Belarusian Literature Of The Diaspora

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.

In Cold Rush Martin Breum travels through and describes the new quest for the Arctic and the tortuous ongoing diplomatic endeavours to maintain peace, while the governments involved all develop still stronger security presences.

Belarus is one of fifteen successor states of the former Soviet Union. It’s the only post-Soviet state that is in full of control of its territory and has no territorial conflicts with its neighbors. It’s squeezed between Russia and the European Union. Belarus had never been an independent nation prior to the Soviet Union’s disintegration and its identity is still evolving. This third edition of Historical Dictionary of Belarus contains a chronology, an introduction, appendixes, and an extensive bibliography. The dictionary section has over 500 cross-referenced entries on important personalities, politics, economy, foreign relations, religion, and culture. This book is an excellent resource for students, researchers, and anyone wanting to know more about Belarus.

This three-volume work is a cornerstone resource on the evolution and dynamics of the Jewish Diaspora as it played out around the world—from its beginnings to the present. Encyclopedia of the Jewish Diaspora: Origins, Experiences, and Culture is the definitive resource on one of world history's most curious phenomenons, encompassing the communities, cultures, ethnicities, and experiences created by the Diaspora in every region of the world where Jews live or Jewish ancestry exists. The encyclopedia is organized in three volumes. The first includes 100 essays on the Jewish Diaspora experience, with coverage ranging from ethnography and demography to philosophy, history, music, and business. The second and third volumes feature hundreds of articles and essays on Diaspora regions, countries, cities, and other locations. With an editorial board of renowned Jewish scholars, and with an extraordinarily accomplished team of contributors, Encyclopedia of the Jewish Diaspora captures the full scope of its subject like no other reference work before it.

This anthology highlights a collection of archival materials from the Center for Belarusian Studies at Southwestern College, pertaining both to historical and contemporary Belarus, as well as Belarusians in-country and in the worldwide Diaspora.?These include books, newspapers, hand-written documents, music, and ethnographic materials.??Particularly noteworthy collections include :?A complete set of Belarusian Review, the leading English-language journal pertaining to Belarus and Belarusians worldwide. This valuable reference work was donated by its founder, Mr. Joseph Arciuch.??The private collection of Mr. Anatoli Chrenouski of Montreal, Canada. The collection of Mr. Chrenouski, past President of the Belarusian Association of Quebec, contains the journal Pramien, the Association?s organ.??Additionally, the collection includes hundreds of books, maps from various historical periods, newspapers, and an irreplaceable collection of 78 rpm phonograph records of Belarusian popular and folk music from decades ago.??The collection of Belarusian author Konstantin Akula. The collection comprises a set of Mr. Akula?s own works; two typewriters on which he produced them; hand-written and typed documents, including letters; portraits; photo albums; and other of the writer?s personal correspondence.??The collection of Mr. Nicholas Prusky. This includes, inter alia, sets of the Belarusian periodicals Belarusian World and Belarusian Digest, which he published.??Contemporary Belarusian literature, DVDs, and musical recordings collected recently in Belarus and Poland by one of the Center?s visiting scholars.

The confrontation between the Wehrmacht and the Red Army on the Eastern Front of World War II was defined by incalculable suffering, destruction, casualties, and heroism. While many historians have chronicled the epic nature of that arena of war, it has largely been left to Russian novelists to fully express the intense human dimensions of that conflict. Frank Ellis's groundbreaking study provides the first comprehensive survey of that impressive body of literature. Canvassing a wide spectrum of works by Soviet and post-Soviet writers, many of whom were war veterans themselves, Ellis uncovers themes both common to war literature in general and distinctive to the Soviet experience. He recalls the earliest works in this genre by Emmanuil Kazakevich, Grigorii Baklanov, and IUrii Bondarev; presents a long overdue assessment of Vasil' Bykov's work, which focuses on the partisan war in Bykov's native Belorussia; and brings into sharp focus the powerful Stalingrad novels of Vasilii Grossman, Konstantin Simonov, Viktor Nekrasov, and Bondarev. He also provides keen insights into the heroic portraits of Stalin in the fiction of Ivan Stadniuk and Vladimir Bogomolov and examines three important war novels published during the 1990s: Viktor Astaf'ev's The Damned and the Dead, Georgii Vladimov's The General and His Army, and Vladimir But's Heads-Tails. One of the many threads running throughout Ellis's study is the dilemma of the Red Army soldier condemned to serve a regime that was utterly paranoid regarding the allegiances of its own armies, so much so that Soviet soldiers often felt as threatened by the Soviet government as they did by the German armies. Many of these novels reinforce the now well-known fact that Stalin devoted considerable resources to ferreting out soldiers whose actions (or inactions) suggested disloyalty to his repressive regime. A few of them-such as Grossman's Life and Fate-became battlegrounds in their own right, pitting Soviet writers against Soviet censors in a struggle over the public memory of the war. Russia's memories of World War II are forever tied to the suffering of its people. Ellis's rich and revealing work shows us why.