“I Wiped My Tears So People Wouldn’t Know I Was Crying”: Women’s Voices in the Belarusian History

Abstract The article explores the gender dimension of memory in Belarusian historiography, highlighting the role of female memoirs in constructing multidimensional historical narratives. It focuses on the representation of the end of World War II and the experience of migration in women’s memoirs, particularly those of Ivonka Survila, Nadzia Zaprudnik, and Tamara Stahanovič-Kolba. The author argues for the inclusion of female experiences as a means of unsilencing voices and creating a more comprehensive history. The article employs feminist historiography and an intersectional approach, revealing such gaps as the everyday life of migration, its gender dimension and violent side of the war that emerge when the gendered aspect of memory is overlooked.