History, Memory, and the Art of Protest in Belarus

By

Stephen M. Norris

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A protest sign from the mass demonstrations in Minsk, 2020.

The Dictator

A protest sign from the mass demonstrations in Minsk, 2020.

Rally in support of Svetlana Tikhanovskaya in Minsk on July 30, 2020.

Rally for Tikhanovskaya

Rally in support of Svetlana Tikhanovskaya in Minsk on July 30, 2020. Tikhanovskaya is walking on the left.

Protestors in Minsk gather around a statue of Lenin.

House of Government

Protestors in Minsk gather around a statue of Lenin with the symbolic white and red flag aloft, 2020.

Protest rally against Alexander Lukashenko.

Protestors in the Streets

Protest rally against Alexander Lukashenko on October 18, 2020 in Minsk, Belarus.

The names of destroyed villages.

Destroyed Villages

The names of destroyed villages displayed on a memorial at the Khatyn National Memorial Complex.

Rufina Bazlova's Demonstration.

Demonstration

Rufina Bazlova, Demonstration. From the artist’s Instagram page. Used with permission.

Rufina Bazlova's Svetlana is My President.

Svetlana is My President

Rufina Bazlova, Svetlana is My President. From the artist’s Instagram page. Used with permission.

Vladimir Tsesler's Do not wash.

Vladimir Tsesler’s Flag

Vladimir Tsesler. Do not wash. From the artist's Instagram. Used with permission.

Vladimir Tsesler's Don't break, Don't stop, Don't hold back.

Don’t Break, Don’t Stop, Don’t Hold Back

Vladimir Tsesler. Don't break, Don't stop, Don't hold back. From the artist's Instagram page. Used with permission.

Vladimir Tsesler's Reboot.

Reboot

Vladimir Tsesler. Reboot. From the artist's Instagram page. Used with permission.

A screenshot from Vladimir Tsesler's Instagram page.

Marat Kazei Monument

A screenshot from Vladimir Tsesler's Instagram page showing the Marat Kazei Monument.

Chaim Soutine’s Eva.

Eva

Chaim Soutine’s Eva, 1928.

The 'Unbowed Man' statue.

Unbowed Man

The “Unbowed Man” statue shows Yuzif Kaminsky, Khatyn’s only adult survivor, holding the body of his dead son.

Cemetery of Villages in Khatyn with 185 tombs.

Cemetery of Villages

Cemetery of Villages in Khatyn with 185 tombs. Each tomb symbolizes a particular village in Belarus that the Nazis burned.

The Kholm Gate at the Brest Fortress.

Brest Fortress

The Kholm Gate at the Brest Fortress.

A wide view of the Courage Monument.

Courage Monument

A wide view of the Courage Monument, constructed in 1971, at the “hero fortress” in Brest, Belarus.

A banner in Minsk stating the date of the 2020 presidential election.

2020 Elections

A banner in Minsk stating the date of the 2020 presidential election.

The Belarusian opposition leader Svetlana Tikhanovskaya.

Svetlana Tikhanovskaya

The Belarusian opposition leader Svetlana Tikhanovskaya, 2020.

Svetlana Tikhanovskaya at a rally in Vitebsk.

Rally in Vitebsk

Svetlana Tikhanovskaya at a rally in Vitebsk on July 24, 2020, shortly before the presidential election.

Alexander Lukashenko.

Alexander Lukashenko

Alexander Lukashenko has been the president of Belarus since 1994 and recently claimed victory in a fraudulent election.

Protestors in Minsk demand honest elections.

We Want Honest Elections

Protestors in Minsk demand honest elections from the Belarusian government after the fraudulent 2020 presidential election.

A caricature illustrating the partition of Belarus.

The Soviet-Polish War

A caricature illustrating the partition of Belarus between Poland and the Bolsheviks after the Soviet-Polish War and Peace of Riga, 1921.

Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko and Russian President Vladimir Putin.

Alexander Lukashenko and Vladimir Putin

Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko and Russian President Vladimir Putin during a news conference in 2002.

A protestor in Minsk wraps their shoulders in the flag of the BNR.

The Pahonia

A protestor in Minsk wraps their shoulders in the flag of the BNR with the Pahonia—a knight on horseback— displayed in the center, 2020.

A lone protestor holds the BNR flag in front of a police line in Minsk.

Police Line

A lone protestor holds the BNR flag in front of a police line in Minsk, 2020.

An image of the German Prisoners March on July 17, 1944.

German Prisoners March

An image of the German Prisoners March on July 17, 1944, in Moscow. This march of about 57,000 German soldiers and officers, mainly captured in Belarus, demonstrated to the Soviet people—and to the Allies—the defeat of Nazi troops in the Belorussian SSR.

Rural Belarusian girls dressed in traditional garb.

Belarusian Girls

Rural Belarusian girls dressed in traditional garb pose for a photograph in 1908. Belarus, like many of the former regions of the Habsburg and Russian Empires, began the twentieth century as a rural, agrarian society.

Protest rally against Lukashenko on August 23, 2020, in Minsk.

White and Red

Protest rally against Lukashenko on August 23, 2020, in Minsk. The white and red flag can be seen prominently throughout the crowd.

The passport of the Belarusian People's Republic featuring the Pahonia.

Passport

The passport of the Belarusian People's Republic featuring the Pahonia, 1918.

A stamp from the Belarusian People’s Republic.

Pahonia Stamp

A stamp from the Belarusian People’s Republic, 1918.

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Cite this Site

Stephen M. Norris , "History, Memory, and the Art of Protest in Belarus" , Origins: Current Events in Historical Perspective

February, 2021

https://origins.osu.edu/article/history-memory-and-art-protest-belarus?language_content_entity=en.