"Under the Red Star and the Swastika". A book about occupied Western Belarus to be presented in Warsaw
On May 7, a presentation of the Belarusian translation of the book "Under the Red Star and the Swastika: Baranavichy Region in 1939-1944. Western Belarus under German and Soviet Occupation" will take place in Warsaw with the participation of its author, Alexander Brakel.
Alexander Brakel is a German historian and political scientist specializing in the history of Central and Eastern Europe, particularly Belarus under German occupation (1941-1944). He lives and works in Washington (USA). From 2010-2015, he headed the Belarusian, and later the Israeli, representation of the Konrad Adenauer Foundation. He is a visiting scholar at Wesleyan University.
His book examines the daily lives of residents using the example of an administrative unit which, in interwar Poland, was called the Novogrudok Voivodeship; in the BSSR (1939-1941 and 1944-1954) — the Baranavichy Region; and during the German occupation (1941-1944) — the Baranavichy District of the General Commissariat of Belarus.
The publication is based on an analysis of documentary sources from 84 collections in Belarusian, German, and Polish archives. The introduction of such a large body of documents into scholarly circulation significantly enriches Belarusian historical source studies.
The book publishes dozens of documents and photographs, some of them for the first time.
From the book, you can learn:
- that although the Soviet and Nazi regimes professed different ideologies, both were equally inhumane. Both practiced terror against the civilian population and sought to exterminate entire groups of it. The Soviets carried out a total deportation of Polish military settlers and their families from the region, while the Nazis rounded up Jews into ghettos to soon begin their physical liquidation.
- that the German occupation brought significantly more human casualties, as it occurred in the conditions of a ruthless war of extermination, and the peak of bloodshed coincided with the time when the Germans sensed the prospect of defeat in this war.
This edition belongs to a series of the best works by Belarusian and foreign historians dedicated to Belarus under German occupation — Yury Turonak, Bernhard Chiari, Leonid Rein, and others.
Presentation time: May 7 (Thursday), 18:00 — 19:30.
Address: Muzeum Wolnej Białorusi (ul. Foksal 11/1), Warsaw.
The presentation is held with the support of the European Union program 'EU4Belarus: Support to Advanced Learning and Training (SALT II).
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Comments
Кнігі важныя. Расказаць яшчэ раз з аўтарам і перакладчыкам - добра.
Але сама камунікацыя (навіны ў сацсетках) пабудавана блытана, без належнага кантэксту. Выглядае, што сммшчыкі і журналісты і самі не ведаюць, што капіруюць. Гэта і непавага да чытачоў.
Чамусьці літоўцы лічаць што Вільню ў той час палякі акупавалі, украінцы кажуць пра акупацыю Галічыны. А нашы як вады ў рот набралі
ПС: БССР гэта таксама акупацыя