Belarusian minority in Poland

Belarusian minority in Poland is composed of 48,700 people according to the Polish census of 2002. Most of them live in the Podlaskie Voivodeship.

History

Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth

Poland first acquired Ruthenian (ancestors of Belarusians) minority in 16th century, when after the Union of Lublin in 1569 Poland gained control over some of eastern territories formerly belonging to the Grand Duchy of Lithuania. Poland retained control over that region until the partitions of Poland in the late 18th century. In time, the Belarusian culture and nationality started to develop in that region, but also increasing number of people became Polonized. Later influences, particularly Lithuanization and Russification, further contributed to the blurry ethnic border and resulted in a region with many territories with significant minority of one culture or another.

1918-1939

In 1921, at the end of the Polish-Soviet War, Belarusian territories were divided between Second Polish Republic and Soviet Russia under the terms of the Peace of Riga. Thus the newly reborn Poland gained West Belarus - a disputed territory, known as Kresy, inhabited by both Belarusians and Poles. According to the Polish census of 1921, there were around 1 million Belarusians in the country. Most historians, however, estimate the number of Belarusians in Poland at that time to be from 1.7 million [Żarnowski, p. 373] up to 2 million. [Mironowicz, p. 80] Belarusians formed 3.1% of the populations of the Second Polish Republic, mostly inhabiting the east-central voivodeships, particularly the Nowogródek Voivodeship.
Several thousand Poles were settled in the area pursuant to the legislation of December 20, 1920.pl icon cite journal | author=Klara Rogalska | title=Oni byli pierwsi (They were the first)| journal=Głos znad Niemna | year=2005 | volume=7 (664) | issue=February 18 | pages= – | url=http://www.glos.wschod.org/664/historia.shtml ] In the elections of November 1922, a Belarusian party (in the "Blok Mniejszości Narodowych" coalition) obtained 14 seats in the Polish parliament (11 of them in the lower chamber, Sejm). [Mironowicz, p. 94] In the spring of 1923, Polish prime minister Władysław Sikorski ordered a report on the situation of the Belarusian minority in Poland. That summer, a new regulation was passed allowing for the Belarusian language to be used officially both in courts and in schools. Obligatory teaching of the Belarusian language was introduced in all Polish gymnasia in areas inhabited by Belarusians in 1927.Fact|date=July 2007

In the 1921-1926 period Poland did not have a consistent policy towards its ethnic minorities. Belarusian schools, not being subsidized by the Polish government, were facing severe financial problems already by 1921.Fact|date=July 2007 After an early period of liberalization, tensions between increasingly nationalistic Polish government and various increasingly separatist ethnic minorities started to grow, and Belarusian minority was no exception. Belarusian organization, The "Belarusian Peasants' and Workers' Union", was banned in 1927, and opposition to Polish government was met with state repressions. Nonetheless compared to the (larger) Ukrainian minority, Belarusian was much less politically aware and active, and thus suffered fewer repressions then the Ukrainians.

Increasingly, Belarusians in Western Belarus faced extensive Polonization, though the suppression of Belarusian identity was not as deep compared to the Russification of Soviet Belarus across the borderFact|date=February 2007. After the 1930 elections in Poland, Belarusian representation in the Polish parliament was reduced and in the early 1930s the Polish government started to introduce policies intended to Polonize minorities.

In 1935, after the death of Józef Piłsudski, a new wave of repressions was released upon the minorities, with many Orthodox churches and Belarusian schools being closed. In 1938 about 100 Orthodox churches were destroyed or converted to Roman Catholic ones in the eastern parts of Poland, the majority of them in Western Ukraine. [Mironowicz, p. 109] Use of the Belarusian language was discouraged. Not a single Belarusian school survived until the spring of 1939, and only 44 schools teaching the Belarusian language still existed in Poland at the beginning of World War II.Fact|date=July 2007

After the Molotov-Ribbentrop Pact and pursuant German and Soviet invasion of Poland in 1939, portrayed by Soviet propaganda as 'liberation of West Belarus and Ukraine', some Belorussians welcomed unification with Belorussian SSR, although attitudes of many changed after experiencing the Soviet terror. Nonetheless from 1939, with the exception of a brief period of Nazi occupation, almost all Belarusians previously living in Poland would live in the Belorussian SSR. Norman Davies, "God's Playground" (Polish edition), second tome, p.512-513] pl icon [http://www.bialorus.pl/index.php?secId=49&docId=60&&Rozdzial=historia Stosunki polsko-białoruskie pod okupacją sowiecką (1939-1941)] ]

It was initially planned to move the capital of the Byelorussian SSR to Vilnius. However, the same year Stalin ordered that the city and surrounding region be transferred to Lithuania, which some months later was also invaded by Soviet Union and became a new Soviet Republic - Lithuanian SSR. Minsk therefore was proclaimed the capital of the enlarged Byelorussian SSR. The borders of the BSSR were again altered somewhat after the war (notably the largely Polish area around the city of Białystok was returned to Poland) but in general they coincide with the borders of the modern Republic of Belarus.

After entering the Soviet Union, the people of Western Belarus, especially those who favored democracy and Belarusian independence, immediately faced violent repression from the NKVD, which may explain incidents of local collaboration with Germans during the Nazi occupation of Belarus. Refugees from Western Belarus were arrested by Soviet authorities and frequently executed, Kurapaty graves contain many products from Poland - cloths, shoes. The most prominent victim of NKVD was the activist and linguist Branislaw Tarashkyevich.Fact|date=July 2007

1989 - present

The Belarusian Minority has been active in political life in Poland since 1989.

In the 2006 elections to the Podlasie Sejmik, the Białoruski Komitet Wyborczy (Belarusian Electoral Committee) received 7.914 votes (2.05%), however this was not enough to receive any seats in the Council. The most votes from this list were for Jan Czykwin (2,405), Eugeniusz Wappa (1,669) and Eugeniusz Mironowicz (1,119).

When the local elections were repeated in the region on 20 May 2007, the Belarusians again submitted their own electoral committee, which for the first time had several Lithuanians running on the list, in their region of Sejny and Punsk.

ee also

*Kresy
*Polish minority in Belarus

Notes

External links

*pl icon [http://www.bialorus.pl/ Bialorus.pl] - portal of Belorussian minority in Poland

References

*pl icon Łukasz Kaźmierczak, [http://www.opoka.org.pl/biblioteka/P/PS/trzy_procento.html?no_header=1&no=1 Trzy procent odmienności] (Three percent of different) - article describing results of Polish census 2002 and minorities in Poland, citing census data
*pl icon Janusz Żarnowski, "Społeczeństwo Drugiej Rzeczypospolitej 1918-1939" (in Polish language), Warszawa 1973
*pl icon Eugeniusz Mironowicz, "Białoruś" (in Polish language), Trio, Warszawa, 1999, ISBN 83-85660-82-8