'Our Glorious Past': Lukashenka's Belarus and the Great Patriotic War / / David R. Marples, Andreas Umland

• Record Nr.: UNINA9910956030003321
• Autore: R. Marples David
• Pubbl/distr/stampa: Hannover, : ibidem, 2014
• ISBN: 3-8382-6674-9
• Edizione: [1st ed.]
• Descrizione fisica: 1 online resource (437 p.)
• Collana: Soviet and Post-Soviet Politics and Society ; 124
• Disciplina: 947.8086092
• Soggetti: Belarus; historiography; politics; memorialization; Second World War; collective memory; Aljaksandr Lukashenko; campaigns; German occupation; 1941-1944; history; military; Great Patriotic War
• Lingua di pubblicazione: Inglese
• Formato: Materiale a stampa
• Livello bibliografico: Monografia
• Note generali: Description based upon print version of record.
• Nota di bibliografia: Includes bibliographical references and index.
• Nota di contenuto: PREFACE; TABLE OF CONTENTS; ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS; NOTE ON TRANSLITERATION OF NAMES; INTRODUCTION: LUKASHENKA'S BELARUS; CHAPTER ONE: THE START OF THE WAR; Introduction; School Textbooks; Interlude: Soviet Rule Extends to Western Belarus; The Start of the Great Patriotic War; Evacuations; The View from the Military; CHAPTER TWO: THE GERMAN OCCUPATION REGIME; Introduction; School Textbooks; Life Under Occupation; Camps; Collaboration; The Holocaust; CHAPTER THREE: THE PARTISANS; Introduction; School Textbooks; Vasily Korzh; Sydir Kovpak; Organizing Partisans; The NKVD and NKGB; Operations; Liniya Stalina (The Stalin Line)Monuments; a) Minsk; b) Other Areas of Belarus; c) Monuments Outside Belarus; Finding the Dead; CHAPTER SEVEN: PUBLICIZING THE WAR; Museums; Conferences; Concerts and Public Displays; Commemorations; Books and Documentaries; The Fortress of War Movie; The 65th Anniversary of Liberation of Belarus, 2009; The 65th Anniversary of the Victory, 2010; CHAPTER EIGHT: HISTORICAL REVISIONISM; Background; Victory Day; War Losses; The Vilnius Declaration; Political Officers and Penal Battalions; Treatment of Veterans; Illia Kopyl and the Partisans; CONCLUSION; BIBLIOGRAPHYINDEX
• Sommario/riassunto: This timely book examines how the regime of President Aliaksandr Lukashenka has used the ‘Great Patriotic War’ (1941-45) as a key element in state and identity formation in Belarus. The campaign was discernible from 2003 and intensified after a rift with Russia that led to a re-examination of the earlier policy of close political and economic partnership. David R. Marples focuses in particular on the years 2009 and 2010, which commemorated two 65th anniversaries: the liberation of Minsk (3 July 1944) and the end of World War II in Europe (9 May 1945). Using a variety of sources, this unique book critically examines the official interpretations of the war from various angles: the initial invasion, occupation, the Partisans, historic sites and monuments, films, documentaries, museums, schools, and public occasions commemorating some of the major events. Relying on first-hand research, including books recommended by the Ministry of Education, state-controlled media and examinations through personal visits to the major historic sites and monuments of Belarus, Marples explains and measures the effectiveness of Lukashenka‘s program. In outlining the main tenets of the state interpretation of the war years, the book highlights the distortions and manipulations of historical evidence as well as the dismissal of alternative versions as ‘historical revisionism.‘ It assesses the successes and weaknesses of the campaign as well as its long term effects and prospects.