Archival Secrets
- История
- 20 episodes
- 2023-2025
A series of video lectures devoted to many key issues of twentieth-century domestic history. The uniqueness of the lectures lies in the presentation of many previously unpublished archival materials for the first time aver. The lecturer is Candidate of Historical Sciences and head of the Publications Department of the Russian State Archive of Contemporary History, Teymur Jalilov.
Hosts
Episodes
Episode 20. The USSR and Finland Dubbing on request
Archival Secrets • 2025 • 13 minutes
The history of Soviet–Finnish relations is an astonishing example of a rational approach to policy. It exemplifies the ability to find mutually beneficial cooperation despite vastly different perspectives and a difficult past. In this sense, the history of Soviet–Finnish relations deserves special attention, particularly in understanding how to overcome disagreements rooted in history for the sake of the future. The cornerstone of postwar Finnish policy, known in history as the Paasikivi–Kekkonen Line, is the 1948 Treaty of Friendship, Cooperation, and Mutual Assistance — also known as the YYA Treaty—signed by the USSR and Finland amid the emerging Cold War. Kekkonen described the treaty’s aim in international terms as “preventing the spread of military panic and, in the interests of both countries, strengthening the prerequisites for peace in northern Europe”. Against this background, many scholars find today’s Finnish leadership policies particularly strange.
Episode 19. Soviet Baltics Dubbing on request
Archival Secrets • 2025 • 13 minutes
“Soviet Baltics” is a specific geopolitical, historical, and cultural phenomenon. It demonstrated certain deviations from the “classic” (Stalinist) configuration of the Soviet project. The policy toward the Baltic republics, proclaimed in 1953, transformed the Baltics into a showcase of socialism. Very large investments were directed to the Baltic republics. Censorship was significantly softer in the Baltics. This policy t his new course — led to very positive results for the development of the Baltic republics’ economy and social life. All of this occurred despite the fact that, during the Great Patriotic War, many members of Baltic societies sided with Hitler.
Episode 18. The Anti-Alcohol Campaign Dubbing on request
Archival Secrets • 2025 • 13 minutes
The period of acceleration, perestroika, and glasnost—later simplistically called "perestroika" or the Gorbachev era—comprises many components, both good and bad, small and large attempts to reform Soviet society. One such reform was the fight against drinking and alcoholism. On May 16, 1985, the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet issued the Decree “On Strengthening the Fight against Drinking”. By the mid-1980s, drinking had become a colossal problem in Soviet society. By that time, consumption of alcoholic beverages had nearly tripled compared to Stalin’s era.
Episode 17. Moscow Olympics 1980 Dubbing on request
Archival Secrets • 2025 • 13 minutes
In 1974, in Vienna, the International Olympic Committee made a historic decision for our country to host the 1980 Olympic Games in Moscow. These were the first Olympic Games not only in the Soviet Union but also the first Summer Games held on the territory of all socialist countries. Preparation for the Olympics demonstrated a remarkable example of the Soviet economy’s flexibility and its ability to adapt by integrating resources from the capitalist world.
Episode 16. The Council for Mutual Economic Assistance Dubbing on request
Archival Secrets • 2025 • 13 minutes
After the end of the Great Patriotic War, the world changed dramatically. On European territory, a so-called socialist camp emerged. Poland, Czechoslovakia, Hungary, Bulgaria, Romania, and part of Germany—the German Democratic Republic—entered the Soviet Union’s sphere of influence. A socialist community of people's democracies was formed. This was a completely new and striking change. For the first time, the Soviet Union had friends—fraternal communist parties. Such a decisive shift needed to be understood, experienced, and organized. In general, how should this new world be built?
Episode 15. The Prague Spring Dubbing on request
Archival Secrets • 2025 • 13 minutes
Exactly 50 years ago, on January 5, 1968, Alexander Dubček was elected First Secretary of the Communist Party of Czechoslovakia. This date is considered the beginning of the Prague Spring—a series of political reforms in Czechoslovakia that ultimately ended with the deployment of Warsaw Pact troops into the country. The events in Czechoslovakia in 1968—the Prague Spring—still evoke very mixed assessments and reactions within society. However, everyone agrees on one thing: the Prague Spring influenced the subsequent fate not only of Czechoslovakia but also of the Soviet Union.
Episode 14. The Living Standards of Soviet People Dubbing on request
Archival Secrets • 2025 • 13 minutes
In the postwar decade, the question of living beautifully did not arise. The country was destroyed and had to be rebuilt. All the efforts of the Soviet people were directed not toward arranging personal comfort but toward raising the Motherland from the ruins. Leonid Ilyich Brezhnev took the issue of the population’s living standards very seriously. The phrase “the steady rise of the living standards of the Soviet people” became, to some extent, a sore point for Soviets and even an object of mockery. Nevertheless, the notion of a steady rise in living standards remained one of Brezhnev’s programmatic goals. But how could the state’s capabilities be balanced with the people’s desires?
Episode 13. Soviet Peasantry Dubbing on request
Archival Secrets • 2025 • 13 minutes
<html>Stalin’s rule left Soviet agriculture in an extremely difficult situation. The famine of 1952 is often called the last Stalin-era famine. In 1956, the magazine Literaturnaya Moskva published Alexander Yashin’s work <i>Levers</i>. The story depicts simple Russian peasants gathering in an izba, discussing their affairs very candidly. They say that truth now exists only in presidiums and at meetings, and that there is no truth in real life. Leonid Ilyich Brezhnev utters a key phrase: “They killed the peasant’s faith that there is truth on earth”.</html>
Episode 10. Khrushchev’s Resignation Dubbing on request
Archival Secrets • 2023 • 13 minutes
On October 16, 1964 Soviet media carried a laconic announcement that nevertheless had epochal significance. Citizens were informed that the country’s leader Nikita Khrushchev had left his post “due to advanced age and state of health”. He was succeeded by Leonid Brezhnev. The main question regarding Khrushchev’s resignation: can it be considered a resignation, or was it rather the result of a coup?
Episode 12. The Kosygin Reforms Dubbing on request
Archival Secrets • 2025 • 13 minutes
In 1965, the Soviet Union was waiting for change. After Khrushchev’s chaotic reforms, the country’s economy was suffocating: factories operated on outdated plans, collective farms barely made ends meet, and store shelves were often frighteningly empty. At that moment, Alexei Kosygin, Chairman of the Council of Ministers of the USSR, stepped onto the stage with an ambitious reform later named after him. The Kosygin reforms are among the most mythologized issues in our history. There are diametrically opposed views about what transpired in the late 1960s and the first half of the 1970s in the Soviet economy.
Episode 11. The USSR and Yugoslavia Dubbing on request
Archival Secrets • 2025 • 13 minutes
The history of Soviet–Yugoslav relations is incredibly dramatic. During the Great Patriotic War, Yugoslav partisans put up fierce resistance to the fascist troops. The Yugoslav liberation movement was one of the strongest in the occupied territories, and the leader of the Yugoslav communists, Josip Broz Tito, was then considered Stalin’s most loyal and faithful pupil. The situation changed after liberation. In 1948, Soviet–Yugoslav contradictions began to grow, and by 1949, the conflict between the Soviet Union and Yugoslavia had escalated to open confrontation. How could this happen?
Episode 9. The Cuban Missile Crisis Dubbing on request
Archival Secrets • 2025 • 13 minutes
The time of the United States’ diktat has passed. The Soviet Union raises its voice and offers a helping hand to the people of Cuba fighting for their independence. …Now, the peoples of colonial and dependent countries are rising and successfully fighting for liberation from shameful colonial oppression… And on our part, we will use everything to support Cuba!” — With these words, Nikita Sergeyevich Khrushchev spoke. Cuba became a flagship, a symbol that many countries long under colonial rule could follow their own path. The Caribbean Crisis demonstrated the capacity of powers to go all the way. It also showed how great powers can reach the most dangerous point, putting the world on the brink of catastrophe. However, October 1962 also proved that truly great politicians can negotiate. The greatness of such politicians lies in their ability, in difficult situations, to find opportunities for dialogue — not for themselves or their ambitions, but for the sake of peace.
Episode 8. Virgin Lands Campaign Dubbing on request
Archival Secrets • 2025 • 13 minutes
The Virgin Lands epic is closely associated with the name of Nikita Sergeevich Khrushchev. The massive virgin lands project—aimed at transforming Kazakhstan, Siberia, and the Far East into grain-producing regions—has always been viewed as Khrushchev’s initiative, project, and undertaking. In 1954, the Plenum made a historic decision, and the Central Committee of the CPSU adopted the resolution titled “On the Development of Virgin and Fallow Lands”.
Episode 7. The 20th Congress of the CPSU Dubbing on request
Archival Secrets • 2025 • 13 minutes
At the end of February 1956, the 20th Congress of the Communist Party convened in Moscow. This congress was to make a crucial decision regarding the country's future. It adopted many important resolutions. For example, one key decision—later incorporated into the programmatic documents of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union—was the recognition of the possibility of peaceful coexistence between two systems. On the evening of February 26, after the congress had closed, delegates were asked to stay. Not everyone was invited. Nikita Sergeyevich Khrushchev took the podium and delivered his famous report. Of course, what happened next was not accidental.
Episode 6. After Stalin Dubbing on request
Archival Secrets • 2025 • 13 minutes
On the morning of March 5, 1953, the country learned from the Pravda morning edition that Iosif Vissarionovich Stalin had died. It was an absolute shock to the nation. His death from a stroke was not only a personal tragedy for millions of Soviet citizens but also a moment that revealed the fragility of the Stalinist system. However, beneath the apparent unity, a growing crisis was seething. Stalin’s death left the USSR leadership without an obvious successor, triggering an immediate power struggle among his closest associates — Georgy Malenkov, Lavrenty Beria, Nikita Khrushchev, and Vyacheslav Molotov.
Episode 4. The Restoration of Stalingrad Dubbing on request
Archival Secrets • 2024 • 13 minutes
Stalingrad is a hero city. It is a symbol of the steadfastness of spirit demonstrated by our fighters — and not only fighters but civilians as well. The Battle of Stalingrad was utterly monstrous. The German fascist barbarians inflicted colossal destruction on the city, especially on its housing, communal, and cultural facilities. People of strong spirit began rebuilding the Stalingrad Tractor Plant as early as April 1943. They started producing tanks, and production was quickly established. In inhumane conditions, people restored their homes and industry. It was in Stalingrad that the project for the famous Soviet five-storey apartment blocks was first conceived.
Episode 5. The Meeting on the Elbe Dubbing on request
Archival Secrets • 2025 • 13 minutes
In the spring of 1945, Soviet and American soldiers — allies in World War II — met on the banks of the Elbe. They rejoiced at the most significant event of their lives: the defeat of fascist Germany. Little did they know, and could not know, that for more than a year, serious negotiations among the highest political leaders were already underway about what the world would be like tomorrow. It was essential to shape that future world on stable, mutually acceptable terms — the Yalta-Potsdam order, as the postwar arrangement of Europe is called. It was crucial to prevent the next war. In this, the leaders of America, Britain, and the Soviet Union were united. But that was perhaps the only thing on which they agreed.
Episode 3. Bulgaria in World War II Dubbing on request
Archival Secrets • 2025 • 13 minutes
Today, when we speak of our people's great victory in the Great Patriotic War, we gratefully remember the allies who fought side by side with the Soviet people. However, we must also acknowledge another aspect of Europe’s history. During the war with the Soviet Union, a significant number of European countries sided with Hitler. One such country was Bulgaria — a nation created by Russia, yet in both World War I and World War II, it aligned with Germany. In the Great Patriotic War, Bulgaria also sided with Nazi Germany.
Episode 2. Nazi Atrocities Dubbing on request
Archival Secrets • 2025 • 13 minutes
Nothing in the 20th century affected the Russian, Soviet person, or the fate of our Motherland as profoundly as the victory over fascism did. It was a war for the very existence of our state and our people, for the right to live on Earth. The word “atrocity” is an entirely official term — one that entered legal practice during the Nuremberg Trials. During the preparation for these trials, while the Great Patriotic War was still ongoing, an extraordinary Investigative Commission was established in the Union. This commission meticulously and thoroughly collected materials about what had happened on our country's territory and what the occupiers had done in the Soviet Union. Even during the Great Patriotic War, the Soviet government began to publish data about these atrocities.
Episode 1. Weapons of Victory Dubbing on request
Archival Secrets • 2025 • 13 minutes
The First World War completely changed the notions of conducting war. Mass armies emerged, and the war became a conflict dominated by engines and motors. In fact, after the war ended, military theorists around the world began to consider what the next war would look like. The outcome of the Great Patriotic War was determined not only on the battlefield but also through competition between military industries. It was necessary to prepare for new challenges in the shortest possible time.