The Political Planning of Memory
The Construction of History in Belarus between Conflict and Consensus
Deutsche Fassung
Abstract
In Eastern Europe, the politics of history is a key field of political competition. This applies in particular to authoritarian ruled states, where there is no pluralistic competition of ideas; instead the regime and the repressed opposition struggle over the formation of collective memory. Belarus is a perfect example of this. In Soviet tradition, the Lukashenka regime’s official politics of memory makes the victory over the German occupiers in the Great Patriotic War the founding myth of the present-day Belarusian state. By contrast, the opposition sees the roots of the Belarusian state in the Grand Duchy of Lithuania. For several years, however, signs of convergence in the politics of memory have been observed.
(Osteuropa 6/2008, pp. 187–196)