Alaksandar Ułasaŭ (Belarusian: Аляксандар Уласаў; 28 August 1874 – 11 March 1941) was a Belarusian politician, a founder and the first editor of the newspaper

Naša Niva ''Nasha Niva'' (, lit. "Our field") is one of the oldest Belarusian weekly newspapers, founded in 1906 and re-established in 1991. ''Nasha Niva'' became a cultural symbol, due to the newspaper's importance as a publisher of Belarusian literature ...

, and a victim of Stalin's purges.

Early years

Ułasaŭ was born in '' Vilejka,'' now a town in Minsk Region. He studied at a theological seminary in

Pinsk Pinsk (; , ; ; ; ) is a city in Brest Region, Belarus. It serves as the administrative center of Pinsk District, though it is administratively separated from the district. It is located in the historical region of Polesia, at the confluence of t ...

, a gymnasium in Libava (now Liepaja, Latvia) and later at the Riga Technical University.

Belarusian National Movement

In December 1904, Ułasaŭ became one of the founders of the

Belarusian Socialist Assembly The Belarusian Socialist Assembly, BSA (, BSH) was a revolutionary party in the Belarusian territory of the Russian Empire. It was established in 1902 as the Belarusian Revolutionary Party, renamed in 1903.''Belarus: A Denationalized Nation'', by ...

and a member of its central committee. During the

1905 Russian Revolution The Russian Revolution of 1905, also known as the First Russian Revolution, was a revolution in the Russian Empire which began on 22 January 1905 and led to the establishment of a constitutional monarchy under the Russian Constitution of 1906, th ...

, Ułasaŭ organised workers' strikes in various Belarusian cities, participated in an illegal teachers' convention. From December 1906 to May 1914, Ułasaŭ was the editor-in-chief of the newspaper

and in that role encouraged talented Belarusian writers (such as Janka Kupała) to contribute to the newspaper. For his social and political activities and publications Ułasaŭ was sentenced by the Russian authorities to 4 months of imprisonment in 1909. In December 1917, Ułasaŭ took part in the

First All-Belarusian Congress The First All-Belarusian Congress () was a congress of Belarusian political organisations and groups held in Minsk in December 1917. The congress gathered 1872 delegates from all regions of Belarus and was violently dispersed by the Bolshevik mil ...

and in 1918, became a member of the

Rada of the Belarusian Democratic Republic The Rada of the Belarusian People's Republic (, ) was the governing body of the Belarusian Democratic Republic. Since 1919, the Rada BNR has been in exile where it has preserved its existence among the Belarusian diaspora as an advocacy group ...

In the Second Polish Republic

At the time of the conclusion of the Polish-Russian

Treaty of Riga The Treaty of Riga was signed in Riga, Latvia, on between Poland on one side and Soviet Russia (acting also on behalf of Soviet Belarus) and Soviet Ukraine on the other, ending the Polish–Soviet War (1919–1921). The chief negotiators of ...

in 1920, Ułasaŭ lived in Radaškovičy, which ended up in the territory of 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 7 October 1918 and 6 October 1939. The state was established in the final stage of World War I ...

. He was repeatedly arrested by the Polish authorities for his Belarusian cultural and political activities. Later, in Radaškovičy, Ułasaŭ established a Belarusian gymnasium named after Francis Skaryna. In 1921, he was one of the founders of the Association of Belarusian Schools - a public organisation that supported Belarusian education in Western Belarus. In 1922–1927, Ułasaŭ was a senator in the Polish Senate elected from the list of national minorities. He took part in the work of the Belarusian Peasant-Worker Society.

Arrest and death

After the partition of the

between Nazi Germany and the Soviet Union, Ułasaŭ was arrested by the Soviet NKVD secret police and transported to

Minsk Minsk (, ; , ) is the capital and largest city of Belarus, located on the Svislach (Berezina), Svislach and the now subterranean Nyamiha, Niamiha rivers. As the capital, Minsk has a special administrative status in Belarus and is the administra ...

. In November 1940, he was sentenced to 5 years in the

GULAG The Gulag was a system of Labor camp, forced labor camps in the Soviet Union. The word ''Gulag'' originally referred only to the division of the Chronology of Soviet secret police agencies, Soviet secret police that was in charge of runnin ...

concentration camps for "espionage-provocateur activities". In March 1941, he died in prison in Russia, on the territory of the current Kemerovo region.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Ułasaŭ, Alaksandar 1874 births 1941 deaths Belarusian Socialist Assembly politicians Belarusian National Republic Members of the Rada of the Belarusian Democratic Republic Great Purge victims from Belarus