Dovzhenko's Liberation

Aleksandr Dovzhenko. Liberation (1940)

Directors: Aleksandr Dovzhenko, Yulia Solntseva; Writer: Aleksandr Dovzhenko; Production: Kiev Film Studio;

Aleksandr Dovzhenko's Liberation (Освобождение, 1940) is a documentary-fiction hybrid celebrating the Soviet annexation of western Ukraine and western Belorussia in September 1939 — the territories seized under the terms of the Molotov-Ribbentrop Pact. Combining staged scenes with newsreel footage, the film presents the Red Army's entry into formerly Polish-held lands as a joyous reunification of Ukrainian and Belarusian peoples with their Soviet kin, suppressing any trace of the coercion and terror that accompanied occupation.

1939

Aleksandr Gerasimov All-Union Agricultural Exhibition Cult of Personality Great Fergana Canal Labor Discipline The Lost Census The New Patriotism Soviet Territorial Annexations Spartak-Dinamo Tractor Drivers