Web Resources Containing Ego-Documents of the Great Patriotic War Participants: the Regional Aspect

Abstract

The object of the article is to present the results of research aimed at identifying data on memorial information resources about Siberians – the participants of the Great Patriotic War and serving on the home front. Basing on studying Websites containing full texts of documents of personal origin (ego documents), that reflect the fates of Siberians during the Great Patriotic War, the activities of Siberian organizations (archives, museums, etc.) on the study of ego documents and their introduction into scientific and public circulation are presented,The paper provides a brief overview of publications on the study of various aspects of memorial practices in the electronic environment and shows the interpretation of the concept of “ego documents” by different authors.In the course of work there were examined 63 sites containing memorial information resources: the websites of the Ministry of Defense, State museums and archives of Siberia and the Far East, as well as other organizations. 19 sites containing ego documents were identified, their search capabilities studied, the characteristics of ego documents given according to several parameters (types, quantity, content, etc.).The revealed websites containing significant arrays of ego documents are: “Pis’ma Pobedy” (“Letters of the Victory”), “Prozhito” (“It’s lived through”), “Ya pomnyu” (“I remember”), etc. There are also sites that contain memories of the front-line soldiers and home front workers’ relatives and friends, sharing stories about them: “Pamyat’ naroda” (“Memory of the People”) and “Bessmertnyi polk” (“Immortal Regiment”). On some sites ego documents are presented in the form of collections (the Museum of History and Ethnography of the KhMAO-Yugra, the State Archive of Kuzbass, etc.).There is a number of shortcomings hampering the study of ego documents on some sites (lack of printed deciphering of scan copies of letters, advanced search function, etc.). The authors conclude that a number of All-Russian and regional Internet resources contain significant volumes of ego documents reflecting the events of the Great Patriotic War, which provide good opportunities for the research work of historians and local history scientists.