Ghosts of war : Nazi occupation and its aftermath in Soviet Belarus / Franziska Exeler.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Exeler, Franziska, author.

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

World War, 1939-1945--Social aspects--Belarus.

World War, 1939-1945.

World War, 1939-1945--Influence.

Belarus--History--German occupation, 1941-1944.

Belarus.

Belarus--Social conditions--20th century.

Belarus--Politics and government--20th century.

Influence (Literary, artistic, etc.).

Politics and government.

Social aspects.

Social conditions.

Genre:

History.

Physical Description:

xiv, 344 pages : illustrations, maps ; 24 cm

Place of Publication:

Ithaca, [New York] : Cornell University Press, 2022.

Summary:

"How do states and societies confront the legacies of war and occupation, and what do truth, guilt, and justice mean in that process? In Ghosts of War, Franziska Exeler examines people's wartime choices and their aftermath in Belarus, a war-ravaged Soviet republic that was under Nazi occupation during the Second World War. After the Red Army reestablished control over Belarus, one question shaped encounters between the returning Soviet authorities and those who had lived under Nazi rule, between soldiers and family members, reevacuees and colleagues, Holocaust survivors and their neighbors: What did you do during the war? Ghosts of War analyzes the prosecution and punishment of Soviet citizens accused of wartime collaboration with the Nazis and shows how individuals sought justice, revenge, or assistance from neighbors and courts. The book uncovers the many absences, silences, and conflicts that were never resolved, as well as the truths that could only be spoken in private, yet it also investigates the extent to which individuals accommodated, contested, and reshaped official Soviet war memory. The result is a gripping examination of how efforts at coming to terms with the past played out within, and at times through, a dictatorship."-- Provided by publisher.

Contents:

Machine generated contents note: 1. Contested Space: An East European Borderland before 1941

2. At the Heart of Darkness: Wartime Choices, 1941-1944

3. Post-1944: The Moment of Return

4. Determining Guilt: The Soviet Politics of Retribution

5. Loss, Grief, and Reckonings: Personal Responses to the Ghosts of War

6. Belarus, the Partisan Republic: Narrating the Years of War and Occupation.

Notes:

Includes bibliographical references and index.

Other Format:

Online version: Exeler, Franziska. Ghosts of war

ISBN:

9781501762734

1501762737

OCLC:

1258217495