Belarus has four UNESCO-designated World Heritage Sites: the Mir Castle Complex, the Nesvizh Castle, the Belovezhskaya Pushcha (shared with Poland), and the Struve Geodetic Arc (shared with nine other countries).
World Heritage Sites
Belarus
Belarus | World Heritage Sites
Mir Castle Complex, the Nesvizh Castle, the Belovezhskaya Pushcha and the Struve Geodetic Arc. The Mir Castle Complex, the Nesvizh Castle, the Belovezhskaya Pushcha, and the Struve Geodetic Arc The Mir Castle Complex, the Nesvizh Castle, the Belovezhskaya Pushcha and the Struve Geodetic Arc The Mir Castle Complex, the Nesvizh Castle, the Belovezhskaya Pushcha (shared with Poland), and the Struve Geodetic Arc (shared with nine other countries).
what is 'my belarusy'?
user
It is the national anthem of Belarus.
assistant
who composed it?
user
Sakalowski
assistant
when was it adopted?
user
1955
assistant
can you extract any one line from this?
user
Sorry. I cannot find the answer based on the context.
assistant
in which continent does that country belong to?
user
Europe
assistant
what is the capital of that country?
user
Minsk
assistant
what languages are spoken in that country?
user
Russian and Belarusian
assistant
can you name a few heritage sites there?
user
Belarus has four World Heritage Sites, with two of them being shared between Belarus and its neighboring countries. The four are the Mir Castle Complex, the Nesvizh Castle, the Białowieża Forest (shared with Poland), and the Struve Geodetic Arc (shared with Estonia, Finland, Latvia, Lithuania, Norway, Moldova, Russia, Sweden and Ukraine).
Culture of Belarus | World Heritage Sites
Belarus has four UNESCO-designated World Heritage Sites: the Mir Castle Complex, the Nesvizh Castle, the Belovezhskaya Pushcha (shared with Poland), and the Struve Geodetic Arc (shared with nine other countries).
Belarus | World Heritage Sites
The United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) World Heritage Sites are places of importance to cultural or natural heritage as described in the UNESCO World Heritage Convention, established in 1972. Belarus accepted the convention on 12 October 1988, making its natural and historical sites eligible for inclusion on the list. , there are four World Heritage Sites in Belarus. The first site in Belarus added to the list was the Białowieża Forest in 1992, representing an extension to the site previously listed in Poland in 1979. This is the only natural site in Belarus, the other three are cultural.
List of World Heritage Sites in Belarus | Introduction
In addition to Białowieża Forest, the Struve Geodetic Arc is also a transnational site, and is shared with nine other countries. , Belarus has five sites listed on the tentative list, all were added in 2004.
List of World Heritage Sites in Belarus | Introduction
UNESCO lists sites under ten criteria; each entry must meet at least one of the criteria. Criteria i through vi are cultural, whereas vii through x are natural.
List of World Heritage Sites in Belarus | World Heritage Sites
In addition to sites inscribed on the World Heritage List, member states can maintain a list of tentative sites that they may consider for nomination. Nominations for the World Heritage List are only accepted if the site was previously listed on the tentative list. As of 2020, Belarus lists five properties on its tentative list.
List of World Heritage Sites in Belarus | Tentative list
The cultural heritage of Belarus includes both material and immaterial assets (valuables), in accordance with the Law on Protection of Historical and Cultural Heritage of the Republic of Belarus (2006). Material historical and cultural assets, movable and immovable, include (Article 13): These assets are classified as follows (Article 16):
Cultural heritage of Belarus | Introduction
Every asset has a unique 10-character alphanumeric code of the following template: nnnAnnnnnn The first character refers to its location The second character refers to its type
Cultural heritage of Belarus | Code
Belarusian and Russian are the official languages according to the Constitution of Belarus (Article 17). The constitution guarantees preservation of the cultural heritage of all ethnic minorities, including their languages (Article 15). Russian, and not Belarusian, is the dominant language in Belarus, spoken normally at home by 70% of the population (2009 census), and major cities such as Minsk and Brest are overwhelmingly Russian-speaking.
Demographics of Belarus | Languages
Polish ethnic and cultural presence in modern Belarus are an intricate part of its history. The lands of modern Belarus are the birthplace of Mickiewicz and Domejko 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".
Poles in Belarus | History
, since the government-run historiography in modern Belarus almost fully excludes repression during the epoch when Belarus was part of the Soviet Union, only private initiatives cover these aspects. Citizens' groups in Belarus use the methods of oral history and record narrative interviews on video: the Virtual Museum of Soviet Repression in Belarus presents a full Virtual museum with intense use of oral history. The Belarusian Oral History Archive project also provides material based on oral history recordings.
Oral history | Belarus
Russia is home to the most inscribed sites with 20 sites in Eastern Europe out of 29 sites in the whole country, two of which are transborder properties. Eight sites are shared between several countries with some of them located partially in Northern or Western Europe: the Curonian Spit (Lithuania and Russia), Caves of Aggtelek Karst and Slovak Karst (Slovakia and Hungary), Primeval Beech Forests of the Carpathians and Other Regions of Europe (Germany, Slovakia, Ukraine, Albania, Austria, Belgium, Bulgaria, Croatia, Italy, Romania, Slovenia, and Spain), Belovezhskaya Pushcha / Białowieża Forest (Poland and Belarus), Fertö / Neusiedlersee Cultural Landscape (Austria and Hungary), Muskauer Park / Park Mużakowski (Germany and Poland), the Struve Geodetic Arc (ten countries in Northern and Eastern Europe), and Erzgebirge/Krušnohoří Mining Region (Czech Republic and Germany).
List of World Heritage Sites in Eastern Europe | Introduction
The Berestye Archeological Museum, located in the city of Brest, Belarus, is a museum centered around an archaeological site displaying an authentic East Slavic wooden town dating back to the 13th century. Unique in Europe, the 1800 square meter site was excavated by archeologists of the Belarusian Academy of Sciences between 1968 and 1981. The project was supervised by Dr. P.F.Lysenko. In 1982, a modern structure of concrete, glass and aluminum in the shape of a huge pitched roof was erected over the archeological site. The museum was opened on March 2, 1982. The museum displays preserved 28 log cabins, as well over 1400 artifacts dating back to 10th and 14th centuries which were unearthed during the excavation.
Berestye Archeological Museum | Introduction
Belarusian National History and Culture Museum is a museum in Minsk, Belarus. The leading Museum of the historic profile of the Republic of Belarus is the biggest collection of the monuments of material and spiritual culture of the Belarusian people from the ancient times to modern day. It contains around 370,000 artefacts. Chronological frames of the museum fund are from 40,000 B.C. to present time. Several collections of the museum are of special value: The museum was established in 1957 as a museum of local lore, history, and economy. In 1991 it was reorganized to the National museum. In 1967, the museum was opened for visitors.
Belarusian National History Museum | Introduction
From 1569, the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth suffered a series of Tatar invasions, the goal of which was to loot, pillage and capture slaves into jasyr. The borderland area to the south-east was in a state of semi-permanent warfare until the 18th century. Some researchers estimate that altogether more than 3 million people, predominantly Ukrainians but also Russians, Belarusians and Poles, were captured and enslaved during the time of the Crimean Khanate. Despite the abovementioned conflicts, the literary tradition of Belarus evolved. Until the 17th century, the Ruthenian language, the predecessor of modern Belarusian, was used in Grand Duchy as a "chancery language", that is the language used for official documents.
History of Belarus | Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth
This language emerged as a Koiné language from vernaculars bordering the administrative centers of the Grand Duchy. It was the official language of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania and was used in particular by the authorities, in offices and in diplomatic correspondence, but in the course of time it entered former "exclusive" domains of Church Slavonic as well. In contemporary sources it was referred to as "ruskij jazyk", which serves pro-Russian linguistic historiography as an argument to claim it as a part of the history of the Russian language. On the other hand, pro-Belarusian linguistic historiography claims "ruskij jazyk" as "Old Belarusian language" ("starabelaruskaja mova"), which is problematic as well insofar as at that time no distinct Belarusian identity in today's sense of the term had evolved.
Languages of Belarus | History
The Buruciye Medrese was nominated as a World Heritage Site on 15 April 2014. It is placed on the tentative list of the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO).
Buruciye Medrese | World Cultural Heritage Site
The UNESCO (United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization) has designated 94 World Heritage Sites in nine countries (also called "state parties") of Eastern Europe; defined here to mean the former Eastern Bloc countries not including the Baltic states (which are in Northern Europe) or former Yugoslavia and Albania (which are in Southern Europe) or the parts of Germany that once comprised East Germany (which are included in Western Europe): Russia, Belarus, Poland, Czech Republic, Slovakia, Hungary, Ukraine, Moldova, Romania and Bulgaria. The uniquely positioned Caucasian countries of Armenia, Georgia, and Azerbaijan are not included here but in Western Asia, and Kazakhstan is included in Central Asia.
List of World Heritage Sites in Eastern Europe | Introduction
Minsk was captured by German troops on 21 February 1918. World War I was the short period when Belarusian culture started to flourish. German administration allowed schools with Belarusian language, previously banned in Russia; a number of Belarusian schools were created until 1919 when they were banned again by the Polish military administration. At the end of World War I, when Belarus was still occupied by Germans, according to the Treaty of Brest-Litovsk, the short-lived People's Republic of Belarus was pronounced on 25 March 1918, as part of the German Mitteleuropa plan. In December 1918, Mitteleuropa was obsolete as the German Empire withdrew from the Ober-Ost territory, and for the next few years in the newly created power vacuum the territories of Belarus would witness the struggle of various national and foreign factions.
History of Belarus | BNR and LBSSR
The total area is , while the exhibition area is 600 m2. More than 17.000 items were exposed in 2000, including 600 works of icons and painting, 4.500 arts and crafts, 170 sculptures, and a thousand samples of folk weaving. The exposition has sections of archeology (finds from excavations of cities and other archeological monuments of Belarus), art (icons of the XVI-XVIII centuries, sculpture of the XVI-XIX centuries, Slutsk belts).et al. fabrics of the 18th century, old prints and book engravings of the 16th-18th centuries, carvings, metal works (art), ethnography, weaving, folk costumes from the end of the 19th to beginning of the 20th century, ceramics, folk musical instruments, tools, household utensils, products of straw, etc.).
Old Belarusian History Museum | Exhibition
Several thousand Belarusian refugees and soldiers of the Anders Army landed in Great Britain after World War II. They established a Belarusian cultural and religious centre in London. In 1971 the Francis Skaryna Belarusian Library and Museum was founded. Nowadays it is the largest Belarusian library outside Belarus.
Belarusian diaspora | Great Britain
Białowieża Forest (; ; ) is one of the last and largest remaining parts of the immense primeval forest that once stretched across the European Plain. The forest is home to 800 European bison, Europe's heaviest land animal. UNESCO's Man and the Biosphere Programme designated the Polish Biosphere Reserve ' in 1976 and the Belarusian Biosphere Reserve ' in 1993. In 2015, the Belarusian Biosphere Reserve occupied the area of , subdivided into transition, buffer and core zones. The forest has been designated a UNESCO World Heritage Site and an EU Natura 2000 Special Area of Conservation. The World Heritage Committee by its decision of June 2014 approved the extension of the UNESCO World Heritage site "Belovezhskaya Pushcha/Białowieża Forest, Belarus, Poland", which became "Białowieża Forest, Belarus, Poland".
Białowieża Forest | Introduction
Afterwards, it was replaced with the Polish language, commonly spoken by the upper classes of Belarusian society. Both Polish and Ruthenian cultures gained a major cultural centre with the foundation of the Academy of Vilna. At the same time the Belarusian lands entered a path of economic growth, with the formation of numerous towns that served as centres of trade on the east–west routes. However, both economic and cultural growth came to an end in mid-17th century with a series of violent wars against Tsardom of Russia, Sweden, Brandenburg and Transylvania, as well as internal conflicts, known collectively as The Deluge.
History of Belarus | Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth
Architectural ensemble of Francysk Scaryna avenue in Minsk (1940s-1950s) is in the UNESCO World Heritage Tentative List (Cultural property).
Independence Avenue (Minsk) | World Heritage Status
The modern Belarusian language was redeveloped on the base of the vernacular spoken remnants of the Ruthenian language, surviving in the ethnic Belarusian territories in the 19th century. The end of the 18th century (the times of the Divisions of Commonwealth) is the usual conventional borderline between the Ruthenian and Modern Belarusian stages of development. By the end of the 18th century, (Old) Belarusian was still common among the minor nobility in eastern part of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania (in the territory of present-day Belarus). Jan Czeczot in the 1840s had mentioned that even his generation's grandfathers preferred speaking (Old) Belarusian.
Belarusian language | History
Moldova has only part of the Struve Geodetic Arc transborder site. The first sites from the region were inscribed in 1978, when Kraków's Historic Centre and the Wieliczka Salt Mine, both in Poland were chosen during the list's conception. Each year, UNESCO's World Heritage Committee may inscribe new sites on the list, or delist sites that no longer meet the criteria. Selection is based on ten criteria: six for cultural heritage (i–vi) and four for natural heritage (vii–x). Some sites, designated "mixed sites," represent both cultural and natural heritage. In Eastern Europe, there are 69 cultural, 8 natural, and no mixed sites.
List of World Heritage Sites in Eastern Europe | Introduction
The national state memorial "Khatyn" of the Republic of Belarus is the central war memorial of Belarus for all victims of the German occupation during the Second World War. It commemorates particularly the more than 600 "burnt villages" which, together with their inhabitants, were destroyed in the National Socialist genocide and the Nazi policy of the "burnt earth" in Belarus since the beginning of the Second World War. Khatyn was one of them; the village lies about 60 kilometres north of Minsk on the road to Wizebsk in the Logojskij district, in the Minskaja Woblasz.
National Memorial of the Republic of Belarus | Introduction
In Belarus, a book of selected plays was published only in 2003. Natalia Rusetskaya, Natalia Gordienko, Andrey Hadanovich, Zhanna Nekrashevich-Korotkaya, etc. made the translation into Belarusian language.
Franciszka Urszula Radziwiłłowa | Heritage
On the Belarusian side, the forest is protected as the Belavezhskaya Pushcha National Park with an area of . The core, strictly protected, area covers 38%, the zone of regulated use 26,1%, and the touristic zone and economic zone combined 36%; the National Park and World Heritage Site comprises . The headquarters at Kamieniuki include laboratory facilities and a zoo where European bison (reintroduced into the park in 1929), konik (a semi-wild horse), wild boar, Eurasian elk and other indigenous animals may be viewed in enclosures of their natural habitat. A new attraction there is a New Year's museum with "Ded Moroz" (the East Slavic counterpart of Father Christmas).
Białowieża Forest | Belavezhskaya Pushcha National Park, Belarus
When the Soviet Union invaded Poland on September 17, 1939, following the terms of the Molotov–Ribbentrop Pact's secret protocol, Western Byelorussia, which was part of Poland, is included in the BSSR. Similarly to the times of German occupation during World War I, Belarusian language and Soviet culture enjoyed relative prosperity in this short period. Already in October 1940, over 75% of schools used the Belarusian language, also in the regions where no Belarus people lived, e.g. around Łomża, what was Ruthenization. Western Belarus was sovietised, tens of thousands were imprisoned, deported, murdered. The victims were mostly Polish and Jewish. After twenty months of Soviet rule, Nazi Germany and its Axis allies invaded the Soviet Union on 22 June 1941.
History of Belarus | Belarus in World War II
Apart from that the term Ruthenian language is in use, although the latter often refers only to the southern (from today's perspective: Ukrainian) variant of the state language of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania. After the Union of Lublin and the Union of Brest the influence of Polish language and culture in the Grand Duchy of Lithuania increased at the cost of Ruthenian, the use of which in official documents of the Grand Duchy was forbidden in 1696. Subsequently, linguistic elements of Belarusian were perpetuated mainly in vernaculars and folklore passed on by word of mouth. After the Partitions of Poland initially Polish remained the social dominant language in Belarus being more and more replaced in this role by Russian, in particular after the November Uprising.
Languages of Belarus | History
Belarus (; ; ), officially the Republic of Belarus (; ) and formerly known as Byelorussia or Belorussia (), is a landlocked country in Eastern Europe. It is bordered by Russia to the northeast, Ukraine to the south, Poland to the west, and Lithuania and Latvia to the northwest. Its capital and most populous city is Minsk. Over 40% of its is forested. Its major economic sectors are service industries and manufacturing. Until the 20th century, different states at various times controlled the lands of modern-day Belarus, including Kievan Rus', the Principality of Polotsk (11th to 14th centuries), the Grand Duchy of Lithuania, the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth, and the Russian Empire.
Belarus | Introduction
Belovezhskaya Pushcha National Park (Russian, official:"Białowieża Forest, Belarus, Poland" at the UNESCO official webpage. Retrieved May 27, 2015. , ) is a national park within parts of the Brest Region (Kamyanyets District and Pruzhany District) and Grodno Region (Svislach District) in Belarus adjacent to the Polish border. Since 1992 it is a preserved part of the UNESCO World Heritage Site Białowieża Forest, the last primeval forest fragment of the European woodlands that once stretched across the European Plain. It is home to a large population of European bison, the continent's heaviest land animals. The border between the two countries runs through the forest with the Białowieża National Park on the Polish side of the border.
Belovezhskaya Pushcha National Park | Introduction
The union between Poland and Lithuania ended in 1795 with the Third Partition of Poland by Imperial Russia, Prussia, and Austria. The Belarusian territories acquired by the Russian Empire under the reign of Catherine II were included into the Belarusian Governorate () in 1796 and held until their occupation by the German Empire during World War I. Under Nicholas I and Alexander III the national cultures were repressed. Policies of Polonization changed by Russification, which included the return to Orthodox Christianity of Belorusian Uniates. Belarusian language was banned in schools while in neighboring Samogitia primary school education with Samogitian literacy was allowed.
Belarus | Russian Empire
Almost no traces of the old town survived. The only two notable pre-1917 buildings are a poorhouse and a mechanical workshop.
Baran, Belarus | Culture and recreation
Kupala became recognised as a symbol of culture of Belarus during the Soviet era. A museum, organised in Minsk through the efforts of his widow in 1945, is the leading literary museum in Belarus. Hrodna State University was named after Yanka Kupala. There is also a park named after him with a monument to the poet, a theatre and a metro station (Kupalaŭskaja) in Minsk. At the Arrow Park in Monroe, New York there is a monument of Yanka Kupala that was created by Belarusian sculptor Anatoly Anikeichik and architect Sergey Botkovsky. Since 1973 it is presented to the American Side.
Yanka Kupala | Legacy
The United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) World Heritage Sites are places of importance to cultural or natural heritage as described in the UNESCO World Heritage Convention, established in 1972. Lithuania accepted the convention on 31 March 1992, making its natural and historical sites eligible for inclusion on the list. The first site added to the list was the Vilnius Historic Centre, in 1994. Three further sites were added in 2000, 2004, and 2005. In total, there are four sites on the list, all of them cultural. Two sites are transnational: the Curonian Spit is shared with Russia and the Struve Geodetic Arc is shared with nine other countries.
List of World Heritage Sites in Lithuania | Introduction
The basin of Biebrza river is inhabited not only by hundreds of rare and endangered sorts of birds, but also by people representing diverse cultures, languages and religions. While most of the population of the region speaks standard Polish, some people in the upper river basin (municipalities of Lipsk, Dąbrowa Białostocka and partly Sztabin) speak a local dialect of Belarusian (called by them "prosty jazyk" - "the simple language"). The people there belong to the Orthodox or Roman Catholic church. On the north bank of the upper Biebrza there are also a few villages where so called "old believers" live, who speak an archaic dialect of Russian.
Biebrza | Cultural and linguistic environment
The United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) World Heritage Sites are places of importance to cultural or natural heritage as described in the UNESCO World Heritage Convention, established in 1972. There are 16 World Heritages Sites in Poland. The first two sites were inscribed on the World Heritage List in 1978. Three of the sites, Belovezhskaya Pushcha / Białowieża Forest, Wooden Tserkvas of Carpathian Region in Poland and Ukraine, and Muskauer Park / Park Mużakowski are shared with neighboring countries (Belarus, Ukraine and Germany respectively). Poland also has six sites on the tentative list as well as 16 entries in the Memory of the World Programme.
List of World Heritage Sites in Poland | Introduction
Nearby the museum is Zaslaŭski Memorial, the site of at least one mass murder of Jewish citizens.
Museum of Jewish History and Culture in Belarus | Introduction
As language predominantly used - in this category multiple answers were not allowed - 55% of the respondents with Belarusian national identity chose Russian, 41% trasianka and 4% Belarusian. Apart from Russian, Belarusian and trasianka the languages of national minorities are used in Belarus, but to a much lesser extent. According to the Belarusian census of 2009 the overwhelming majority of non-Belarusians use Russian in their everyday life.
Languages of Belarus | Development since the collapse of the Soviet Union
A UNESCO World Heritage Site is a place (such as a forest, mountain, lake, island, desert, monument, building, complex, or city) that is listed by UNESCO as sites of outstanding cultural or natural importance to the common heritage of humanity. There are fourteen World Heritage Sites in Poland (1 Natural and 13 Cultural). The first two sites were inscribed on the World Heritage List in 1978. Three of the sites, Belovezhskaya Pushcha / Białowieża Forest, Wooden Tserkvas of Carpathian Region in Poland and Ukraine and Muskauer Park / Park Mużakowski are shared with neighboring countries (Belarus, Ukraine and Germany). Poland also has six sites on the Tentative List.
Protected areas of Poland | World Heritage Sites
Belarusian (; ) is an East Slavic language spoken by Belarusians. It is one of the two official languages in the Republic of Belarus under the current Constitution (Article 17), along with Russian. It is additionally spoken in parts of Russia, Lithuania, Latvia, Poland, and Ukraine by Belarusian minorities in those countries. Before Belarus gained independence in 1991, the language was only known in English as "Byelorussian" or "Belorussian", the compound term retaining the English-language name for the Russian language in its second part, or alternatively as "White Ruthenian" () or "White Russian". Following independence, it has acquired the additional name, "Belarusian", in English.
Belarusian language | Introduction
In 2004 Kurapaty mass graves were included in the register of the Cultural Properties of Belarus as a first-category cultural heritage.
Kurapaty | Introduction
A majestic Soviet-era war memorial was constructed on the site of the 1941 battle, to commemorate the known and unknown defenders of the Brest Fortress. This war memorial is the largest tourist attraction of the city. The Berestye Archeological Museum of the old city is located on the southern island of the Hero-Fortress. It has objects and huts dating from the 11th – 13th century, that were unearthed during excavations in the 1970s. Brest is proud of its shopping mall, Sovietskaya Street. It was dramatically reconstructed in 2007–2009 to revive the initial view of the old town. In July 2009 the Millennium Monument of Brest was unveiled.
Brest, Belarus | Points of interest
In 1998, Inna Gerasimova created the first exhibit and began to gather material for future permanent exhibits. When she retired in 2012, she had collected a large volume of Jewish objects and artifacts, including photos, everyday utensils or items, documents, and religious books. Thanks to the contributions of museum volunteers, over 10,000 artifacts have been collected. Most artifacts are ordinary objects; for instance, since many of the Jews who formerly lived in Belarus were craftsmen by trade, sewing machines and other means of livelihood are on display. Many of them have stories associated with how they came to be at the museum, as is the case for a broken bottle that once held a message from Jewish partisans during the war.
Museum of Jewish History and Culture in Belarus | Museum history
The increase in jobs resulted in a huge immigrant population of Russians in Belarus. Russian became the official language of administration and the peasant class, which traditionally was the base for Belarusian nation, ceased to exist. On 26 April 1986, the Chernobyl disaster occurred at the Chernobyl Nuclear Power Plant in Ukraine situated close to the border with Belarus. It is regarded as the worst nuclear accident in the history of nuclear power. It produced a plume of radioactive debris that drifted over parts of the western Soviet Union, Eastern Europe, and Scandinavia. Large areas of Belarus, Ukraine and Russia were contaminated, resulting in the evacuation and resettlement of roughly 200,000 people.
History of Belarus | BSSR from 1945 to 1990
Since the early 1930s, the Polish government introduced a set of policies designed to Polonize all minorities (Belarusians, Ukrainians, Jews, etc.). The usage of Belarusian language was discouraged and the Belarusian schools were facing severe financial problems. In spring of 1939, there already was neither single Belarusian official organisation in Poland nor a single exclusively Belarusian school (with only 44 schools teaching Belarusian language left).
History of Belarus | Belarusian Soviet Republic and West Belarus
Nine out of ten of the victims were not partisans. Of the total number of 5295 villages destroyed, 3% were destroyed in the first year of war in 1941, 16% in 1942, 63% in 1943 and 18% in 1944.
National Memorial of the Republic of Belarus | Background
There are two Belarusian Wikipedias (; Taraškievica: Беларуская Вікіпэдыя) : one in the orthography of the Belarusian language which is official in modern Belarus ("Narkamaŭka""," prefix "be:"), and another one in the pre-reform of 1933, classical orthography ("Taraškievica", prefix "be-tarask:", formerly "be-x-old:"). As of March 2014, the most popular editions of Wikipedia within Belarus are the Russian Wikipedia (with 84.0% of all page views) followed by the English Wikipedia (10.2%).
Belarusian Wikipedia | Introduction
In 2008, there were five "zapovedniks" and national parks, 84 "zakazniks" of national significance, 349 "zakazniks" of local significance, 305 nature monuments of national significance, and 544 nature monuments of local significance.
Protected areas of Belarus | List of protected areas
The table lists information about each World Heritage Site:
List of World Heritage Sites in Russia | List of World Heritage Sites
A Polish Autonomous District was also formed. This was however soon ended during the Great Purge, when almost all prominent Belarusian national intelligentsia were executed, many of them buried in Kurapaty. Thousands were deported to Asia. As the result of Polish operation of the NKVD tens of thousands people of many nationalities were killed. Belarusian orthography was Russified in 1933 and use of Belarusian language was discouraged as exhibiting anti-soviet attitude. In West Belarus, up to 30,000 families of Polish veterans ("osadniks") were settled in the lands formerly belonging to the Russian tsar family and Russian aristocracy. Belarusian representation in Polish parliament was reduced as a result of the 1930 elections.
History of Belarus | Belarusian Soviet Republic and West Belarus
The memorial was built with private donations from the parishioners, at the cost of 70,000 Polish złoty. The centrepiece boulder lists mainly villages pacified by cursed soldiers from PAS NZW; inhabited by Christians and non-Christians of ethnic Belarusian background including: Końcowizna, Popówka, Potoka, Sypnie, Szpaki, Wólka Wygonowska, Zaleszany, and Zanie and village of Rajsk destroyed by Nazi occupants (SS and Ordnungspolizei).
Monument to World War II Orthodox victims, Białystok | History
Currently, the book collection is estimated to contain over 30,000 volumes, among them over 20 printed before 1800. The strongest areas of the collection are history, literature, language, religion, folklore, local lore, bibliography, music and art. All standard reference works are available. A collection of expatriate publications, both books and periodicals, is fairly comprehensive. New publications from Belarus are being purchased regularly, as well as all important Belarus-related works appearing abroad in any language. Most of books are in Belarusian language, a fair number in Russian and Polish, fewer in German, French and other languages. The library receives over 40 current periodicals from Belarus and abroad.
Francis Skaryna Belarusian Library and Museum | Collections
This article describes the history of Belarus. The Belarusian ethnos is traced at least as far in time as other East Slavs. After an initial period of independent feudal consolidation, Belarusian lands were incorporated into the Kingdom of Lithuania, Grand Duchy of Lithuania, and later in the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth, and the Russian Empire and eventually the Soviet Union. Belarus became an independent country in 1991 after declaring itself free from the Soviet Union.
History of Belarus | Introduction
This page lists some names of places in Belarus, as they are called in Belarusian and in other languages spoken by ethnic groups which are or have been represented within Belarusian territory.
Names of Belarusian places in other languages | Introduction
The United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) World Heritage Sites are places of importance to cultural or natural heritage as described in the UNESCO World Heritage Convention, established in 1972. Latvia accepted the convention on 10 January 1995 , making its historical sites eligible for inclusion on the list. Both sites are cultural. The Struve Geodetic Arc is a transnational site and is shared with nine other countries. In addition to its World Heritage Sites, Latvia also maintains three properties on its tentative list.
List of World Heritage Sites in Latvia | Introduction
The museum has several permanent exhibits that strive to present the history of Jews in Belarus, especially during the Holocaust. The main exhibits are accompanied by seasonal or rotating exhibits that cover topics from Belarusian synagogue architecture to daily life for Jews and Jewish partisans during World War II. A virtual tour of the museum is available in Russian and in English.
Museum of Jewish History and Culture in Belarus | Exhibits
According to A. N. Pypin, the Belarusian language was spoken in some areas among the minor nobility during the 19th century. In its vernacular form, it was the language of the smaller town dwellers and of the peasantry and it had been the language of oral folklore. Teaching in Belarusian was conducted mainly in schools run by the Basilian order. The development of Belarusian in the 19th century was strongly influenced by the political conflict in the territories of the former GDL, between the Russian Imperial authorities, trying to consolidate their rule over the "joined provinces", and the Polish and Polonised nobility, trying to bring back its pre-Partitions rule (see also Polonization in times of Partitions).
Belarusian language | History
The history of Belarus, or more precisely of the Belarusian ethnicity, begins with the migration and expansion of the Slavic peoples throughout Eastern Europe between the 6th and 8th centuries. East Slavs settled on the territory of present-day Belarus, Russia and Ukraine, assimilating local Baltic (Yotvingians, Dniepr Balts), Finno-Ugric (in Russia) and steppe nomads (in Ukraine) already living there, their early ethnic integrations contributed to the gradual differentiation of the three East Slavic nations. These East Slavs, a pagan, animistic, agrarian people, had an economy which included trade in agricultural produce, game, furs, honey, beeswax and amber. The modern Belarusian ethnos was probably formed on the basis of the three Slavic tribes — Kryvians, Drehovians, Radzimians as well as several Baltic tribes.
History of Belarus | Early history
This is a list of museums in Belarus.
List of museums in Belarus | Introduction
All historical attractions of Zaslaŭje are situated in the downtown not far from the Belarus Railway Station. The most interesting of them are the Zamechek (Castle) archaeological site of the Zaslaŭje town of the 10 – 12th centuries, the Val Site that includes town ramparts and the fortified Savior Transfiguration Church (primary Calvinist church which was built from 1577 onward and is still in fair preservation), the Phara St Mary Church of the 18th century, a small skansen of a traditional wooden tavern, smithy, storehouse and steam mill.
Zaslawye | Sites
Belarusian and Russian have official status in the Republic of Belarus.
Official language | Belarus
In 1993 the National Library of Belarus started to create its own electronic information resources. It has generated a collection of bibliographic, factual graphic, full-text, graphic, sound and language databases that comprise more than 2 million records. The scope of databases is quite wide: humanities, social sciences, history, art and culture of Belarus. Library users also have access to databases of other libraries and academic institutions, including foreign ones. The library service is in great demand. More than 90 thousand citizens of Belarus are library users, who annually request 3.5 million documents. Every day the library is visited by more than 2,200 people.
National Library of Belarus | Building
Among the partners of this project are Konrad Adenauer Foundation and the Belarusian Oral History Archive project.
Virtual Museum of Soviet Repression in Belarus | Partners
Old Belarusian History Museum is a museum in Minsk, Belarus. The museum was founded in 1977 as a center for the study and promotion of the Belarusian artistic heritage. The museum was opened in May 1979 to celebrate the 50th anniversary of the National Academy of Sciences of Belarus. The basis of the museum collection includes unique exhibits collected for many years by the staff of the Institute of Art History, Ethnography and Folklore named after K. Krapiva (IIEF) in the course of art criticism and ethnographic expeditions throughout Belarus. The main purpose of the museum is to form an experimental basis for further development of various branches of historical science - history of arts, crafts, ethnography, aesthetics.
Old Belarusian History Museum | Introduction
Several of them are listed as UNESCO World Heritage Sites.
Suzdal | Introduction
President of the United States Bill Clinton visited Kurapaty forest in 1994, when he came to Belarus with a "thank you" visit after Belarus agreed to transfer their post-Soviet nuclear weapons to Russia. Clinton presented a small granite monument "To Belarusians from the American people", perhaps the first post-Soviet cultural artifact from the U.S. on the Belarusian soil. The monument was damaged three times by unidentified vandals, but subsequently restored. In 2001, when the Kurapaty site was threatened by a planned widening of the Minsk Ring Road, youth from the Belarusian Popular Front, Zubr and smaller organizations occupied the site and sat out a bitter winter in tents, trying to halt the road construction, with no success.
Kurapaty | Discovery and remembrance
The Museum of Rescued Art Treasures has a nice collection of paintings and icons. Brest also has the first Belarusian outdoor railway museum. Earlier in Brest there was a synagogue, which was regarded as the first one in Grand Duchy of Lithuania. It is also the seat of an Armenian and of a Greek Catholic bishop; the former has jurisdiction over the Armenians throughout the whole country. Brest City Park is over 100 years old, and underwent renovations from 2004 to 2006 as part of a ceremony marking the park's centennial.
Brest, Belarus | Points of interest
Further sites were added in 1999, 2000, 2005, 2009, 2012, 2016 and 2017. In total, there are 12 cultural sites, as determined by the organization's selection criteria. The Sonian Forest, as a part of the extension to the site of Primeval Beech Forests of the Carpathians and Other Regions of Europe, is the only natural site. Three of the sites are transnational entries.
List of World Heritage Sites in Belgium | Introduction
The National Parks are a huge part of the country's identity. The people of Belarus are particularly proud of their country's national parks. Belovezhskaya Pushcha National Park is a preserved part of the UNESCO World Heritage Site Białowieża Forest in Belarus since 1992. Later, the Council of Europe stated that the park was one of the most conservation conscious areas. Many animals can be found in these parks, i.e., red deer, wild boar and elk.
Geography of Belarus | National Parks
A number of authors started publishing in the Belarusian language, including Jan Czeczot, Władysław Syrokomla and Konstanty Kalinowski. In a Russification drive in the 1840s, Nicholas I forbade the use of the term "Belarusia" and renamed the region the "North-Western Territory". He also prohibited the use of Belarusian language in public schools, campaigned against Belarusian publications and tried to pressure those who had converted to Catholicism under the Poles to reconvert to the Orthodox faith. In 1863, economic and cultural pressure exploded into a revolt, led by Kalinowski. After the failed revolt, the Russian government reintroduced the use of Cyrillic to Belarusian in 1864 and banned the use of the Latin alphabet.
History of Belarus | Russian Empire
In late 1980s the influential pro-democracy and pro-independence movement in Belarus (the Belarusian Popular Front) has been largely inspired by the Perestroika and by the findings of graves on the former Soviet execution site in Kurapaty near Minsk. Unlike in neighbouring countries, the authorities of the Republic of Belarus under president Alexander Lukashenko give only limited access to state archives related to Stalinist repressions and do not commemorate the victims of Communism on a governmental level. The democratic opposition close to the Conservative Christian Party, the revived Belarusian Christian Democracy and Partyja BNF commemorate the victims of the Soviet regime on 29 and 30 October, the day of a mass execution of Belarusian writers in 1937, and on the traditional ancestors commemoration day (Dziady) in early November.
Soviet repressions in Belarus | Modern commemoration
Since the 14th century, Vilnius had been the only official capital of the state. The Lithuanians' smaller numbers in this medieval state gave the Ruthenians (present-day Belarusians and Ukrainians) an important role in the everyday cultural life of the state. Owing to the prevalence of East Slavs and the Eastern Orthodox faith among the population in eastern and southern regions of the state, the Ruthenian language was a widely used colloquial language. An East Slavic variety ("rus'ka mova", "Old Belarusian" or "West Russian Chancellery language"), gradually influenced by Polish, was the language of administration in the Grand Duchy of Lithuania at least since Vytautas' reign until the late 17th century when it was eventually replaced by Polish language.
History of Belarus | Grand Duchy of Lithuania
Cultural achievements of the Polatsk period include the work of the nun Euphrosyne of Polatsk (1120–1173), who built monasteries, transcribed books, promoted literacy and sponsored art (including local artisan Lazarus Bohsha's famous "Cross of Euphrosyne", a national symbol and treasure stolen during World War II), and the prolific, original Church Slavonic sermons and writings of Bishop Cyril of Turau (1130–1182).
History of Belarus | First Belarusian states
The National Archives of Belarus are located in Minsk.
National Archives of Belarus | Introduction
The older and significantly smaller of the two entered the territory that would later become the Grand Duchy of Lithuania from the east. These early immigrants spoke Judeo-Slavic dialects which distinguished them from the later Jewish immigrants who entered the region from the Germanic lands.
History of the Jews in Belarus | Early history
There are a number of names under which the Belarusian language has been known, both contemporary and historical. Some of the most dissimilar are from the Old Belarusian period.
Belarusian language | Names
Minsk is the major cultural centre of Belarus. Its first theatres and libraries were established in the middle of the 19th century. Now it has 11 theatres and 16 museums. There are 20 cinemas and 139 libraries.
Minsk | Culture
From 5000 to 2000 BC, Bandkeramik cultures predominated. In addition, remains from the Dnieper-Donets culture were found in Belarus and parts of Ukraine. Cimmerians and other pastoralists roamed through the area by 1,000 BC, and by 500 AD, Slavs had taken up residence, which was circumscribed by the Scythians who roamed its outskirts. Invaders from Asia, among whom were the Huns and Avars, swept through c. 400–600 AD, but were unable to dislodge the Slavic presence. The region that is now Belarus was first settled by Baltic tribes in the 3rd century. Around the 5th century, the area was taken over by Slavic tribes.
Belarus | Early history
After the Napoleonic Wars, Russia annexed the territories of the former Grand Duchy of Lithuania as its North-Western Territory. Throughout the 19th century, a majority of the gentry, which comprised about 10% of the population, continued to identify as culturally Polish. But "the mass of unassuming peasants", ethnically Lithuanian or Belarussian, "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 a 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.
Poles in Belarus | History
As language they usually speak at home in 1999 41.3% of Belarusians declared Belarusian, 58.6% Russian, in 2009 these shares were 26.1% for Belarusian and 69.8% for Russian. A recent research project at the University of Oldenburg has pointed out the unreliability of the language-related questions in the Belarusian censuses and included in its own surveys "Belarusian-Russian mixed language" (commonly known as "trasianka") as an answer variant in addition to Russian and Belarusian. Moreover, multiple answers were allowed. Asked about their native language, around 49% of Belarusians chose Belarusian, 38% trasianka and 30% Russian. As language(s) of their first socialization, around 50% of Belarusians named trasianka, 42% Russian and 18% Belarusian.
Languages of Belarus | Development since the collapse of the Soviet Union
The United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) World Heritage Sites are places of importance to cultural or natural heritage as described in the UNESCO World Heritage Convention, established in 1972. Slovakia ratified the convention on 31 March 1993 , making its historical sites eligible for inclusion on the list. First three sites in Slovakia were added to the list, with more to follow. As of 2019, Slovakia has seven sites inscribed on the list and a further 14 on the tentative list. There are two World Heritage Sites that are shared with other countries: the Caves of Aggtelek Karst and Slovak Karst with Hungary and the Ancient and Primeval Beech Forests of the Carpathians and Other Regions of Europe with 11 other European countries.
List of World Heritage Sites in Slovakia | Introduction
In July 2004, a photographic exposition was inaugurated at the memorial, commemorating Khatyn, Maly Trostenez and the Ozarichi concentration camp as another example. The memorial contains many symbols, the three most important of which are probably the memories of Khatyn, the cemetery of the burnt villages and the trees of the rebuilt villages.
National Memorial of the Republic of Belarus | The memorial
Belarus's two official languages are Russian and Belarusian; Russian is the most common language used at home, used by 70% of the population, while Belarusian, the official first language, is spoken at home by 23%. Minorities also speak Polish, Ukrainian and Eastern Yiddish. Belarusian, although not as widely used as Russian, is the mother tongue of 53.2% of the population, whereas Russian is the mother tongue of only 41.5%.
Belarus | Languages
This is a list of people connected to the Republic of Belarus. It is not limited to persons of Belarusian ethnicity; Russians, Jews, Poles, Vikings, etc., may be found in this list. Over time the Belarusian land has had many rulers, and often its culture was suppressed. Therefore, many Belarusian nationals are known to the world as Poles or Russians.
List of people from Belarus | Introduction
The name "Belarus" can be literally translated as "White Ruthenia" that is a historical region in the east of modern Republic of Belarus, known in Latin as "Ruthenia Alba" (). This name was in use in the West for some time in history, together with "White Ruthenes", "White Russians" (though not to be confused with the political group of White Russians that opposed the Bolsheviks during the Russian Civil War) and similar forms. Belarusians trace their name back to the people of Rus'. The term Belarusians was promoted mostly during the 19th century by the Russian Empire. For instance, this can be traced by editions of folklorist researches by Ivan Sakharov, where in the edition of 1836 Belarusian customs are described as "Litvin", while in the edition of 1886 the words Литва ("Lithuania") and Литовцо-руссы ("Lithuanian-Russians/Ruthenians") are replaced by respectively Белоруссия ("Byelorussia") and белоруссы ("Byelorussians").
Belarusians | Languages
The United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) World Heritage Sites are places of importance to cultural or natural heritage as described in the UNESCO World Heritage Convention, established in 1972. Below is the list and the tentative list of sites in Azerbaijan. (For the criteria see the Selection criteria.)
List of World Heritage Sites in Azerbaijan | Introduction
In total, 103 world languages are represented. Multilingual multimedia collections of the 936 UNESCO World Heritage Sites are accessible by: In addition to basic demographic information and descriptions, each site page includes a sliding image gallery of up to 75 images, and a link to the main image gallery of up to 250 images per site. Further bibliographic information and still images (photographs) of each site are available for both traditional and content-based image retrieval, and when videos, audio clips as well as 360° Panophotographies are available, they are also provided.
World Heritage Memory Net | Collections
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. Across the border, in the Belarusian SSR, Minsk was home to Polish community organizations and a Polish-speaking national theatre of Belarus.
Poles in Belarus | History
The city has three schools, one of which specializes in future pedagogical training. In addition there is what is known as a Centre of intellectual development, formally a school specializing in Physics and Mathematics: the centre focuses on developing youth talent, and helps guide the youth towards the correct institute for higher education in main urban centres of Belarus. The central house of culture is the main point which also groups 22 rural points, altogether comprising 32 libraries, arts and music schools. The town is the birthplace of personages such as the physicist Alexandr Borisovich and the Israeli Hebrew actress Hanna Rovina .
Byerazino | Education and culture
This was reinforced by some disrespectful statements Lukashenko made about the Belarusian language. In light of several political and economic conflicts with Russia since the middle of the 2000s and, more recently, the role of Russia in the war in Donbass Belarusian officials have started to use a more favourable rhetoric with respect to the Belarusian language. However, this has not resulted in a fundamental change of the actual language policy in Belarus. In the Belarusian population censuses of 1999 and 2009 respondents were asked about their native language and about the language they usually speak at home. In 1999 85.6% of the citizens with Belarusian nationality declared Belarusian, 14.3% declared Russian as their native language, in 2009 these shares were 60.8% for Belarusian and 37.0% for Russian.
Languages of Belarus | Development since the collapse of the Soviet Union
Cytron Palace (today's Historical Museum) – Tobacco Factory of Faiwel Janowski – Shmuel Synagogue – Jewish Female Gymnasium of Zinaida Chwoles – Białystok Palace Theatre – Jewish Hospital (now Maternity Hospital) – Białystok Trylling Palace – Zygmunt August Gymnasium (now Sigismund Augustus High School) – Sholem Aleichem Library – TOZ Sanatorium – The Hebrew Gymnasium (now Municipal Hospital) – Mansion (ul. Sienkiewicza 26A) – Apollo Cinema – Mansion (ul. Sienkiewicza 26A; now State Theatre Academy) – Gymnasium of Jozef Zeligman, Jozef Lebenhaft and Jakub Dereczynski – Gilarino Miniature Theatre – Mansions of Isaac Zabludowski – Linas Chailim Charity Association – House of the Zamenhof Family – Monument to Ludwik Zamenhof – Yitzhak Malmed Plaque – Druskin Gymnasium – The Heroes of the Ghetto Uprising Monument – Cytron Synagogue (now Art Gallery of the Slendzinskis) – Warynskiego Street – The Modern Cinema – House of the Jakub Szapiro Family – Nowik Palace in Białystok – Tarbut (today Maria Grzegorzewska Craft School) – Jewish Craft School (now The Faculty of Physics at The University of Białystok) – The Barbican Mission (today's Syrena cinema) – Białystok-Chanajki Quarter – Piaski Quarter – Rabbinical Cemetery (today's Central Park in Białystok) – Piaskower Synagogue – The Monument of the Great Synagogue – The City Hall – The Jewish Cemetery (Wschodnia street) – and the Cholera cemetery in Białystok.
Jewish Heritage Trail in Białystok | Trail sites
Also helped was the korenizatsiya policy of the Soviet Union which encouraged local level nationalism. The Belarusian language was numerously reformed to fully represent the phonetics of a modern speaker. However, some contemporary nationalists find that the Russian influence has taken its toll too much. At present the Russian language is being used in official business and in other sections of Belarusian society.
Culture of Belarus | Russian impact
However, the Ruthenian peasants continued to speak their own language and remained faithful to the Belarusian Greek Catholic Church. Statutes were initially issued in the Ruthenian language alone and later also in Polish. Around 1840 the Statutes were banned by the Russian tsar following the November Uprising. Modern Ukrainian lands used it until 1860s.
Belarus | Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth
Following the Partitions of Poland, Imperial Russia enacted a policy of de-polonisation of the Ruthenians. However, even after many cases when the Belarusian peoples were subjected to what some call Russification, it was clear that this created a distinct ethnicity and a distinct culture that was neither Polish nor Russian. In 1897 census most of the population referred to their language as Belarusian rather than Ruthenians (and interpreted as Russian by Tsarist authorities), as they did during Polish rule. It was the 20th century that fully allowed Belarus to show its culture to the world. Notable Belarusian poets and writers included Yanka Kupala, Maksim Bahdanovič, Vasil’ Bykaw, and Uladzimir Karatkievich.
Culture of Belarus | Russian impact
It was made a state language, along with Belarusian. In most spheres, the Russian language is by far the dominant one. In fact, almost all government information and websites are in Russian only.
Geographical distribution of Russian speakers | Belarus
The Vauban network was finally selected on January 5, 2007 by the Ministry of Culture, as the celebrations for the tercentenary of the architect's death began. On July 7, 2008, twelve of the fourteen network sites are admitted to the final World Heritage List. The sites of Bazoches Castle in the Nièvre and the fort transformed into a citadel of the Palace at Belle-Île-en-Mer in Morbihan were excluded from the registration. The citadel of Belle-Île-en-Mer has been rejected by UNESCO for its "lack of authenticity", particularly due to a hotel project within it. Although this raised questions, the fact that these two sites were private properties would not have played a part in this decision.
Fortifications of Vauban UNESCO World Heritage Sites | History
Mogilyov was the largest urban centre of the territory of present-day Belarus, followed by Vitebsk, Polotsk, Pinsk, Slutsk, and Brest, whose population exceeded 10,000. In addition, Vilna (Vilnius), the capital of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania, also had a significant Ruthenian population. With time, the ethnic pattern did not evolve much. Throughout their existence as a separate culture, Ruthenians formed in most cases rural population, with the power held by local szlachta and boyars, often of Lithuanian, Polish or Russian descent. By this time, a significant Jewish presence had also formed in this region of German Jews fleeing persecution from the Northern and Baltic Crusaders.
History of Belarus | Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth