Belarus: 17 September – a day to remember but not the way Lukashenka wants

It is strange how history can come and go. In Putin’s Russia and Lukashenka’s Belarus, the Second World War, or rather, only the period from the summer of 1941 to May 1945 (known as the Great Patriotic War), is put on display every other evening on state TV and in films and exhibitions. It also dominates history teaching in schools. This historical event became the ideological foundation of the states ruled by Putin and Lukashenka, both of them having developed an obsession with the ‘correct history’ of the Second World War, implying forgetting collaboration of Nazi German and the USSR between 1939-41.

17 September: …and darkness fell over all the land

Then suddenly there is darkness, or rather, silence and feverish attempts to turn people’s attention in another direction. Disinformation surrounding 17 September is one such attempt.

The dark past…

17 September is indeed a special day. It is the day when, in 1939, the Soviet Union began fulfilling its part of the Molotov-Ribbentrop Pact with its Secret Supplementary Protocol, launching its armed attack on Poland. This marked the final slide of Europe into the horrors of the Second World War. Both Putin and Lukashenka are silent about these historical facts.

17 September is “a date which will live in infamy” – to paraphrase the words used by President Roosevelt about the Pearl Harbour attack.

…now a pre-election feast for Lukashenka

By Decree No. 206, in 2021, Lukashenka decided that 17 September would become a new national holiday in Belarus – “the Day of People’s Unity”. He argued that:

“The Day […] symbolises the restoration of historical justice and reunification of the Belarusian nation that was forcibly divided in 1921 in line with the Treaty of Riga. […] The reunification of the Belarusian nation in 1939 helped the country prevail in the Great Patriotic War. …”

This year, 17 September in Belarus has been prepared with a basket of soviet-style initiatives, which like a Potemkin village should give the impression of joy and happiness:

For example, a state TV news channel, Pervyy Informatsionnyy (First Information TV channel) will be launched: according to the chair of the of state broadcasting company – ‘For the first time all Belarusians will be able to get the most topical, verified, and important information in a non-stop regime, 24 hours a day. It hasn’t happened yet in the history of national TV’.

Thirty political prisoners were released last week “as a humanitarian gesture by the head of state [Lukashenka] towards the people who were used in 2020 by foreign forces”. “All were parents of minors and ”sincerely repented” a state TV report added. ‘All were parents’ – so, now we know how pressure was put upon these people. We have exposed this particular humiliating trend of forcing people to do public repentance videos in earlier articles here and here.

To put the thirty releases into perspective, we remind that there are still more than 1.340 political prisoners in Belarus.

Authorities hold so-called Belarusian Youth forums leading up to 17 September. During the month, gatherings are held across the country where youth groups are meeting with state officials as part of the “United Belarus information and political project” which will symbolically conclude on 17 September. On 9 September, the Sports Palace hosted the meetings in Minsk and 4,000 students were mobilised to attend a session reminding of a USSR Youth Communist event.

See our earlier accounts of 17 September in Belarus here about the decree and the demonisation of Poland.

Let’s not be deceived but remember 17 September.