1/8 The “Year of Historical Memory” and Mnemonic Constitutionalism in Belarus verfassungsblog.de/mnemonic-constit-belarus/ Uladzislau Belavusau 08 September 2022 Introduction: a “lesson of history” on 1st of September 2022 amidst the war On 1st of September 2022, the academic year in all Belarusian schools started with an atypical lesson, on “ historic memory” – led in Minsk by none other than the country’s “President” himself, Aliaksandr Łukašenka, who has been in power for a quarter of a century. Earlier, by a decree, Łukašenka’s government proclaimed 2022 to be the “Year of Historical Memory” (hod histaryčnaj pamiaci). The decree follows Łukašenka’s demagogic compulsion over the interpretation of certain historical events, symbols and personalities, in particular, those regarding World War II, the “ genocide of the Belarusian people” and, consequently, the regime’s epiphanies about symbolic and historical affiliations of the democratic opposition to “Nazi collaborationism”. Apparently, any alternative interpretation of history in Łukašenka’s Belarus, including probably this analysis – had it been written by a historian inside the country – risks leading up to eight years of imprisonment, in line with recent domestic criminal legislation. This 1st-of-September pedagogic extravagancy took place amidst the Russian military aggression in Ukraine, where Łukašenka sacrificed Belarusian independence to allow Putin’s “de-Nazifying” army to attack Ukraine from the territory of Belarus, despite (unlike in Russia) barely existent support for this invasion amongst Belarusians, their close ethno-linguistic ties with Ukrainians and a history of splendid relationships between the two nations, whose cultural elites have been traditionally consolidated against Russian imperialism. Unsurprisingly, Belarusians also form the largest foreign military unit fighting on the Ukrainian side and – despite all the terror inside Belarus – continue a strong partisan movement inside their country in support of Ukraine. The terror inside Belarus culminated after mass protests by citizens against Łukašenka’s impudently falsified election results (in 2020), leading to thousands of political prisoners, tortures and murders of the democratic opponents of the regime. In the meantime, the President-Elect (since 2020), Ms. Sviatłana Cichanoūskaja (also transliterated as Tsikhanouskaya in anglophone sources), representing the country in exile at the moment, has been speaking explicitly – along with all other major Belarusian opposition leaders – in support of Ukraine and against Russia’s war. She also speaks against the de facto “double