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Belarusian Germans

Belarusdeutsche
Total population
2,474
Regions with significant populations
Minsk, Grodno, Polotsk
Languages
German · Belarusian
Religion
Lutheran · Roman Catholic

Belarusian Germans 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 had active trade contacts with the Hanseatic League 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. 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 and Polotsk. A sign commemorating the German community of Minsk was opened in May 2019.

• Lutheran church in Grodno, one of the few active Lutheran churches in Belarus
• Former Lutheran church in Polotsk
• Lutheran church in Minsk (destroyed by Soviet authorities)
• 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 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, 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 Belarus
• Lavon Volski, rock musician of German descent

See also

• Belarus–Germany relations

Notes

1. Belarusian: Белару́скія не́мцы
   Russian: Белору́сские не́мцы
   German: Weißrusslanddeutsche or Belarusdeutsche

References

1. ^ Перепись населения — 2009. Население по национальности и родному языку(in Russian)
2. Этналогія Беларусі: традыцыйная культура насельніцтва ў гістарычнай перспектыве. Вучэб.-метад. дапам. , by T. Navahrodzki and others. Minsk, 2009, ISBN 978-985-518-121-8; p. 310-311
3. ^ У Менску паставілі памятны знак нямецкай слабадзе - Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty, 14 May 2019
4. Памяці Барыса Гюнтэра - Radio Svaboda, 22 August 2014
5. ГЮНТЭР БАРЫС ДАВЫДАВІЧ , Virtual Museum of Political Repressions in Belarus
6. ЮЛІЯНА ВІТАН-ДУБЕЙКАЎСКАЯ - Official website of the Rada of the Belarusian Democratic Republic. Quote: “Паходзіла зь сям’і віленскіх немцаў-купцоў”
7. З Богам да Беларусі , 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».”

• Ethnic groups in Belarus
• Belarus–Germany relations
• Belarusian people of German descent
• German diaspora by country