CENTRAL STATE (SPECIAL) ARCHIVE OF THE USSR (CSSA OF THE USSR): ORIGIN AND FIRST YEARS OF ACTIVITY, 1935-1953

On the basis of the analysis of office work documents of the Head archival department of the USSR, declassified in the late nineties and being stored in the State archive of the Russian Federation, the history of activity of ?Special archive? of the Central archival management of the USSR ? storage of archives of the limitrophe states (19351939), and also the history of creation and the first years of activity (1946-1953) of the most confidential archive depository of the Soviet Union ? the Central state (Special) archive of USSR (CSSA) are considered in the article. The general description of the German trophy archives which have arrived in CSSA in 1946 is given, the main activity of staff of archive during the studied period ? technical analysis of archival funds, reference work and operational development of archival documents is characterized.