Belarusians

Belarusians (Belarusian: беларусы, bielarusy) are an East Slavic ethnic group who are native to modern-day Belarus and the immediate region.

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Quotes[edit]

The Belarusian failure therefore provides a useful test. Here we have an “ethnic group” which is the largest by far in the area in question. According to the Russian imperial census of 1897, more people spoke Belarusian in Vil’na province than all other languages combined. In Vil’na, Minsk, Grodno, Mogilev, and Vitebsk provinces, contiguous territories of historic Lithuania, speakers of Belarusian were three quarters of the population. In the twentieth century, this “ethnic group” did not become a modern nation. In combination with Lithuanian and Polish successes, this Belarusian failure helps us to perceive what national movements actually need.
- Timothy Snyder, The Reconstruction of Nations: Poland, Ukraine, Lithuania, Belarus, 1569-1999 (Yale University Press, 2003)

The signing of the Union Treaty is not just sad. This is the crime of the century. This, of course, is the genocide of the Belarusian nation. This is the end of Belarusian history.
- Vasil Bykau, “Ён Прыехаў, Сам Памёр, Усё Спакойна…” Апошнія Тыдні Васіля Быкава // svaboda.org
  (in Belarusian)