Germans in Belarus
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Belarusian Germans
russian: Белору́сские не́мцы
german: Weißrusslanddeutsche or ''Belarusdeutsche'' formed a notable ethnic minority on the lands of modern Belarus before World War I.


History

The first German merchants and missionaries, including Bruno of Querfurt, arrived in what is now Belarus in the late 10th and early 11th century. The medieval
Duchy of Polotsk The Principality of Polotsk ( be, По́лацкае кня́ства, ''Polackaje kniastva''; la, Polocensis Ducatus), also known as the Duchy of Polotsk or Polotskian Rus', was a medieval principality of the Early East Slavs. The origin and ...
had active trade contacts with the
Hanseatic League The Hanseatic League (; gml, Hanse, , ; german: label=Modern German, Deutsche Hanse) was a medieval commercial and defensive confederation of merchant guilds and market towns in Central and Northern Europe. Growing from a few North German to ...
and the city of Polotsk had a notable German community. Significant numbers of Germans settled in what is now Belarus during the times of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania, the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth and after the annexation of the lands by the Russian Empire. In early 20th century there were close to 50,000 ethnic Germans living in Belarus.Этналогія Беларусі: традыцыйная культура насельніцтва ў гістарычнай перспектыве. Вучэб.-метад. дапам. he Ethnology of Belarus: traditional culture of the population in a historical perspective by T. Navahrodzki and others. Minsk, 2009, ; p. 310-311 Minsk was home to a 2,000-member community of Germans with a Lutheran church and a German-populated area around it. Germans faced deportations after the beginning of the First World War and during the Soviet repressions in Belarus. After World War II, the historical German communities in Belarus disappeared. A minor number of ethnic Germans from Kazakhstan and Russia migrated to Belarus during World War. A small German expat community emerged after Belarus in 1991. According to a census conducted in 2009, 2,474 ethnic Germans lived in Belarus. There are Lutheran church buildings in
Grodno Grodno (russian: Гродно, pl, Grodno; lt, Gardinas) or Hrodna ( be, Гродна ), is a city in western Belarus. The city is located on the Neman River, 300 km (186 mi) from Minsk, about 15 km (9 mi) from the Polish b ...
and Polotsk. A sign commemorating the German community of Minsk was opened in May 2019.У Менску паставілі памятны знак нямецкай слабадзе
memorial sign for the German community was placed in Minsk-
Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty (RFE/RL) is a United States government funded organization that broadcasts and reports news, information, and analysis to countries in Eastern Europe, Central Asia, Caucasus, and the Middle East where it says tha ...
, 14 May 2019
File:Гродна_2015._Кірха.jpg, Lutheran church in
Grodno Grodno (russian: Гродно, pl, Grodno; lt, Gardinas) or Hrodna ( be, Гродна ), is a city in western Belarus. The city is located on the Neman River, 300 km (186 mi) from Minsk, about 15 km (9 mi) from the Polish b ...
, one of the few active Lutheran churches in Belarus File:Belarus-Polatsk-Lutheran Church-1.jpg, Former Lutheran church in Polotsk File:Mienskaja kircha. Менская кірха (02-03.1918).jpg, Lutheran church in Minsk (destroyed by Soviet authorities) File:Mahiloŭ, Luteranski. Магілёў, Лютэранскі (1914) (3).jpg, Lutheran church in Mogilev (destroyed by Soviet authorities)


Notable Belarusian Germans

* Otto Schmidt, Soviet scientist and statesman * Barys Hiunter, member of the
Supreme Soviet of Belarus The Supreme Council of the Republic of Belarus, sometimes translated as Supreme Soviet of the Republic of Belarus ( be, Вярхоўны Савет Рэспублікі Беларусь), was the unicameral legislature of Belarus between 1991 an ...
from the Belarusian Popular Front, of Volga German origin * Juliana Menke, activist of the Belarusian national revival movement, from a Lithuanian German family *
Eduard von der Ropp Eduard Michael Johann Maria Freiherr von der Ropp (1851–1939) was a Polish nobleman of Baltic German origins and Roman Catholic metropolitan archbishop. He was born 14 December 1851 near Līksna in present-day LatviaJānis Svilāns and Alber ...
, Roman Catholic archbishop of Mogilev from 1917 to 1939, one of the advocates of the introduction of the Belarusian language in the Catholic Church in BelarusЗ Богам да Беларусі ith God to Belarus by A. Stankievich, Vilnius, 2008, p. 510, quote: “На запыты вернікаў пра магчымасьць увядзеньня беларускай мовы ў касьцёле адказваў, што «''ня толькі можна, але й трэба''».” '“answering to requests by the faithful about the possibility to introduce the Belarusian language in the church, he said “it’s not only possible, it’s necessary””''/ref> *
Lavon Volski Leanid Arturavič Zejdel-Volski ( be, Леанід Арту́равіч Зэйдэль-Во́льскі; born on 14 September 1965 in Minsk), better known as Lavon Volski ( be, Ляво́н Во́льскі, ), is a Belarusian musician, writer, p ...
, rock musician of German descent


See also

*
Belarus–Germany relations Germany has an embassy in Minsk. Belarus has an embassy in Berlin, a consulate general in Munich, and two honorary consulates in Cottbus and Hamburg. History In the Battle of Tannenberg (1410), the Teutonic Order was defeated by the forces ...


Notes


References

{{German diaspora Ethnic groups in Belarus Belarus–Germany relations Belarus