Фармаванне беларускага пантэона ў перыяд хрушчоўскай адлігі
Formation of the Belarusian pantheon in the period of Khrushchev’s “Thaw”

Author(s): Alexander Huzhalouski
Subject(s): Cultural history, Security and defense, Pre-WW I & WW I (1900 -1919), Interwar Period (1920 - 1939), WW II and following years (1940 - 1949), Post-War period (1950 - 1989), Transformation Period (1990 - 2010)
Published by: Wydawnictwa Uniwersytetu Warszawskiego
Keywords: pantheon; Thaw; national heroes; identity; commemoration; intellectuals; Communist Party and state officials
Summary/Abstract: The article considers the specifics and mechanism of constructing the Belarusian national pantheon, which, to a large extent, formed the collective identity during Khrushchev’s “Thaw”. The socio-political context in the Soviet Union that caused the appearance of a pantheon of national heroes is analyzed, and options for their commemoration and presentation are revealed. The construction of the Belarusian pantheon at the time in question was the result of initiatives of the national intelligentsia, undertaken mostly on the eve of various anniversaries. Not all such initiatives met with the support of the Party leadership of the Republic, who used the lion’s share of their forces and funds on the memorialization of the events of World War II. The national pantheon formed in Soviet Belarus during Khrushchev’s “Thaw” was a bizarre hybrid of national cultural figures and war heroes who embodied Soviet internationalism.

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