The sources for filling the portal are original documents stored in Russian archives.

Using the portal, users can find information about the exploits and awards of the heroes of the First World War, about dead and missing servicemen of the Russian army. The website contains 2,278,000 records of personalities from the “Card Index of the Bureau for the Accounting of Losses on the Fronts of the First World War, 1914-1918.” The structure of the Russian army is recreated in detail. Geolocation data on military operations on the territory of the Russian Empire and Europe are correlated with modern maps, which makes it possible to track the combat paths of the heroes of the First World War.

The portal was developed taking into account the fact that modern users, as a rule, have very little information about their ancestors who lived a hundred or more years ago, and allows you to reconstruct the fate of loved ones based on a small number of indirect signs. So, if the user has difficulties in determining the names of administrative-territorial units and settlements of the early twentieth century, he can use the mouse cursor to highlight the search area on the electronic geographic map, and the system will automatically filter out the query results in which the location of historical settlements will fall within the specified user area.

The electronic map contains interactive markers of military operations, by clicking on which you can get a brief historical background about this operation.

The portal also contains reliable historical information about the combat potential of the Russian Empire at the start of the war, the structure and composition of the Russian army, general information about the branches and types of troops, the combat characteristics of weapons and military equipment, uniforms, awards, etc.

Text: Anna Khrustaleva

On the eve of anniversaries associated with the First World War, descendants of its participants are increasingly becoming active, who, based on scant information, want to find more detailed information about their relatives. This short guide has been compiled especially for such people.

The main body of documents about the combat path of participants in the First World War is located in the Russian State Military Historical Archive(city of Moscow, website: rgvia.rf). The most important thing you need to know to begin with is whether your ancestor was an officer (from ensign and above) or a lower rank (this includes both non-commissioned officers and sub-ensigns). If you are an officer, everything is simple. You need to come to the archive, contact the “Catalog” department and give your full name. relative. The archive employee will check in the electronic catalog whether there is a track record for such a person (fund 409). There is a slightly greater than 50% chance that a track record will be found. Then you order it, wait a few days, and then write out from it the combat route, numbers of units and formations where your ancestor served, then order documents from the relevant funds, etc. If you can’t visit the Russian State Historical Archive, you can try to find information about a relative -officer in open sources:

The author of this site, Alexey Likhotvorik, did a great thing: he digitized the highest orders for the military department, through which the awards of various orders (St. Anne, St. Stanislav, etc.) were approved. To find a relative, you can use the general search on the site.

Gurdov Pavel Vasilievich (1882-1915), captain

This project is an open database and photo archive of officers and formations of the Russian Imperial Army of the early twentieth century. The portal provides information about 56 thousand people who served in the period from 1900 to 1917.

Shmukler Vyacheslav Mikhailovich (1891-1961), non-commissioned officer

Let us note that back in the 2000s, V. M. Shabanov’s reference book on holders of the Order of St. George and the Arms of St. George was published. In 2008, another catalog was prepared at the Dukhovnaya Niva publishing house (it was mainly handled by the historian V.L. Yushko), which collected information only about the holders of the Order of St. George and provided small portraits and extracts from the orders for which he was awarded (it is necessary to say, such extracts for both officers and lower ranks are of the same type and do not reveal all the circumstances of the feat, since the wording was tailored to a specific article from the statute; if you are interested specifically in the description of the feat, you need to look up the award documents on the basis of which the decision of the St. George’s Duma was made) .

Bochkareva Maria Leontievna (1889-1920), lieutenant

The portal is dedicated to Russia's losses during the First World War. Its basis is a card file of losses (more than 10 million cards: 6 million have been digitized so far, 2.2 million have been posted). These cards were compiled for the wounded, shell-shocked, and out of action for other reasons. In addition, the portal will contain data from the RGVIA Fund 16196 (this is a list of losses). There are also some track records.

Bogoslovsky Andrey Alexandrovich (1869-1918), military priest

It is more difficult to search if your ancestor was of lower rank. To search in the RGVIA databases, you need to know the unit (regiment) where he served. Place of birth or recruiting will not be suitable. If the regiment is known, it is necessary to take an inventory of the fund of this regiment - it may contain documents related to replenishment (including personalized lists of arrivals), awards, etc. In addition, the inventory of Fund 16196 contains lists of losses by regiment. Now these lists have been digitized, and working with them has become easier.

If there is no information at all about the place of service of a relative, you need to contact various electronic databases:

The same (still incomplete, but regularly updated) portal about losses during the First World War. If your ancestor was wounded or shell-shocked, then a card could be kept in his name. Then you will find out the place of duty. Next, you need to contact the RGVIA.

Ivanova Rimma Mikhailovna (1894-1915), sister of mercy

This electronic database brings together lists of those killed and wounded that were published in newspapers of the time. The rank, full name, and place of residence were indicated. It is convenient to search if you know where your relative is from. The main disadvantage is that the place of service is not indicated, so at best, on this portal you can find confirmation of the fact that a person was injured or killed, but there will not be enough data to go to the archive.

Kryuchkov Kozma Firsovich (1890-1919), Don Cossack

- Consolidated lists of holders of the St. George Cross 1914-1922

More than a million lower ranks became Knights of St. George. S.V. Patrikeev, a well-known collector, created consolidated lists for 15 years at the Russian State Historical Archive (they were compiled during the war years, but in the 1920s they were used for waste paper). There are more than one million people on the lists. The disadvantage of the lists is that they are arranged by cross numbers (these are serial numbers and have nothing to do with the order of awarding), but the advantage is that the documents are posted in pdf format via the link, this allows for an automatic search.

Nesterov Petr Nikolaevich (1887-1914) pilot ace

- A list of St. George's cavaliers is also possible *, but it is less complete than Patrikeev's directory

If your ancestor was drafted in the Ryazan, Voronezh provinces, Crimea, or served in the Black Sea Fleet, you are very lucky. There is such a great man - Alexander Grigorov. He and his team compiled the corresponding books of memory of the First World War for these provinces and the fleet.

Tsaregradsky Georgy Savvich (1888-1957), military doctor

If you are also looking for the burial place of a deceased relative, then similar data for many regiments is presented in the city archive (TsGIA) of St. Petersburg. It preserved the registers of regiments and hospitals. Let us note inventory 128 (Fund 19, Central State Historical Archive of St. Petersburg). If you look through it, then somewhere towards the end you will come across metric books on the shelves. For a nominal fee you can watch them from home. If only information about the place of conscription is known, then you need to go to the regional archives and look at the funds of military commanders and military presences.

*For technical reasons, these sites may be temporarily unavailable

There is less clarity: more than 36 thousand cards of military personnel who came to the tsarist army from the Vitebsk province have already been published. However, the province “covered” not only Latgale, but also a significant part of today’s Belarus. But, for example, there are already almost 7 thousand cards marked “Dvinsky” and “Rezhitsky” counties. Finally, part of the modern territory of Latvia during the First World War was administratively part of the Kovno and Pskov provinces, and approximately half of the former Livonia province today is the territory of Estonia.

The archive also provides paid services, which are often used by researchers who do not live in Moscow. Their number has also been increasing in recent years.

Those interested in archival data from abroad can send a request or come in person. Unofficially, but still, those who come here from abroad receive increased attention and they are tried to be served first. Still, the person came from afar... It’s difficult, of course, to say from which countries people apply more often. The spread is large. But, probably, there are a lot of requests from Eastern Europe, for example, Poland, because it was part of the Russian Empire,” explains Chistyakov, adding that there are practically no difficulties in working with foreigners due to the language barrier.

And search requests are also coming in from Latvia, which was also once part of the Russian Empire. Those who were unable to find relatives in the data already published on the Internet are contacting us.

Sample registration card of the RGVIA: Berzin, Karl Andreevich, private of the Life Guards Preobrazhensky Regiment, drafted from the Torken volost of the Volmarsky (Valmiera) district of the Livland province. On July 27, 1915, he was wounded near the village of Petrilov (present-day Western Ukraine). Killed in battle on September 3, 1916 in the Korytnitsky forest (now Western Ukraine).

Sometimes difficulties in searching may be associated not so much with the fact that the information has not yet been digitized, but with differences in the spelling of names or names of settlements:

The problem of transcribing foreign surnames and localities is always present. The portal's search engine returns similar options, but this does not provide a guarantee. You should try to enter surnames and titles in all possible versions in Cyrillic.

There are no step-by-step instructions for finding relatives - or rather, there are no universal instructions. You need to enter any known parameters and in any combinations into the appropriate search fields. Maybe someone knows only the part number and last name, while others know the year of birth, place, and other data. The more data, the more accurate the search. But, Chistyakov emphasizes again, you need to enter information into the search request form in Russian.

The structure of the Internet portal is intuitive, he believes. The data for each soldier is organized in such a way that, knowing only the first and last name of the wanted person, you can easily find the number of the unit in which he served, as well as track the movements of the soldier during the military campaign. If, as a result of independent attempts, it is not possible to find the required information on the site, you can send a request to archive specialists, who themselves will conduct a search using the data provided, but such a service is already paid. His form available on the archive website.

Sample registration card of the RGVIA: Latsit, Karl Yakobovich, a married Lutheran who was called up from Valka (Valka) to become a huntsman in the Life Guards Jaeger Regiment. On June 17, 1915, he was captured near the village of Alexandria (in Poland).

Such a request will also be needed in order to find data not only on those who suffered in the war, but also on those who survived (the archive website has detailed price-list with paid services). So, for example, you can ask an archive employee to look at data about a particular person in databases, handwritten or typewritten inventories. The issuance of found information is charged per page depending on the safety of the document and the complexity of reading. The most expensive entry, 6 rubles (about 10 euro cents), is an entry from one page from a handwritten inventory of the 18th century.

Later typewritten pages are valued at 1.5 rubles.

Oleg Chistyakov explains that it is difficult to calculate in advance the cost of responding to a remote request. Answers to questions based on found documents are also priced on a page-by-page basis, but many factors influence the final price. This is the safety of the documents, and how old it is, and how well the ink has survived. If you try to indicate the minimum cost of a response and assume that the author of the request is lucky and the data about the person will be on one card from the catalog, he will have to pay 1.5 rubles for this. In addition, for a short written answer, even if the search was unsuccessful, you will need to pay 200 rubles. It turns out that the lower limit is 201 rubles 50 kopecks (about 3 euros), and the upper limit is almost impossible to determine - amounts can reach five figures. Therefore, those who have the opportunity to personally come to the archive can save money.

Kan, Ab-Leib Mendelev (ich), grenadier of the 12th Astrakhan Grenadier Regiment. Originally from Kreslavka (Kraslava) Dvina (Daugavpils) district. Killed on September 20, 1916 near the village of Zaturce (today's Poland).

Requests through a form on the website will have to be filled out in Russian, but archive staff say they will be happy to help people who are trying to find their roots. Perhaps no one will be particularly surprised, even if the request is prepared by an online translator. The main thing is to understand the essence of the issue. There is no specific response time in the archive, but it usually takes about a week. Much depends on the order of priority, but employees admit - although this is not entirely fair - that they try to process foreign requests faster.

In general, with a successful combination of circumstances, it is possible to trace the history of this family back to the time of Ivan the Terrible. True, this costs a lot of effort, because you need to visit more than just one archive, but travel around the archives in different cities of the country and even neighboring countries. Therefore, such work is very expensive,” explains Chistyakov, moving into the room where visitors work with documents captured on film.

What also complicates the search is the fact that there have often been wars and revolutions in our country, so there are significant gaps in the documentation. It is sometimes impossible to restore them at all, and the cost of the work of professional genealogists can amount to millions of rubles.

True, according to Chistyakov, the work of Russian archives today is much better coordinated than several decades ago. And the attitude towards documents is now more scrupulous.

Sample registration card of the RGVIA: Zhunda, Vikenty Lyudvigovich, private of the 97th Livland Infantry Regiment. Originally from the Malinovskaya volost of the Dvina (Daugavpils) district. Killed on January 19, 1915.

The difficulty of our work lies in the incompleteness of the documents. The main data was collected in 1917-1918, that is, during the period of war and revolution, and much was lost in the process. In the Russian Empire there was no archiving at all, and many documents were destroyed simply as unnecessary,” notes Chistyakov sadly and immediately corrects himself: “Then it was considered unnecessary.” And then there were also waste paper campaigns in the 20s... The country simply did not have enough paper, so some of the documents were lost. Now all pre-revolutionary and pre-war documents are prohibited from destruction.

He says that the digitization of documents continues and expresses hope that by the centenary of the end of the First World War, it will be possible to find on the Internet all available information about its participants from the Russian Empire.

What we are doing now - publishing archival documents - has never happened before. In this regard, the project is unique. In addition, we are working to expand access to documents and continue digitization. Our archive is not complete, like many others, which are regularly replenished, although people who study the history of their family often come to us and donate some documents. This is often done in order to preserve data for one’s descendants,” summarizes the head of the archive’s scientific reference department.

To the question about the fate of the archives on those who served in the Red Army during the Second World War and the post-war Soviet army, Chistyakov answers - this data is stored in the Central Archive of the Ministry of Defense of the Russian Federation and the Russian State Military Archive (RGVA, not to be confused with the RGVIA). There you can find documents on the periods 1918-1939 and after 1945, and information from the Second World War is posted on the portal "

Home Department of the Ministry of Defense of the Russian Federation for perpetuating the memory of those killed in defense of the Fatherland Military Memorial Department Information portal "In memory of the heroes of the Great War of 1914-1918"

Information portal “In memory of the heroes of the Great War of 1914-1918.”

The Internet portal “In Memory of the Heroes of the Great War of 1914-1918” is a unique database of archival historical materials about the First World War. Currently, it contains maps and descriptions of the main battles and battles of the Russian army in the First World War, data on losses and awards of soldiers and officers - more than 2 million records from the “Card Index of the Bureau for the Accounting of Losses on the Fronts of the First World War” and more than 3 thousand reward orders.

In the future, it is planned to continue replenishing the database with personal lists of losses, historical maps, albums with photographs, documents of military units, newspapers and magazines of that period, as well as creating models of about 2 thousand burials from the First World War in 3D projection.

The Internet portal “In Memory of the Heroes of the Great War of 1914-1918” was created in 2016 as part of the program for informatization of archival documents carried out by the Russian Ministry of Defense since 2006.

The creation in various years of public data banks “Memorial”, “Feat of the People in the Great Patriotic War of 1941-1945” and their unification in a single interactive service “Memory of the People” led to the emergence of an information and reference system about the dead and missing during the Great Patriotic War, which has no analogues in world practice.

In 2013, the Russian Ministry of Defense began preparations to expand the existing project to include the period of the First World War.

The creation of the most complete electronic bank with documents testifying to the heroism of the Russian army, including the locations and condition of Russian military graves from a key period in the history of civilization, is intended to become an eternal monument to the great events in the history of our Fatherland.

In accordance with the decisions of the Minister of Defense of the Russian Federation, General of the Army Sergei Shoigu, dated January 23 and March 4, 2014, an Internet portal “In Memory of the Heroes of the Great War of 1914-1918” was created for the 100th anniversary of the end of the war in 2018.

By August 1, 2014, the pilot part of the project was opened, and in 2016, an information resource of historical materials was created with maps, descriptions of battles and battles, as well as cards from the “Card Index of the Bureau for the Accounting of Losses on the Fronts in the World War of 1914-1918.”

Currently, information from 2.278 million records of losses of the Russian army, from the file cabinet of the Special Office for the collection and registration of information about those who retired due to death or injury, as well as missing military ranks acting against enemy armies of the General Staff.

It also contains information about more than 115 thousand killed and missing, lists of awards and orders included in the highest decrees of His Imperial Majesty from the “Lists of losses of military units sent to Special Records Management from military units”, stored in the files of Fund No. 16196 of the Russian State military-historical archive containing information about the killed, wounded and missing.

In addition, the Internet portal “In Memory of the Heroes of the Great War of 1914-1918” contains information about 3066 awards obtained from the collection of the Highest orders for the Military Department for 1914, the printed edition of the State Public Historical Library of Russia, as well as 783 archival documents from historical files with descriptions of military operations of that period for independent study.

Based on the results of the 39th meeting of the Russian Pobeda Organizing Committee, it is planned to continue work to complete, by December 1, 2018, replenishing the project with data on the losses and awards of soldiers of the Russian army, as well as the main battles and military operations in the period from 1914 to 1918.

It is planned to continue replenishing the database with information from the “Card Index of the Bureau for the Accounting of Losses on the Fronts in the World War of 1914-1918” with personal lists of losses of soldiers and officers of the First World War, an information resource of historical materials with descriptions of military operations, historical maps, albums with photographs, documents military units, newspapers and magazines of that period (about 50.5 thousand files), as well as the creation of models of about 2 thousand burials of that period in 3D projection.

As part of the opening of the exhibition at the Manege Central Exhibition Hall, dedicated to the 100th anniversary of the end of the First World War, the Russian Ministry of Defense presented an updated Internet portal “In Memory of the Heroes of the Great War of 1914-1918.” — http://gwar.mil.ru/

Access to the pilot version of the project, dedicated to the participants of the First World War, was provided in August 2017. In 2018, work was carried out to digitize and fill the existing information resource. Today, the portal includes information from more than nine million cards containing data from the “Card Index of the Bureau for Registration of Losses on the Fronts of the First World War of 1914-1918,” award documents, lists of burials and other archival files.

Now anyone can familiarize themselves with historical documents and learn from primary sources about the role of Russia and the Russian army in the First World War.

The search for war participants is carried out by last name, first name, patronymic, date and place of birth, dates and places of service. In addition to searching for personalities, users have the opportunity to study archival documents on historical events: the portal has developed sections in which the “Chronicle of Events” is presented, to fill which a lot of methodological work has been done to select documents corresponding to the main military episodes, and “Archival documents”, where information, including on military units.

Thus, knowing only the unit number, you can trace the battle route and find descriptions of battles in which the person you are looking for could have taken part. The section “Army Structure” should be especially noted; it provides information on the structure and composition of the army, a description of military units, which is of great interest from the point of view of reproducing the historical course of the war according to authentic data.

Considering the long period since the tragic events, many citizens have minimal data about their ancestors, so the portal has a search function based on indirect evidence. Thus, the geoinformation service is correlated with directories of the administrative-territorial division of the provinces of the Russian Empire with modern maps, so you can search by the approximate location of the places of residence, death or burial of participants.

“Heroism, courage, resilience and military skill of the Russian army in the First World War is a topic that for decades remained in the shadows for each of us due to limited access to authentic documents significant for the historical past of Russia. Thanks to the activities carried out by the Ministry of Defense to identify, process and present archival documents on the Internet and the created portal “In Memory of the Heroes of the Great War of 1914-1918,” information about its participants is available from any device and from anywhere in the world,” notes the state official. Secretary - Deputy Minister of Defense Nikolai Pankov,

The portal is the first official bank of documents in digital format about the heroes and events of the First World War and provides users with a unique toolkit for searching and reconstructing the destinies of those who served in the Russian army from 1914 to 1918.