An interesting and sad phenomenon, which we may not have fully reflected yet: among the cultural elite of Belarusians in Podlasie, there is an increasingly noticeable tendency not only to use Belarusian Latin instead of Cyrillic, but also to use local dialects instead of the literary Belarusian language and even to rely on local regional name instead of the name "Belarusians".

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A conversation with the translator of the novel by Socrates Yanovich

On the one hand, this is a bit disappointing from the all-Belarusian national standpoint.

On the other hand, it is possible that such an approach really gives the best chances for the preservation of local culture and identity in the conditions of increasingly strong polarization.

It is better to know better.

But it also concerns us.

Not so long ago, I saw a great Russian-language program about the "locals" of the Vilna region, where, as if it were some kind of curiosity, it was told about their language, which, according to the authors, reflected the entire cultural diversity of historical Lithuania: Latvian, Polish, Russian and even Ukrainian influences. .

It was reported with delight that the well in this mysterious language would be "well" and the vessel for drinking would be "cup".

The Belarusian linguist modestly and convincingly noted in the presentation that this language is very similar to literary Belarusian.

But needless to say, the Belarusian identity among the autochthonous Belarusian-speaking Vilenchuks, Branislav Tarashkevich's compatriots, is practically absent, as is, it seems, a frightening identity separate from Poles or Lithuanians in general.

German "locals".

Podlasie is like Belarusian Alsace

Looking at the fate of Belarusians in the Vilno region and, above all, in Podlasie, one cannot help but remember a very close analogue of this situation: the once German Alsace and Littoral, Luxembourg, the Orel region in Belgium and a couple of other regions.

The role of "Poland" for many of these regions was historically performed by France with its imperial and assimilationist aspirations in relation to both German-speakers and Bretons, Basques, Dutch-speakers and speakers of small Romance languages.

Alsace and Letharingia are historically German-speaking regions that were under French influence for a long time.

France finally established itself there only after the Second World War, carried out an active assimilation policy, as a result of which the state of the German language in Alsace is now gradually approaching the state of the Belarusian language in the former Belarusian-speaking Podlasie.

Only the vividly German geographical names remind us that historically this is not quite an ordinary France: Strasbourg, Mühlhausen, Schlettstadt and many others.

Luxembourg is a historical German principality that was not included in the process of creating a unified German state in the 19th century.

French was the language of the elite in Luxembourg, while the masses spoke German.

The French even unsuccessfully tried to buy Luxembourg in 1867.

In the second half of the 20th century, Luxembourgers officially gave the local German dialect the status of an independent language and the main national language of the country, and French remains the official language with a more important status than literary German.

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Hitler, Lukashenka and national prestige

Adolf Hitler and Alexander Lukashenko played a similar role for their countries and for their prestige.

True, Lukashenka did not even need to start a war with millions of victims for this.

It is quite clear that after the Second World War, the German-speaking Luxembourgers, Alsatians, Belgian-Arels, and even Austrians had a great motivation to distance themselves from Germany and Germanness.

After the Second World War, the French claimed to annex the current German Saarland, but the local population still voted in a referendum to remain part of West Germany.

This stigma, perhaps, forever cut off these regions from Germany: to think about the unity of Luxembourg or Austria with Germany on the basis of common cultural roots in today's Europe is not very camilfo, at least from the German point of view.

In the same way, the extremely low international prestige of Lukashenka's Belarus clearly pushes the Belarusian-speaking inhabitants of the regions neighboring the Republic of Belarus away from Belarus and Belarus.

At the end of the 80s, there were more than 300,000 autochthonous Belarusians in Poland.

By 2011, their number had decreased to 40,000, and this is due to many years of migration from Belarus.

10 years have passed since then, and the picture has hardly improved.

SEE ALSO: "Lukashenko is unacceptable, his words are worthless in the West," — Kovalevsky

What's wrong there - we have to hear about examples of even Belarusian Poles who, having emigrated to Poland, do not want to know anything more about their homeland Belarus.

The prestige of Belarus and Belarusianness briefly rose sharply during the mass protests of 2020, but then fell again.

And now it suffered even more after Lukashenka's Belarus (and for most of the world, simply "Belarus") acted as an ally of Putin's Russia in its aggression against Ukraine.

If Belarus were a prosperous, successful and attractive country, Vilenchuks, Podlaskies, and Smolenchuks would be the first to gravitate to it like a magnet.

The conversation, of course, is not about the redrawing of state borders - this is a truly indecent thing for today's world, which only poorly educated former petty officers of the KGB of the USSR, headed by the current Russia, could think of doing.

But a hundred years ago, it was still possible to hypothetically imagine the Belarusian language as an official language even in the Polish or Lithuanian Vilen region.

Thirty years ago, it was possible to imagine the Belarusian language as official throughout the Polish Podlasie region, and not just as a decorative feature on signs in a couple of border communes.

Now, with the same success, it is possible to think about the official status of Yiddish, also once a local heritage in these parts.

SEE ALSO: "Students and theater managers are running away from the regime."

The Lithuanian TV channel released a report about the border with Belarus

The only thing is that we all know a reliable way to make Belarus attractive for Vilenchuks, Podlasie residents and not only for them.

This method is the democratic revolution in Belarus and the successful reforms after it.

But this is probably a necessary condition for solving, if not all, pressing problems of Belarus.

The opinions expressed in the blogs represent the views of the authors themselves and do not necessarily reflect the position of the editors.

• Ales Chaychyts

  Born in 1984 in Moscow.

  Since the beginning of the 2000s, he has been an activist of the Belarusian diaspora in Russia, later in Great Britain.

  Since 2013, a member of the Council of the Belarusian People's Republic.

  In 2017–2021

  a member of the Great Council of the World Belarusians "Batskaushchyna".

  Published in "Nasha Niva", "Belarusian Partisan" and others.

  Lives in Germany.

  Awarded the medal for the centenary of the BNR.

  ales@cajcyc.org

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