Historical conference in Gomel to discuss turning point in Great Patriotic War of 1941-1945

MINSK (BelTA) – Historians will gather in Gomel on 22-23 November to discuss a radical turning point in the Great Patriotic War of 1941-1945, BelTA learned from Vyacheslav Danilovich, Director of the History Institute of the National Academy of Sciences of Belarus (NASB).

According to the source, the conference will gather historians from Belarus, Russia, Armenia, Kazakhstan, and Kyrgyzstan to discuss a radical turning point in the Great Patriotic War and the launch of Belarus’ liberation campaign. Military actions will be discussed as well as the role and significance of the underground resistance movement in Belarus, the post-war restoration effort and modern approaches to covering problems of history of the Great Patriotic War.

The conference “Belarus in the year of the radical change in the Great Patriotic War” will be organized in anticipation of the 75th anniversary of Belarus’ liberation from the German troops. Vyacheslav Danilovich noted that the conference is important in view of today’s attempts to falsify and distort the truth about that war. Such attempts are staged to convince the public that it was Western allies, not the Soviet Union that made the decisive contribution to the victory over the Nazi Germany. “Our research projects and results vividly demonstrate that the turning point in the Great Patriotic War was secured in the territory of the Soviet Union,” said the official.

The History Institute works together with the Belarusian Defense Ministry to preserve and popularize the legacy of the history of the Great Patriotic War. In particular, an international conference is supposed to take place in May-June 2019 in remembrance of the 75th anniversary of Belarus’ liberation from the Nazi invaders.

It has been 75 years since the offensive campaign to liberate Belarus began. Interregional conferences have already been held in Rossony, Shklov, and Dyatlov in order to take a closer look at the matter using local facts. Such events are important because school teachers and local youth take part in them. It is also important for preserving and perpetuating the objective memory about Great Patriotic War events through the younger generation, believes the scientist.

The international military history conference Great Patriotic War: Myths and Reality as well as the international science and practice conference Great Patriotic War of 1941-1945 in the Historic Memory of the Nation took place in Minsk gymnasium No.164 in May 2018. The event is held every year in order to educate young Belarusians among other things, noted Vyacheslav Danilovich. A roundtable session Great Patriotic War in the Historic Memory of the Belarusian Nation was organized in June together with the Military-Scientific Society of the Belarusian army.

Apart from that, research papers by Belarusian and Russian scientists about Belarus’ liberation have been published.