Product Description
Timothy Snyder traces the emergence of four rival modern nationalist ideologies from common medieval notions of citizenship. He presents the ideological innovations and ethnic cleansings that abetted the spread of modern nationalism but also examines recent statesmanship that has allowed national interests to be channeled toward peace.

“A work of profound scholarship and considerable importance.”—Timothy Garton Ash, St. Antony’sCollege, University of Oxford

“Timothy Snyder’s style is a welcome reminder that history writing can be—indeed, ought to be—a literary pursuit.”— Charles King, Times Literary Supplement

“A brilliant and fascinating analysis of the subtleties, complexities, and paradoxes of the evolution of nations in Eastern Europe. It has major implications for all of us who want to understand the processes of state collapse and nation-building in the world.”—Samuel P. Huntington, Harvard Academy for International and Area Studies

“Snyder’s ultimate query in this fresh and stimulating look at the path to nationhood is how the bitter experiences along the way, including the bitterest—ethnic cleansing—are to be overcome.”
—Robert Legvold, Foreign Affairs

•Awarded the George Louis Beer prize of the American Historical Association, 2003
•Awarded the Eastern Review prize, 2003

Timothy Snyder is assistant professor of history at Yale University.
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Customer Reviews (8)

Excellent, erudite study on a fascinating and volatile region.
A masterly study on the complexes of nation building and comu¡munal life in mixed linguistic and ethnic territories.

With a fine,elegant narrative it is not only a deep scholar research but a pleasant reading, avoiding the extremes of some compresive academic works.

Be you in favor or against the views of Mr Snyder a suggest the reading of book, especialy if you have any personal link with the area or if you are interested in the cruel realm of bloody ethnic and linguistic nationalism and how it destroys plural, mixed communities.

Why is Eastern Europe the way it is? Re: Read THIS book.
This was one of the books I had to read for my Eastern European History class. Although I was only required to read part of it, I finished the whole thing.

If you are interested in knowing and understanding what happened in Eastern Europe this is the book for you. Not only is it well researched but it is very well written.

I look forward to see what else Timothy Snyder publishes in the future.

An Excellent Exposition of the WWII Ukrainian Genocide of Poles
Owing to the breadth of this book, my review is limited to one topic. For an American, Snyder shows considerable sophistication in his understanding of the OUN-UPA genocide of Poles, and doesn't fall for common apologists' blame-the-victim arguments and "ethnic conflict" relativizations.

To begin with, Snyder realizes that the "initial" killings (of Ukrainians by Poles) near Chelm (Kholm) were directed at Ukrainian collaborationists participating in Odilo Globocnik's de-Polonization project (p. 158, 163), costing a relatively trivial few hundred Ukrainian lives (p. 325)--no excuse for the OUN-UPA genocide of Poles.

Snyder is perceptive in realizing that the Volhynian massacres, which became full-scale soon after most of the Ukrainian collaborationist police had deserted their posts to form the UPA, were in no sense a "Polish-Ukrainian war". They were acts of genocide, pure and simple. Starting winter 1942/1943, and especially the first few months of 1943, there was only the virtually-unchallenged OUN-UPA extermination of many tens of thousands of defenseless rural Volhynian Polish civilians.

Polish defenses and limited reprisals, and cooperation with Soviet guerillas and German officials against Ukrainians, all came LATER, and gradually--clearly a consequence, not cause, of the OUN-UPA genocide. (p. 172). Snyder underlines the irony: "Poles took their revenge on Ukrainians as German policemen... Those [Ukrainians] who used Polish collaboration as a justification for killing every man, woman, and child in Polish settlements in April had just left the German police themselves. In so doing, they unleashed a Satanic logic they could not have anticipated. German policy was to kill the family of every Ukrainian police officer who deserted, and to destroy the village of every Ukrainian police officer who deserted with his arms. These retaliations were promptly carried out by the Germans whenever they could, using newly recruited Polish policemen." (pp. 172-173).

More-or-less comparable reciprocity in killing (the actual "Polish-Ukrainian war") developed still later, many months after the start of the OUN-UPA Volhynian genocide, and then mostly west of the Curzon line (culminating in Operation Wisla), eventuating about 11,000 Ukrainian deaths and 7,000 Polish ones. (pp. 204-205). East of this line, the corresponding eventual total fatalities are quoted as about 9,000 Ukrainian and 63,000 [actually, 120,000-300,000] Polish ones. Snyder fails to mention the fact that, although atrocities occurred on both sides, the vast majority of overall Ukrainian deaths were combat-related ones and the vast majority of the incomparably-greater overall Polish deaths were systematic murders of unarmed men, women, and children.

Snyder believes that the brutalization of Soviet and German rule, "decapitation" of Ukrainian leadership, and the youthful immaturity of UPA commanders caused the genocide. (pp. 163-165). (This makes little sense. A comparable situation existed in ethnographic Poland, yet, with few exceptions, Poles neither participated in nor initiated genocidal campaigns against their minorities.)

Otherwise, Snyder understands that this genocide was at least latent in OUN thinking going back to its founding in 1929, notably its stated goal of an ethnically-pure Ukraine. (p. 143, 168). This, combined with Hitler's extermination of the Jews (which involved massive Ukrainian collaboration: 12,000 Ukrainian police compared with 1,400 local German ones: p. 162) became realized: "Ukrainian partisans who mass-murdered Poles in 1943 followed the tactics they had learned as collaborators in the Holocaust in 1942..." (P. 162).

Very good, but sometimes to quick to judge
This is a very good book on very controversial topics, that are not really dealt with in English publications. It deals with four nations and history of their nationalism. In essence, it traces how four modern nations carved up and divided territory and historical legacy of medieval monarchies. It is quite unique look, tracing history of broad region to present-day situations. The book offers some different perspectives. For example, conflict over Vilnius/Wilno is usually portrayed only as Lithuanian-Polish matter. The book offers a third contestant - Belarus.

The only nitpick I have that the author sometimes is too quick to judge. I understand that covering 400 years of entangled nationalism of four nations in less than 300 pages is a miracle in itself, but sometimes judgments and event descriptions are too quick, too general with not enough supporting detail. While sometimes it is very refreshing to read a big-picture summary of controversial and convoluted events written from neutral perspective (both sides are usually equally guilty and equally wrong), but sometimes more facts and less rhetoric would be preferred.

Overall message is quite clear - nationalism is crazy and destructive. No nation is any better than the next. However, it is very easy to misquote the book. Many quotes from this book can be taken out of context and glued together to show that nation x is the worst, angriest, most irrational, etc. The same is true for nations y, z, and w.

Highly recommended.
Well, being born in one of those Central Belarussian towns I would say I agree with 95% of material and it's analized with good skills. I highly recommend this book to anyone with interest in Eastern Europe history and to descendents of Poles, Belarussians and Ukrainians.
It is worth to remember that Commonwealth expirienced Ortodox( Uniates), Catholics, Protestans, Muslims(Tatar) living together in unity and friendship, while in Europe religious cleansings were at the peak.
I was also surprised I didnt found any information about Sluck Fight against Bolsheviks( since it is very important to Belarus history) and general Stanislaw Bulak-Balachowicz, who declaired compliance with first Belarus Government in 1919, not with Poles...and after forcibly evacuating to Polish territories was unarmed by polish "friend" Pilsudski. ... Read more

Product Description
Alexander Lukashenko was elected President of Belarus in 1994 with a landslide victory. He was a rank outsider, and stood as an independent candidate, with no political party or institution behind him.

Since election he has created policies based on the principle of improving the quality of life for the broadest number of Belarusian citizens, 'the state for the people'.

However this approach has led to huge criticism from abroad culminating in 2004 with US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice declaring Belarus to be an 'Outpost of Tyranny'.

This book examines the history of Belarus from the days as part of the Russian Empire through to the present day. The Pale of Settlement, the 1917 Revolution, the Stalin era and the Second World War are all covered from the Belarusian perspective. The impact and influence of this history, and particularly of the Soviet Union on Belarus has been a huge factor in deciding the direction and priorities of Belarusians.

Lukashenko has been called the 'last dictator in Europe' and this book explores the reality of Belarusian social policy, human rights, and the colossal level of external interference in the democratic process in Belarus.

Compiled from a wide range of sources and crucially from open-ended interviews with Belarusian people themselves this book is essential for a genuine understanding of the subject, and the social model that independent Human Rights groups have suggested ought not to be criticised but instead adopted elsewhere. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (3)

fun to read, if not taken seriously
I bought this book after reading some favourable reviews, describing the work as a balanced and fair picture of modern Belarussian politics, within a proper historical context.

However, as my reading was progressing, I noticed that the text sounded noticeably more like a piece of soviet apologetics than something serious written by a historian interested in weighing all perspectives. This became quite obvious when the author treats the issues of collectivization, where appalling sentences like "collectivization was not actually compulsory, joining was up to the individual, but as the collective farms were established and prospered, the benefit was obvious", or "during the initial period of collectivization, significant numbers of peasants in the USSR had actually left collective farms, and it was propaganda and economics, not force that was used to entice them back" abound. Moreover, the treatment of the Kurapaty massacres is shocking, being no more than a carbon copy of the current Kremlin-promoted revisionism on the Katyn/Kharkov/Mednoye slaughters of Polish officers by the NKVD.

Once you understand the real purpose of this book, it becomes more fun to read, since it reads like one of those old soviet books written in the fifties, full of elegies about the achievements of the soviet society. It's all there, including a quotation by the beloved President in italic at the beginning of each chapter, and in the end, a transcript of his speech to the UN General Assembly, about which the author is careful to stress, between parentheses, that it was received "to huge applause".

Perhaps the key to the true aim of this book lies in discovering who its author really is. I couldn't. A quick search on Google returned nothing besides references to this book and the introduction and credits reveal absolutely nothing besides some meaningless names. The dull and monotonous style of writing, the poor construction of the sentences and the frequent errors of punctuation made me wonder whether this is anything more than a fake history book written in a language other than English by a fake author, with an ulterior motive.

So in a nutshell, zero marks for historical relevance, full marks for revealing the conspiracy theorist in me :)

decent historic review - disinformation about Lukashenka
In chapter 1-7 of this book, Parker gives a quite decent introduction to the history of Belarus, before and under the Soviet Union. Parker gives delivers a good analysis of Balrus' gains from the Soviet Union, how the corruption that crushed the Soviet economy during the Brezhnev years, was not as appearant in Belarus as in Russia and Ukraine and why Belarus have had a substantially better econnomic performance in the years following after the collapse of the Soviet Union than Ukraine and Russia.

One weekness of Parkers book is that he fails to explain why Belarus have had a better economic development than Russia and Ukraine and even quite decent compared with all the former Soviet Rebublics. As Verena Fritz shows in "State-building" (highly recommended), the former Soviet Republics with a stable consolidated political regime - either democtratic or authoritan (Belarus could probably best be described as a democratorship in this respect) - have performed much better than those left in political chaos (as Russia and Ukraine), War (As Tadjikistan and Armenia) or both (as Moldova and Georgia).

A more serious weekness of Parker's book is that the book contains a lot of examples of errors in the specter between inaccuracies and share disinformation.

One example is Parkers coverage of the Karapaty mass-graves outside Minsk where the best scientific estimates suggests that 220.000-250.000 dead bodies are burried after being shot by the NKVD during the 1930s purges. Parker suggests the number is 30.000 and that it is not known whether the bodies was killed by the NKVD or the Germans during the war. Though the number of killed is disputed, it is an undisputable scientific fact that the murdered are vicums ot the NKVD purges. As the archeologist Zianon Pazniak and engineer Auhien Smyhalou who were responsible for the archeological project when the mass grave was first found in 1988 have documented in their report, we know that they are killed by the NKVD because of the ammonuition used, coins found on the victims that are no newer than from 1936 and other sources documenting that the mass graves was used by the NKVD from 1937-1940 and that the Germans did not invade the area before 1941. Instead of this scientific material Parker base his disinforamtion on revisionist rethorics a la "can you be really, really sure" supported by the Lukashenka administration.

Another example of disinoformation is the disappearance of the oppositional politician Victor Gonchar and his friend Anatoly Krasovsky, who dissappeared from Minsk the 16th of September 1999. Parker argue that it is unlikely that they were murdered because another person missing, Zakharenko, later turned out to be alive and living in London. Further that the Lukashenka government on several occations have claimed that they have taken the investigation of the dissappearence very seriously. Third, Parker claims, it would be counterproductive for the authorities to get rid of a political opponent. On the other hand, the murder of the two missing persons is documented on video-tape. The tape recoreded by two oppostional politicians shows how they climb over the fences of a KGB owned area (acting after a tip from a source that later also disappeared) and starts digging in the ground where they were told the bodies were hid until the hit their dead bodies in the ground. In addition to releasing the video-tape to the public, the two persons who recorded it had to flee Belarus and was given political asylum abroad. Aage Storm Borchrevink has interviewed them and let them tell their story in his book "Eurostories" (as far as I know it is only published in Norwegian. Neither the immigration authorities who checked out their stories when they applied for asylum or the Helsinki commitee have been able to find any mismatches in their stories.

A third example of Parker's disinformation regards the independent media. According to Parker 555 out of 776 newspapers in Belarus was independent i 2005. I have not checked out theese numbers, but assume that it is true. What Parker does not write is that all the independent newspapers together is printed in 300.000 copies, while the biggest pro-regime newspaper published by the state alone is printed in 500.000 copies. Neither does Parker write anything about that all distribution of newspapers in Belarus is done through state postal system only, charging 4-5 times as much for distribution of independent newspapers as it does for stateowned newspapers. In addition the taxes on independent newspapers is twice as high as for state owned. As there is a tency towards that advertisers in independent newspapers gets surprising visits from the tax police, they often hessitate to advertise in independent newspapers. Information from Reporters without borders and the Helsinki commitee backs up this information.

2 examples Parker gives of independent newspapers that has been closed is Nasha Niva and Narodnaya Volia that, accroding to Parker's claims, after several warnings for anti-semittic journalism were closed in 2006 and 2005 respetively. According to Reporters without borders Nasha Niva was closed as a result of their landlord broke off their lease after he was visited by the secret police. In October 2003, former Czech President Václav Havel granted the cash portion of the Hanno R. Ellenbogen Citizenship Award to "Nasha Niva" editor Andrey Dynko. The Award is given each year by the Prague Society for International Cooperation to an individual who has dedicated his or her life to public service with the stipulation that the financial portion of the award be passed to a gifted young person. "I pass this award to Mr. Dynko because we, who have benefited so much from international solidarity, must show solidarity ourselves," Havel said at the award ceremony in Prague. You can think for yourself what version you belive in.

I could have given a lot of more examples. I belaive that the ones that I have given is more than enough to demonstrate the pattern in Parkers writing though. Facts tends to be left out of the story. When they are included he uses vague rethorics to make the situation unclear, rather than present the basic facts that will make it clear to the reader. It is hardly relevant in the disappearence over that another missed person, later turned up alive or for the suppression of independent nbewspapers in general that the Lukashenka regime also has closed two anti-semittic newspapers. Neither is it very clearifying to ask rethorical questions like "why should Lukashenka want to do anything like that", instead of giving the reader the available facts so that they can make up their own opinion based on avaialbe information.

Parker is right that much of the information about Belarus in international media is not very informative, biased or both. Unfortunately a better source of information is not given in Parkers book.

THE LAST SOVIET REPUBLIC - ALEXANDER LUKASHENKO'S BELARUS
Anyone who desires to learn the truth about President Alexander Lukashenko and Belarus should read this work.The author, Stewart Parker, has no "axe to grind" and presents his material in an objective and unpretentious manner.Parker's narrative is very readable and he covers his subject matter with a flowing style that helps the reader glide from chapter to chapter.

I found his "matter of fact" approach, backed up by source information, to be quite enjoyable.Parker doesn't "beat you over the head."While the author does not openly side with Communism, his objective and logical presentation backed by his research puts the October Revolution, industrialization, collectivization, etc. in a more realistic and positive light than the stereotypical image presented by most western political hacks that masquerade as writers.

Parker's coverage of President Lukashenko and the situation in Belarus after the dissolution of the Soviet Union is detailed and accurate.He reports on this in the main part of the book with the same objectivity, logic, and use of source materials as he does in the first one quarter of the book that is devoted to the country's history.His coverage of Belarus' social and economic systems, human rights policies, international relations, etc. is meticulous and very well presented.The sections that expose and lay bare the United States' hypocrisy and double standards regarding Belarus are worth the price of the book!

I believe this is an excellent book and is MUST reading for anyone who desires to learn the truth about President Lukashenko and Belarus.It is certainly the most objective book that I've read on Belarus and Soviet history by a western author.


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The Dnipro River is Europe's second largest, and for centuries has been vital to the history, culture and economy of Ukraine and to a major part of Eastern Europe.Preserving the Dnipro describes the importance of the Dnipro and highlights the steps taken by Ukrainian and Canadian scientists to overcome the river's environmental misfortunesand preserve its unique biodiversity, and presents an approach for the sustainable management that blends boththe spiritual and natural concerns. It digs into the true meaning of sustainable research use as the harmonious coexistence of nature and society.Liberally illustrated, the book presents a succinct yet powerful and comprehensive message that caring for our planet and achieving the objectives of sustainable development cannot be accomplished without a renaissanceof "spirituality" and a dedication to living in true harmony with nature. ... Read more

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Compares and contrasts the three former Soviet republics of Byelarus, Ukraine, and Moldova, linked by geography and economics. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (1)

A poorly researched book with factual and other errors
Sadly, this is one of the very few books with information on this part of the world - and it gets many facts wrong. This book is obvoiusly aimed at the K-12 market, and aims to function as a primer on this region.Unfortunately, it fails.

* Ukrainian place names are invariably given inRussian instead of Ukrainian (for example, Kyiv is spelled Kiev in thisbook).

* Moldovan place names are either not spelled correctly - e.g."Belsiy" for Balti, or given in Russian - e.g."Kishinev" for Chisinau.

* Country names are not accurate - forexample, the German Democratic Republic is labeled as "EastGermany".

* Information on these countries' ethnic minorities isshallow. The Gagauz and Bulgarian minorities in Moldova are simply labeledas "other", and the percentage of the pie chart given to these"others" is wrong (13 per cent instead of approximately 4 percent).

* Finally, many other details are wrong. For example, Moldova isdescribed as having "abundant natural resources and well-developedindustries", when in fact Moldova imports nearly all of its power andnatural resources, and has virtually no developed industry save for somedecaying factories in the Trans-Dniestr Republic.

In short, save yourmoney. If you're looking for information on these countries, lookelsewhere. ... Read more

Product Description
The political map of Eastern Europe changed dramatically in December 1991 when the leaders of Belarus, Russia, and Ukraine huddled together in a Bielavieza Forest retreat and decided to dissolve the 15 union republics, which composed the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics (USSR). One of those republics was the Belorussian Soviet Socialist Republic (BSSR). A United Nations member since 1945, Belarus has a rich cultural heritage that is seen as a promising base for the development of a solid national identity and for real independence. It is this cultural heritage and sense of history that nourish the ongoing efforts of the nationalist minority, as well as the larger democratic opposition, to resist the regime of President Alaksandr Luka_enka who is bent on restoring ties to Russia. Thus Belarus, with its burdens of the past and potential for the future, finds itself in a struggle that will affect not only its own destiny, but also the international structure of Eastern Europe.The A to Z of Belarus_through its chronology, introductory essays, appendixes, map, bibliography, and hundreds of cross-referenced dictionary entries on important persons, places, events, and institutions and significant political, economic, social, and cultural aspects_traces Belarus' history and provides a compass for the direction the country is heading. ... Read more

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A Polish citizen of Belarusian descent, Boris Ragula escaped German internment during World War II only to find on his return to Belarus that it had fallen under the control of Soviet totalitarianism. He was imprisoned by the communist secret police but finally escaped with his family to Belgium. Ragula earned a medical degree and then fulfilled his dream of immigrating to Canada where for forty years he ran one of the busiest practices in London, Ontario, and played a pioneering role in the North American anti-smoking movement. "Against the Current" offers a personal account of the plight of European refugees and the importance of immigrants to Canada's postwar growth. Ragula's insights into the complicated nature of identity in central Europe shows how "ordinary people" negotiate the complex, often contradictory claims of national, ethnic, religious, and geographic loyalties. His memoir provides a personal perspective on some of the major events of the twentieth century. ... Read more

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Customer Reviews (1)

Solid Review of Economic and Social Problems of Belarus
Author Marples has taken an exceptionally difficult topic, the emergence of the Republic of Belarus, and developed a highly informative report on the emergence of a very tortured nation. His assessment ofChernobyl-related problems, the country's and the world's response and theimplications for future generations of Belarusians was especially welldocumented and portrayed an assessment of the country that could only havebeen developed by an author who was especially familiar with the day-to-daygrass-roots response to the Chernobyl disaster. His book showed anespecially strong understanding of relief work in the Gomel oblast. Perhapsthe only weakness of this book was that it was written as AlexanderLukashenko was coming to power and, as such, provided a backdrop but not afull assessment of subsequent events. It would be very informative to viewthis author's assessment of the implications of Lukashenko's regieme onBelarus. ... Read more

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This final book in the 3-volume collection details the truly unique role the Christian tradition has played over the centuries in shaping the nations that now comprise Russia, Ukraine, and Belarus.This collection details the tremendous, truly unique role the Christian tradition has played over the centuries in shaping the nations that now comprise Russia, Ukraine, and Belarus. Beginning with the acceptance of Christianity in the tenth century, the contributors-Slavic specialists, theologians, historians, and literary scholars-examine the majestic sweep of a thousand years of the Eastern Orthodox tradition.This three-volume collection treats an immense subject from many angles, providing a storehouse of perspectives and information. The present volume focuses on the literature of the nineteenth and twentieth centuries. Volume I (published in 1993) examines the history and influences of Christianization from the tenth to the seventeenth century, and Volume II (published in 1994) explores cultural history from the eighteenth to the twentieth centuries. ... Read more

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Drawing from engrossing survivors' accounts, many never before published, The Minsk Ghetto 1941-1943 recounts a heroic yet little-known chapter in Holocaust history. In vivid and moving detail, Barbara Epstein chronicles the history of a Communist-led resistance movement inside the Minsk ghetto, which, through its links to its Belarussian counterpart outside the ghetto and with help from others, enabled thousands of ghetto Jews to flee to the surrounding forests where they joined partisan units fighting the Germans. Telling a story that stands in stark contrast to what transpired across much of Eastern Europe, where Jews found few reliable allies in the face of the Nazi threat, this book captures the texture of life inside and outside the Minsk ghetto, evoking the harsh conditions, the life-threatening situations, and the friendships that helped many escape almost certain death. Epstein also explores how and why this resistance movement, unlike better known movements at places like Warsaw, Vilna, and Kovno, was able to rely on collaboration with those outside ghetto walls. She finds that an internationalist ethos fostered by two decades of Soviet rule, in addition to other factors, made this extraordinary story possible. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (2)

A treasure chest for Holywood
I just read this book and recommend it highly.While it could have used some better editing it tells a bunch of stories that could be the basis for a series of great movies like Defiance.The Amazon product description makes the point about the books exploration of the distinctiveness of the Minsk experience, where a history of relatively low levels of Antisemitism in Belarussia (low for Eastern Europe that is) was reinforced by an egalitarian and overtly anti-Antisemitic Soviet ideology to create the basis for a multi-ethnic resistance movement with broad support from the population as a whole and active support for Jews by ordinary Belarusians and the Belarussian partisan movement which had Jews in its leadership, Jews in its fighting organizations and Jewish fighting units.Some 10,000 Jews were therefore able to escape from the Minsk Ghetto and join the Partisans.Epstein points out the sharp contrast between the situation in Belarussia and those in Poland, Lithuania, and Ukraine where Jews found little outside support and sometimes great hostility.She provides overwhelming evidence for her thesis.She also follow up on the wartime resistance story with the postwar denigration of the Minsk resistance and the persecution of its leaders by a Belarussian Communist Party leadership that wanted to cover up the fact that they had fled from the Germans and made no preparations for the creation of an underground resistance.The resistance was only honored at the end of the 1950s after the deStalinization campaign and only then were some of its leaders released from the Gulag.All in all an inspiring and sobering tale.

Stan

Minsk Ghetto book
Very interesting and well researched and written study of the Minsk Ghetto during WWII. Interesting to compare with the book by Tec on which the movie Defiance was based. ... Read more

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Soviet Partisans. Occupation of Belarus by Nazi Germany, Soviet partisans in Poland, Soviet Union, Government of the Soviet Union, Red Army, Eastern Front (World War II), Hero of the Soviet Union ... Read more

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High Quality Content by WIKIPEDIA articles! "White Ruthenia"is a name that has historically been applied to various regions in Eastern Europe, most often to that which roughly corresponds to the eastern part of present-day Belarus including the cities of Polatsk, Vitsyebsk, Mahiliou.In English, the use of "White Russia" to refer to all of Belarus is dated. Many other languages, however, continue to use a literal translation of "White Russia" to refer to Belarus.The term "White Russian" has the alternative (and potentially confusing) meanings of the post-Russian Revolution, anti-Communist White movement or White émigré. Some people in Belarus consider the name "White Russia" to be derogatory because of an unwilling verbal association of their country with Russia. ... Read more

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Cases of controversial relations with the Axis of World War II, Reichskommissariat Ostland, Occupation of the Channel Islands, Protectorate of Bohemia and Moravia, Occupation of Belarus by Nazi Germany, German occupation of Czechoslovakia, Czech resistance to Nazi occupation, Czechoslovak government-in-exile, Occupation of Denmark, Occupation of Estonia by Nazi Germany, History of the Jews in Estonia, Munich Agreement, Axis occupation of Greece during World War II, The Emergency (Ireland), Occupation of Latvia by Nazi Germany, Latvian Legion, Spain in World War II, Reichskommissariat Ukraine, Japanese occupation of Indonesia, Anglo-Soviet invasion of Iran. ... Read more