Polish minority in Belarus
Encyclopedia
The Polish
minority in Belarus
numbers officially about 294,549 according to 2009 census. It forms the second largest ethnic minority in the country after the Russians
, at 3,1% of the total population. An estimated 180,905 Polish Belarusians live in large agglomerations and 113,644 in smaller settlements, with the number of women exceeding the number of men by about 33,000. Some estimates by Polish non-governmental sources in the U.S. are higher, citing the previous poll held in 1989 under the Soviet authorities with 413,000 Poles recorded.
Since the dissolution of the Soviet Union
and the emergence of sovereign Republic of Belarus, the situation of the Polish minority has been steadily improving. The politics of Sovietization
pursued by decades of indoctrination, went down in history. Poles in Belarus began re-establishing the Polish language schools and their legal right of participating in the religious life. However, the attitude of new authorities to Polish minority including the Roman Catholic Church are not very consistent. The new laws are insufficient, and the local levels of Bielarusian government are largely unwilling to accept the aspirations of their own ethnic Poles, making them into new targets for state-sanctioned intolerance, according to 2005 report by The Economist
.
among others. The proto-Belarusian language, called Ruthenian or Old Belarusian was protected by law in the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth
and used as local vernacular, while both Polish and Latin languages were the lingua franca
of the throne. "As the 16th century drew to a close" – wrote Andrew Savchenko about the local nobles, they had to contend with "an increasingly stark choice: to strengthen their ties with Poland or to suffer disastrous military defeat and subjugation" by the Russian Empire
, thus leading to their voluntary Polonization
. Throughout the 19th century, "the mass of unassuming peasants was subjected to active Russification
" by the Tsarist authorities including the abolition of the Uniate Church created by the Union of Brest
, a uniquely Belarusian institution and the cornerstone of the Belarusian nation.
The territories of the Russian Empire consisting of modern Belarus were divided in 1921 between Poland and the Russian Soviet Federative Socialist Republic
at the Treaty of Riga, thus ending the Polish-Soviet War
. Thousands of Poles settled in the area following the peace treaty. 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
). In 1923, 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. Minsk
was home to a Polish-speaking national theatre of Belarus. The Polish community had its organizations there and the Roman Catholic Church of Saints Simon and Helena.
Meanwhile, in East Belarus the Soviet authorities liquidated most Polish organizations in early 1930s. In 1937–1938 the Soviet NKVD
and the Communist Party
attempted to erradicate Poles as a minority group in East Belarus during the largest ethnic shooting and deportation action of the Great Terror
.
s; amounting to 139,835 Polish victims across the country (10% of the officially persecuted persons during the entire Yezhovshchina period, with confirming NKVD documents). About 17% of the total number of victims came from Byelorussia, among them, thousands of peasants, railway workers, industrial labourers, engineers and similar others, resulting in near collapse of its economy. The coordinated actions of the Soviet NKVD and the Communist Party
in 1937-1938 against Polish minority living in the Soviet Union, representing only 0.4 percent of Soviet citizens, amounted to an ethnic genocide
as defined by the UN convention, concluded historian Michael Ellman
. His opinion is shared by Simon Sebag Montefiore
, Prof. Marek Jan Chodakiewicz
, and Dr Tomasz Sommer
among others. In a typical Stalinist fashion, the murdered Polish families were accused of "anti-Soviet" activities and state terrorism.
was actively operating on the territory of modern Belarus, although many ethnic Belarusians also actively participated in the movement. Soon after the Soviet invasion of Poland
, the former territories of Kresy
were divided between Germany and the Soviet Union in accordance with the Molotov–Ribbentrop Pact and subsequently, incorporated into the Russian Soviet Federative Socialist Republic
following staged elections
. The area that became part of the USSR formed the new West Belarus
.
In their attack, the Red Army
overrun 52.1% of territory of interwar Poland
with over 13,700,000 inhabitants. The Soviet occupation zone included also 336,000 new refugees who escaped from Polish lands invaded by Germany, numbering at around 198,000. Spreading terror throughout the region, the Soviet secret police (NKVD)
accompanying the Red Army massacred Polish prisoners of war, and in less than two years, deported up to 1.5 million ethnic Poles to Siberia including Poles and Polish Jews from West Belarus. Twenty-one months after the Soviet invasion of Poland, during the German Operation Barbarossa
of June 1941, West Belarus was overrun again by the Wehrmacht
followed closely behind by Einsatzgruppen
and the mass executions of Polish Jews commenced.
Towards the end of World War II in Europe
, at the insistence of Joseph Stalin during the Tehran Conference
of 1943, West Belarus was formally ceded by the Allies to the Belorussian SSR. The Polish population was soon forcibly resettled
as part of the Soviet-Polish population exchange. Many inhabitants of Belarus who identified themselves as Poles were allowed to go back to Poland
. In exchange, several thousands of Belarusians from parts of the former Belastok Voblast
were resettled to Belarus
.
The remaining Polish minority in Belarus was significantly discriminated against during the times of the Soviet Union. Until 1949 all Polish language schools were replaced with the Russian, and not even a single one remained due to continuing policies of Sovietization
. All Polish organizations and social clubs were liquidated. Incidentally, the Poles were the only ethnic group in Belorussian SSR whose existence was denied by communist administration. The situation of the Polish minority started to improve only in the later years of the Soviet Union prior to its dissolution, but faced difficulties from the government of Alexander Lukashenko
.
, Poles certainly form the second largest minority group in Belarus. The majority of Poles live in the Western regions including 230,000 in the Hrodna voblast
. The largest Polish organization in Belarus is the Union of Poles in Belarus
(Związek Polaków na Białorusi), with over 20,000 members.
As Poland supports the pro-democracy opposition in Belarus, Polish-Belarusian relations
are poor, and representatives of the Polish minority in Belarus often complain about various repressions
, such as the jailing for 15 days, of the former head of the Union of Poles, Tadeusz Gawin. He was sentenced on 2 August 2005 for arranging a meeting between a visiting deputy speaker of the Polish parliament, Donald Tusk
, and the ethnic Polish activists including Veslaw Kewlyak, also sentenced for 15 days. The Lukashenko government launched a campaign against the Polish ethnic minority claiming that they were trying to destabilise the balance of power, and that the Polish minority is a fifth column
(see, earlier Soviet proclamations). In May and June of that year a Polish diplomat was expelled, a Polish-language newspaper was closed and the democratically-elected leadership of a local Polish organisation, the Union of Poles in Belarus
(UPB), had their own nominees forcibly replaced by those sympathetic to Lukashenko.
The introduction of the Karta Polaka (Polish Charter) in 2007 confirming Polish heritage of individuals who cannot obtain dual citizenship in their own countries, enabled many thousands of inhabitants of Belarus to formally declare their Polish identity for the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Poland. The introduction caused protests from Belarusian officials.
Poles
thumb|right|180px|The state flag of [[Poland]] as used by Polish government and diplomatic authoritiesThe Polish people, or Poles , are a nation indigenous to Poland. They are united by the Polish language, which belongs to the historical Lechitic subgroup of West Slavic languages of Central Europe...
minority in Belarus
Belarus
Belarus , officially the Republic of Belarus, is a landlocked country in Eastern Europe, bordered clockwise by Russia to the northeast, Ukraine to the south, Poland to the west, and Lithuania and Latvia to the northwest. Its capital is Minsk; other major cities include Brest, Grodno , Gomel ,...
numbers officially about 294,549 according to 2009 census. It forms the second largest ethnic minority in the country after the Russians
Russians in Belarus
There are currently around 1.2 million Russians in Belarus, which accounts for 11.4% of the population of Belarus and builds up the largest national minority in the country....
, at 3,1% of the total population. An estimated 180,905 Polish Belarusians live in large agglomerations and 113,644 in smaller settlements, with the number of women exceeding the number of men by about 33,000. Some estimates by Polish non-governmental sources in the U.S. are higher, citing the previous poll held in 1989 under the Soviet authorities with 413,000 Poles recorded.
Since the dissolution of the Soviet Union
Dissolution of the Soviet Union
The dissolution of the Soviet Union was the disintegration of the federal political structures and central government of the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics , resulting in the independence of all fifteen republics of the Soviet Union between March 11, 1990 and December 25, 1991...
and the emergence of sovereign Republic of Belarus, the situation of the Polish minority has been steadily improving. The politics of Sovietization
Sovietization
Sovietization is term that may be used with two distinct meanings:*the adoption of a political system based on the model of soviets .*the adoption of a way of life and mentality modelled after the Soviet Union....
pursued by decades of indoctrination, went down in history. Poles in Belarus began re-establishing the Polish language schools and their legal right of participating in the religious life. However, the attitude of new authorities to Polish minority including the Roman Catholic Church are not very consistent. The new laws are insufficient, and the local levels of Bielarusian government are largely unwilling to accept the aspirations of their own ethnic Poles, making them into new targets for state-sanctioned intolerance, according to 2005 report by The Economist
The Economist
The Economist is an English-language weekly news and international affairs publication owned by The Economist Newspaper Ltd. and edited in offices in the City of Westminster, London, England. Continuous publication began under founder James Wilson in September 1843...
.
History
Polish ethnic and cultural presence in modern Belarus are an intricate part of its history. The lands of modern Belarus are the birthplace of Kosciuszko, Mickiewicz and DomejkoIgnacy Domeyko
Ignacy Domeyko or Domejko was a 19th-century geologist, mineralogist and educator who was born in Nesvizh, Imperial Russia , into a Polish-Lithuanian family...
among others. The proto-Belarusian language, called Ruthenian or Old Belarusian was protected by law in the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth
Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth
The Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth was a dualistic state of Poland and Lithuania ruled by a common monarch. It was the largest and one of the most populous countries of 16th- and 17th‑century Europe with some and a multi-ethnic population of 11 million at its peak in the early 17th century...
and used as local vernacular, while both Polish and Latin languages were the lingua franca
Lingua franca
A lingua franca is a language systematically used to make communication possible between people not sharing a mother tongue, in particular when it is a third language, distinct from both mother tongues.-Characteristics:"Lingua franca" is a functionally defined term, independent of the linguistic...
of the throne. "As the 16th century drew to a close" – wrote Andrew Savchenko about the local nobles, they had to contend with "an increasingly stark choice: to strengthen their ties with Poland or to suffer disastrous military defeat and subjugation" by the Russian Empire
Russian Empire
The Russian Empire was a state that existed from 1721 until the Russian Revolution of 1917. It was the successor to the Tsardom of Russia and the predecessor of the Soviet Union...
, thus leading to their voluntary Polonization
Polonization
Polonization was the acquisition or imposition of elements of Polish culture, in particular, Polish language, as experienced in some historic periods by non-Polish populations of territories controlled or substantially influenced by Poland...
. Throughout the 19th century, "the mass of unassuming peasants was subjected to active Russification
Russification
Russification is an adoption of the Russian language or some other Russian attributes by non-Russian communities...
" by the Tsarist authorities including the abolition of the Uniate Church created by the Union of Brest
Union of Brest
Union of Brest or Union of Brześć refers to the 1595-1596 decision of the Church of Rus', the "Metropolia of Kiev-Halych and all Rus'", to break relations with the Patriarch of Constantinople and place themselves under the Pope of Rome. At the time, this church included most Ukrainians and...
, a uniquely Belarusian institution and the cornerstone of the Belarusian nation.
The territories of the Russian Empire consisting of modern Belarus were divided in 1921 between Poland and the Russian Soviet Federative Socialist Republic
Russian Soviet Federative Socialist Republic
The Russian Soviet Federative Socialist Republic , commonly referred to as Soviet Russia, Bolshevik Russia, or simply Russia, was the largest, most populous and economically developed republic in the former Soviet Union....
at the Treaty of Riga, thus ending the Polish-Soviet War
Polish-Soviet War
The Polish–Soviet War was an armed conflict between Soviet Russia and Soviet Ukraine and the Second Polish Republic and the Ukrainian People's Republic—four states in post–World War I Europe...
. Thousands of Poles settled in the area following the peace treaty. In the elections of November 1922
Polish legislative election, 1922
The Polish legislative election, 1922 lasted from 2 to 12 November and was the second election in the Second Polish Republic. The elections were won by Polish Right party, National Populist Association , however it did not obtain a majority - it got only 98 out of 444 seats...
, a Belarusian party (in the Blok Mniejszości Narodowych coalition) obtained 14 seats in the Polish parliament
Parliament
A parliament is a legislature, especially in those countries whose system of government is based on the Westminster system modeled after that of the United Kingdom. The name is derived from the French , the action of parler : a parlement is a discussion. The term came to mean a meeting at which...
(11 of them in the lower chamber, Sejm
Sejm
The Sejm is the lower house of the Polish parliament. The Sejm is made up of 460 deputies, or Poseł in Polish . It is elected by universal ballot and is presided over by a speaker called the Marshal of the Sejm ....
). In 1923, a new regulation was passed allowing for the Belarusian language
Belarusian language
The Belarusian language , sometimes referred to as White Russian or White Ruthenian, is the language of the Belarusian people...
to be used officially both in courts and in schools. Obligatory teaching of the Belarusian language was introduced in all Polish gymnasia
Gymnasium (school)
A gymnasium is a type of school providing secondary education in some parts of Europe, comparable to English grammar schools or sixth form colleges and U.S. college preparatory high schools. The word γυμνάσιον was used in Ancient Greece, meaning a locality for both physical and intellectual...
in areas inhabited by Belarusians in 1927. Minsk
Minsk
- Ecological situation :The ecological situation is monitored by Republican Center of Radioactive and Environmental Control .During 2003–2008 the overall weight of contaminants increased from 186,000 to 247,400 tons. The change of gas as industrial fuel to mazut for financial reasons has worsened...
was home to a Polish-speaking national theatre of Belarus. The Polish community had its organizations there and the Roman Catholic Church of Saints Simon and Helena.
Meanwhile, in East Belarus the Soviet authorities liquidated most Polish organizations in early 1930s. In 1937–1938 the Soviet NKVD
NKVD
The People's Commissariat for Internal Affairs was the public and secret police organization of the Soviet Union that directly executed the rule of power of the Soviets, including political repression, during the era of Joseph Stalin....
and the Communist Party
Communist Party of the Soviet Union
The Communist Party of the Soviet Union was the only legal, ruling political party in the Soviet Union and one of the largest communist organizations in the world...
attempted to erradicate Poles as a minority group in East Belarus during the largest ethnic shooting and deportation action of the Great Terror
Great Purge
The Great Purge was a series of campaigns of political repression and persecution in the Soviet Union orchestrated by Joseph Stalin from 1936 to 1938...
.
The "Polish operation" of the NKVD
Just prior to the 1939 Invasion of Poland, the Soviet Byelorussia witnessed the genocide of Poles in the Soviet Union resulting in the virtual erradication of Polish minority along the border. The state-sanctioned campaign of mass-murder which took place approximately from August 25, 1937 to November 15, 1938, according to archives of the Soviet NKVD, resulted in the killing of 111,091 ethnic Poles (mostly men). Additional 28,744 were sentenced to death-ridden labor campLabor camp
A labor camp is a simplified detention facility where inmates are forced to engage in penal labor. Labor camps have many common aspects with slavery and with prisons...
s; amounting to 139,835 Polish victims across the country (10% of the officially persecuted persons during the entire Yezhovshchina period, with confirming NKVD documents). About 17% of the total number of victims came from Byelorussia, among them, thousands of peasants, railway workers, industrial labourers, engineers and similar others, resulting in near collapse of its economy. The coordinated actions of the Soviet NKVD and the Communist Party
Communist Party of the Soviet Union
The Communist Party of the Soviet Union was the only legal, ruling political party in the Soviet Union and one of the largest communist organizations in the world...
in 1937-1938 against Polish minority living in the Soviet Union, representing only 0.4 percent of Soviet citizens, amounted to an ethnic genocide
Genocide definitions
This is a list of scholarly and international legal definitions of genocide, a word coined by Raphael Lemkin in 1944. While there are various definitions of the term, almost all international bodies of law officially adjudicate the crime of genocide pursuant to the Convention on the Prevention and...
as defined by the UN convention, concluded historian Michael Ellman
Michael Ellman
Michael Ellman has been a professor of economics at the University of Amsterdam since 1978. He has written extensively on the economics of the Soviet Union, transition economics, Russia and comparative economic systems.- Prizes and honours :* Foreign member of the Russian Academy of Economic...
. His opinion is shared by Simon Sebag Montefiore
Simon Sebag Montefiore
Simon Jonathan Sebag Montefiore is a British historian and writer.-Family history:Simon's father, a doctor, is descended from a famous line of wealthy Sephardic Jews who became diplomats and bankers all over Europe...
, Prof. Marek Jan Chodakiewicz
Marek Jan Chodakiewicz
Marek Jan Chodakiewicz is a Polish-American historian specializing in East Central European history of the 19th and 20th century. His historical works include: After the Holocaust: Polish-Jewish Relations in the Wake of World War II, and Between Nazis and Soviets: Occupation Politics in Poland...
, and Dr Tomasz Sommer
Tomasz Sommer
Tomasz Krzysztof Sommer is a Polish writer, journalist and publisher, Editor-in-chief of weekly magazine Najwyższy CZAS. Sommer graduated from the University of Warsaw Department of Journalism and Political Science, and received his Ph.D...
among others. In a typical Stalinist fashion, the murdered Polish families were accused of "anti-Soviet" activities and state terrorism.
1939 invasion of Poland
Following the Nazi–Soviet Invasion of Poland in 1939, the Polish anti-German resistance movement Armia KrajowaArmia Krajowa
The Armia Krajowa , or Home Army, was the dominant Polish resistance movement in World War II German-occupied Poland. It was formed in February 1942 from the Związek Walki Zbrojnej . Over the next two years, it absorbed most other Polish underground forces...
was actively operating on the territory of modern Belarus, although many ethnic Belarusians also actively participated in the movement. Soon after the Soviet invasion of Poland
Soviet invasion of Poland (1939)
The 1939 Soviet invasion of Poland was a Soviet military operation that started without a formal declaration of war on 17 September 1939, during the early stages of World War II. Sixteen days after Nazi Germany invaded Poland from the west, the Soviet Union did so from the east...
, the former territories of Kresy
Kresy
The Polish term Kresy refers to a land considered by Poles as historical eastern provinces of their country. Today, it makes western Ukraine, western Belarus, as well as eastern Lithuania, with such major cities, as Lviv, Vilnius, and Hrodna. This territory belonged to the Polish-Lithuanian...
were divided between Germany and the Soviet Union in accordance with the Molotov–Ribbentrop Pact and subsequently, incorporated into the Russian Soviet Federative Socialist Republic
Russian Soviet Federative Socialist Republic
The Russian Soviet Federative Socialist Republic , commonly referred to as Soviet Russia, Bolshevik Russia, or simply Russia, was the largest, most populous and economically developed republic in the former Soviet Union....
following staged elections
Elections to the People's Assemblies of Western Ukraine and Western Belarus
Elections to the People's Assemblies of Western Ukraine and Western Belarus, which took place on October 22, 1939, were an attempt to legitimate territorial gains of the Soviet Union, at the expense of the Second Polish Republic...
. The area that became part of the USSR formed the new West Belarus
West Belarus
West Belarus is the name used in reference to the territory of modern Belarus which belonged to the Second Polish Republic between 1919 and 1939. The area of West Belarus was annexed into the Belarusian Soviet Socialist Republic following staged elections soon after the Nazi-Soviet Invasion of...
.
In their attack, the Red Army
Red Army
The Workers' and Peasants' Red Army started out as the Soviet Union's revolutionary communist combat groups during the Russian Civil War of 1918-1922. It grew into the national army of the Soviet Union. By the 1930s the Red Army was among the largest armies in history.The "Red Army" name refers to...
overrun 52.1% of territory of interwar Poland
Second Polish Republic
The Second Polish Republic, Second Commonwealth of Poland or interwar Poland refers to Poland between the two world wars; a period in Polish history in which Poland was restored as an independent state. Officially known as the Republic of Poland or the Commonwealth of Poland , the Polish state was...
with over 13,700,000 inhabitants. The Soviet occupation zone included also 336,000 new refugees who escaped from Polish lands invaded by Germany, numbering at around 198,000. Spreading terror throughout the region, the Soviet secret police (NKVD)
NKVD
The People's Commissariat for Internal Affairs was the public and secret police organization of the Soviet Union that directly executed the rule of power of the Soviets, including political repression, during the era of Joseph Stalin....
accompanying the Red Army massacred Polish prisoners of war, and in less than two years, deported up to 1.5 million ethnic Poles to Siberia including Poles and Polish Jews from West Belarus. Twenty-one months after the Soviet invasion of Poland, during the German Operation Barbarossa
Operation Barbarossa
Operation Barbarossa was the code name for Germany's invasion of the Soviet Union during World War II that began on 22 June 1941. Over 4.5 million troops of the Axis powers invaded the USSR along a front., the largest invasion in the history of warfare...
of June 1941, West Belarus was overrun again by the Wehrmacht
Wehrmacht
The Wehrmacht – from , to defend and , the might/power) were the unified armed forces of Nazi Germany from 1935 to 1945. It consisted of the Heer , the Kriegsmarine and the Luftwaffe .-Origin and use of the term:...
followed closely behind by Einsatzgruppen
Einsatzgruppen
Einsatzgruppen were SS paramilitary death squads that were responsible for mass killings, typically by shooting, of Jews in particular, but also significant numbers of other population groups and political categories...
and the mass executions of Polish Jews commenced.
Towards the end of World War II in Europe
End of World War II in Europe
The final battles of the European Theatre of World War II as well as the German surrender to the Western Allies and the Soviet Union took place in late April and early May 1945.-Timeline of surrenders and deaths:...
, at the insistence of Joseph Stalin during the Tehran Conference
Tehran Conference
The Tehran Conference was the meeting of Joseph Stalin, Franklin D. Roosevelt and Winston Churchill between November 28 and December 1, 1943, most of which was held at the Soviet Embassy in Tehran, Iran. It was the first World War II conference amongst the Big Three in which Stalin was present...
of 1943, West Belarus was formally ceded by the Allies to the Belorussian SSR. The Polish population was soon forcibly resettled
Repatriation of Poles (1944–1946)
The Polish population transfers from the former eastern territories of Poland also known as the flight and expulsion of Poles towards the end – and in the aftermath – of World War II refer to the forced migration of Poles between 1944–1946...
as part of the Soviet-Polish population exchange. Many inhabitants of Belarus who identified themselves as Poles were allowed to go back to Poland
Poland
Poland , officially the Republic of Poland , is a country in Central Europe bordered by Germany to the west; the Czech Republic and Slovakia to the south; Ukraine, Belarus and Lithuania to the east; and the Baltic Sea and Kaliningrad Oblast, a Russian exclave, to the north...
. In exchange, several thousands of Belarusians from parts of the former Belastok Voblast
Belastok Voblast
Belastok Voblast or Belostok Oblast was a territorial unit in the Belarusian Soviet Socialist Republic from September 1939 to August 1945.- Administrative units :The administrative center of the voblast was the city of Belastok ....
were resettled to Belarus
Belarus
Belarus , officially the Republic of Belarus, is a landlocked country in Eastern Europe, bordered clockwise by Russia to the northeast, Ukraine to the south, Poland to the west, and Lithuania and Latvia to the northwest. Its capital is Minsk; other major cities include Brest, Grodno , Gomel ,...
.
The remaining Polish minority in Belarus was significantly discriminated against during the times of the Soviet Union. Until 1949 all Polish language schools were replaced with the Russian, and not even a single one remained due to continuing policies of Sovietization
Sovietization
Sovietization is term that may be used with two distinct meanings:*the adoption of a political system based on the model of soviets .*the adoption of a way of life and mentality modelled after the Soviet Union....
. All Polish organizations and social clubs were liquidated. Incidentally, the Poles were the only ethnic group in Belorussian SSR whose existence was denied by communist administration. The situation of the Polish minority started to improve only in the later years of the Soviet Union prior to its dissolution, but faced difficulties from the government of Alexander Lukashenko
Alexander Lukashenko
Alexander Grigoryevich Lukashenko has been serving as the President of Belarus since 20 July 1994. Before his career as a politician, Lukashenko worked as director of a state-owned agricultural farm. Under Lukashenko's rule, Belarus has come to be viewed as a state whose conduct is out of line...
.
Current situation
According to 2009 census Polish minority in Belarus numbers officially about 295,000. However, the aspect of Roman Catholics (which in most cases implies a direct Polish connection) is estimated to be 2.5 million. After the Russian minorityRussians in Belarus
There are currently around 1.2 million Russians in Belarus, which accounts for 11.4% of the population of Belarus and builds up the largest national minority in the country....
, Poles certainly form the second largest minority group in Belarus. The majority of Poles live in the Western regions including 230,000 in the Hrodna voblast
Hrodna Voblast
Hrodna Voblast or Grodno Oblast is a voblast in northwestern Belarus.The capital - Grodno is the biggest city of the province. It lies on the Neman River. Grodno's existence is attested to from 1127. Two castles dating from the 14th - 18th centuries are located here on the steep right bank of...
. The largest Polish organization in Belarus is the Union of Poles in Belarus
Union of Poles in Belarus
The Union of Poles in Belarus is an organization located in the Eastern European country of Belarus. The group, which has a membership of 20,000 people, represents the Polish minority in Belarus, numbering about 400,000, as per official data .Lately, the group has received international attention...
(Związek Polaków na Białorusi), with over 20,000 members.
As Poland supports the pro-democracy opposition in Belarus, Polish-Belarusian relations
Poland–Belarus relations
The Republic of Poland and the Republic of Belarus established diplomatic relations on March 2, 1992. Poland was one of the first countries to recognise Belarusian independence.. Polish and Belorussian cultures have been tied together for many centuries....
are poor, and representatives of the Polish minority in Belarus often complain about various repressions
Political repression
Political repression is the persecution of an individual or group for political reasons, particularly for the purpose of restricting or preventing their ability to take political life of society....
, such as the jailing for 15 days, of the former head of the Union of Poles, Tadeusz Gawin. He was sentenced on 2 August 2005 for arranging a meeting between a visiting deputy speaker of the Polish parliament, Donald Tusk
Donald Tusk
Donald Franciszek Tusk is a Polish politician who has been Prime Minister of Poland since 2007. He was a co-founder and is chairman of the Civic Platform party....
, and the ethnic Polish activists including Veslaw Kewlyak, also sentenced for 15 days. The Lukashenko government launched a campaign against the Polish ethnic minority claiming that they were trying to destabilise the balance of power, and that the Polish minority is a fifth column
Fifth column
A fifth column is a group of people who clandestinely undermine a larger group such as a nation from within.-Origin:The term originated with a 1936 radio address by Emilio Mola, a Nationalist General during the 1936–39 Spanish Civil War...
(see, earlier Soviet proclamations). In May and June of that year a Polish diplomat was expelled, a Polish-language newspaper was closed and the democratically-elected leadership of a local Polish organisation, the Union of Poles in Belarus
Union of Poles in Belarus
The Union of Poles in Belarus is an organization located in the Eastern European country of Belarus. The group, which has a membership of 20,000 people, represents the Polish minority in Belarus, numbering about 400,000, as per official data .Lately, the group has received international attention...
(UPB), had their own nominees forcibly replaced by those sympathetic to Lukashenko.
The introduction of the Karta Polaka (Polish Charter) in 2007 confirming Polish heritage of individuals who cannot obtain dual citizenship in their own countries, enabled many thousands of inhabitants of Belarus to formally declare their Polish identity for the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Poland. The introduction caused protests from Belarusian officials.
See also
- Belarusian minority in PolandBelarusian minority in PolandBelarusian minority in Poland is composed of 48,700 people according to the Polish census of 2002. This number decreased in the last decades from over 300,000 due to an active process of assimilation. Most of them live in the Podlaskie Voivodeship....
- Poles in Lithuania
- Poles in the former Soviet Union
External links
- Various links and information about Polish organization on Belarus
- News Articles about the Polish Community in Belarus News website Various articles and legal documents related to Polish minority in Belarus Polacy na Białorusi: Liczebność i rozmieszczenie ludności polskiej według ostatnich spisów powszechnych