From Unknown to Forced Recognition: German-Belarusian Intersections of the First Half of the 20th Century in Modern Interpretation

Баринов И. И. Albaruthenia incognita: Неизвестные страницы германо-белорусских отношений. 1914–1944. М.: Институт славяноведения РАН; СПб.: Нестор-История, 2024. 232 с. DOI: 10.31168/4469-2331-1

Abstract

The vast complex of research problems related to Germany’s policy towards the Belarusian lands during the two world wars of the 20th century and the interwar period still contains many topics that have been overlooked by specialists. The monograph by I. I. Barinov, a historian from the Institute of Slavic Studies of the Russian Academy of Sciences, published in 2024 is an attempt to highlight an interesting set of such unexplored and little-studied subjects, the development of which can advance not only the domestic historiography of Eastern and Central Europe, but also historical science as a whole. Based on a wide range of sources, including documents from German, Russian and Belarusian archives, the author seeks to present the objective reality of both the processes of formation of German ideas about the Belarusian lands and Belarusians in 1914–1944, and details of the biographies of those “specialists in the East” who formed these ideas. The book contains conclusions that are important for contemporary discussions in historiography about the place of the Belarusian factor in German plans during the First and Second World Wars against the backdrop of Germany’s anti-Polish strategy, Germany’s language policy towards Belarusians, and the role of Baltic Germans in recognizing the Belarusian space.

Received: 10.05.2025.

Citation
Borisyonok Yu. A. From Unknown to Forced Recognition: German-Belarusian Intersections of the First Half of the 20th Century in Modern Interpretation // Slavic Almanac. 2025. No 3–4. P. 382–398 (in Russian). DOI: 10.31168/2073-5731.2025.3-4.19