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Home , Belarusian Popular Front, Flag of the Soviet Union, Geography of Belarus, History of Belarus, Maksim Tank, Nasha Niva

Essay

The . Understanding the Political Symbols of by Andrej Kotljarchuk

elarus remains one of the least known Lukashenka led to mass across the country for countries in western and northern the right to vote in free and fair elections. International . There are several reasons for readers are fascinated by the peaceful nature of the pro- this, the primary one being the fact that tests and by the thousands of white--white fags worn in modern times, Belarus did not exist by protestors. as a political entity. During this time Belarus had no sovereignty, being initially a province of -Lithua- aving a national fag is an old tradition. From the nia and the .1 The contributed Hbeginning, national fags were an efective medium to the disappearance of Belarus from Western politi- for political messages that could be passed on to people cal and academic discourse. Very few scientifc books without having to rely on a certain level of literacy. Dur- and articles about Belarus were published in the West ing the era of nationalism in Europe, several new political before 1991.2 Despite the Belarusian SSR’s membership nations constructed their own fags that were intended of the UN, Belarus was absorbed by the . to mobilize a movement and unite a nation around a Unlike neighboring or , Belarus was not powerful political symbol. As Gabriella Elgenius point- independent during the and had no large ed out, in the modern world national fags continue to diaspora in Europe after 1945. Therefore, be used as political symbols, as tools of propaganda and were often considered by people outside control, and as devices for the inclusion and exclusion of as so-called ‘white ’, a nation without a tradition diferent social groups within the entire nation.3 Why do of statehood, native language and culture, or political protestors and ofcials in Belarus use diferent national symbols. Belarus made headlines in the global media for fags? What do the white-red-white and red-green fags the frst time in its history in August 2020. The rigged symbolize for the people in Belarus? Why are the police elections after 25 years of authoritarian rule by President hunting the white-red-white fag? Why does the massive

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Protest in , August 2020. PHOTO: RADIO FREE EUROPE

state-run propaganda against peaceful protests focus on 1891 in Hlybokae, Vitsebsk region, into a Roman Catholic the white-red-white fag and the history of World War II? family of Belarusian farmers. Duzh-Dusheuski came to In this paper, I outline how a study of political symbols of St. Petersburg (aka Petrograd) for his university studies Belarus can contribute to a more detailed understanding because there were no universities in Belarusian lands of the ongoing situation in the country. after the tsarist government closed the Jesuit Academy in Polatsk and the University of Vilna. The white-red-white Historical Background fag was based on the traditional colors of Belarusian folk The Belarusian national movement was one of the latest dress and military banners of the Grand Duchy of Lith- in Europe that emerged after the 1905 revolution in uania and Ruthenia. Historically, the white-red-white the Russian empire. The frst political party, the Bela- stripes appeared on the dress of Belarusian Orthodox rusian Socialist Party Hramada, was founded in Minsk bishops. The fag quickly became popular among the peo- in 1905. The frst Belarusian-language newspaper was ple and the frst all-Belarusian Congress, held in Minsk established in Vilna (nowadays ) in 1906. The in December 1917, accepted it as the national fag. This frst publishing houses were established in Vilna and St. congress, that gathered 1872 delegates from diferent Petersburg in 1906. The frst , written , was violently dispersed by Bolshevik by a Belarusian writer in Belarusian, was printed in Vilna military. Klaudzii Duzh-Dusheuski was one of the found- in 1910.4 The frst grammar of the Belarusian literary ers of the short-lived Belarusian Democratic language was published in 1918. The frst network of Be- (hereafter the BNR). The government of the republic that larusian-language schools was created only during World proclaimed its independence in Minsk on 25 March 1918 Wat I in the German occupation zone.5 As everywhere adopted a white-red-white fag as a national fag. in Europe, students took an active part in the national awakening known in Belarusian as ‘the of a n 1921, after the treaty of that divided Belarus nation’ (adradziennie). In the summer of 1917, Klaudzii Ibetween Soviet and Poland, Duzh-Dusheuski Duzh-Dusheuski, a student at the Petrograd Mining In- went into exile in Lithuania where he worked as archi- stitute, designed a white-red-white fag. He was born in tect. During the Nazi occupation of Lithuania, he was

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The national flag of Belarusian Demo- cratic Republic and independent Belarus in 1991-1995. PHOTO: WIKIPEDIA COMMONS

The flag of Belarusian Democratic Republic on the The white-red-white flag on balcony of the republican government (former office the cover of the pro-Nazi Be- of the Russian governor). Minsk, February 1918. The larusian police journal Belarus The of Belarusian SSR (1951). unknown photographer. Originally published in the na Varcie in June, 1944. The

PHOTO: WIKIPEDIA COMMONS magazine Varta October 1918, 33. PHOTO: WIKIPEDIA COMMONS author’s private collection.

arrested by the for helping local Jews and sent However, in the early 1930s the Communist Party of to prison. After the war he was arrested again, this time Western Belarus in Poland received the directives of the by Soviet secret police MGB, as “a Belarusian nationalist” Communist International (Comintern) general ofce in and sent to prison. He died in in 1959.6 to combat a white-red-white fag as being “bour- In 1918, Professor Mitrofan Dounar-Zapolski wrote a geois-nationalistic”.9 work on behalf of the government of the BNR, entitled The basis of Belarusian state individuality, which was pub- s happened elsewhere in Nazi-occupied Europe, lished in English, German and French.7 Dounar-Zapolski A the national fag was used by civil collaborationist pointed out that a Belarusian state emblem () and authorities in Belarus in 1941–1944. At that time, Soviet a white-red-white fag have deep historical roots in the partisans used the red fag and the Polish underground history of the Grand and Ruthenia. resistance used the Polish national fag. During frst In interwar Poland, the white-red-white fag was years of occupation the Nazis moved several police and adopted by diferent political and non-governmental anti-partisan regiments recruited in the Baltic countries, organizations of the Belarusian minority, apart from the and Russia to Belarus. There is no evidence of Communist party. These include the Belarusian Student the white-red-white fag being used by Belarusian auxil- Union at Wilno University, the Association of Belaru- iary police. The national fag was used by the Belarusian sian-language schools, the social-democratic Hramada Home Guard (Weißruthenische Heimwehr). However, and the Christian-Democratic party. this pro-Nazi police and military formation was estab- At that time, the fag was considered by all Belaru- lished only in April-June 1944, few weeks before the with- sians in Poland, Latvia and Lithuania to be “a national drawal from Belarus and after the fnal stage of Holocaust. fag”. For example, in 1930, (aka Maksim On this occasion, Vasyl Bykau, the prominent Bela- Skurko), a renowned poet and member of the Communist rusian writer and of World War II, Youth League of Western Belarus, published a poem: “Do ironically noted: “It is known that Belarusian collabora- you hear my brother”. The poem described the white- tors used the white-red-white fag; it is also well known red-white fag as a powerful political symbol in the mobi- that they wore pants – so what? We do not have any other lization of the Belarusian minority in Poland. national fag”.10 It should be noted that most pro-Nazi military and police forces recruited in the occupied Boldly face the future! republics of the Soviet Union and the Baltic states used The long-awaited time has arrived their national fags. For example, the national fag of Rus- Under a white-red-white fag sia (aka tricolor) was used by SS Sturmbrigade R.O.N.A, The glorious victory awaits us.8 which acted in 1943–44 in Belarus, and by a paramilitary

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pro-Nazi Union of Russian Youth (Soiuz russkoi molo- dezhi); the leaders of each moved to Minsk in 1943. For

example, in June 1944, the Nazi press reported about the The state flag of assembly of the Union of Russian Youth in Minsk that Belarus since 1995. gathered in the House of the Russian National-Socialist PHOTO: WIKIPEDIA COMMONS Working Party. The delegates raised “a Russian national fag” and sent addresses to the soldiers of the Vlasov State of the Union Republics from January 20, 1947 army, SS-brigade RONA; and the members of the Hitler- allowed the use of other colors and additional symbols to jugend and the Union of Belarusian Youth.11 In post-war refect the national character of the republics. The fag western countries, the white-red-white fag was promot- of the Belarusian SSR, adopted in 1951, was designed as a ed by activists within the Belarusian diaspora as the fag compromise between communist and national symbols. of Belarusian Democratic Republic created in 1918. In the The red-white-red stripes were placed on the green- diaspora, the white-red-white fag was used by diferent red background and a white and red folk ornament was political and non-governmental associations, from left placed on the vertical stripe at the hoist near the com- to right, as well as the Belarusian veteran organizations munist symbols. The fag was designed by a group of that included both former pro-Nazi BKA soldiers and scholars and artists led by Mikhail Karcer, a historian at of Belarusian origin who fought the Nazis in the the National Academy of Sciences, and Mikalai Huseu, Polish formations of the British army. This situation is a professional artist. According to the 1956 statute, the typical for many East European diasporas. fag represented both Soviet and national traditions. The white and red ornament was named “Belarusian national he present-day state fag of Belarus is a modifcation ornament” in this document.13 The ornament was added Tof the Soviet Belarusian fag designed under the rule to a golden and a red fve-pointed star of Stalin. The concept of the history of the Belarusian on the red-green background. SSR as conceived by the Communist Party was adopted in 1948, and in 1953 a collective monograph, History of the Two Flags, One Nation Belarusian Soviet Socialist Republic, was sent to print by The symbolic value of the white-red-white fag was kept the Institute of History at National Academy of Scienc- through the post-war period by both the Belarusian intel- es. According to this concept, Belarus’ political history ligentsia and the Belarusian diaspora in the West. After began in 1919, when the Soviet government was estab- 1984, this fag was promoted by members of the frst un- lished in Minsk. In 1922 the Belarusian SSR became one derground youth organization, Maistrounia, established of four founders of the Soviet Union. Under the Soviet in Minsk. In 1988, the white-red-white fag appeared in fag Belarus doubled its territory after 1939 as a result of public for the frst time after WWII at the frst opposition the Reunifcation of Western Belarus (the ofcial term rally in . This site is the largest single mass grave for what happened to Eastern Poland after the Molo- in Minsk, where from 1937 to 1941 the NKVD murdered tov-Ribbentrop pact). Under the red fag the Belaru- between 10,000 and 30,000 residents of Belarus, as well sians, together with Russians and other Soviet nations, as citizens of the Baltic states and Poland.14 The peaceful defeated Nazi and successfully reconstructed demonstration was brutally dispersed by Soviet militia the country after 1944. According to this concept, the in- that confscated opposition fags. However, the discovery ternational recognition of Belarus as a sovereign republic of the previously secret site of mass killings and selective resulted in UN membership.12 In fact, the membership exhumation of bodies in 1988 led to a rapid de-Sovietiza- of the Belarusian SSR (together with Ukraine) in the UN tion of Belarusian society. The exhumation team was led was a result of Stalin’s diplomacy, not an initiative of the by archeologist Zianon Paźniak, the leader of the Chris- regional government in Minsk. tian-conservative party and anti-communist movement, However, a new UN member state needed a fag. Until the Belarusian . Mr. Paźniak was the leader the end of the 1940s, the fag of Belarusian SSR was of opposition to Lukashenka until 1996 when he had to almost identical to the red fag of the Soviet Union. The leave the country for exile in the USA. The collapse of the only distinguishing feature was the abbreviated name of Soviet Union and growing public awareness of Stalin’s the republic in gold paint in the upper left corner. The terror in Belarus led to the discreditation of Soviet polit- decree of the Presidium of the On the ical symbols, including the red-green fag. In 1991, after

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Inauguration of President Lukashenka was held under the na- tional white-red-white flag. 20 July 1994, Minsk.

PHOTO: WIKIMEDIA COMMONS the decision of Parliament and the expert report by the Institute of History at National Academy of Sciences, the white-red-white fag was proclaimed to be the national fag of Belarus. As Gabriella Elgenius pointed out, this is normal practice for many East European countries where changing the ideological regime led to the modifcation of an old fag or adoption of a new one.15

liaksandr Lukashenka became Ain 1994. This was the frst presidential and demo- cratic election held in Belarus after the collapse of the So- viet Union. The result was a great victory for Lukashen- White-red-white flag made of thousands of stripes on the ka, who received 80.6 per cent of votes in the second facade of an apartment building in Minsk. August 2020. round. The inauguration of Lukashenka was held under PHOTO: MIKOLA VOLKAU. the national white-red-white fag and the president took the oath under this fag. white-red-white fag over the 40-meter factory chimney However, a year after taking ofce, Lukashenka won in Liozno near Vitsebsk – hometown of Marc Chagall. a controversial referendum that gave him the power to A note was attached to the fag: “Return memory to the dissolve parliament. In 1996, he won another referendum people! Miron.” That was the beginning. Between 1995 that dramatically increased his authoritarian power and and 2010 Miron placed dozens of white-red-white fags allowed him to rule the country in an authoritarian way across the country. The political performance was sup- for the next 25 years. In 1995 the white-red-white fag ported by young followers. For over 15 years the police was replaced by a red-green fag with certain modif- and KGB hunted Miron. He was arrested in 2010 after the cations. From this moment the white-red-white fag installation of a white-red-white fag on top of the main became a symbol of democratic opposition and was Christmas tree in Vitsebsk. He was Siarhei Kavalenka, visible at all actions. The authorities started to an ordinary construction worker. The court gave him a term the white-red-white fag an “illegal symbol” and three-year suspended sentence for ‘illegal activity’. In ordered police to arrest people who wore the fag or put it 2014 Mr. Kavalenka was arrested again and sentenced to on their private balcony. The main headline in non-gov- prison.11 However, the appearance of white-red-white ernmental media in 1995 was news about Miron. This fags in public space continued and many resources with- was the nickname of an unknown person who placed in the police and KGB were directed to hunting this fag. white-red-white fags on top of towers and high buildings The current design of the Belarusian red-green state across the country. In July 1995, Miron place the large fag was introduced in 1995. The communist symbols

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Collage made by Viktor Korbut, published with author’s permission. On the right is a portrait of Hitler in Minsk painted by Mikalai Huseu in 1943. The slogan above written in Belarusian and means “Long live 1st of May, Holiday of Labour and Spring!”. On the left is a poster with a state flag of Belarusian SSR designed by Mikalai Huseu in 1951. The slogan below is written in Bela- rusian and means “Long live Soviet Belarus!”.

were removed, as were the white-red-white stripes along red-white fag led to the next phenomena. Since the the national ornament. early 21st century the national fag began to be associated with the anti-Lukashenka democratic opposition only. he ofcial propaganda promoted this fag as a Referring to the white-red-white fag, ofcial propaganda T symbol of a great Soviet history and an even greater described the leaders of the opposition as heirs of the life under Lukashenka. In fact, the red-green fag also pro-Nazi collaborators. The fact that Belarus proclaimed has a dark history. Under this fag, the Stalinist regime its independence under this fag in 1918 and in 1991 was implemented forced collectivization in Western Belarus suppressed. The propaganda’s use of the memory of (part of Poland before 1939). Thousands of people in the World War II was not accidental. The Nazi occupation countryside were forced to leave their farms and resettle was the biggest disaster ever experienced by the civilian in newly established kolkhozes; some of them were sent population of Belarus. According to Per Anders Rudling, to the . Under this fag, the security police destroyed World War II in particular became a foundation for the the patriotic youth organizations in Western Belarus and creation of a modern Belarusian identity. As a matter of the last detachments of anti-Soviet partisans. Therefore, fact, no historical event has had a greater infuence on for many Belarusians this fag was associated from the be- today’s Belarus.18 Lukashenka’s nation-building project is ginning with mass violence and political repressions. It is based in great measure on the memory of World War II. little known that a designer of the 1951 fag, Mikalai Huseu, Exploiting the mythology of war and occupation certain- collaborated with the Nazis and was sent to prison in 1944. ly has a practical political signifcance for the regime, not During the Nazi occupation, Huseu was one of the most only by claiming a special place for Lukashenka as the sought-after artists in Belarus. In particular, it was he who last defender of Europe against , but also support- painted the large portraits of Hitler that hung in Minsk ing the myth that the democratic opposition is ‘heir’ to streets.17 After prison, he returned to socialist realist art. the Nazis and ‘servant’ of the West. Speaking in 2010 at a ceremonial meeting dedicated to the victory in World evertheless, for the young generation which grew War II, Lukashenka noted: Nup under the long-term rule of Lukashenka, a red-green fag became the national symbol. Under this The Great Victory is sacrosanct for every Bela- fag, national teams won international competitions. rusian. And even if a bunch of such rogues exist Under this fag, ofcial holidays and ceremonies were [the democratic opposition], who like the idea held in Belarus. Since the mid-1990s the state fag, coat of ‘an independent Belarus in the new Europe of arms and a portrait of Lukashenka were hung in each of Adolf Hitler’, we know them. We know in classroom, military barracks and administrative ofce in whose service their idols were during the Great Belarus. As a result, the red-green fag was normalized. Patriotic War, and we fully understand whose The administrative persecution of people with a white- lackeys they are now.19

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Unlike many East European countries, the Lukashen- he ofcial mass media that monopolizes all TV chan- ka regime politically marginalizes such ethnic referents Tnels and dominates periodicals in Belarus began a of Belarusians like native language and national history, massive propaganda campaign against the white-red- basing its nation building on the idealized past of Soviet white fag, blaming it on the Nazi connection. According unity.20 The country has had two ofcial languages since to the propagandists: “Under this fag the Nazis and their 1995: Belarusian and Russian. However, ofcials and the collaborators burned the population of Khatyn and other state-run media use mostly Russian and the opposition, Belarusian villages”.23 In fact, the population of Khatyn, independent newspapers, and digital resources use a Catholic Belarusian village near Minsk, was almost Belarusian. Therefore, describing the white-red-white entirely exterminated in 1943 by the German Dirlewanger fag as ‘anti-Soviet and nationalistic’ uses negative terms SS special battalion and Schutzmannschaft Battalion only and the narrative of the red-green fag avoids any 118, comprising Ukrainian nationals and Soviet POWs of references to the dark pages of its history.21 Therefore, diferent ethnic origin.24 These detachments never used the government promotes the red-green fag and use it as a Belarusian national fag. The national memorial was a tool for conservation of Homo Sovieticus. The orna- opened in Khatyn in 1969 and the former policemen of ment of the state fag was designed in 1917 by Matrona Schutzmannschaft Battalion 118 were tried in a Soviet Markevich (née Katser) a sister of Mikhail Karcer. Her court in Minsk and executed in 1975 and 1986. Khatyn is a husband Aliaksei was arrested by the NKVD during the symbol of mass killings of the Slavic civilian population by Great Terror, murdered without trial and buried in an the Nazis and a site of memory known to every Belarusian. unmarked mass grave. The family found out about this On August 20, 2020, the country’s main state TV only in 1986. Today the relatives of channel showed a reportage with Ms. Markevich visit both a monu- Viacheslau Danilovich, the director ment devoted to the red-green fag, Official propa- of the Institute of History at National which was erected in her hometown ganda focuses Academy of Sciences. Dr. Danilovich Sianno, and a mass grave of the vic- on the World War II stated that the use of the white-red- tims of Soviet terror at Kabylitskaia period only, trying white fag is absolutely unacceptable, Hara.22 since it is the fag of collaborators who to connect the flag sought to create a fascist state under The Flag Revolution with some individu- Hitler’s protectorate.25 On August 21, The political symbolism of the white- als who collaborated dozens of professional historians, red-white fag illustrates the rule with the Nazis. including those from the Institute of of law that existed in independent History, published an open letter to Belarus in 1991–94 before Aliaksandr Mr. Danilovich under the remarkable Lukashenka took ofce. title Danilovich is lying and this is an act of immorality. In The white-red-white fag also symbolizes the peaceful the letter the historians once again tell readers about the heritage of the BNR that was destroyed by the military origin of the national fag in the early 20th century and forces of Soviet Russia and Poland that divided Belarus pointed out that the national fag of Belarus was used by in 1921. The mass opposition celebration of the BNR diferent political forces, as national fags were every- centenary in Minsk in March 2018 was a strong showcas- where.26 Despite these facts, ofcial propaganda focuses ing of the fundamental principles of violated on the World War II period only, trying to connect the fag by Lukashenka’s regime. For decades, ofcial media with some individuals who collaborated with the Nazis. constructed an iconic image of the red-green fag as a The authorities use this technique to blacken the nation- symbol of stability and prosperity. August 2020 changed al fag. At the same time, propaganda is silent on similar this picture dramatically and this fag became a symbol stories behind the red-green state fag. of state-run mass violence. At the same time, the regime On August 23, the Belarus Minister of Defense, Viktor played with existing contradictions around the fags in Khrenin, made a statement on the history of the white- order to divide society and spark of the conficts. On the red-white fag. According to General Khrenin: day after the brutal police repressions against protesters, a red-green fag was placed on all police vans and prison Today we cannot calmly watch the actions un- trucks in Minsk. der these [white-red-white] fags, under which

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the Nazis organized mass killings of Belaru- elarusian women, the most active group of protes- sians, Russians and Jews, representatives of Btors, developed the creative way of thinking further. other nationalities. The mass actions are held Many of them began to dress in red and white dresses, near our sacred places, the memorials of Great and to use red and white jewelry and umbrellas. Patriotic War. We cannot allow this to happen. I The reaction of police was aggressive, and many wom- categorically warn you that in case of violation en was arrested just because of their clothes.30 The perse- of order in these places, you will not deal with cution of people for wearing the white-red-white fag in the police, but with the Army.27 Minsk reminds the older generation of the tragic events in interwar Poland. The Polish authorities in Western In fact, there is no evidence of the white-red-white Belarus confscated white-red-white fags as “corpus fag being used by pro-Nazi military and police col- delicti of anti-state activity”. Just like today, hundreds laborators during the Holocaust and the mass crimes of Belarusian fag bearers were arrested at that time and against the civilian population in Belarus. Therefore, sentenced to short prison terms or fnes.31 the speech of the Minister of Defense is a clear exam- In December 2020, the Department of Heraldry, ple of what is called a “half-truth”, in which incor- Genealogy and Numismatics at the Institute of History, rect references to the white-red-white fag work as a National Academy of Sciences, led by Professor Aliaksei propaganda tool to Shalanda, was closed. Professor Shalanda and many of legitimize illegal ac- his colleagues were fred by Vadzim Lakiza, the new di- tions of the Belarusian rector of the Institute. After that, some historians wrote army against peaceful a letter of resignation in solidarity with their dismissed protesters. It is prac- colleagues. Many historians from the Institute of History tically impossible to took an active civic position during the peaceful protests. buy white-red-white They participated in the peaceful rallies, and fve of them fags in Belarus, and were arrested. On the request of a Belarusian court, Pro- the Covid-19 pandemic fessor Shalanda gave a number of ofcial expert opinions stopped international regarding the white-red-white fag. He pointed out that shipping. In response it is a historical political symbol of Belarus and not “an to state-run propagan- illegal symbol” as the police claimed. On November 24, da against the national Aliaksandr Lukashenka announced a new law against the fag, people began en glorifcation of Nazism. He stated in particular that: masse to sew white- red-white fags at Project of flags for Danish-Belaru- In the near future, our parliament will consider home. After that, the sian Culture Society Beladania. De- a bill on the inadmissibility of the glorifcation authorities forbade the signed by Dim Newman, published of Nazism in Belarus. Many countries sin today sale of white and red with author’s permission. with the so-called ‘heroization of Nazism’. Espe- fabric in Minsk.28 cially our neighbors.32 People had to be more creative. Hundreds of fags were placed on high buildings in many cities of Belarus. What is most interesting is that a law against the glori- When police and emergency services forcibly removed fcation of Nazism has already been adopted by the par- these fags, people started to design them from hun- liament of Belarus and has been in force since February dreds of stripes that complicated “the work” for 1, 2020.33 In my opinion, Lukashenka’s new initiative is police. aimed solely at discrediting the national white-red-white In the frst weeks of the protests, a spontaneous ini- fag as it was used by the collaborationist administration tiative arose to create local fags based on the national under the Nazis. Indeed, on December 6, 2020, SB-Be- white-red-white fag. Today the Virtual Museum of the larus Segodnia, a propaganda fagship of Lukashenka’s White-Red-White Flag has collected more than 650 fags government organized a round table titled “The brown of Minsk quarters, various cities and villages of Belarus shadows of white-red-white fags”. In the discussion as well as the associations of the Belarusian diaspora participated: Sergei Klishevich, a member of the Parlia- around the world.29 ment and Historian by education, Boris Lepeshko, a Pro-

52 Essay fessor in History at Brest State University, and, Vladimir as at the time of the . As David Gaunt Egorychev an Associate Professor in History, Hrodna and Tora Lane point out in the introduction, today “we state University. The discussion had a propagandistic are thus dealing with an old phenomenon – the re-inter- approach and the scientifc quality I regard as low. The pretation of historical events for political reasons – in a participants concluded that: new form – that of the political manipulation of memory and remembrance”. The academic community of histo- The prohibition of Nazi and semi-Nazi symbols rians is strongly divided in today’s Belarus. The part of is actively discussed in the Belarusian society. historians that collaborates with the dictatorship act not Previously, the white-red-white fag was, in fact, as scholars but as propagandists. The part that had stood in a grey zone. The fag was not registered, but up to the impunity of Lukashenka’s rule have sufered in at the same time it was not included in the list the political repression and lost their employments. Over of extremist symbols. This may not be sustain- and over again, historians are used to form and reform able in the long term. The problem is clear and the perception of the main political symbols of Belarus. ● requires our solution.34

On December 10 2020, Viktor Morozov, the prosecutor of References the Homel region declared that: 1 Andrej Kotljarchuk, “Understanding the ”, Baltic Worlds, 2019, vol. 12, no. 1, 73-74, online: http://sh.diva-portal. org/smash/get/diva2:1366725/FULLTEXT02.pdf The white-red-white fag is a Nazi symbol, 2 See as example: Nicholas Vakar, Belorussia: the making of a nation: which must be equated with the swastika and a case study, (Harvard Univ. Press, Cambridge, Mass., 1956); Ivan S Lubachko, Belorussia under Soviet rule 1917-1957, (Univ. Press of other Nazi symbols and attributes, which are Kentucky, Lexington, 1972); The frst academic work about Belarus banned in Belarus today. The penalty must written by a Swedish scholar was published in 1997, see: Barbara also be relevant, at a minimum administrative Trnquist-Plewa, Språk och identitet i Vitryssland: en studie i den 35 vitryska nationalismens historia, [Language and Identity in Belarus: sanction. A study of the history of Belarussian Nationalism], (Lund: Slaviska institutionen, 1997). At the same day, the Minsk Police stated that the dis- 3 Gabriella Elgenius, Symbols of nations and nationalism: celebrating playing white-red-white fags in private windows and on nationhood, (Basingstoke: Palgrave Macmillan, 2011), 59–60. 4 Vaclav Lastouski, Кароткая гісторыя Беларусі [A Brief History of balconies will be equated with illegal picketing, which Belarus] (Vilna, 1910). 36 will give 15 days of arrest. However, to pass a new law, 5 Dorota Michaluk, & Per Anders Rudling, “From the Grand Duchy the expert opinion of the Institute of History will be of Lithuania to the Belarusian Democratic Republic: the Idea of needed. This explains the liquidation of the Department Belarusian Statehood during the German Occupation of Belarusian Lands, 1915-1919”, The Journal of Belarusian Studies, no. 7 (2014): of Heraldry, Genealogy and Numismatics led by Profes- 3–36. sor Shalanda. 6 About Duzh-Dusheuski and his saving of Jews during the Holocaust in Lithuania see: Gurnevich, Dmitry, “We will always Conclusion be grateful to him. How the creator of the white-red-white fag saved a Jewish girl from the Holocaust”, Radio Free Europe, The hunting of the white-red-white fag illustrates an December 2, 2020. Available online: https://www.svaboda. ongoing collapse of the dialog between the state and org/a/30980213.html?fbclid=IwAR2J65TZGPxeT64ai_ fMsAfi4bj61YnQBRk5c2OKVuN_JbXHj1jq2HxR6g civil society. Unlike the revolutionary events in Georgia 7 Mitrafan Dounar-Zapolski, The basis of White Russia’s state and Ukraine, the demonstrators in Minsk hardly use the individuality, Hrodna, 1919. fag of the and do not arrange actions 8 193. Maxim Tank, “Collection of Works (1930-1939)” in Poems against the political symbols of Russia. Moreover, the vol. 13 no. 1 (1930-1939) (Minsk: Belarusian Science, 2006), 193. Translated from Belarusian into English by the author of this Russian fag is present at opposition marches. Some of article. protestors use both the white-red-white and red-green 9 Andrei Vashkevich, “Нашы сцягі над Заходняй”, [“Our fags over fags without any negative reaction from the opposition the West”] “Nashu stiahy nad Zakhodniai” Arche, 2007:4, 78–90. to Lukashenka. 10 Cited in: Sergei Shapran, “‘We have no other fag.’ What Vasil Bykau, Ryhor Baradulin and Henadz Buraukin said about the white-red- The regime’s attempt to divide society according to the white fag”, Novy Chas, August 28, 2020. colors of the fag is doomed. The symbolism and esthetic 11 “Патриотический слёт русской молодежи”, Руль, [Patriotic power of the white-red-white fag represent the beliefs of Gathering of Russian Youth], “Patrioticheskii slet russkoi molodezhi,” Rul’, June 21, 1944. the Belarusian nation in Liberté, Egalité, Fraternité, just

53 Essay

12 Указ от 8 мая 1956 года ”Об утверждении Положения о 25 “Дырэктар Інстытута гісторыі: Пад бел-чырвона-белым Государственном флаге Белорусской ССР”, Сборник законов сцягам апрыёры рухаюцца да знешняга пратэктарату”, Белорусской ССР и указов Президиума Верховного Совета Наша Ніва, [Director of the Institute of History: Under the white- Белорусской ССР. 1938-1973 гг. Минск, Беларусь, [History of redwhite fag they move a priori to the external protectorate] the Byelorussian SSR], ed. VN Pertsev, KI Shabunya, (Minsk: LS “Dyrektar Instytuta historyi: Pad bel-chyrvona-belym stsiaham Abetsedarsky, 1954). apryery rukhaiutstsa da zneshniaha prateketaratu,” , 13 Указ от 8 мая 1956 года “Об утверждении Положения о August 21, 2020. Available at: https://nashaniva.by/?c=ar&i=257527 Государственном флаге Белорусской ССР”, Сборник законов 26 “Даніловіч хлусіць, гэта антымаральны ўчынак: адказ Белорусской ССР и указов Президиума Верховного Совета гісторыкаў дырэктару Інстытута гісторыі”, Наша Ніва, Белорусской ССР. 1938-1973 гг. Минск, Беларусь, [Decree of May [Danilovich is lying, this is an immoral act: the answer historians 8, 1956: “On approval of the Regulations on the State Flag of the to the director of the Institute of History] “Danylovuich khlusits’, Byelorussian SSR”, Collection of Laws of the Byelorussian SSR and heta antymaral’ny uchynak: adkaz historykau dyrektaru Instyuta decrees of the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet of the Byelorussian historyi,” Nasha Niva August 21, 2020. Available at: https:// SSR. 1938-1973], “Ukaz or 8 maia 1956 goda ’Ob utverzhdenii nashaniva.by/?c=ar&i=257595 Polozheniia o Gosudarstvennom fage Belorusskoi SSR,” Sbornik 27 Hrenin, “In case of disorder in the holy places, the protesters will zakonov Belorusskoi SSR i ukazov Prezidiuma Verkhovnogo Soveta deal with the army”, Zvezda, August 23, 2020. Available at: http:// Bealrusskoi SSR, 1938-1973 gg. (Minsk: Belarus’, 1974), 30-31. zviazda.by/be/news/20200823/1598183433-hrenin-u-vypadku- 14 Andrej Kotljarchuk, “World War II Memory Politics: Jewish, parushennya-paradku-u-svyatyh-mescah-pratestoucy-buduc-mec Polish and Roma Minorities of Belarus”, The Journal of Belarusian 28 “State-owned stores do not sell white and red fabric to people”, Studies, 2013:1, 7–40, online: http://www.diva-portal.org/smash/ Novy Chas, September 6, 2020. get/diva2:749121/FULLTEXT02.pdf; Alexander Dyukov, “On the 29 650 samples were collected in the online museum of fags of urban issue of the number of people shot by the NKVD in Kuropaty”, districts, regions and diasporas, Radio Free Europe. December 5, International Life, no. 7 (2017). Available online: https://interafairs. 2020, available: https://www.svaboda.org/a/30985415.html ru/jauthor/material/1890 30 “Chronicle of persecution and trials”, Viasna, August 28, 2020, 15 Elgenius, Symbols of nations and nationalism, 61. online: http://spring96.org/be/news/99272 16 Pechanko, Semyon, “Myron. Legend”, Nasha Niva, January 13, 2010. 31 Andrei Vashkevich, “Нашы сцягі над Заходняй” [Our Flags Over 17 Eugene Tikhanovich, Portrait of the Century (Minsk: Limarius the West], Arche, no. 4 (2007): 78–90. 2015), 119. Many thanks to Viktor Korbut for this reference. 32 See: t.me/tutby_ofcial/19882 18 Per Anders Rudling, “Lukashenka and the ‘Red-Browns’: National 33 Ob izmenenii zakona Resoubliki Belarus’ “O protivodeistvii ideology, Commemoration of the Past, and Political Belonging”, ekstremizmu” [On Amendments to the Law of the Republic of Forum fr Osteuropäische Ideen- und Zeitgeschichte, 2010:15, 95– Belarus “On Countering Extremism”]. Available at: https://online. 125. zakon.kz/Document/?doc_id=36885283#pos=1;-70 19 Aliaksandr Lukashenka, Stenograma vystupleniia na 34 “Kruglyi stol v SB: Kornichnevyi smysl krasno-belykh znamen,” torzhestvennom sobranii, posviashchennom 65-oi godovshchine SB-Belarus’ Segodnia., [Round Table in Sat. The Brown Meaning of Velikoi Pobedy, May 7, 2010, online: http://news.tut.by/press88741. Red and White Banners, SB-Belarus Today]. Accessed December 6, html. Accessed January 28, 2020. 2020. Available at: https://www.sb.by/articles/korichnevyy-smysl- 20 Nikolay Zakharov & Aliaksei Lastouski, “Belarus - Another 'Iceberg krasno-belykh-znamen.html?fbclid=IwAR0NF7xQZKZUMO Society'?: Class, Memory, Nation-Building and State-formation in xA7b84s90mfC5eeqEuNSlbIseLCiU0yEObni7gEi4ut3k European Modernity”, Class, Sex and : Gran Therborn 35 “BChB-simvolika sebia skomrometirovala: Kakie voprosi - a critical appraisal, edited by Gunnar Olofsson and Sven Hort, dolzhny prozvuchat’ na Vsebelorusskom narodnom sobranii?,” (Lund: Arkiv frlag & tidskrift, 2016), 168 (155–183). Homel’skaia pravda, The BBC symbolism has compromised itself. 21 On the National Day, July 3, 2015 the leading ofcial newspaper What Questions Should Be Raised at the All-Belarusian People’s SB-Belarus Segodnia published a pathetic article about Matrena Assembly?, Gomelskaya Pravda]. Accessed December 10, 2020. Markevich and the erection of the monument in Sianno. The tragic Available at: http://gp.by fate of her husband was not mentioned. See: Sergei Golesnik, "A 36 “Za vyveshanne bel-chervona-belai simvoliki praduhledzhana monument to Matrena Markevich, the author of the Belarusian fag administsyinaia adkaznast’,” Nasha Niva [Administrative Liability ornament, was unveiled in Senno", SB-Belarus Today, July 3, 2015, Is Provided for Posting White-Red-White Symbols, Nasha Niva], online: https://www.sb.by/articles/v-senno-otkryli-pamyatnik- December 10, 2020. Available at: https://nn.by/?c=ar&i=265059 matrene-markevich.html 22 Jan Verbitsky, “Matrona Markevich is the author of the ornament on the state fag of Belarus and the wife of the‘ enemy of the people’”, Belsat, August 12, 2019, online: https://belsat.eu/in-focus/ matrona-markevich-autarka-arnamentu-na-dzyarzhaunym- stsyagu-belarusi-i-zhonka-voraga-narodu 23 Alexander Vinokurov, “Belarusians have a great historical account of the inhumans who destroyed us with special zeal under the white-red-white fag, chase and swastika during the Great Patriotic War”, Belarus Today September, 10 2020. Online: https://www. sb.by/articles/u-belorusov-est-bolshoy-istoricheskiy-schet-k- nelyudyam-kotorye-pod-bchb-fagom-pogoney-i-svastikoy-.html 24 Per Anders Rudling, “Terror and Local Collaboration in Occupied Belarus: The case of Schutzmannschaft Battalion 118. Part Two. War Criminality”, Historical Yearbook, 2012, 99–121.

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