Poland in the contemporary politics of memory of Belarus

Abstract

In Eastern European countries, history plays an important role for social and political reasons. In Belarus, it is used instrumentally, and recent attempts to demonstrate the negative impact of Poland and Poles on the country’s history may, although not necessarily, be used in current political activities. The government and President Alexander Lukashenko treat the historical picture of the history of their country in relations with Poland as a derivative of the basic assumption: the first Belarusian state was the Belarusian Soviet Socialist Republic (SSR), which they assess positively, just like (with various reservations) the entire Soviet Union. The positive assessment of the USSR and the Belarusian SSR creates an ideological basis for strengthening their power inside the country and building positive assessments of today’s Russia and cooperation with Russia.