Belarusian diaspora

Source: Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.

Map of the Belarusian diaspora in the world (includes people with Belarusian ancestry or citizenship).
  Belarus
  + 100,000
  + 10,000
  + 1,000
The 5th World Congress of Belarusians in Minsk, 2009

The Belarusian diaspora refers to emigrants from the territory of Belarus as well as to their descendants.

According to different researchers, there are between 2.5 and 3.5 million Belarusian descendants living outside the territory of the

USSR before 1991 and who after its dissolution became inhabitants of other post-Soviet countries. A separate faction usually associated with the Belarusian diaspora are ethnic minorities in the borderlands of Belarus with Poland, Lithuania, Latvia, Russia and Ukraine
.

Belarusian Jews
who have established significant communities in the United States and Israel.

There is a tendency to underestimate the number of people identifying themselves as Belarusians according to official censuses.

The Minsk-based World Association of Belarusians is the international organization uniting people of Belarusian descent from around the world. The government of the short-lived Belarusian Democratic Republic has been in exile since 1919 and acts as a consolidating centre for many politically active Belarusians abroad, especially in North America and Western Europe.

History

The earliest Belarusian emigrants came in the seventeenth century to the Netherlands and the United States under the pressure of the Catholic and Eastern Orthodox Counter-Reformation in Belarus. Belarusians later migrated to Siberia and the Far East after their lands were occupied in the eighteenth century by the Russian Empire. This continued throughout the nineteenth century.

Belarusians immigrated in large numbers to the United States once

Josef Stalin's repressions.[1]

The end of World War II saw the second-largest emigration wave from Belarus. The demographics included a mix of people "who were running from the Soviets, victims of Stalin’s pre-war repressions, some Nazi collaborators and thousands of young Belarusian forced laborers who stayed in Europe after WWII." Most of these Belarusian immigrants moved to

political asylum emigration when President Alexander Lukashenko
established a dictatorial regime in 1994. Most Belarusians immigrated to European Union countries, the US, Australia, Canada and Russia. The latest wave of emigration from Belarus includes professionals such as software and other engineers, scientists, students and athletes.

In 1949, the

West Belarus, as well as those who identified themselves as Russian or Polish.[2]

Country Number of Belarusian immigrants
as of 1 May 1949
United States 500,000
Argentina 100,000, of which 60 thousand lived around Buenos Aires
Canada 30,000
Great Britain 11,000
Brazil 10,000
France 10,000
West Germany 10,000
Belgium 1,500
Australia 500
Austria below 500
Venezuela 150
Sweden 100
Turkey 100
Italy 50
Denmark 50

Europe

Czech Republic

Piotra Krečeŭski, the third President of the Belarusian Democratic Republic in exile, in Prague

government in exile of the Belarusian Democratic Republic. Two presidents of the Rada BNR are buried in Prague, at the Olšany Cemetery. The interwar Belarusian diaspora of Czechoslovakia ceased to exist following World War II and the Soviet occupation of Czechoslovakia
.

After 1991, Prague once again became an important centre of the Belarusian diaspora in the West, along with

Belarusian edition of Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty relocated to Prague in the 1990s. A number of political refugees from Belarus have also settled in Prague. In 2013, Belarusians were officially recognized as an ethnic minority in the Czech Republic.[3]

France

The first organisation of the Belarusian diaspora in the country (the

West Belarusian migrant workers in 1930.[4]
Several thousand Belarusian refugees and soldiers of the Anders' Army landed in France after World War II. They established a Belarusian cultural and religious centre in Paris.

Belarusian scouts in Regensburg, West Germany, 1946

Germany

After

Slutsk Defence Action in Mittenwald
. Nowadays Germany is home to 22,980 individuals with Belarusian passports.[6]

As a result of the

Belarusian community "RAZAM" e.V., the first interest group of and for people with a Belarusian background living in Germany, was founded in August 2020.[7]

United Kingdom

Entrance plaque on the Belarusian House in London, headquarters of the Association of Belarusians in Great Britain
Sign at the Belarusian Church in London
Main article: Belarusians in the United Kingdom

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 and nowadays it is the largest Belarusian library outside Belarus
.

Latvia

Main article:
Belarusian minority in Latvia

According to the latest Latvian population census, currently there are 57 319 (2022) Belarusians in the country, who form 3.5 per cent of the total population of Latvia; 41,300 of them have

Janka Kupala School are ethnic Belarusians. The republic of Belarus has assisted in the development of this school since many Belarusian citizens reside in, and attend the school in Riga. In February 2024, it became known that the Janka Kupala is going to be liquidated by August 2024.[8]
Latvia has a number of Belarusian public organisations with goals to promote the Belarusian culture, language and traditions, to preserve the national identity of the Belarusians in Latvia. These Belarusian organizations hold events to promote the traditions, culture and language of Belarus.

Lithuania

Main article: Belarusians in Lithuania

According to censuses of the early 20th century, Belarusians consisted a majority in the region of Vilnius. As the capital of the

Polish-Lithuanian
communities sought more representation in the Lithuanian government, as well the mass movement of Belarusian contract labourers via Poland into Western Europe in the 2000s.

Poland

Main article: Belarusian minority in Poland

Poland is home to a shrinking Belarusian minority that was part of the larger

Belarusian Poles. Now there are also Belarusian communities in larger cities like Warsaw and Kraków
.

Russia

Main article: Belarusians in Russia
Protests by members of the Belarusian diaspora at the embassy of Belarus in Moscow against the regime of Alexander Lukashenko and political repressions in Belarus, September 2020

The Belarusian minority in Russia consists mainly of emigrants from Belarus during Soviet times and the times of the

St. Petersburg
and Siberia.

Artem Milevskyi, a Ukrainian footballer of Belarusian descent

Serbia

Main article: Belarusians in Serbia

The number of Belarusian in Serbia is around 5,501 people, as stated by the Ministry of Internal Affairs of Serbia, between February 24 and November 2, 2022.

Russian invasion of Ukraine
. These numbers include all temporary passing residence and registered emigrants, including statistics from required registration after 30 days of visa free residence. Because of this, actual number of residence with Belarusian citizenship is smaller from the statistical numbers given my the Ministry of Internal Affairs.

Ukraine

Main article:
Belarusian minority in Ukraine

In

interwar Poland. There are now Belarusian organizations in major cities like Lviv, Sevastopol in the Crimea, and others. A notable Ukrainian of Belarusian descent is Viktor Yanukovych, the fourth president of Ukraine
.

North America

Canada

Main article:
Belarusians in Canada

Belarusian immigrants have been coming to Canada since the 19th century. Another wave of refugees came after the

2011 Census there were 8,050 Canadians who claimed Belarusian ancestry.[12]

United States

Main article: Belarusian Americans

Belarusian immigrants have been coming to the USA since the 19th century. A large group of Belarusian immigrants from Belarus were

Belarusian Jews, who came to the country in the late 19th century and early 20th century. Another wave of refugees came after the World War II. It is difficult to estimate the real number of Americans of Belarusian descent because immigrants from Belarus were often classified as Poles or Russians (sometimes Lithuanians, i.e., Litviny), or sometimes as Ukrainians
.

The largest concentrations of Belarusian Americans live in the

metropolitan New York area, New Jersey (especially Highland Park and South River), Cleveland (and its suburbs), Chicago (recent immigrants concentrated around Wheeling), Los Angeles, and Detroit
.

South America

Argentina

Main article: Belarusian Argentines

The First organized Belarusian diaspora in

Belarusian SSR in 1956.[13]

References

  1. ^ "Belarusian diaspora in Latvia". Embassy of the Republic of Belarus to the Republic of Latvia. Archived from the original on 4 March 2016. Retrieved 19 June 2020.
  2. ISBN 9789857089079
    .
  3. Radio Svaboda
    . Retrieved 1 January 2018.
  4. ^ Т. А. Папоўская. Беларускі хаўрус у Францыі // Беларуская энцыклапедыя: У 18 т. / Рэдкал.: Г. П. Пашкоў і інш.. — Мн.: БелЭн, 1996. — Т. 2: Аршыца — Беларусцы. — С. 461.
  5. ^ "ABM -- Books about Belarusians in Other Countries". Archived from the original on 13 March 2016. Retrieved 27 March 2016.
  6. ^ "Anzahl der Ausländer in Deutschland nach Herkunftsland von 2017 bis 2019" (in German). Statista. 16 June 2020. Retrieved 19 June 2020.
  7. ^ "OWEP 1/2021". OST-WEST Europäische Perspektiven (in German). Retrieved 31 October 2022.
  8. ^ Рижская дума решила ликвидировать четыре основные школы и детский сад
  9. ^ "Srbiju naselilo Rusa koliko Kragujevac ima stanovnika Od početka rata u Ukrajini ljudi traže spas kod nas: Broj izbeglica raste svakog dana". www.blic.rs (in Serbian). 8 December 2022. Retrieved 11 December 2022.
  10. ^ "Всеукраїнський перепис населення 2001 - Результати - Основні підсумки - Національний склад населення". 2001.ukrcensus.gov.ua. Retrieved 11 January 2018.
  11. ^ "Representing Belarusian Canadians since 1948". Belarusian Canadian Alliance. Retrieved 5 December 2020.
  12. ^ "2011 National Household Survey: Data tables". Statistics Canada. 8 May 2013. Retrieved 11 February 2014.
  13. ^ "Беларусы ў Аргенціне". Nn.by. Archived from the original on 25 May 2014. Retrieved 11 January 2018.

Sources

  • Натальля Гардзіенка. Сучаснае беларускае замежжа: праблемы і перспектывы (даклад на V Зьездзе беларусаў сьвету) (Belarusians abroad today: problems and perspectives, report by Natallia Hardzijenka at the 5th World Congress of Belarusians in 2009)

External links

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