Belarus: A Tale of Two Flags

Belarus is an unfortunate country. Growing up it was often overshadowed sandwiched between Poland, Ukraine Russia and the Baltic states. It rarely made the news except for brief snippets about its heavy handed government and apart from the phrase "Europe's last dictatorship" I can't recall much about the nation I didn't stumble upon when looking up something else that turned out to have a connection to it. Until 2020, then at least Belarus for a few weeks became big news. The pressure had finally grown too much, one fraudulent election too many had sparked much larger protests than the usual suspects, mainly anarchists and football hooligans. 

These were massive demonstrations that kept growing, strikes paralysed the whole economy and Lukashenko the dictator since 1994 looked visibly rattled and shaky as he shuffled from one besieged stronghold to another in a helicopter while wearing body armour. It looked like he'd finally pushed his luck too far. But alas, his security enforcers remained loyal and the Russian Federation a nation with a very complex and bitter relationship with Belarus took advantage and sent vital support. And since then, while Lukashenko and the Belarusian government have lost their popularity and friends in Europe, they've gained a small following in the worst circles of the online "revolutionary" gossip network.

They have their work cut out for them as even amongst the dictators Lukashenko struggles to stand out. And he's also openly praised Hitler and condemned homosexual men in blunt terms, so its not hard to collapse attempts to make him look more than the cunning thug that he is. One key tactic has been to talk up the large state sector in the Belarusian economy, but even we concede that large state involvement in the economy is a good thing, its hard to overlook the fact that Lukashenko has been in power since 1995 and the economy has had a series of privatisations. Sell offs that benefit himself and his key cronies. 

Another tactic has been to go on the offensive, and its quite audacious. The argument boiled down to its essentials is to accuse the Belarusian opposition of being Nazis by association. The most symbol of the opposition to Lukashenko is the white, red and white tricolour. This flag is not new, it has a long history which I shall outline to the best of my ability. As to why this is key, well this image should explain much of it.

The image on the right is the main feature for now. Its a photograph of the collaborationist government established in Belarus between 1941-44 when the country was occupied by Nazi Germany. You may find it odd that the flag is in colour when the rest of the photo is in black and white, yes it has been edited, though the collaboration government did use the flag so it seems like the person who edited the image didn't trust the audience to make the connection without further elaboration. And further elaboration must be avoided at all costs.

I've seen the photograph on the right have a wide circulation, whenever anyone expresses criticism of the dictatorship which has oppressed millions for decades and is currently facilitating a brutal war of aggression against its neighbour Ukraine, someone will pop that photo into the mix. Its always a pathetic tactic to equate opposition to Nazis, but given how brutal the occupation of Belarus was with some estimates going as high as 25% of the population lost, and how committed its people were to partisan warfare its particularly vile.

Its also deliberately dishonest. It's true that the brief collaborationist government used that flag as its symbol but that's because it was already a common and recognisable symbol of Belarus and its people. The flag was designed in 1918 for the Belarusian People's Republic (also known as the Democratic Republic of Belarus). The designer was Klawdziy Duzh-Dushewski, who was a member of the Belarusian Socialist Assembly. When Poland and the Soviet Union invaded Belarus he left for Lithuania. He was arrested by the Soviet authorities when they invaded that nation in 1940, but was released and sent back to the Belarus Soviet Socialist Republic (SSR). A year later after operation Barbarossa the German army installs a puppet government. This government widely adopts his design for flags and patches among other symbols of the Belarusian national movement. However, Duzh-Dushewski refused to collaborate and hid a Jewish family in his home. When this was discovered Duzh-Dushewski was sent to the Pravieniškės concentration camp in Lithuania. He survived the war, but in 1952 he was arrested by Soviet authorities again for the crime of Belarusian nationalism, he was sent to a labour camp but was released in 1955, he died four years later in 1959. In 2004 the Jewish community of Lithuania successfully petitioned the President of Lithuania to honour him for his activism during the war.

Klawdziy Duzh-Dushewski (left)

This should be enough to knock this idiotic argument on its head, but there is even more historical evidence to consider. After the second world war the white,red, white flag became a common symbol amongst the Belarus diaspora and used by groups representing many political persuasions. It was censored in the Soviet Union until the 1980s when it became a symbol of opposition within the Belarus SSR. When the Soviet Union collapsed in 1991 the independent Belarus revived the flag as its own, and it remained as such until 1995 when the recently elected Lukashenko changed it to the current official flag of Belarus. This again transformed the white,red,white tricolour into a flag of opposition and it has been used by many Belarusian groups ever since. And after 2020 has exploded in popularity.

But this still isn't the end of the story. See, if the Nazi's used it so it must be tainted forever, well the Lukashenko supporters have a major problem. The current flag of Belarus is this

Which is a copy of a Belarus SSR flag adopted in 1951

The only key difference is the removal of the hammer and sickle and star.

Why is this an issue? Well, like the white, red, white flag this one has a designer with an interesting history. Nikolai Husev is the designer of this flag. He was a supporter of the Communist party through his painting. When Belarus was occupied he collaborated, he painted portraits for German officers and Radoslav Ostrovsky the leader of the collaboration government, and even portraits of Hitler. 

A sample of Husev's work

Created in 1940 to celebrate Stalin

Portrait of Hitler commissioned in 1943 and displayed in Minsk

So, if a flag should be consindered beyond reclamation it would have to be the Lukashenko one, copied from the work of a collaborator, used by a tyrant whose openly praised Hitler, with no redeeming qualities.

The Russian Connection

Many if not all of the perpetrators of this terrible argument are weirdly supporters of the Russian Federation. This shows either they're extremely audacious or incredibly sloppy, the current flag of the Russian Federation is the white, blue and red tricolour. Like the Belarus opposition tricolour the Russian one didn't pop out of thin air in 1991. It has a long lineage and that lineage intersects with the Nazis.

Members of the Russian Liberation Army a pro Axis fighting force

The German army also occupy large parts of Russia during the Second World War, and during that period hundreds of thousands of Russians supported multiple collaboration organisations and fighting forces. Curiously  most of them had patches and emblems that seem very familiar.

Emblem of the First Russian National Army, estimated to have been 10,000 in size

Emblem of the Russian Protective Corps, a pro German anti-partisan unit

But that's in the past, what of today? Well, the Russian Armed Forces (RAF) have for a number of years been supplementing their forces with irregular private military forces, most of whom have very open and obvious far right links. 

Members of the Wagner Group a mercenary group owned and operated in Russia and deployed worldwide including supporting the RAF in Ukraine and Syria

Now, despite the heavy associations and links I don't automatically assume everyone displaying a Russian or Belarusian flag is a Nazi or a supporter of some Eurasian off shoot. But I don't see how someone could do the same to Belarusians using the white, red and white flag but not in these two other cases, but that assumes that their argument is genuinely and not just a lazy example of propaganda. 

Also, thanks to my friend, for informing about Nikolai Husev.