Masaryk and his views on the Belarusian issue after World War I

Authors

Keywords:

Tomáš G. Masaryk, Belarusian question, Anton Lutskyevich, World War I

Abstract

Tomáš Garrigue Masaryk’s attitude toward the Belarusian question is not a very well-known topic. Masaryk mentioned the Belarusians and the Belarusian question in his work only very rarely, but offered a clearer perspective in a letter to the Czechoslovak Foreign Minister Edvard Beneš from April 30, 1919. Based on the accessible documents, it follows that, in Masaryk’s view, the Belarusians were a part of the Russian nation (just like, for example, the Ukrainians). However, he viewed other Slavic ethnicities in a similarly combinatory way, e.g. he talked about the Czechoslovak or the Yugoslav nation. He considered the Belarusian People’s Republic to be temporary, even though he received its prime minister, Anton Lutskyevich, in Prague in 1919, and discussed the Belarusian issues (and those related to the Belarusian movement) of the time with him. Lutskyevich, though, perceived the visit with Masaryk very positively. For him, it meant support during further negotiations in Paris, where he met with E. Beneš, among others.

Author Biography

  • Petr Kaleta, Masaryk University, 7 Poříčí Street, Brno 60300, Czech Republic; Charles University, 2 nám. Jana Palacha, Prague 11638, Czech Republic

    doctor of science (philosophy); associate professor at the department of history, faculty of education, Masaryk University; associate professor at the department of Central European studies, faculty of arts, Charles University

References

  1. Masaryk TG. Rusko a Evropa. I. Studie o duchovních proudech Ruska. Díl I. a díl II. Část 1. Praha: Ústav T. G. Masaryka; 1995. Сzech.
  2. Kolenovská D, Plavec M. Běloruská emigrace v meziválečném Československu. Studie a dokumenty. Sociopolitický aspekt. Praha: Nakladatelství Karolinum; 2017. Czech.
  3. Masaryk TG. Nová Evropa. Stanovisko slovanské. Praha: Ústav T. G. Masaryka; 2016. Czech.
  4. Hájková D, Quagliatová V, Vašek R, editors. Korespondence T. G. Masaryk E. Beneš. 1918–1937. Praha: Masarykův ústav a Archiv AV ČR; 2013. Czech.
  5. Łuckiewicz A. Vspomnienie o Prezydencie Masaryku. Przegląd Wileński. 1937;7:2–5. Polish.
  6. Lutskyevich A. Memories of President Masaryk. ARCHE Home. 2003;4(27):213–216. Belarussian.
  7. Kolenovská D. Běloruská emigrace v Československu (1918–1938). Soudobé dějiny 14. 2007;1:78–105. Czech.
  8. Vijaliki AF, compiler. Belarus’ u palitycy susednih i zahodnih dzjarzhaw (1914–1991 gg.): zbornik dakumentaw i matjeryjalaw. Tom 1 [Belarus in the policy of neighboring and western countries (1914–1991): collection of documents and materials. Volume 1]. Minsk: Unipack; 2008. Belarussian.
  9. Masaryk TG. The Slavs after the War. The Slavonic Review 1. 1922;1:2–23.
  10. Masaryk TG. Slované po válce. V: Cesta demokracie. II. Praha: Ústav T. G. Masaryka; 2007. s. 283–299. Сzech.
  11. A Message from prezident Masaryk. The Slavonic Review 7. 1929;20:241–244.
  12. Masaryk T. G. Článek pro The Slavonic Review. V: Cesta demokracie. IV. Praha: Ústav T. G. Masaryka; 1997:11-13. Сzech.

Downloads

Published

2018-07-30

Issue

No. 3 (2018): Journal of the Belarusian State University. History

Section

World War I: national movements and the fall of impires

License

The authors who are published in this journal agree to the following:

  1. The authors retain copyright on the work and provide the journal with the right of first publication of the work on condition of license Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial. 4.0 International (CC BY-NC 4.0).
  2. The authors retain the right to enter into certain contractual agreements relating to the non-exclusive distribution of the published version of the work (e.g. post it on the institutional repository, publication in the book), with the reference to its original publication in this journal.
  3. The authors have the right to post their work on the Internet (e.g. on the institutional store or personal website) prior to and during the review process, conducted by the journal, as this may lead to a productive discussion and a large number of references to this work. (See The Effect of Open Access.)

How to Cite

[1]
Kaleta, P. 2018. Masaryk and his views on the Belarusian issue after World War I. Journal of the Belarusian State University. History. 3 (Jul. 2018), 17–22.