BSAMLA took part in the international scientific and practical conference «Belarus during the Great Patriotic War: history and modernity (to the 80th anniversary of the liberation of Belarus)»

On June 25 and 26, 2024, an international scientific and practical conference «Belarus during the Great Patriotic War: history and modernity» dedicated to the 80th anniversary of the liberation of Belarus.

More than 400 people took part in the forum in a mixed off-line and on-line format – representatives of ministries and departments of Belarus, the Prosecutor General’s Office, domestic scientists, historians, archivists, local historians, representatives of the pedagogical community, cultural workers, as well as researchers from Russia , Tajikistan, Uzbekistan and Kyrgyzstan.

The scientific event was moderated by Academician-Secretary of the Department of Humanities and Arts of the National Academy of Sciences of Belarus, Academician, Doctor of Historical Sciences, Professor A.A. Kovalenya and director of the Institute of History of the National Academy of Sciences of Belarus, candidate of historical sciences V. L. Lakiza.

The participants and guests of the forum were sent a greeting from the President of the Republic of Belarus A.G. Lukashenko. The conference was opened by the Chief Scientific Secretary of the National Academy of Sciences of Belarus, Doctor of Economics, Associate Professor V.L. Gursky, who read out the welcoming address of the Chairman of the Presidium of the National Academy of Sciences of Belarus, academician, Doctor of Economic Sciences, Professor V.G. Gusakova.

The conference participants were addressed with a welcoming speech by: Head of the Main Directorate of Ideological Work of the Ministry of Defense of the Republic of Belarus, Major General L.V. Kasinsky, Director of the Institute of Russian History of the Russian Academy of Sciences, Doctor of Historical Sciences Yu.A. Petrov and others. During the plenary session, Director of the Department for Archives and Records Management of the Ministry of Justice of the Republic of Belarus O.L. Voinov presented a report «On the work of state archives to preserve historical memory of the events of the Great Patriotic War.»

The conference was held in accordance with the chronological and thematic plan within the framework of 3 sections: «The Great Patriotic War in the scientific, cultural and memorial dimension», «Events of the Great Patriotic War and the post-war era. History on the pages of school textbooks» and «The Nazi occupation regime and the partisan movement on the territory of Belarus (1941–1944)».

The leading researcher of the department of information, publication and use of documents of the institution «Belarusian State Archive-Museum of Literature and Art» (hereinafter referred to as BSAMLA), candidate of historical sciences, associate professor Veronika Petrovna Skok took part in the work of the scientific forum. Her report «The role of documents of personal origin in the preservation of historical memory (on the example of the memoirs of Alexei Timofeevich Korolev, a participant in the Great Patriotic War)» was presented on the agenda of section No. 1. The emphasis in the speech was placed on the unique role of BSAMLA as a scientific and methodological center for work with documents from personal archives.

At the final meeting, the results of the conference were summed up and the main message of the forum was announced – the memory of the military feat of Soviet soldiers, the courageous resistance of partisans and underground fighters, the selfless work of workers of the Soviet rear who brought the Great Victory closer, and the suffering of civilians in the occupied territories must be preserved and passed on to future generations.

Photo 1. During the plenary session

Photo 2. Speech at the plenary meeting by the Director of the Department for Archives and Records Management of the Ministry of Justice of the Republic of Belarus O.L. Voinova

Photo 3. Conference participants: Deputy Director of NARB, Candidate of Historical Sciences S.V. Kulinok; Leading Researcher of the Department of Information, Publication and Use of Documents of BSAMLA, Candidate of Historical Sciences, Associate Professor V.P. Skok, director of NARB A.K. Demjanjuk (from left to right)