Vincent Hadleŭski (, ; November 16, 1888 – December 24, 1942) was a

Belarus Belarus, officially the Republic of Belarus, is a landlocked country in Eastern Europe. It is bordered by Russia to the east and northeast, Ukraine to the south, Poland to the west, and Lithuania and Latvia to the northwest. Belarus spans an a ...

ian

Roman Catholic The Catholic Church (), also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the largest Christian church, with 1.27 to 1.41 billion baptized Catholics worldwide as of 2025. It is among the world's oldest and largest international institut ...

priest, publicist and politician. During World War II he was arrested by the German police on December 24, 1942, and executed in

Maly Trostenets extermination camp Maly Trostenets (Maly Trascianiec, , "Little Trostenets") is a village near Minsk in Belarus, formerly the Byelorussian Soviet Socialist Republic. During Nazi Germany's occupation of the area during World War II (when the Germans referred to it as ...

Life

Born in the village of Porozowo, (now Šuryčy in the Grodno Region near Vaŭkavysk), he graduated from a Catholic seminary in

Vilna Vilnius ( , ) is the capital of and List of cities in Lithuania#Cities, largest city in Lithuania and the List of cities in the Baltic states by population, most-populous city in the Baltic states. The city's estimated January 2025 population w ...

and the Catholic academy in St.Petersburg. He was one of the first priests to introduce Catholic liturgy in the

Belarusian language Belarusian (, ) is an East Slavic languages, East Slavic language. It is one of the two Languages of Belarus, official languages in Belarus, the other being Russian language, Russian. It is also spoken in parts of Russia, Lithuania, Latvia, Polan ...

. After the short-lived declaration of independence by Belarus, he became member of the founding government (''

Rada The Royal Academy of Dramatic Art, also known by its abbreviation RADA (), is a drama school in London, England, which provides vocational conservatoire training for theatre, film, television, and radio. It is based in Bloomsbury, Central Lond ...

'') of the

Belarusian Democratic Republic The Belarusian People's Republic (BNR; , ), also known as the Belarusian Democratic Republic, was a state proclaimed by the Council of the Belarusian Democratic Republic in its Second Constituent Charter on 9 March 1918 during World War I. The ...

for several months in 1918. Hadleŭski was one of the participants in the First Belarusian Congress of December 1917, and served as editor of the magazine ''Krynica''.

Second Polish Republic

Following the

Peace 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 o ...

, signed in 1921 between newly reborn Poland and Soviet Russia, Hadleŭski settled in what became eastern Poland. He became professor in the Belarusian seminary of Nieśwież (now Niaśviž, Belarus) and a priest for the

powiat A ''powiat'' (; ) is the second-level unit of local government and administration in Poland, equivalent to a county, district or prefecture (Local administrative unit, LAU-1 ormerly Nomenclature of Territorial Units for Statistics, NUTS-4 ...

of Święciany (now Švenčionys, Lithuania). For seven years between 1922 and 1928 he served as member of parliament for the Polish

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' ...

, representing the Belarusian minority. In 1925 and 1926 Hadleŭski was arrested and questioned twice for organizing anti-Polish rallies. He was arrested for the third time and convicted of anti-Polish agitation in 1927. Allegedly, the evidence against Hadleŭski was falsified by his opponents. His active promotion of Belarusian language and independence earned him a two-year jail sentence. While in prison, he wrote a book about the history of the New Testament for Belarusian schools (the book was published in Vilnius in 1930). After his release he lived in

Vilnius Vilnius ( , ) is the capital of and List of cities in Lithuania#Cities, largest city in Lithuania and the List of cities in the Baltic states by population, most-populous city in the Baltic states. The city's estimated January 2025 population w ...

, where he translated the

New Testament The New Testament (NT) is the second division of the Christian biblical canon. It discusses the teachings and person of Jesus in Christianity, Jesus, as well as events relating to Christianity in the 1st century, first-century Christianit ...

into Belarusian.Jurij Gil, Wacław Stankiewicz
Sylwetki działaczy białoruskiego odrodzenia narodowego ks. Wincentego Hadleŭskiego i ks. Adama Stankiewicza.
''Nasz Czas'', NG 10 (549).

Invasion of Poland

In 1939–1940 he edited the collaborationist magazine ''Bielaruski front'' and established the Belarusian Independence Party. Hadleŭski's ideology was

right-wing Right-wing politics is the range of political ideologies that view certain social orders and hierarchies as inevitable, natural, normal, or desirable, typically supporting this position based on natural law, economics, authority, property ...

conservative Conservatism is a cultural, social, and political philosophy and ideology that seeks to promote and preserve traditional institutions, customs, and values. The central tenets of conservatism may vary in relation to the culture and civiliza ...

and Christian, while most followers of Belarusian nationalism at that time were

Marxist Marxism is a political philosophy and method of socioeconomic analysis. It uses a dialectical and materialist interpretation of historical development, better known as historical materialism, to analyse class relations, social conflic ...

s, for example, the

Belarusian Peasants' and Workers' Union The Belarusian Peasants' and Workers' Union or the Hramada (, ) was a socialist agrarian political party created in 1925 by a group of Belarusian deputies to the Sejm#Sejm of the Second Polish Republic, Sejm of the Second Polish Republic that inc ...

and later the Communist Party of West Belarus. In June 1940 Vincent Hadleŭski moved to

Warsaw Warsaw, officially the Capital City of Warsaw, is the capital and List of cities and towns in Poland, largest city of Poland. The metropolis stands on the Vistula, River Vistula in east-central Poland. Its population is officially estimated at ...

where he worked at the German-organized Belarusian Committee. In October 1941 he became chief scholarly inspector of

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 ...

and organized education processes in the city's primary schools. While doing that, he kept on promoting the idea of Belarusian political independence and organized illegal activity of the Belarusian Independence Party, that later even worked on an anti-German uprising in

.Напрыканцы чэрвеня 1944 г.
ЦК БНП рыхтаваў у Менску антынямецкае паўстаньне з мэтай абвяшчэньня Беларускай Народнай Рэспублікі, якое было адменена з прычыны імклівага наступу Чырвонай Арміі. On December 24, 1942 Vincent Hadleŭski was arrested by the

Gestapo The (, ), Syllabic abbreviation, abbreviated Gestapo (), was the official secret police of Nazi Germany and in German-occupied Europe. The force was created by Hermann Göring in 1933 by combining the various political police agencies of F ...

and shot in

References

External links

biography at slounik.org
* . {{DEFAULTSORT:Hadleuski, Vincent 1898 births 1942 deaths People from Svislach district People from Volkovyssky Uyezd Executed Belarusian collaborators with Nazi Germany Belarusian Roman Catholic priests Polish people of Belarusian descent Belarusian Independence Party politicians Belarusian Christian Democracy politicians Members of the Rada of the Belarusian Democratic Republic Belarusian schoolteachers Belarusian people of World War II Nazi persecution of the Catholic Church Soviet people who died in Nazi concentration camps Deaths by firearm in Belarus People who died in Maly Trostenets extermination camp Soviet civilians killed in World War II Roman Catholic priests executed by Nazi Germany