The Belarusian Popular Front "Revival" ( BPF , Belarusian : Беларускі Народны Фронт "Адраджэньне", БНФ ; Biełaruski Narodny Front "Adradžeńnie" , BNF ) was a social and political movement in Belarus in the late 1980s and 1990s whose goals were national revival of Belarus, its democratization and independence from the Soviet Union . Its leader was Zianon Pazniak . It was similar to the Popular Fronts of Latvia and Estonia , and the Sąjūdis movement in Lithuania .
30-505: The predecessor of the BPF was the civic organization " Martyrology of Belarus [ be ] ", whose goal was to commemorate the victims of Soviet political repressions in Belarus . Among the significant achievements of the organization was the 1988 uncovering by Pazniak of the burial site of Kurapaty near Minsk , a major NKVD mass extermination site of Soviet political prisoners in
60-658: A doctoral dissertation on the history of the theatre. In 1988, Zianon Pazniak made public his researches of NKVD mass executions in the forest of Kurapaty near Minsk . At that time, he became a leader of the Belarusian national movement for freedom and independence. In 1988, along with Vasil Bykaŭ , he was one of the founders of the Belarusian Popular Front and the Belarusian Martyrologue. From May 1990 until January 1996, Pazniak
90-650: A dynamic opposition group in the parliament of the then Soviet-controlled Byelorussian Soviet Socialist Republic . In July 1990, the Belarusian Popular Front initiated the passing of the Declaration of State Sovereignty of the Byelorussian Soviet Socialist Republic . In August 1991, following the 1991 Soviet coup d'état attempt and supported by tens of thousands of protesters outside the parliament building,
120-458: A newspaper, Навіны БНФ "Адраджэньне" ( News of the Belarusian Popular Front "Revival" ). The Belarusian Popular Front actively protested against Soviet policies following the Chernobyl accident , after which a large territory of Belarus was contaminated by nuclear fallout. In May 1990, 37 members of the Belarusian Popular Front were elected into the 12th Belarusian Supreme Council and formed
150-531: A potential arrest by the forces of the Belarusian president Aliaksandar Lukashenka . He was granted political asylum in the United States . On June 19, 1997, Belarus's prosecutor's office opened a criminal case against Pazniak accusing him of incitement to ethnic hatred against Russian people. Following emigration, Zianon Pazniak is still active in leading the CCP-BPF ( Christian Conservative Party of
180-747: Is a Belarusian nationalist politician, one of the founders of the Belarusian Popular Front and leader of the Conservative Christian Party – BPF . He was the Belarusian Popular Front nominee for President of Belarus in the 1994 election . Zianon Pazniak has lived in the United States since 1996. Zianon Pazniak was born in the village of Subotniki in Baranavichy Region during the German occupation of Belarus (present-day Grodno Region ). He graduated from
210-835: The Belarusian Democratic Republic 100th Jubilee Medal from the Rada of the Belarusian Democratic Republic in Exile . In the summer of 2020, Pazniak founded the association "Free Belarus", which, according to its own statements, "advocates the protection, development and representation of the Belarusian nation, the Republic of Belarus and Belarusians around the world". During the Russian invasion of Ukraine in 2022 Pazniak called to support
240-602: The Belarusian State Institute of Theatre and Arts in 1967 and completed his postgraduate studies at the Institute of Ethnography, Art and Folklore in 1972. Upon completion of his university studies, Pazniak worked as an arts researcher. After a wave of Soviet political-administrative repressions in 1974 resulting in the loss of his work at the Arts Institute, Pazniak worked as an archaeologist at
270-597: The Conservative Christian Party , the revived Belarusian Christian Democracy and Partyja BNF commemorate the victims of the Soviet regime on 29 and 30 October, the day of a mass execution of Belarusian writers in 1937, and on the traditional ancestors commemoration day ( Dziady ) in early November. In 2014 a website for the Virtual Museum of Soviet Repression in Belarus was created. Zianon Pazniak Zianon Stanislavavich Pazniak (born 24 April 1944)
300-667: The Kastuś Kalinoŭski Regiment . In January 2023, during the Battle of Bakhmut , he visited the Belarusian fighters of the Kastuś Kalinoŭski Regiment on the front line. Zianon Pazniak's grandfather was Jan Pazniak (1887 (1895 ?) – 1939 ?), a Belarusian publisher, editor, publicist and politician. Jan Pazniak took part in the activity of the Belarusian Christian educational movement and
330-526: The Perestroika and by the findings of graves on the former Soviet execution site in Kurapaty near Minsk. Unlike in neighbouring countries, the authorities of the Republic of Belarus under president Alexander Lukashenko give only limited access to state archives related to Stalinist repressions and do not commemorate the victims of Communism on a governmental level. The democratic opposition close to
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#1732765441074360-778: The Perestroika and democratization in the Soviet Union which would enable a Belarusian national revival. The Popular Front was the first political organization in Belarus to openly oppose the Communist Party of Byelorussia . The prominent Belarusian writer Vasil Bykaŭ became an active member of the Belarusian Popular Front. Writer Aleś Adamovič was an active supporter of the Popular Front. The Front had about 10 thousand activists in different regions of Belarus as well as in Moscow , Vilnius and Riga . It published
390-618: The 1920s and 1930s, not less than 440–460 (80%) became victims of Soviet repression. This number includes Todar Klaštorny , Andrej Mryj and many others. Including those forced to leave Belarus, no less than 500 (90%) of published Belarusian writers fell victim to the repressions, a quarter of the total number of writers persecuted by the state at this time in the entire USSR . At the same time, according to Marakoŭ, in Ukraine only 35% to 40% of writers have been victims of repressions, in Russia,
420-466: The 1930s the Soviets either physically exterminated or banned from further research 32 historians from Minsk with their works being also excluded from libraries. According to Kotljarchuk, the Soviet authorities thereby physically destroyed the Belarusian school of history studies of that time. According to historian Leanid Marakoŭ , of approximately 540–570 writers who had been published in Belarus in
450-574: The 1930s, only 26 Belarusian academicians and 6 correspondent members of the Belarusian Science Academy were unaffected by repressions. Of 139 PhD students (aspirants) in Belarus as of 1934, only six people escaped execution during the repressions. According to Kushner, the Soviet repressions virtually stopped any humanities research in Belarus. According to the Belarusian-Swedish historian Andrej Kotljarchuk , in
480-740: The 1930s. The Belarusian Popular Front was established in 1989, following the examples of the Popular Fronts in the Baltic states. Its founding conference had to be organized in Vilnius because of pressure from the authorities of the Byelorussian SSR . Initially, the Popular Front united numerous minor organizations promoting the Belarusian language and history. However, soon the movement began voicing political demands, supporting
510-780: The Archaeological Division of the History Institute of the Belarusian Science Academy. His specialisation was the Late Middle Ages in Belarus. He was heavily involved in efforts to preserve the remaining section of the historic centre of Minsk, which was considerably damaged by the redevelopment efforts undertaken by the Soviet administration after the end of the Second World War. In 1981 Pazniak successfully defended
540-532: The BPF ). His endeavour to participate in the presidential elections of 2006 was set back when he refused to forward the requisite number of signatures gathered for his candidacy. Pazniak and the Conservative Christian Party – BPF refused to join elections in the oppositional coalition led by Aliaksandar Milinkevich in 2006 election . He is a founding signatory of the Prague Declaration on European Conscience and Communism . In 2018, Pazniak received
570-575: The Belarusian Popular Front managed to convince the Supreme Soviet to declare full independence of Belarus from the USSR. The historical Belarusian national symbols: the white-red-white flag and the Pahonia coat of arms were restored as state symbols of Belarus. In 1994, Alexander Lukashenko was elected president of Belarus. From the very beginning, the Belarusian Popular Front became one of
600-582: The exact number of people who became victims of Soviet repression in Belarus is hard to determine because the archives of the KGB in Belarus remain inaccessible to historians. According to incomplete estimates, approximately 600,000 people fell victim to Soviet repression in Belarus between the October Revolution in 1917 and the death of Joseph Stalin in 1953. Other estimates rise the number to more than 1.4 million people, with 250,000 sentenced by
630-486: The judiciary or executed by extrajudicial bodies ( dvoikas , troikas , and special commissions of the OGPU , NKVD , and MGB ). 358,686 people believed to be victims of Soviet repression were sentenced to death in Belarus between 1917 and 1953, according to historian Vasil Kushner. Overall, around 200,000 victims of Soviet political repression were rehabilitated in Belarus between 1954 and 2000. According to Kushner, in
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#1732765441074660-418: The main political forces opposing president Lukashenko. In 1994 the BPF formed a shadow cabinet consisting of 100 BPF intellectuals. In 1995, members of parliament from the Belarusian Popular Front went on a hunger strike as a protest against Lukashenko's controversial referendum to replace state symbols with slightly amended Soviet ones and to make Russian language official in Belarus. The hunger strike
690-487: The moderate majority formed the BPF Party (Partyja BNF, Партыя БНФ) led by Vincuk Viačorka . Both parties claim to be the only legitimate successor of the Belarusian Popular Front established in 1989. The Malady Front , formerly the Popular Front's youth wing, has also become an autonomous organization. In 2011, following an internal conflict, more than 90 further members left BPF Party , including several veterans of
720-429: The number is below 15%. A total of 1520 Belarusian medical specialists have become victims of repressions, this includes about 500 doctors, over 200 nurses, almost 600 veterinarians, several hundreds of family members that have been sentenced within the same legal cases. In the late 1980s the influential pro-democracy and pro-independence movement in Belarus (the Belarusian Popular Front ) has been largely inspired by
750-1016: The original Belarusian Popular Front, including Lavon Barščevski , Jury Chadyka , Vincuk Viačorka . This was described by some as a "second split" of the Belarusian Popular Front. Formally, the Belarusian Popular Front continued to exist as an NGO affiliated with the BPF Party . In 2023 the BPF Party as well as the Conservative Christian Party – BPF were both liquidated by the Supreme Court of Belarus. Soviet repressions in Belarus Soviet repression in Belarus ( Belarusian : Савецкія рэпрэсіі ў Беларусі , romanized : Saveckija represii w Biełarusi ) refers to cases of persecution of people in Belarus under Soviet rule . According to researchers,
780-407: The police. Two leaders of the Belarusian Popular Front, Zianon Pazniak and Siarhiej Navumčyk , fled the country and received political asylum in the United States . In 1999, the Belarusian Popular Front split into two rival organizations. Its conservative wing under the exiled leader Zianon Pazniak formed the Conservative Christian Party – BPF (Kanservatyŭna-Chryścijanskaja Partyja BNF), while
810-439: Was a deputy of the Belarusian parliament. As parliamentary deputy, he was the leader of the fraction of the BPF. In 1994, he participated in the 1994 election as the Belarusian Popular Front nominee, gaining 13.1 percent of the vote. Pazniak’s candidacy was supported by the famous Belarusian writer Vasil Bykaŭ and a number of representatives of the Belarusian scientific community. In 1996, Zianon Pazniak fled Belarus, citing
840-663: Was a member of the Christian Democratic Union since its founding in May 1917 in Petrograd. Jan Pazniak published several newspapers and magazines as “Biełarus”, “Biełaruskaja krynica” (English: Belarusian Spring ), “Chryścijanskaja Dumka” (English: Christian Thought ) and “Ranica” (English: Morning ). In September–October 1939, he was arrested by the NKVD and taken out of Vilna . According to one version, Jan Pazniak
870-812: Was held in prison in Staraja Vilejka not far from Maladziechna until June 1941. The circumstances and date of his death are still unknown. His father was Stanisłaŭ Janavič Pazniak (1922-1944). Stanisłaŭ Pazniak was recruited into the Red Army in the summer of 1944 and died on the Eastern front in December 1944. His mother was Hanna Jaŭchimaŭna Pazniak (1922-2012). She lived in Subotniki almost all her life. When she died in April 2012, Pazniak didn't come to
900-431: Was violently interrupted by police forces who beat up the members of parliament. In 1996, the Belarusian Popular Front was one of the main powers behind mass protests against Lukashenko's policies of Russification and integration with Russia , as well as against his second controversial referendum amending the constitution in a way to concentrate power in the president's hands. The protests were violently dispersed by
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