Geographia Polonica (2026) vol. 99, iss. 2
The Brest Fortress in the borderland context: Symbolism, memory and heritage
Geographia Polonica (2026) vol. 99, iss. 2, pp. 275-303 | 
Full text
doi: https://doi.org/10.7163/GPol.0327
Abstract
Drawing hundreds of thousands of tourists annually, predominantly from Belarus and Russia, Brest Fortress plays a pivotal role in shaping pro-Russian consciousness. It achieves this by reviving (post-)Soviet ideological motifs and by highlighting the self-sacrifice and heroism of the Fortress’s defenders in 1941, effectively translating these narratives into contemporary anti-Western contexts. For other nationalities — Poles, Germans, etc.— this tourist product could also hold significant historical importance related to the events of World War I and II as a site of remembrance. The main goal of the paper has been to examine and assess the symbolic perception by tourists of different nationalities of the Brest Fortress — including both the Memorial Complex on the Belarusian side of the border and the Terespol Bridgehead on the Polish side.
Keywords: Brest Fortress, Belarus, Poland, memory, symbolism, tourism, heritage, border
[aliaksandrc@twarda.pan.pl], Institute of Geography and Spatial Organization Polish Academy of Sciences Twarda 51/55, 00-818 Warsaw: Poland
[marekw@twarda.pan.pl], Institute of Geography and Spatial Organization Polish Academy of Sciences Twarda 51/55, 00-818 Warsaw: Poland
