Minsk, June 25. National Academy of Sciences jointly with Defense, Education Ministries and public associations of the country are hosting the international scientific and practical forum “Belarus during the Great Patriotic War years. History and Modern Times. (to the 80th anniversary of liberation of Belarus)”. The forum will last 2 days on June 25 and 26.

NAS gave three of its facilities for the forum purposes: The Institute of History of the NAS of Belarus, the National Archive of the Republic of Belarus and the Yakub Kolas Central Scientific Library.

The forum will be attended by more than 400 people, representatives of ministries and departments of the Republic of Belarus, the Prosecutor General's Office, scientists, archivists, teachers, students, local historians, museum and library workers from Minsk, Brest, Grodno, Gomel, Vitebsk, Mogilev and other cities of Belarus, as well as historians of the Russian Federation, the Republic of Tajikistan and the Republic of Uzbekistan.

Key topics include “Modern approaches to covering the events of the Second World War and the Great Patriotic War: issues of historiography and source study”; “International relations on the eve and during the World War. Military conflicts of the interwar period (1921 - 1939)"; “Combat operations on the territory of Belarus in the summer of 1941”; “The Soviet rear during the Great Patriotic War”; “Offensive operations of the Red Army in the fall of 1943 - spring of 1944 and the first stage of the liberation of Belarus"; “Belarusian strategic offensive operation “Bagration” and the complete liberation of the territory of Belarus June 23 – July 28, 1944.”

The Belarusian strategic offensive operation Bagration, which resulted in the liberation of our republic and the end of the genocide of the Belarusian people, demonstrated to the whole world the increased capabilities of the Red Army, the high moral qualities of Soviet soldiers and officers, partisans and underground workers. Interest in this operation, the greatest in the history of the Great Patriotic War and the Second World War, does not weaken even decades later.

More than 100 reports and presentations of participants are planned within the framework of the plenary session and the work of the sections: The Great Patriotic War in the Scientific, Cultural and Memorial Dimension, Events of the Great Patriotic War and the Post-war Era. History on the Pages of School Textbooks, The Nazi Occupation Regime and the Partisan Movement on the Territory of Belarus (1941–1944).

Participants in the international scientific and practical forum will be introduced to Soviet military art during the GPW, they will be informed about the activities of anti-Soviet armed formations on the territory of Belarus during the GPW and in the early post-war years (1943 - 1950s), and also talk about the features of teaching the history of war and preserving the historical memory of the events of the GPW in the context of WW II in schools, colleges and universities.

Within the framework of the event, the Institute of History of the NAS of Belarus, the Ministry of Defense, the National Archive of the Republic of Belarus and the Yakub Kolas Central Scientific Library have prepared thematic exhibitions where participants will be able to get acquainted with artifacts from the period of the Great Patriotic War, new scientific and popular scientific publications revealing little-known pages of the Great Patriotic War.

A collection of thematic performances by the participants will be issued following the results of the forum.