Key provisions of Belarus’ National History Concept presented

The Rector of the Academy of Management under the President of the Republic of Belarus, Vyacheslav Danilovich, presented the key provisions of Belarus’ National History Concept at a plenary session on the State Policy in the Field of History: Problems and Prospects of Preserving Historical Truth and Memory 

Mr. Danilovich stressed that Belarusians are a Slavic people who shared the same root with Russians and Ukrainians, “The chronicled Krivichi-Polochans, Dregovichs and Radimichs played the main role in formation of the Belarusian ethnos and the oldest proto-state structures on Belarusian lands. The cultural-historical or civilizational foundations of the Belarusian statehood were laid in the period of Ancient Rus. It should be noted that, for the first time in historical science, anthropologists of the NAS History Institute reconstructed the appearance of a minor representative of the Polotsk princely dynasty, whose remains were discovered by archaeologists in a 12th century burial mound in Drutsk (Tolochin District).”

Mr. Danilovich added that the period of RzechPospolita – which was actually a union state of the Polish Kingdom and the Grand Duchy of Lithuania, Russia and Zhemoit – was a challenge for Belarusians, “As precisely voiced by Belarus’ President Aleksandr Lukashenko during an open lesson on September 1st, 2022, RzechPospolita is a vivid example of how a union state should not be built. The so-called allies actually twisted the arms of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania, forcing it to sign the Union of Lublin in 1569 and create RzechPospolita. As a result, although the Polish elite failed to achieve the full incorporation of the Grand Duchy, favourable conditions for Polonization and Catholicization of its Orthodox population were created.”

The expert urged not to forget that the Russian Empire, unlike the colonial empires of the West, sought not to siphon funds from the subordinate territories, but to develop their socio-economic, spiritual and cultural potential – despite any of its shortcomings.

“Of course, we do not idealise the imperial period, there was also enough negativity in it,” Mr. Danilovich said. “However, even the most critical analysis suggests that the inclusion of Belarusian lands into the Russian Empire was a decisive factor that stopped the Polonization of Belarusians, contributed to the revival of Orthodoxy and the development of national and spiritual traditions. Those steps enabled our people to survive. Moreover, the Russian Empire became a cradle of the nation for Belarusians.”