THE BELARUSIAN NATIONAL IDEA AS A TOOL OF GERMAN PROPAGANDA ON THE TERRITORY OF THE GENERAL DISTRICT OF BELARUS

Abstract

The article examines the problem of German propaganda in the context of the Belarusian national idea on the territory of the General District of Belarus. The purpose of the work: to determine the content and objectives of propaganda and policy on the national issue, its effectiveness. Research methods – analysis, synthesis, comparison. As a result of the conducted research, the authors came to a number of conclusions. First, V. Kube, the head of the German civil administration of the district, made a bet on attracting Belarusian nationalists and promoting the Belarusian national idea under the slogan of «Belarusization» as the main tool for fulfilling economic and political tasks. Secondly, various and large-scale propaganda activities in the context of the Belarusian national idea affected all spheres of public life – school, church, mass media, culture, science, etc. Thirdly, the propaganda of «Belarusization» included two directions – on the one hand, «the idea of reviving the national Belarusian culture, language, development of national consciousness», and on the other hand, the idea of the proximity of the Belarusian ethnic group to the cultural and historical space of Europe and Germany, the inseparable connection of the historical fate of Belarus with the «New Europe». Fourth, a certain cultural upsurge, which was observed during the German occupation of 1941-1944, occurred only within the narrow framework of Belarusian collaboration and did not affect the broad masses of the people. Fifthly, the policy of «scorched earth», the genocide of Jews, forced «recruitment» of ostarbeiters, the presence of a mass partisan movement, as well as Soviet counter-propaganda-all these factors significantly leveled the effectiveness of German propaganda.

Keywords

• german propaganda; general district of belarus; wilhelm kube; great patriotic war; national idea