Based on the analysis of 30 biographical narrative interviews with male and female residents of post-Soviet Belarus, the following four schematic narrative templates of Belarusian collective identity have been identified: the pro-Russian narrative, victimized negative identity, Belarusian nationalist scheme and pro-democratic narrative template. The focus of the article is on the interpretive frame of ‘collectivization of innocence’ as a foundation for the victimized negative ethnic identity and the pro-democratic narrative template underpinning a civil polity project. Excerpts of the interviews exhibiting the conflicting templates have been analyzed as illustrative examples.