Majority of Belarusians feel proud of their nation when they hear about WWII, the poll shows
Most Belarusians feel proud of their nation when they hear about the Great Patriotic War – as noted by Aleksandr Postalovsky, the Deputy Director for Research of the Sociology Institute at Belarus’ National Academy of Sciences, when sharing data of a public opinion poll, BelTA reports
In order to study the opinion of residents of the Republic of Belarus about the Great Patriotic War, the Institute of Sociology of the National Academy of Sciences conducted a public opinion poll in Q1 2024, covering 900 respondents. The survey was carried out in all regional centres and the city of Minsk, as well as separate district towns and rural settlements.
Among the feelings that Belarusians have when they hear about the Great Patriotic War, pride in the nation was mentioned first (60.1 percent), as well as fear that the war could happen again (56.4 percent). This indicates that the significance of Victory and, as a consequence, the special value of peaceful existence are firmly entrenched in the minds of the Belarusian people. In this regard, respondents also named grief and sorrow (52.8 percent), gratitude to the war participants (48.4 percent), joy for Victory (44.8 percent) and patriotism (39.2 percent).
“Those polled could choose several answers about the feelings the Great Patriotic War evokes. The fear that it could repeat means that people understand the heavy price this Victory was given to all of us. The feeling of pride is mentioned, because – despite all the hardships and difficulties of the war – our country survived won, defended its independence and achieved victory in the bloodiest war of the human history. Of course, elements of pride still prevail in this regard, alongside a feeling of celebration in connection with May 9th. At the same time, of course, people also understand the tragedy of those events,” Aleksandr Postalovsky noted.
At the same time, 91.9 percent of Belarusians say with confidence they are proud to live in one of the countries that achieved victory in the Great Patriotic War.
