Abstract

A discussion of the contrasting application of resistance theory to the situation in Belarus in two eras: under Nazi occupation during the Second World War; and under the current authoritarian regime of President Aliaksandr Lukashenka. The modern state in many ways rests on the traditional theme of Partisan resistance to the occupant in harmony with the local population, based on principles of resistance enunciated initially by V.I. Lenin. But the victory achieved is identified with a collective Soviet identity that has undergone a metamorphosis in the independent state into modern-day civic nationalism that attempts to conceal another form of nationalist resistance: that of ethnic Belarusian anti-Soviet forces during the war, and the contemporary national opposition in the republic today, manifested most notably in the Belarusian Popular Front and the Young Front. Is it possible to reconcile these forms of state nationalism and their divided historical memory?

Professor David Marples (University of Alberta) will deliver the fifth lecture as part of the ‘Resistance in Russian and Eastern Europe’ public lecture series, organised by the Department of Slavonic Studies and the Cambridge Committee for Russian and East European Studies.