Area: 207,595 km2
Population: 9.5 million
Capital: Minsk
Official language: Belarusian, Russian
Currency: Belarusian Rouble
Belarus has common historical origins with Russia and Ukraine. During the Middle Ages, the three languages Ukrainian, Belarusian and Russian developed from an original East Slavic community. Belarus was part of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania from the 14th century and thus part of the double state of Poland-Lithuania. With the divisions of Poland in the 18th century, it fell to Russia. In the 20th century, marked by two world wars, the borders with Poland and Lithuania changed several times. In 1992, the Republic of Belarus, or White Russia, was established on the territory of the former Byelorussian Soviet Republic.
Germans in the history of Belarus
In Belarus, unlike Russia and Ukraine, there are no settlement areas in which German colonists would have settled. However, as in the rest of the Russian Empire, German residents worked in the larger cities as teachers, craftsmen, artists or doctors.
The 20th Century and the Present
As in the entire territory of the successor states of the Soviet Union, there is also a German minority in Belarus, which has largely migrated from Kazakhstan since the disintegration of the USSR.
Note: The name »Belarus« literally means »White Russia« which is sometimes used e.g. German »Weißrussland«.
Literatur
Stricker, Gerd (Hrsg.): Deutsche Geschichte im Osten Europas. Russland. Siedler Verlag. Berlin 2002.
Standardwerk mit Beiträgen von Detlef Brandes, Margarete Busch, Gerhard Hildebrandt, Peter Hilkes, Peter Rosenberg und Gerd Stricker.
german
Links
Repressionen der Russlanddeutschen in der Sowjetunion
Material der russischen Nichtregierungsorganisation »Memorial«
russian
Geschichte der Russlanddeutschen
Internetseite mit zahlreichen Links zu Literatur, Geschichte und Vorträgen
german