The Bloc of National Minorities ( pl, Blok Mniejszości Narodowych, (, BMN; be, Блёк нацыянальных меньшасьцяў, ; uk, Блок національних меншин, ; german: Block der Nationalen Minderheiten; yi, בלאָק פון נאַשאַנאַל מינאָריטיעס, ) was a

political party A political party is an organization that coordinates candidates to compete in a particular country's elections. It is common for the members of a party to hold similar ideas about politics, and parties may promote specific ideological or p ...

in the

Second Polish Republic The Second Polish Republic, at the time officially known as the Republic of Poland, was a country in Central and Eastern Europe that existed between 1918 and 1939. The state was established on 6 November 1918, before the end of the First World ...

, representing a coalition of various

ethnic minorities The term 'minority group' has different usages depending on the context. According to its common usage, a minority group can simply be understood in terms of demographic sizes within a population: i.e. a group in society with the least number o ...

in Poland, primarily Ukrainians, Belarusians, Jews and Germans.

Overview

The Bloc was co-founded by

Yitzhak Gruenbaum Yitzhak Gruenbaum ( pl, Izaak Grünbaum, Hebrew and Yiddish: ; 1879–1970) was a noted leader of the Zionist movement among Polish Jewry in the interwar period and of the Yishuv in Mandatory Palestine. Gruenbaum was the first Interior Minister o ...

,Block of National Minorities
Encyclopedia of History of Ukraine a Polish-Jewish politician. It was formed on 17 August 1922 at a conference in

Warsaw Warsaw ( pl, Warszawa, ), officially the Capital City of Warsaw,, abbreviation: ''m.st. Warszawa'' is the capital and largest city of Poland. The metropolis stands on the River Vistula in east-central Poland, and its population is officiall ...

. Its united electoral committee consisted of three representatives each from Belarusians, Jews, Germans and Ukrainians (except for natives of Eastern Galicia who boycotted the elections). BMN took part in the

1922 Polish legislative election Parliamentary elections were held in Poland on 5 November 1922, with Senate elections held a week later on 12 November.Dieter Nohlen & Philip Stöver (2010) ''Elections in Europe: A data handbook'', p1491 The elections were governed by the March ...

, 1928 Polish legislative election and

1930 Polish legislative election Parliamentary elections were held in Poland on 16 November 1930, with Senate elections held a week later on 23 November.Dieter Nohlen & Philip Stöver (2010) ''Elections in Europe: A data handbook'', p1491 In what became known as the ''Brest elec ...

, doing very well in the 1922 elections (19.5% and the second largest party) and 1928 elections (14% and the third largest party). In 1922 the bloc received the most votes in Volhynia, Polesia, and Chelm lands. On its party list there were elected 66 sejm representatives and 22 senators. In 1928 the bloc consisted of the Ukrainian National Democratic Alliance (UNDO), Ukrainian Peasant Union, Zionist organizations "Mizrahi" and "Hitachdut" (Unity) and few Belarusian and German groups. During the 1928 elections, the bloc earned 55 mandates to the Sejm and 21 to the Senate. In 1930 elections which were considered not free, it fared poorly (3% and the ninth largest party). In the political shakedown following the 1930 elections, the Bloc was dissolved. In the Second Polish Republic, ethnic minorities constituted 1/3 of total population.

Notable members

Belarusians

Branisłaŭ Taraškievič Branislaw Adamavich Tarashkyevich, russian: Бронисла́в Ада́мович Тарашке́вич, lt, Bronislavas Taraškevičius, pl, Bronisław Adamowicz Taraszkiewicz (20 January 1892 – 29 November 1938) was a Belarusian public fi ...

Jan Stankievič Jan (Janka) Stankievič (also called Ian Stankevich, be, Ян Станкевіч, pl, Jan Stankiewicz; 26 November 1891 – 16 August 1976) was a Belarusian politician, Nazi collaborator, linguist, historian and philosopher. Biography Jan S ...

* Adam Stankievič

Germans

* Heinrich Greitzer * Adolf Rause * Karl Wilhelm Lutticher

Jews

* Jakub Wygodzki *

Noach Pryłucki Noach (Nojach) Pryłucki or Noach Prilutski (1 October 1882 in Berdichev – 12 August 1941 in Vilnius) was a Jewish Polish politician from the Folkspartei. He was also a Yiddish linguist, philologist, lawyer and scholar of considerable renown. ...

Apolinary Hartglas Maksymilian Apolinary Hartglas (7 April 1883 – 7 March 1953) was a Zionist activist and one of the main political leaders of Polish Jews during the interwar period, a lawyer, a publicist, and a Sejm deputy from 1919 to 1930. Biography Maksymili ...

* Jakub Lejb Mincberg

Ukrainians

* Volodomyr Turchyniv * Oleksii Sorydychiv * Oleksander Syntyvich

References

1922 establishments in Poland 1930 disestablishments in Poland Defunct political parties in Poland Ethnic minorities Ethnicity in politics Federalist parties German diaspora in Europe Jewish Polish history Jewish political parties Multiculturalism Political parties disestablished in 1930 Political parties established in 1922 Political parties of minorities in Poland Regionalist parties Second Polish Republic Ukrainian political parties in Poland {{Poland-party-stub