Reunification of Western Belarus with Byelorussian SSR and Western Ukraine with Ukrainian SSR as covered in the Soviet historiography of 1939–1941
Abstract
The article discusses the fundamental statements of the Soviet historiography of 1939–1941 about the reunification of Western Belarus and Western Ukraine with the Soviet republics. It was discovered that Soviet historiography was focused on development of arguments in favor of joining the mentioned territories to the Soviet Union and on defending the official politics of the country. It also highlighted the negative impact of Poland’s politics on the various areas of social life of Kresy. Soviet historians pointed out historical rights of the USSR to the above mentioned territories and they were also trying to justify the statement about the breakup of Poland as a result of the German invasion, which made it necessary for the Soviet government to help «allied nations» of Western Belarus and Western Ukraine. The fundamental statements of the Soviet historiography on this problem were dictated by the political situation, and were far from the scientific objectivity.
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