such a huge amount of work was done for the main goal of the project:

The main goals of the project are to perpetuate the memory of all heroes of the Victory, regardless of rank, scale of feat, award status, military-patriotic education of youth using the example of the military exploits of their fathers, as well as creating a factual basis to counter attempts to falsify the history of the War.

There are 3 main search options:

Search for people and their awards
Search for decrees and awards orders
Search data by place and time

To find a person, use the first search option, to do this, open the website http://podvignaroda.mil.ru/ and go to the “People and Awards” tab and enter the last name and first name of the person whose awards you want to find.

To search for decrees and data on the location of military operations, we recommend using another site - “Memory of the People”, which will be discussed below.

If you want to search by award number, you will not be able to do this, because... Award numbers are not indicated in the award documents.

If information about a person’s fate is not known, then the “Feat of the People” website will not suit you, because... it does not contain data on the dead or missing. Such information should be searched on the website www.obd-memorial.ru, trying different spellings of surnames and names because wartime documents may have contained errors in the name or date of birth.

Let us remind you that the initiator of this project is the Department for the Development of Information and Telecommunication Technologies of the Ministry of Defense of the Russian Federation, and technical support is provided by the ELAR company. Thanks to them for this site!

The information is taken from two funds: the Central Archive of the Ministry of Defense of the Russian Federation (CA MO) and the Central Naval Archive of the Ministry of Defense of the Russian Federation (CVMA).

Memory of the people

Later, a more modern website was opened https://pamyat-naroda.ru/ “Memory of the People” with documents of the Second World War, which has a more pleasant design and, most importantly, more information, maps and historical data.

With the help of the “Memory of the People” portal, it has become even easier to reconstruct the military path of your grandfather, find documents about injuries and awards.

The People's Memory project was implemented in accordance with the decision of the Russian Victory Organizing Committee of July 2013, supported by the instructions of the President and the Decree of the Russian Government in 2014. The project provides for the publication on the Internet of archival documents and documents about the losses and awards of soldiers and officers of the First World War, the development of the projects previously implemented by the Russian Ministry of Defense about the Second World War OBD Memorial and Feat of the People into one project - Memory of the People.

On the page https://pamyat-naroda.ru/ops/ you can familiarize yourself with the plans of 226 operations with detailed diagrams on the map. Each page about the operation contains the names of commanders and numbers of military units, as well as a description of the result of the operation.

Figure 1 - Modern map of combat operations during the Second World War.

On the page https://pamyat-naroda.ru/memorial/ you can find military graves in your city. Just enter the name of the city and click the “Find” button. In total, it contains information about 30,588 burials around the world, except the United States.

Figure 2 - Military graves indicating first and last names.

The page about the burial contains information about its condition (good, bad, excellent), type of burial, number of graves, number of known and unknown buried. Also available on the page is a list of those buried with names and dates of birth and death.