What Information You Can Find at TsAMO
The archive, located in Podolsk, Moscow region, holds a massive collection of Soviet/Russian military records since 1941 until nowadays. It is one of the largest archives in Russia, boasting the total of 20 244 243 files, including 10 951 948 from WWII period. They include documents on casualties among soldiers and officers, awards of the surviving military personnel, as well as their detailed path in the war.
Recently, I requested military records on a WWII veteran from Kyiv, Ukraine, for one of my projects. Although my client was confident that his grandfather was a captain during WWII, he did not appear in any online database. We had to turn to good old archives. And sure enough, his files (8 pages!) were found at TsAMO, including a tiny, but precious photograph.
Here are some examples of the records we received.
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| Military card, listing the years and places of military service, along with a photograph |
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| Registration card, listing birth date and place, ethnicity, education, social status, military rank and service details, awards, spouse's name and address |
How to Make an Inquiry at TsAMO
There are two ways to make an inquiry: in person and by regular mail. No emails, unfortunately.
Here is how you do it, if you cannot visit the archive:
1. Download and fill in an application form.
There are three types of forms, depending on the person's military rank: for a civilian, for a conscripted soldier or for an officer. If you don't know this information, make the best guess you can.
You can fill in a form online here or download and fill it offline: for a civilian working in a military unit; for a soldier serving in the conscription service or an officer. In both cases, the form needs to be printed out, signed and mailed.
For the offline forms there are two additional options: a form to request a search for a burial place or a person's destiny or a form to request information about a wound or disease while on military service.
The forms are in Russian language, so if your Russian is not good enough, it is important to have someone help you with this step.
What to include in your request:
- Full name of the person
- Number of the military unit (omit, if you don't know it)
- Years of military service
- What you are looking to find (be specific what you want to learn: for example, awards, military actions, wounds etc.)
- Purpose (e.g. genealogy, family research)
- Full name of the applicant
- Address of the applicant
3. Mail the request form to the following address:
Центральный архив Министерства обороны Российской Федерации
142100, Московская обл., Подольск, ул. Кирова, д. 74.
Correspondence and Payment
As a general rule, Russian archives have to respond within 30 days after registering the request, but the mailing time is added. If you are corresponding from outside Russia, the mail may go via respective Consulate of Russian Federation, which would add more time. On average, it would be about a month and a half for each round of correspondence.
The archivists will first inform you whether or not they found anything for your inquiry. If so, they will ask send you an invoice to pay for the services.
The payment process is tricky. The invoice you receive from the archive is not one that you can pay internationally. It is in Russian-specific format and the easiest way to pay it is to have someone in Russia make the payment in one of the local banks, and pay this person via one of the international payment systems. This adds to the cost, but it is still very affordable. The fee for my inquiry was 292 Rub which is about 4-5 USD, so it is more about time and efforts, than money.
Within 15 days after receiving the money, the archive will forward the documents to you.
As you can see, this process requires patience, but it is totally worth trying, if you are determined in learning about your relative's path in Second World War.
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