The Belorussian Section (K)

The basis of the Belorussian section consists of scientific and literary editions of the Institute of Belorussian Culture in Minsk, which was active in 1922‒1928 as the very first higher multi-disciplinary institution in Belorussian history and was a predecessor of the later Academy of Sciences of the Belorussian SSR. In the first years of its existence, the Slavonic Library collected works by the leading representatives of contemporary Belorussian literature published in the 1920s both by the above-mentioned institute and by the publishing houses Belaruskae Dziarzhaŭnae Vydavetstva (later renamed to Dziarzhaŭnae Vydavetstva Belarusi), Savetskaia Belarus’ and Maladniak. These include mainly works by Janka Kupala, Iakub Kolas, Zmitrok Biadulia, Mikhas’ Charot, Tsishka Hartny, Jazep Pushcha, Kuz’ma Chorni, Maksim Haretski, Ŭladzislaŭ Halubek, Ales’ Dudar and Kandrat Krapiva. The largest collections in terms of the number of editions are those of Janka Kupala and Iakub Kolas. Retrospectively, the section was enriched with also earlier editions of the above-mentioned as well as other authors whose works were essential for the development of Belorussian literature, in particular Saint Petersburg and Vilnius editions, mostly from 1907‒1914.

Another item from the early 20th century is the original edition of the first legal Belorussian newspaper Nasha Niva. The sets of the two most important Belorussian literary journals, Maladniak and Polymia, are almost complete. Concerning the figures of science, the works of the Slavic philologist Iaŭkhim Karski are the most represented. Apart from Belorussian books and periodicals published at the beginning of the 20th century especially in Vilnius and Saint Petersburg, in the interwar period in the Belorussian SSR and in Poland and after the Second World War in the united Belorussian SSR and the subsequent independent Belorussian Republic, the collections of the Slavonic Library also comprise periodicals and books published by Belorussian émigrés, mainly in Prague. Numerous Belorussian magazines issued in Latvia come from the interwar period as well.

In addition, the Slavonic Library owns a small number of historical manuscripts and early printed books coming from the area of present Belarus – e.g. a handwritten copy of the Apostol by Francysk Skaryna from the turn of the 17th century, probably from the area of Volhynia.