WCL Historic Footage ENPRO

Our video materials, images and photos related to the most relevant aspects of life, religion and policy during the 20th century in Russia and neighbor Countries constitute one of the larger private video archives on the history of the Soviet Union.

From the very beginning of film recording until the fall of the U.S.S.R., Domus Patris tried to collect a large variety of images for the support of productions of documentaries, buying rare images or films from public archives or from private owners, receiving materials as exchange or as friendly gift from people having a similar goal: making people know better the reality of the Soviet regime during many decades of the last century.

It is not very easy to summarize, the contents of the Domus Patris Archive, starting from the first historic shootings from approximately 1910 up to the end of ‘80s, to the fall of the U.S.S.R.

Our effort was aimed at collecting the basic documentation about the single periods of the soviet government, on their political, economic, artistic, cultural, propagandistic aspects, without forgetting the dramatic situation that the communist policy constituted in every day life (for families, youth education, freedom of thought, etc.) and its monstrous punishment system (systematic fight against internal and external enemies, persecution of churches and believers, famine as a tool for destroying the so called “enemies”). In order to build up more complex descriptions of historic events, part of our search was devoted to contemporary events of Western countries too.

A global summary of the various themes available in the Domus Patris archive could be described as following:

The Bolshevik Revolution

• Riots in pre-revolutionary Russia
• The Tsarist Empire, fall of the Tsars
• The 1917 revolutions
• Civil war, famine and despair
• Persecution of Churches and of priests and believers
• Political leaders (for the entire Soviet period)

The “Grandeur” of Stalin

• Great Russian cities (historic photographs and shootings)
• Great Russian constructions: White See – Baltic Sea channel, Dnepr Hydroelectric plant, Trans Siberian Railway and many others
• Forced Industrialization
• Soviet “baroque” Architecture and Monumental Art
• Monumental Parades
• The Russian Military forces: Red Army, aviation, navy, …
• World War II in Russia

The Repressive System

• From VČK over NKVD to KGB
• Archipelago GULAG
• The Solovky Islands
• Deportation and Exile
• The Perm lager

The Ideological Policy

• Schools, universities and youth education
• Manipulation of culture and Propaganda
• Russian Media: Newspapers, Cinematography and others
• Russian personalities: artists, scientists, philosophers, politicians…
• Religious, Cultural and Artistic Life in Moscow and urban and rural areas

Churches

• Orthodox Church affairs, councils etc.
• Patriarchs and Metropolitans of the Orthodox Church
• Orthodox Churches abroad
• Catholic clergy and churches
• Holy Places in Russia
• Destruction of churches
• Monasteries and lavras

Post War Developments

• The “thaw” after Stalin’s death
• The long stagnation period
• The repression in the ‘60s and ‘70s
• The decline of Civil life and the political system
• The Perestroika

Other

• Historic Newsreel material from all over Europe
• Paris, historic shootings
• Solidarnosc

If any of these materials could be interesting for your production, please contact us and specify as much as possible your needs. We will let you know, if and how we can satisfy your request.