Kazakhstan digitizes wartime conscription records
As part of a large‑scale national project, Kazakhstan’s Ministry of Defense is digitizing archival records of citizens conscripted into the Red Army between 1938 and 1945. The initiative is being carried out through the development of the Batyrlarga Tagzym portal, Qazinform News Agency reports, citing the Ministry of Defense.
According to the ministry, the project is implemented in line with President Tokayev's task set at the meeting of the Ulttyq Qurultay. Staff at the National Defense University of Kazakhstan are processing conscription registers from regional and district military commissariats, transferred to the university by the Central Archive of the Ministry of Defense.
An interdepartmental working group has also been established, consisting of military educational institutions, relevant ministry departments, Armed Forces units, the National Guard Academy in Petropavlovsk, and 30 military departments at civilian universities. The documents are being photographed and entered into a unified electronic database.
“The task before us is to digitize the records of more than 1.2 million Kazakh citizens who were conscripted during the war years. For many families, this is a chance to learn the fate of their ancestors, preserve their memory, and pass it on to future generations. The involvement of over 20,000 students from military departments, as well as cadets and trainees of military educational institutions, adds further educational and patriotic significance to the project,” said Major General Askar Mustabekov, Deputy Minister of Defense.
In the future, the digital resource will be expanded to include records of combat service, awards, and other biographical details of front‑line soldiers. This will not only make information searches more accessible, but will also bring unique archival materials - once available only to a limited group of specialists - into wider academic use.
Earlier, it was reported that on May 6, at a solemn ceremony in Akorda, President Kassym-Jomart Tokayev handed over special insignia - the Gold Star and the Order of Otan- to Makhambet Kenzhebayuly, son of the Great Patriotic War veteran Kenzhebay Madeno.