The image of Poland and the Poles in the perception of Belarusians in the 16th – 30s of the 20th century

The article examines the process of formation of the image of Poland and Poles in the perception of Belarusians in the 16th century – 30th years of the 20th century, characterizes the image itself, as well as its socio-cultural and ethno-political functions. The author comes to the conclusion that its formation was the result of Poland's expansion into the territory of the present-day Belarus. Having achieved complete political dominance here by the middle of the 17th century, the Poles pushed the Belarusians also to the periphery of economic and social life. This created in their ethnic environment an emotional and psychological basis for the formation of negative perception of Poles. In the course of the Belarusian national-cultural revival of the 19th - early 20th centuries, this image was further developed, largely determined by the Russian image-making influence. The annexation of Western Belarus by Poland, which regained its independence, in 1921 and the beginning of its colonization, the brutal suppression of any attempts of the Belarusian minority to fight for their rights, turning them into ‘second-class’ citizens and an object of polonization, presented it and the Poles themselves in the perception of Belarusians in the most negative light. After the May 1926 coup, the Polish state was seen as a fascist dictatorship oppressing not only national minorities but also the Polish people. Its military preparations allowed presenting it in the image of a provocateur of a new war against the USSR and a possible instigator of it. The introduction of this image into the consciousness of Western Belarusians promoted their ethno-national consolidation, prevented them from being influenced by Polish nationalist influence, and contributed to the preservation of the feeling of national unity with their eastern brothers. It contributed to the introduction into their public consciousness of confidence in the inevitability of the reunification of Belarus and the Belarusian people, and also helped to form in the Belarusian society (both in the BSSR and in Western Belarus) the corresponding moods and expectations, to create emotional and psychological prerequisites necessary to support any actions of the Soviet government aimed at solving the problem of reunification. The liberation campaign of the Red Army, which became an inevitable consequence of the collapse of the Polish state as a result of the blow dealt to it by Nazi Germany, became the materialization of these expectations, allowing, at last, to restore the unity of Belarus and the Belarusian people. Thus, the author proves that the negative image of Poland and Poles, rooted in the perception of Belarusians during their ethnogenesis and finally developed in the interwar period (1918-1939), acted as a factor of the historical process, contributing to the strengthening of the national consciousness of Belarusians and their ethno-political mobilization at the most difficult and crucial moments of their historical path, and also contributed to the creation and development of the Belarusian state.