The
Polish minority in Belarus numbers officially about 400,000
[ http://www.warsawvoice.pl/archiwum.phtml/415/] (although some estimates by Polish non-governmental sources are much higher) and forms the second largest ethnic minority in the country after
Russians.
Due to poor Polish-Belarusian relations and intolerance towards non-governmental organizations, the situation of Polish minority is regarded as poor.
History
Polish ethnic and cultural presence on the lands of modern Belarus started to form in the times of
Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth mostly due to voluntary
Polonization. Most Belarusian Poles are descendants of Belarusian (
Litvin)
Roman Catholic peasants and
szlachta who voluntarily adopted Polish identity predominantly in the 19th century.
Roman Catholicism was considered a "Polish faith" and
Eastern Orthodoxy a "Russian faith", and according to this principle the population of Belarus was often classified as either Polish or Russian in the times of the
Russian Empire.
Polish influence was restored over
West Belarus in the
interwar period. The Polish government continued the policy of active
polonization of the local population, stimulating local people to take Polish identity.
At the same time, for several years in the
1920s Polish language had an official status in the semi-autonomous Soviet-controlled
East Belarus, along with
Belarusian,
Russian and
Yiddish. The Polish minority had its organizations there, the building of the Roman Catholic
Red Church in Minsk was home to a Polish-speaking national theatre of Belarus. However, in early
1930s most Polish organizations in East Belarus were liquidated by Soviet authorities and their leaders were often arrested and either sent to concentration camps or killed.
During
World War II, the Polish anti-German resistance movement
Armia Krajowa was actively operating on the territory of former
West Belarus, although many ethnic Belarusians also actively participated in the movement.
After the
Soviet invasion of Poland West Belarus was incorporated into the
Belarusian SSR. At that time and over subsequent years, many Belarusian Poles were either killed or deported. At first the deportations were heading east as during the Second World War the Soviets forcibly resettled large numbers of Belarusian Poles to Russia, Kazakhstan and Uzbekistan.
After the war, as part of the Soviet-Polish population exchange, many inhabitants of Belarus who identified themselves as Poles were sent to shifted
Poland. In exchange, several thousands of Belarusians from parts of the former
Belastok Voblast were resettled to
Belarus (see
Repatriation of Poles (1944-1946)).
The remaining Polish minority in Belarus was significantly discriminated against during the times of the Soviet Union, with continuing policies of
Sovietization. The situation of the Polish minority started to improve during the late years of the
Soviet Union, but faced difficulties from the authoritarian regime of
Alexander Lukashenko.
Current situation
Polish minority in Belarus numbers officially about 400,000 (the
1989 Soviet Census and
1999 Belarus Census showed similar numbers,
estimates by some non-governmental sources are higher.
). The aspect of Roman Catholic Belarusians and descendants of the Belarusian nobility identifying themselves as Polish is less and less common as the
Roman Catholic Church in Belarus undergoes the process of self-depolonization.
After the
Russian minority, Poles certainly form the second largest minority group in Belarus. The majority of Poles live in the Western regions of Belarus (including 294,000 in
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 anti-government opposition in Belarus,
Polish-Belarusian relations are poor, and representatives of the Polish minority in Belarus often complain about various
repressions.
In 2005, the Lukashenko regime launched a campaign against the Polish ethnic minority. The Belarusian authorities claimed that their pro-Western Polish neighbours are trying to destabilise the regime, and that the Polish minority is a
fifth column. 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 replaced by those sympathetic to Lukashenko.
The introduction of the
Karta Polaka in
2007 enabled many thousands of inhabitants of Belarus to get it by formally declaring their Polish identity to Polish officials. The introduction caused protests from Belarusian officials.
See also
