Abstract
Since coming to power in 1994, Belarusian president Aliaksandr Lukashenka has made considerable efforts to consolidate the young republic. Two main periods can be identified: between 1994 and 2001 the Lukashenka government officially promoted moves towards ever-closer integration with Russia, while after 2001 the regime has put a heavier emphasis on independence and statehood. Whereas the legacy of the Belarusian SSR retains a central role in the history writing and memory production of the Lukashenka government, the regime has in recent years also shown increasing interest in appropriating at least some of the oppositional symbolism. This chapter surveys the official rhetoric, historical references, and the expanding base of historical symbolism of official Belarusian patriotism under Lukashenka.
The author wishes to thank Oleg Łatyszonek and Curt Woolhiser for inspiration and constructive ideas. The insightful comments of Julie Fedor and Tatiana Zhurzhenko did much to improve the article. I alone, however, am responsible for the interpretations in the text.
References
“ARCHE Magazine.” 2012. “ARCHE Magazine Editor-in-Chief Fined, 5,000 Belarusian-Language Books Seized.” Nasha Niva, 19 Oct. Retrieved 1 Oct 2013 from http://nn.by/?c=ar&i=82054&lang=en.
Baranova, O. 2010. Nationalism, Anti-Bolshevism or the Will to Survive: Forms of Belarusian Interaction with the German Occupation Authorities 1941–1944. Saarbrücken: Lambert Academic Publishing.
Bekus, N. 2010. Struggle Over Identity: The Official and the Alternative “Belarusianness”. Budapest and New York: Central European University Press.
“BNR: poverkh bar’erov.” 2008. “BNR: poverkh bar’erov.” Sovetskaia Belorussiia, 22 March. Round table discussion between Aleksandr Kovalenia, Nikolai Smekhovich, Vitalii Skalaban, Vladimir Liakhouskii, Valentin Mazets, Sergei Tret’iak, and Pavel Yakubovich. Retrieved 26 March 2008 from http://www.sb.by/print/post/64919.
“Boi podushkami.” 2009. “Boi podushkami v chest’ godovshchiny Orshanskoi bitvy prokhodit v tsentre Minska.” Interfax.by, Novosti Belarusi, 8 September. Retrieved 9 Sept 2009 from http://www.interfax.by/news/belarus/60547.
Borzȩcki, J. 2008. The Polish-Soviet Peace of 1921 and the Creation of Interwar Europe. New Haven, CT: Yale University Press.
“Budz’ma belarusami!” 2010. Sait hramadskai kul’turnitskai kampanii ‘Budz’ma belarusami!’. 30 May. Retrieved 18 Oct 2013 from http://budzma.org/uncategorized/budzma-byelarusami-tekst.html.
Bulgakov, V. 2006. Istoriia belorusskogo natsionalizma. Vilnius: Institut belarusistiki.
Burds, J. [Dzh.]. 2006. Sovetskaia agentura: Ocherki istorii SSSR v poslevoennye gody. Moscow and New York: Sovremennaia Istoriia.
Chiari, B. 1998. Alltag hinter der Front: Besatzung, Kollaboration und Widerstand in Weißrußland 1941–1944. Düsseldorf: Droste Verlag.
de Grazia, V. 1992. How Fascism Ruled Women: Italy, 1922–1945. Berkeley, Los Angeles, and London: University of California Press.
Dean, M. 2000. Collaboration in the Holocaust: Crimes of the Local Police in Belorussia and Ukraine, 1941–1944. New York: St. Martin’s Press in association with the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum.
Eberhardt, P. 2004. “Koncepcja granicy między cywilizacją zachodniego chrześcjijaństwa a bizantyńską na kontynencie europejskim.” Przegląd Geograficzny 72 (2): 168–169.
Eke, S., and T. Kuzio. 2000. “Sultanism in Eastern Europe: The Political Roots of Authoritarian Populism in Belarus.” Europe-Asia Studies 52 (3): 523–547.
Ërsh (Iarsh), S. 1998. Viartan’ne BNP: Asoby i dakumenty Belaruskai Nezalezhnitskai Partyi. Minsk and Slonim: BHAKTs.
Ërsh (Iarsh), S. 2001. Usevalad Rodz’ka: Pravadyr belaruskikh natsyianalistau. Minsk: Vydavetstva Holas Kraiu.
Feduta, A. 2005. Lukashenko: politicheskaia biografiia. Moscow: Referendum.
Foto i video. 2009. “‘Stary Ol’sa’ popolnial riady novobrantsev, dlia nikh zhe i vystupil,” tut.by: Belorusskii portal, 9 Feb. http://news.tut.by/128723.html. (Accessed 2 Sep 2009).
Ganzer, C., and Paškovič, A. 2010. “‘Heldentum, Tragik, Tapferkeit’: Das Museum der Verteidigung der Brester Festung.” Osteuropa 60 (12): 81–96.
Gerlach, C. 1999. Kalkulierte Morde: Die deutsche Wirtschafts- und Vernichtungspolitik in Weißrußland 1941 bis 1944. Hamburg: Hamburger Edition.
Gimpelevich, Z.J. 2005. Vasyl Bykaŭ: His Life and Works. Montreal and Kingston, London and Ithaca: McGill-Queen’s University Press.
Goujon, A. 1999. “Language, Nationalism, and Populism in Belarus.” Nationalities Papers 27 (4): 661–677.
Goujon, A. 2010. “Memorial Narratives of WWII Partisans and Genocide in Belarus.” East European Politics and Societies 24 (1): 6–25.
“Grand Duchess.” 2009. “Grand Duchess Maria Romanova to Visit Gomel Oblast’.” BelTA, 14 July. Retrieved 7 Oct 2009 from http://goldring.gomel-region.by/en/news?id=384.
Grzybowski, J. 2006. Białorusini w polskich regularnych formacjach wojskowych w latach 1918-1945. Warsaw: Instytut Studiów Politycznych PAN, Oficyna wydawnicza Rytm.
Haradzienka, A. 2009. Belaruski kanhresavy kamitet Ameryki (BKKA). Smolensk: Belaruski instytut navuki i mastatsva.
“Historyia pad znakam Pahoni.” 2009. Belsat website. Retrieved 24 Aug 2009 from http://www.belsat.eu/generator.php?p=1,10,14,16,2550.
“Hosts’ Belsatu.” 2009. “Aleh Latyshonak, Hosts’ Belsatu: Aleh Latyshonak: ‘BNR byla sapraudnai dziarzhavai.’” Belsat, 20 March. Retrieved 24 Aug 2009 from http://www.belsat.eu/generator.php?lista_wezlow=96,2462&show=tak.
Huntington, S.P. 1998. The Clash of Civilizations and the Remaking of World Order. London: Touchstone Books.
Il’ina, I. 2008. “Fotarepartazh sa sviatkavannia ‘Dazhynak’ u Orshy.” Hramadstva Naradnyia naviny Vitsebska, 21 Sept. Retrieved 2 Sept 2009 from http://news.vitebsk.cc/2008/09/21/fotarepartazh-sa-svyatkavannya-dazhyinak-u-orshyi/.
Ioffe, G.V. 2008. Understanding Belarus and How Western Foreign Policy Misses the Mark. Lanham, MD: Rowman & Littlefield.
Isaeva, I.K. 2007. Nagrady respubliki Belarus. Minsk: Belarus.
Kalendar’. 2009. Kalendar’ sobytii 2009 gada, posviashchennykh godu rodnoi zemli: Upravlenie fizicheskoi kul’tury, sporta i turizma Brestskogo oblispolkoma. Brest: Upravleniia fizicheskoi kul’tury i sporta Brestskogo oblispolkoma.
Kasparavichius, A. 2009. “Praekt sakretnaha pahadnennia 1923 h. pamizh Litovskai Respublikai i Belaruskai Narodnai Respubliki.” ARCHE 4. Retrieved 27 July 2009 from http://arche.by/by/13/30/561/.
Kazak, P., ed. n/d. Belaruski natsyianalizm: Davednik. Minsk: Holas Kraiu.
Kipel, V., and Z. Kipel (eds.). 1988. Byelorussian Statehood. New York: Byelorussian Institute of Arts and Sciences.
Komu my idem na pomoshch? 1939. Moscow: Gosudarstvennoe voennoe izdatel’stvo Narkoma Oborony Soiuza SSR.
Kotljarchuk, A. 2004. “The Tradition of Belarusian Statehood: Conflicts About the Past of Belarus.” In Contemporary Change in Belarus. Baltic and East European Studies, ed. E. Rindzeviciute, vol. 2, 41–72. Huddinge, Sweden: Baltic and East European Graduate School.
Kotljarchuk, A. 2013. “World War II Memory Politics: Jewish, Polish, and Roma Minorities of Belarus.” The Journal of Belarusian Studies 7 (1) (2013): 7–37.
Kurkau, I.M., and A.N. Bassau. 1994. Flahi Belarusi: uchora i senna. Minsk: Polymia.
Lalkou, I. 2010. “National Symbols in Belarus: the Past and Present.” Belarus Digest, 6 March. Retrieved 14 March 2010 from http://belarusdigest.com/2010/03/06/national-symbols-in-belarus-the-past-and-present/#more-2638.
Łatyszonek, Oleg. 2007. “Symbolika państwowa Białoruskiej Republiki Ludowej,” In Białoruś w XX stuleciu w kręgu kultury i polityki, Toruń: Wydawnictwo naukowe universytetu Mikołaja Kopernika, ed. Dorota Michaluk, pp. 215–223.
LCVAa. 1919. Lietuvos Centrinis Valstybinis Archyvas (Lithuanian Central State Archives). f. 582. ap.1. b. 46, l. 24.
LCVAb. n/d (but 1924). Lietuvos Centrinis Valstybinis Archyvas (Lithuanian Central State Archives). f. 551, ap. 17, b. 406, l. 117.
LCVAc. n/d (but 1934/1935). Lietuvos Centrinis Valstybinis Archyvas (Lithuanian Central State Archives). f. 582, ap. 2, b. 64.
Leshchenko, N. 2004. A Fine Instrument: Two Nation-building Strategies in Post-Soviet Belarus. Nations and Nationalism 10 (3): 333–352.
Leshchenko, N. 2008. “The National Ideology and the Basis of the Lukashenka Regime in Belarus’.” Europe-Asia Studies 60 (8) (Oct): 1419–1433.
Liakhovskii, V. [Liakhouski, U.]. 2008. “Glavnyi ideal—nezavisimost’: Akt 25 marta 1918 g. i ego mesto v noveishei istorii Belarusi.” Belorusy i rynok, 24 March, 25.
Lindner, R. 1999. Historiker und Herrschaft: Nationsbildung und Geschichtspolitik in Weißrußland im 19. Und 20. Jahrhundert. Munich: R. Oldenbourg Verlag.
Lobodenko, G. 2008. “Po pasportu BNR mozhno bylo ezdit’ po vsemu miru: Segodnia so dnia osnavaniia pervogo nezavisimogo gosudarstva ispolniaetsia 90 let.” Komsomol’skaia Pravda v Belorussii, 25 March, 8.
Lukashenka, A. [Lukashenko, A.]. n/d. Speech on Belarus TV. Retrieved 13 Aug 2009 from http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Yd0yIhtKI_8.
Lukashenka, A. [Lukashenko, A.]. 2009. “Pozdravlenie Prezidenta Respubliki Belarus s 70-i godovshchinoi vossoedineniia Zapadnoi Belorussii s Belorusskoi Sovetskoi Sotsialisticheskoi Respubliki.” Sovetskaia Belorussia 17 Sept. Retrieved 18 Sept 2009 from http://law.sb.by/879/.
“Lukashenko Confers.” 2004. “Alexander Lukashenko Confers the State Awards”. Official Internet-Portal of the President of the Republic of Belarus 29 Dec. Retrieved 24 Aug 2009 from http://president.gov.by/en/press12509.html#doc.
Marples, D.R. 2006. “Color Revolutions: The Belarus Case.” Communist and Post-Communist Studies 39 (3): 351–364.
Marples, D.R. 2007. “The Launching of a Patriotic Movement in Belarus.” Eurasia Daily Monitor, The Jamestown Foundation 10 July.
Marples, D.R. 2008. “Historians Debate 1918 Declaration of Independence in Belarus.” Eurasia Daily Monitor 5 (68), 27 March. Retrieved 18 Oct 2009 from http://www.jamestown.org/single/?no_cache=1&tx_ttnews%5Btt_news%5D=33496.
Marples, D.R. 2012. “History, Memory, and the Second World War in Belarus.” Australian Journal of Politics and History 58 (3) (Sept): 437–448.
Marples, D.R. 2014. “Our Glorious Past”: Lukashenka’s Belarus and the Great Patriotic War. Stuttgart: ibidem-Verlag.
Marples, D.R., and P.A. Rudling. 2009. War and Memory in Belarus: The Annexation of the Western Borderlands and the Myth of the Brest Fortress, 1939–41. Białoruskie Zeszyty Historyczne 32: 225–244.
Miatsel’ski, A. 2013. “Stiah Voli.” ARCHE 20 March. Retrieved 30 Sept 2013 from http://www.arche.by/by/page/ideas/14358.
Michaluk, D. 2010. Białoruska Republika Ludowa 1918–1920 u podstaw białoruskiej państwowości. Toruń: Wydawnictwo naukowe uniwersitetu Mikołaja Kopernika.
“My—Belarusy.” Retrieved 2 Sept 2009 from http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uS8aT3G3JZI&feature=related.
NARA BNR. n/d. National Archives Record Administration (NARA), RG-263, ZZ-19, Box 6, NN3-263-02-008, AEQUOR 1951–61, vol. 1 (folder 1 of 2), “The Belorussian National Republic” (BNR), 1–8.
Narbutt, M. 2009. “Powrót do Wielkiego Księstwa: Przedstawieciele rodów Wielkiego Księstwa Litewskiego przyjeżdżaja na Litwę i Białoruś: Są tam mile widziani.” Rzeczpospolita 19–20 Sept, A16–17.
Narel, D. 2012. “Tsi patrebna nam prauda?: Da pytannia pra belaruska-niametskae supratsounitstva u hady Druhoi sustvetnai vainy.” ARCHE 10: 239–99 (3029–3030), 7–9 (July): 1.
“Parad dlia adnaho hledacha.” 2013. “Parad dlia adnaho hledacha.” Program “Ab’’ektyu.” Belsat, 3 July. Retrieved 4 July 2013 from http://belsat.eu/be/obiektyw/wydanie/a,1689,2013-07-03.html.
Pashkevich, A. 2009. Vil’nia tsi Mensk?: Trahichny vybar Vatslava Lastauskaha. ARCHE 5: 131–143.
Pashkevich, A. 2012. Prauda nam patrebna. Ale tsi natol’ki iana vidavochnaia? ARCHE 10: 300–334.
Peredypkina, L. 2009. “Ot Moskvy do Bresty.” Soiuznoe veche: Gazeta palamentskogo sobraniia Soiuza Belarusi i Rossii 28 (260), 10–16 July, xxii.
“Prague Declaration.” 2008. “Prague Declaration on European Conscience and Communism,” 3 June. Retrieved 18 Oct 2013 from http://www.praguedeclaration.eu.
Prusin, A.V. 2010. The Lands Between: Conflict in the East European Borderlands, 1870–1992. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
Rein, L. 2011. The Kings and the Pawns: Collaboration in Byelorussia During World War II. New York and Oxford: Berghahn Books.
Ritter, R. 2008. “Three States, One Common Past: Chance or Malediction?: The Role of History and Historiography in the Formation of Collective Identities and Mutual Relations in Belarus, Lithuania, and Poland.” Individuals in Central and Eastern Europe. Papers from the 5th International Postgraduate Conference held at the School of Slavonic and East European Studies, UCL. London: University College London. Retrieved 2 Sept 2009 from http://eprints.ucl.ac.uk/16349/1/16349.pdf.
Rudling, P.A. 2008. “Belarus in the Lukashenka Era: National Identity and Relations with Russia.” In Europe’s Last Frontier?: Belarus, Moldova, und Ukraine between Russia and the European Union, eds. Oliver Schmidtke and Serhy Yekelchyk‚ 55–77. New York and Houndsmill: Palgrave Macmillan.
Rudling, P.A. 2009. “The Great Patriotic War and National Identity in Belarus.” In Nationalisms Across the Globe, eds. Tomasz Kamusella and Krzysztof Jaksulowski, vol. I: Nationalisms Today, 199–225. Bern: Peter Lang.
Rudling, P.A. 2011. “Lukashenka and the ‘Red-Browns’: National Ideology, Commemoration of the Past and Political Belonging.” Forum für osteuropäische Ideen- und Zeitgeschichte 15 (1): 95–125.
Rudling, P.A. 2012. “The Khatyn Massacre in Belorussia: A Historical Controversy Revisited.” Holocaust and Genocide Studies 26 (1) (Spring): 29–58.
Rudling, P.A. 2013. “The Invisible Genocide: The Holocaust in Belarus.” In Bringing the Dark Past to Light: The Reception of the Holocaust in Postcommunist Europe, eds. John-Paul Himka and Joanna Beata Michlic, 59–82. Lincoln: The University of Nebraska Press.
Rudling, P.A. 2015. The Rise and Fall of Belarusian Nationalism, 1906–1931. Pittsburgh, PA: University of Pittsburgh Press.
Saganovich, G. [Sahanovich, H.]. 2008. “‘Zapad’ v ofitsial’oi belaruskoi istoriografii: stereotypy chuzhogo.” In Obraz Inshogo v susidnikh istoriiakh: mify, stereotypy, naukovo interpretatsii (Materialy mizhnarodnoi naukovoi konferentsii, Kyiv), ed. G.V. Kas’ianov. Kyiv: NAN Ukrainy, Instytut istorii Ukrainy.
Sahm, A. 1995. “Kein politischer Frühling in Belarus. Das Scheitern der Parlamentswahlen im Mai 1995 und die Selbständungstendenzen der Exekutive.” Osteuropa 45: 1021–1033.
Sahm, A. 1999. “Political Culture and National Symbols: Their Impact on the Belarusian Nation-Building Process.” Nationalities Papers 27 (4): 649–660.
Sazonau, V. 2012. “Sviata Nezalezhnastsi.” ARCHE 2 July. Retrieved 2 July 2012 from http://arche.by/by/page/ideas/11082.
Semianchuk, A. 2013. “Bitva pad Orshai iak ‘fihura pamiatsi.’” Białoruskie Towarzystwo Historyczne 39: 73–98.
Shamrei, N. 2009. “ABSE asudila Stalinism. Shto z Liniiai Stalina?” Nasha Niva (25) 8 July, 6.
Shushkevich, S. 2002. Neokommunizm v Belarusi: ideologiia, praktika, perspektivy. Smolensk: Skif.
Siabry. 2006. “Khoziain v dome.” Belarusian State TV. Retrieved 1 Oct 2009 from http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LcWz4bux-cU.
Silitski, V. 2005. “A Partisan Reality Show.” TOL—Transitions Online, 11 May. Retrieved 5 Nov 2013 from http://www.tol.org/client/article/14025-a-partisan-reality-show.html.
Sitnik, Ksenia. 2009. “My – Belarusy” concert with a performance of the song “Belaruska ia” (in Russian) by teenybopper pop singer Ksenia Sitnik. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uS8aT3G3JZI&feature=related. (Accessed 2 Sep 2009).
Skobeleu, E.M., et al. 2004. Herb, stsiah i himn belaruskoi dziarzhavy; Gerb, flag i gimn belorusskoi derzhavy; The National Coat of Arms, Flag and Anthem of the Belarusian State. Minsk: Mastatskaia literatura.
Snapkovskii, V. 1998. “Belarusskaia emigratsiia.” In Belorussiia i Rossiia: obshchestva i gosudarstva, ed. Dmitrii E. Furman, 88–105. Moscow: Izdatel’stvo “Prava cheloveka”.
Snyder, T. 2003. The Reconstruction of Nations: Poland, Ukraine, Lithuania, Belarus, 1569–1999. New Haven, CT: Yale University Press.
Solov’ev, A.K. 1995. Belarusskaia Tsentral’naia Rada: sozdanie, deiatel’nost, krakh. Minsk: Navuka i tekhnika.
Spatkai, L. 2013. “Natsyianal’ny stsiah belarusau.” ARCHE, 8 Feb. Retrieved from http://www.arche.by/by/page/science/13893.
Stary Ol’sa. Official website. Retrieved 2 Sept 2009 from http://staryolsa.com/bel/teksty.shtml.
“Stary Ol’sa popolnial riady novobrantsev.” 2009. Novosti tut.by. 9 Feb. Retrieved 2 Sept 2009 from http://news.tut.by/otklik/128723.html.
“‘Stary Ol’sa’ u voisku.” 2009. Nasha Niva, 11 Feb. Retrieved 2 Sept 2009 from http://nn.by/index.php?c=ar&i=23695.
Swartz, D.H. 2013. “Time for a Radical Change in U.S. Relations with Belarus.” The Point 15 June. Retrieved 17 Oct 2013 from http://thepointjournal.com/output/index.php?art_id=235&spr_change=eng.
Tsialezhnikau, A. 2013a. “Belaruskiia kamandas suprats’ Savetskai imperyi.” Belsat, 26 Sept. Retrieved 30 Sept 2013 from http://belsat.eu/be/nie_przegap/a,261,bielaruskiia-kamandas-suprats-savietskai-impieryi.html.
Tsialezhnikau, A. 2013b. Belaruski pasliavaenny antysavetski supratsiu 1944–1957. Minsk: Studia PartyzanFilm. Retrieved 29 April 2013 from http://video.arche.by/by/channel/movie/14841.
Turizm v Belarusi. 2009. Retrieved 2 Sept 2009 from http://eng.belarustourism.by/catalog/link_450_332_194.html.
Turonek, J. 1993. Białoruś pod okupacją niemiecką. Warsaw: Książka i Wiedza.
VB. 2010. “Freedom Day in Washington, DC.” Belarus Digest, 26 March. Retrieved 6 Nov 2013 from http://belarusdigest.com/2010/03/26/freedom-day-in-washington-dc.
“Venezuelan Leader.” 2008. “Venezuelan Leader Visits Belarus, Decries ‘U.S. Imperialism’”. RFE/RL, 25 July.
Viachorka, F. 2013. “Fil’m, iaki razvenchvae lukashenkauskia mity.” Svaboda, 20 Sept. Retrieved 30 Sept 2013 from http://www.svaboda.org/content/article/25112241.html.
“Vinstuk Vyachorka.” 2009. “Vinstuk Vyachorka: ‘The House of Romanov Must Repent for 145 Years of Colonial Oppression.’” Khartyia 97 15 July. Retrieved 7 Oct 2009 from http://admin.charter97.org/en/news/2009/7/15/20088/?1.
Weyrather, I. 1990. “Mutterkreutze: Rassistische Orden des Geburtenkrieges.” Beiträge zur feministischen Therorie und Praxis 27: 134–142.
Weyrather, I. 1993. Mutterkreuz und Muttertag: Der Kult um die “deutsche Mutter” im Nationalsozialismus. Frankfurt am Main: Fischer Taschenbuch Verlag.
Wilson, A. 2010. Belarus: The Last European Dictatorship. New Haven, CT: Yale University Press.
“Yak Hitler moh peramachy.” 2010. ARCHE 5: 489–508.
Zadora, A. 2010. “Construction d’une identité nationale biélorusse au prisme du système éducatif.” PhD Dissertation, Université de Strasbourg.
Zen’kovich, N. 2005. Tainy ushedshego veka: Granitsy, spory, obidy. Dos’e. Moscow: OLMA-PRESS.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Editor information
Editors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
Copyright information
© 2017 The Author(s)
About this chapter
Cite this chapter
Rudling, P.A. (2017). “Unhappy Is the Person Who Has No Motherland”: National Ideology and History Writing in Lukashenka’s Belarus. In: Fedor, J., Kangaspuro, M., Lassila, J., Zhurzhenko, T. (eds) War and Memory in Russia, Ukraine and Belarus . Palgrave Macmillan Memory Studies. Palgrave Macmillan, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-66523-8_3
Download citation
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-66523-8_3
Published:
Publisher Name: Palgrave Macmillan, Cham
Print ISBN: 978-3-319-66522-1
Online ISBN: 978-3-319-66523-8
eBook Packages: Literature, Cultural and Media StudiesLiterature, Cultural and Media Studies (R0)