Valzhyna Mort, in an interview, characterises the people of Belarussia as having undergone much, and being a non-aggressive people, basically. And it clicked — what might have caused the people of Minsk to be so non-belligerent? What part of her history can this be attributed to? To the USSR, since 1917? Or much earlier? Is there something especial about Minsk that I am missing?