Pushkarenko E. A.

The Phenomenon of Quasi-Statehood: German Propagandain the Sphere of State Formation (based on the materials of the General District of Belarus) P. 45 -54.

UDC  94(476)

DOI 10.37724/RSU.2022.77.4.005

 

Abstract. The article examines the issue of quasi-statehood as an aspect of Commissioner General V. Kube’s occupation policy and propaganda. The territorial framework of the study is the General District of Belarus, the chronological framework is 1941–1944. The aim of the research is to identify the content and the main objectives of German propaganda and state-formation policies and their effectiveness. Research methods are analysis, synthesis, comparison. The author maintains that V. Kube, Head of the German civil administration of the district, prioritized propaganda as the most effective tool of the occupation policy. In his public speeches, he talked about the “state-forming character of the Belarusian people”, he initiated the policy of belarusization and created a number of quasi-state (collaborationist) entities, such as the Rada of Trust, the Belarusian People’s Self-Help, the Belarusian Central Rada, the Belarusian Judicial Apparatus, etc., which were supposed to act as an additional means of verifying the content of German propaganda and legitimizing the power of the German administration in the eyes of the local population. V. Kube relied on the so called “Belarusian asset”, i.e. representatives of Belarusian elite, who sought national revival, aspired for the development of national awareness and the creation of a sovereign state. In 1941–1944. Belarus experienced a certain cultural upsurge, which, however, affected only a narrow circle of Belarusian intelligentsia. In general, the policy of “Belarusization” and occupation propaganda failed, for the content of German propaganda and the realities of the occupation regime were strikingly different.

Keywords: occupation regime, occupation policy, Belarusization, national revival, collaborationism, German propaganda, General District of Belarus, quasi-statehood, nationhood.

 

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