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ArcheoBiblioBase: Archives in Russia: C-4

Last update of repository: 14 March 2020

Tsentral'nyi arkhiv Ministerstva oborony RF (TsAMO)


Access & Facilities

Access
Access for Russian and CIS citizens for declassified documents requires a formal letter to the Chief of the archive. Access for foreign citizens requires a letter addressed to the First Deputy Chief of the General Staff of the Armed Forces from the researcher's sponsoring institution.
        Starting in 1990, some records of troop units, divisions, formations, and armies to the level of military “fronts” were declassified for the period of the Second World War. Access remains highly restricted for most researchers, and especially foreigners, since the holdings are considered to contain political and military secrets, and many of them have not been adequately processed for public research.

Working conditions
All citizens have the right to consult declassified files in the TsGAMO reading room in Podol'sk (an hour and a half by train each way from Moscow). Internal opisi and other unpublished finding aids are not normally accessible in the reading room, but may be ordered a day or two in advance. Researchers are not permitted to use portable computers.

Copy facilities
Scan, xerox and photo copies may be ordered based on individual cases.

Reference facilities
The archive has an extensive reference system. There are opisi, thematic catalogues, subject card index files for geographic and historical references, alphabetic card files for generals and other officers of the Red Army (after 1958 Soviet Army), lists and card files for those missing or killed in action, card files for military honors and awards, and other reference aids. A computer database for fully processed fonds is being established and for files which are being processed for preservation.
        A large part of the archival reference system is not available to researchers.
        The archive has an extensive reference service for inquiries involving military service records for processing official documents.
        The database “Memorial” is available electronically: http://obd-memorial.ru/html/.

Library facilities
A reference library of 15,000 volumes, holdings from which are accessible in the reading room for materials relating to the researcher's approved topic.


ABB ArcheoBiblioBase Archeo Biblio Base Patricia Kennedy Grimsted