History of women of Belarus during the Great Patriotic War in the works of domestic researchers

Abstract

This article analyses the works of Russian historians devoted to women’s participation in the Great Patriotic War. It notes that this topic has not become a research priority. During the Soviet period, it was also facilitated by the Soviet leadership’s policy toward female front-line soldiers, who were advised not to boast about their achievements. Another reason why women’s participation has not been the subject of widespread scholarly discussion is the Soviet researchers’ notion of women’s unsuitability for war, based on psychobiological characteristics, as well as the inaccessibility, and in many cases, absence, of sources. However, even today, the history of women in the Great Patriotic War remains a historiographical deficit. Belarusian historiography is represented primarily by articles and conference proceedings. Women’s recollections of the war have not also been transformed into collective memory.