Formation of the Pantheon of Figures of the Era of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania in the Belarusian Memory Politics (1988–2023)

Abstract

The article is devoted to the process of overcoming the depersonalization of Belarusian historiography, which took place until the mid-1980s. Its aim is to answer the question of how, in the context of the formation of the Belarusian-centric paradigm of history, «new» or newly discovered historical figures of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania (GDL) were introduced into science, culture and collective memory. The text is divided into 5 parts. The first one shows the fact that the elimination of the GDL from the memory of Belarusians has formed a complex of historical inferiority. The second part describes the process of «settling» the history of Belarus in 1988–1995 by new heroes, until their fixation in the first encyclopaedic editions of the Republic of Belarus and history textbooks. The third part tells about the blow that in 1995–1996 the supporters of the re-Sovietisation of historical science inflicted on the Belarusian national pantheon and the leaders of its formation, the consequences of which were felt at the beginning of the 21st century. The fourth part is devoted to replenishment of the pantheon of GDL heroes by representatives of the aristocracy. The fifth part reveals the channels for transferring the names and deeds of the heroes of the Belarusian historical pantheon to the collective memory, which have been used since the turn of the 20th and 21st centuries. The article justifies the fact of the popularity of biographical reconstruction in modern scientific and literary works. “Risk zones” and “memory conflicts” were presented in the promotion of the new pantheon – with former allies in the GDL, various Belarusian interpretive strategies and new attempts to revise the pantheon.