PROTOCOLS OF INTERVIEWS OF THE MILITARY CAPTURED BY PARTISANS AS A SOURCE ON THE HISTORY OF BELARUS OF THE PERIOD OF THE GREAT PATRIOTIC WAR

Abstract

The article describes the protocols of interrogations by the captured by partisans as a historical source. Examples include interrogation protocols by the captured by partisans who served in the Wehrmacht, SS and armed groups of collaborators captured by partisans of the Vitebsk region in early 1944. It is noted that the interrogation records are an extremely important historical source that allows reconstructing the operational situation in Belarus before an offensive Operation «Bagration». The protocols show which divisions of Germans and collaborators were stationed in the Vitebsk region in late 1943 – early 1944, their level of arming, what sentiments were among the German servicemen at the end of the war. The dating of the interrogation records at the beginning of 1944 gives evidence to the intensification of the collecting by the partisans and the Red Army of intelligence data on the eve of the liberation of Belarus.