Branislaw Adamavich Tarashkyevich (; 20 January 1892 – 29 November 1938) was a Belarusian public figure, politician, and linguist. He first standardized the modern Belarusian language in the early 20th century. The standard was later Russified by the Soviet authorities. However, the pre-Russified (classical) standard version was and still is actively used by intellectuals and the

Belarusian diaspora The Belarusian diaspora () refers to emigrants from Belarus which includes their descendants. According to different researchers, there are between 2.5 and 3.5 million Belarusian descendants living outside the territory of the Republic of Bel ...

and is informally referred to as

Taraškievica Taraškievica (, ) or Belarusian Classical Orthography () is a variant of orthography of the Belarusian language, based on the literary norm of the modern Belarusian language, the first normalization of which was made by Branislaŭ Taraškiev ...

, named after Branislaw Tarashkyevich. Tarashkyevich was a member of the underground Communist Party of Western Belorussia (KPZB) in Poland and was imprisoned for two years (1928–1930). Also, as a member of the Belarusian Deputy Club (Беларускі пасольскі клуб, Byelaruski pasol’ski klub), he was a deputy to the Polish Parliament (

Sejm The Sejm (), officially known as the Sejm of the Republic of Poland (), is the lower house of the bicameralism, bicameral parliament of Poland. The Sejm has been the highest governing body of the Third Polish Republic since the Polish People' ...

) in 1922–1927. Among others, he translated

Pan Tadeusz ''Pan Tadeusz'' (full title: ''Sir Thaddeus, or the Last Foray in Lithuania: A Nobility's Tale of the Years 1811–1812, in Twelve Books of Verse'') is an epic poem by the Polish people, Polish poet, writer, translator and philosopher Adam Micki ...

into Belarusian, and in 1969 a Belarusian-language high school in

Bielsk Podlaski Bielsk Podlaski (, , ) is a town in eastern Poland, within Bielsk County in the Podlaskie Voivodeship. As of December 2021, the town has a population of 24,883. Geography Bielsk Podlaski is located in the geographical region of Europe known as ...

was named after him. In 1933 he was set free due to a Polish-Soviet prisoner release in exchange for

Frantsishak Alyakhnovich Frantsishak Alyakhnovich (March 9, 1883 in Vilnius – March 3, 1944 in Vilnius, , (also Аляхнoвичъ, Франц Олехнович)) was a Belarusian writer, journalist descended from the Ruthenian nobility. Alyakhnovich was a theatric ...

, a Belarusian journalist and playwright imprisoned in a Gulag, and lived in Soviet exile since then. He was shot at the

Kommunarka shooting ground The Kommunarka firing range (), former dacha of secret police chief Genrikh Yagoda, was used as a burial ground from 1937 to 1941. Executions may have been carried out there by the NKVD during the Great Terror and until the war started; altern ...

outside

Moscow Moscow is the Capital city, capital and List of cities and towns in Russia by population, largest city of Russia, standing on the Moskva (river), Moskva River in Central Russia. It has a population estimated at over 13 million residents with ...

in 1938 during the

Great Purge The Great Purge, or the Great Terror (), also known as the Year of '37 () and the Yezhovshchina ( , ), was a political purge in the Soviet Union that took place from 1936 to 1938. After the Assassination of Sergei Kirov, assassination of ...

and was posthumously rehabilitated in 1957.

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*
2 pages from original ''Belarusian grammar'' by Branislaw Tarashkevich
* 1892 births 1938 deaths People from Vilnius District Municipality People from Vilensky Uyezd Belarusian Socialist Assembly politicians Communist Party of Western Belorussia politicians Belarusian Peasants' and Workers' Union politicians Members of the Rada of the Belarusian Democratic Republic Members of the Sejm of the Second Polish Republic (1922–1927) Foreign nationals imprisoned in Poland 20th-century Belarusian scientists Great Purge victims from Belarus {{Belarus-bio-stub