One of the basic instruments in the implementation of an anti-Polish nation policy was an unprecedented on such a scale forced displacement of population. In the case of Moscow, it was a reference to the tsarist policy of mixing the peoples of the empire. It has been systematically implemented since the days of Tsar Ivan the Terrible (1530–1584), and under Joseph Stalin’s rule, it has grown into the official ethnicity policy of the Soviet state. The extermination policy of the Soviet Union was aimed at full unification of the looted territories with the rest of the Soviet empire. It was realized through physical liquidation of Polish intelligentsia, officials of Polish state administration, police and army. Already on September 18th, right after the invasion of Poland, several thousand Poles were shot by Soviet soldiers and military police; without a trial. Forced deportations, public executions, mass murders and concentration camps are a common feature of both murderous systems: Nazism and Stalinism. Except for the gas chambers, all methods of destroying humans were already earlier applied in the East (since November 1917), and later in Nazi Germany (since January 1933). The only difference was that from June 22, 1941, Stalin was counting on emergence of a territorially unspecified Polish state, which Hitler had never planned. Poland as the only member of the Allied side in World War II was shifted territorial (and reduced by 100 thousand sq. Km compared to August 31, 1939) and forced to exchange population, and became a satellite of the Soviet Union for 45-year – all at the request of Moscow.

The importance of civic identity for Belarusians and Lithuanians

The article captures the differences in the formation of civic attitudes among Belarusians and Lithuanians. The starting point is a brief analysis of the identity formation of both nations. Then, on the basis of a comparative analysis made using representative survey research from 2012-2022, a picture concerning the importance of selected issues of civic identity is presented. Above all, it is attachment and belonging to the state, which takes into account ethnic and civic components such as language, self-understanding through identification with the territory, nationality and citizenship, changes and differences in reference to historical heritage and approaches to European identity. We present data on respect for state institutions and the law, willingness to pay or avoid taxes as a form of support and attachment to statehood, as well as preferred form of government. We also refer to data related to sentiments towards the past and understanding Russia’s role, national pride and autostereotypical features, while juxtaposing these with the question of where Lithuanians and Belarusians see their future. Finally, we point out the importance of history, political influence and collective experiences as a basis for the formation of civic attitudes.

National Identity of Belarusians and Lithuanians: A Comparative Sociological Study

The article is a comparative analysis of the national identity of Belarusians and Lithuanians. The authors present in turn the complex processes of the formation of national identity of two groups, show their specificities in the historical, cultural and social dimensions, point to the differences and similarities, which emerge on the basis of the review of Belarusian, Lithuanian and international social research, conducted in 2010–2022. After the collapse of the Soviet Union, Lithuania and Belarus took different paths, which influenced the formation of a more consistent model of national identity for Lithuanians and complex and ambivalent one for Belarusians.