Ego-­documents as sources for the history of Belarusian national movement in interwar western Belarus

Abstract

The main theoretical approaches that exist in domestic and foreign historiography on the problem of ego­docu­ ments are given in the introduction. Role of the Dutch historian Jacques Presser in creation of this term and its use in foreign historical science in the 1980–1990s is analyzed. The author of the article, taking into account European experience, is trying to give his own definition of the term “ego­documents”, adapted to Belarusian historiography. The author also notes the scientific feasibility of the active use of ego­documents when studying the history of the Belarusian national movement in the interwar Western Belarus.The main part of the article reveals the scientific value of ego­documents as sources for studying various topics related to the history of the Belarusian national movement in the interwar Western Belarus. As an example, the author took letters to the Vilnius Belarusian bookstore, and analyzed the scientific potential of business correspondence as part of epistolary sources. Five types of memoir literature, which help to expand knowledge about various figures of the Belarusian movement in the interwar Western Belarus, were formed. An analysis of university autobiography and curriculum vitae emphasizes the lack of knowledge of this type of ego­documents and its scientific value in the study of relations between Belarusian activists and the Polish state.In conclusion, conclusions are drawn about the insignificant use of ego­documents in the study of the history of Bela­ rusian nationalism in the interwar Western Belarus. The anthropological turn in historiography has determined the desire of modern historians to pay attention to the everyday problem of the Belarusian movement, its local features that determines the active use of ego­documents as sources.