Franciszek Umiastowski and his role in the Belarusian movement: from “Nasha Dola” to Katyń

Abstract

Franciszek Umiastowski (1882-1940) was one of the forerunners of the Belarusian national movement in the early twentieth century: in 1906 he was the initiator of the Belarusian newspaper “Nasha Dola [Our Fate]”, which appeared earlier than the better known “Nasha Niva [Our Field] paper. In the history of Belarusian literature he is known as “Dziadz’ka Pranuk”. His activities in the Belarusian sphere are still less known than those of other activists: Ivan and Anton Lutskevich, Vatslav Ivanovski and other contemporaries – classics of Belarusian literature – Yanka Kupala and Yakub Kolas. The reason why his role in the Belarusian movement was underestimated was his independent position during the interwar period and then his tragic death in the Katyń massacre, which could not be mentioned in the period after WW2. After the mid-1920s he published the newspaper “Belaruski Dzeń” [Belarusian Day] and the magazine “Belaruskaya Kultura [Belarusian Culture]”. He provided financial support to Belarusian students at the Stefan Batory University in Vilna. Before the outbreak of WW2 he was called up to the Polish Army, and died a tragic death in Katyń in the spring of 1940.