Narrative Divide: The Image of Belarus and its Neighbors in All-Union and Republican (Belarusian) Textbooks of the Soviet Era (1940-1980)

• In Event: Constructing Belarusian, Lithuanian, Polish and Jewish Memories: Visions of the Past in the 20th Century

Abstract

The report deals with the image of Belarus and its neighbors (Lithuania, Latvia, Poland) in the Soviet textbooks. Predictably, Belarus occupied little place in the Soviet historical narrative. All the states to which Belarus belonged until the 20th century were viewed as alien and repressive. However, an interesting difference is the image of Belarus (and Lithuania, Latvia, Poland) in the USSR textbooks, which dominated the formation of the historical self-awareness of Belarusians, and the image of these countries in Belarusian Soviet textbooks, which influenced relatively narrow circles. Analysis of this difference will be the main focus of the report.

Author

• Andrei Kazakevich, European Humanities U (Lithuania)