The monograph is dedicated to the fate of the museums of our country during the Great Patriotic War. It is based on the analysis of previously unknown documents from RGASPI, GA of the Russian Federation, CA of the FSB of Russia, the Central State Archive of St. Petersburg, the State Archive of the Sverdlovsk Region, the State Archive of the Republic of Crimea, the National Archive of Finland, the Archive of Government and Administration of Ukraine, the Latvian State Historical Archive, archives of the State Museum of Political History of Russia, Krasnoyarsk Regional Museum of Local Lore, etc. The problems of evacuation of cultural property, preparation for the "unloading of museums in the pre-war time, "complex issues" of interaction between state institutions and intelligentsia in various periods of the war, everyday life of museum workers in besieged Leningrad, everyday life of museums in the rear regions and their interaction with those who arrived for evacuation, restoration of museums and restoration of cultural monuments in the territories liberated from the Nazis, the role of museums in the patriotic mobilization of the population during the war, their participation in propaganda and the formation of historical memory of the Great Patriotic War, collecting artifacts on the battlefields, creating new museums during the war years.