‘Coat Thieves’ and Bandits? Belarusian Counter-Memory of the ‘Cursed Soldiers’

Abstract

In the article, we analyse attitudes of representatives of the Belarusian minority in Poland towards the armed anti-communist underground operating in the Podlasie region after 1944 (the so-called ‘cursed soldiers’). Drawing on semi-structured interviews with various Belarusian actors, as well as on observations made during field research in the Podlasie region in June 2021, we are able to illustrate a clash between official commemorative practices and the local and communicative memory of the Belarusians. We analyse the role played by the collective memory of the underground among the Belarusian minority in Podlasie against the backdrop of the hegemonic politics of memory that glorifies the ‘cursed soldiers’ as national heroes. The analysis of counter-hegemonic memory accounts and their relation to dominant narratives uncovers the emotions generated by the hegemonic politics of memory among representatives of the Belarusian minority, who generally regard it as depreciating their experience and evoking a sense of endangerment. We show that Belarusian memory is perceived as incompatible with the ideological assumptions of the hegemonic Polish memory; therefore, we want to give voice to the marginalised representatives of the Belarusian minority. However, the Belarusian minority should not be perceived as a homogenous group – our analysis points to the fact that various actors various actors negotiate the hegemonic politics of memory in various ways when faced with the pressure of assimilation.