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Author: Ihar Melnikau

The situation in Grodno was not calm. The rise of nationalism in the city became a reason for the pogrom

The second half of the 1930s saw a rise of antisemitic attitudes in Poland. This was caused by several factors among which was the unstable economic situation in the country and the aggressive antisemitism that began to dominate in neighbouring Nazi Germany. Violent events also took place in Poland. One of them was in Grodno in 1935.

June 2, 2024 - Ihar Melnikau

The count fought for Poland his entire life. He remained faithful until the end

Colonel Konstanty Drucki-Lubecki was an aristocrat and an experiencend, talented soldier that defended Poland again in 1939. “It is a strange coincidence that I fought against the Germans and ended up in Soviet captivity”, he wrote in the POW camp. He was later murdered in the Katyń massacre.

April 13, 2024 - Ihar Melnikau

Economic trouples in the Second Polish Republic were favourable for scammers. “Banksters” would appear in north-eastern Poland

One of the least studied aspects of the north-eastern voivodships during the Second People’s Republic is the activity of scammers. Their actions were often on hand for the people living in the Wilno, Nowogródek and Polesie voivodships of inter-war Poland.

March 2, 2024 - Ihar Melnikau

The fire on Freedom Square was not coincidental. A Soviet soldier is suspected

On January 4th 1946 an emergency session of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of Belarus was held in Minsk. The head of the Byelorussian Communist Party Panteleimon Ponomarenko, the head of the NKGB Lavrentiy Tsanava and the NKVD People’s Commissary Sargiei Belchanka were joined by 13 other party members to discuss the fire in the capital’s state security building the previous day.

February 17, 2024 - Ihar Melnikau

The history of the Japanese consul who saved Belarusian Jews

One of the “Righteous among the Nations” is the Japanese diplomat Chiune Sugihara. At the beginning of the Second World War, he saved the lives of thousands of Polish Jewish citizens, among whom were people from present-day Belarus.

December 22, 2023 - Ihar Melnikau

The anatomy of betrayal

The story of local Belarusians who collaborated with Nazi Germany is often a forgotten page of history. Yet, their brutal tactics and participation in the extermination of Jews and other populations are a sad reminder of life under occupation, as was the case of the Barysau police officers.

I remember when I was a small boy, I used to ride my bike with my grandfather. In one village near Babruisk, my grandfather would start a conversation with a local resident. The villager would ask, “Are you interested in the history of the war?” “Do you see the house on the left? A policeman lived there. So there was a lot of blood on the hands of this policeman. He shot Jews and Soviet POWs. He didn’t run away with the Germans; he was hiding here. Caught, and tried. Got a quarter, 25 years. No one else had seen him here.”

September 11, 2023 - Ihar Melnikau

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