Belarus

The Belarusian award ceremony took place during an international science conference entitled "September 1939 in Historical Tradition and Oral History" which was held in Minsk on 26 and 27 September 2014. The topic of the past competition round was "1939 in the Memory of Inhabitants of Belarus".

The tight event programme included 32 speakers from Belarus and Poland, the prohibited exhibition of Igor Melnikov "Westbelarusian Atlantis", Yegor Surski's movie premiere "Autumn 1939: on the Verge of Memory" with the participation of witnesses of the autumn of 1939, and Anatoly Trofimchuk's book presentation "1939 and Belarus: the Forgotten War".

The following honorary guests of the event congratulated the winners: EUSTORY representative Alicja Gluza, jury members Nina Stuzhinskaya and Irina Koval, Organising Committee Chairman Ales Smalanczuk and artists of the Belarusian Yanka Kupala Drama Theatre.

Contest winners are:

1st place: "Western Belarus between 1921 and 1939 and the BSSR reunification in the memories of Kamenetchyna inhabitants” by Polina Gurinovich, Anna Cherutich, "Belovezhskaya high school", agro-town Belovezhski, Kamenets district, Brest region. Supervisor: L.M. Gurinovich.

2nd place: "Mahro land and September 1939" by Alexander Rozhkovec, "Mahrowskaja high school", v. Mahro, Ivanovo district, Brest region. Supervisor: V.A. Romaniuk.

3rd place: "Historical pages of Stolbcy town school education. Polish gymnasium” by Milena Kuyanova, Shainov Roman, Kanatopava Polina, Gymnasium №1, t. Stolbcy, Minsk region. Supervisor: P.S. Nazarenko.

Special prize of the organising Committee: "Reunification of the Western Belarus and BSSR in the memories of witnesses" by Alesya Davydenko, School №1, Zhodino, Minsk region. Supervisor: S.M. Apanasevich.

Additional contest:
1st place: "From Warsaw to Berlin, the story of a soldier..." by Denis Kravchenko, Vitebsk.
Creative work prize: "Airplane" by Christina Pribysh, v. Zakozel, Drahichyn district, Brest region.

All participants were awarded with special prizes and mementos. In addition, the winners' works are posted in a special section of the web page of the Belarusian Oral History Archive project and will later be published in the conference “September 1939 in historical tradition and oral history” proceedings.

In conclusion, all conference participants and contest winners were invited to take part in an educative trip along the former border of 1921-1939. During this journey, historian Igor Melnikov organised a transit of the Soviet-Polish border with the participation of Soviet and Polish border guards. The participants drove along the former border: Semkovo, Zaslavl, a Novoje Polie, Crayfish, Dzerzhinsk Niehoreloje in order to feel the spirit of the time, which is preserved only in memory.