Viktar Korbut (Warsaw, Poland): “The Formation of a Model of National History and National Pantheon on the Pages of Nasha Niva Newspaper from 1906-1907” (webzine “Kultura. Natsyja”, issue 30, November 2022, 52-67, www.sakavik.net)  

Abstract. On the pages of the second Belarusian-language newspaper Nasha Niva in 1906-1907 relatively few articles were devoted to the history of Belarus. Among them, Jan Lutskievich’s notes about castles in Lihskiava (Lithuania) and Navahrudak stand out. There were attempts by the same author to include the history of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania (Litva) within the Belarusian context. Jan’s brother, Anton Lutskievich, appeared on the pages of the newspaper with an article about one of the leaders of the uprising of 1830-1831 in Lithuania by the name of Shymon Konarski. Lutskievich tries to give him a place in Belarusian history. A.  Lutskievich also examined the consequences of the uprising of 1863-1864, its effect on the economy and national relations within Belarus.  For the first time in 1907 Nasha Niva justified the inclusion of the personality of the Polish poet, Adam Mitskievich, as being a part of the Belarusian national pantheon. All these scattered publications could not yet create a coherent picture of Belarus’s past in the reader’s mind. However, it can be concluded that to a large extent the historical identity of Belarusian figures was formed as a result of “intigrating” them into the Belarusian national narrative of persons and events of the Great Duchy of Lithuania and the Polish national movement of the 19th century which included well-known individuals such as A. Mitskievich amd S. Konarski who were born in Belarus but were active in Belarusian movements. The inclusion in the Belarusian national pantheon of persons with Polish cultural identity was not accidental, but was determined by the origin of most of the figures of the Belarusian movement and leading employees siding with Nasha Niva within the context of Polish cultural environment.

Categories: Асьвета, Гісторыя, Культура, Літаратура, Мова, Нацыя Беларусы