Konstanty Kalinowski, or Wincenty Konstanty Kalinowski ( – ), was a Belarusian-Polish writer,

Kalinowski conducted his activities in the spirit of resurrecting the common state of Lithuania and Ruthenia, and Poland in the traditions of the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth.

Early life and education

thumb|Konstanty Kalinowski, 1863

thumb|A sheet with a fragment of Kalinowski's "Letters from under the gallows" in Belarusian Łacinka

Kalinowski was born in Mostovlyany, in Grodnensky Uyezd of the Russian Empire (now Mostowlany, Podlaskie Voivodeship, Poland) to a szlachta family. The Kalinowskis hailed from the Polish region of Mazovia and bore the Kalinowa coat of arms. His father, Szymon, was a manager of the Mostowlany farm and manor. His older brother, would become a historian. In 1849 his father, Szymon bought a folwark near Świsłocz (now Svislach, Belarus) where Konstanty grew up.

After graduating from a local school in Svislach in 1855, Kalinowski entered the faculty of Medicine of the University of Moscow as an external student. The Peasants' Truth was issued seven times until 1863. Konstanty was more aligned with the Reds which represented a democratic movement uniting peasants, workers, and some clergy rather than the more moderate Whites.

There is some academic debate about which texts to attribute to Konstanty.

Legacy

thumb|A tablet marking Kalinowski's execution site, Lukiškės Square, [[Vilnius]]

During the so-called Jeans Revolution, protesters who disputed the 2006 Belarusian presidential election symbolically renamed October Square, after the Bolshevik revolution, Kalinovski Square. Kalinovski Square was also the title of a documentary film about these events. In Uladzimir Karatkievich's novel King Stakh's Wild Hunt, one of the principal characters, Andrey Svetsilovich, had a portrait of Kalinowski above his writing desk.

During the 2022 Russian invasion of Ukraine, Belarusian volunteers fighting on the side of Ukraine formed a battalion named Kastuś Kalinoŭski, which later transformed into a regiment.

In Ukrainian Rivne, a street was named after Kalinowski. In June 2024, a memorial plaque in honor of Kalinowski was unveiled in a street named after him in Chernihiv.

The Polish Government's scholarship program for Belarusian students expelled from their studies after the Jeans Revolution has been named after Konstanty Kalinowski since 2006.

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File:Kanstantyn Kalinoŭski stamp.jpg|Belarusian commemorative stamp in honor of Kalinowski (1993)

File:KalinowskiSierakowskiWilno2.jpg|Memorial at the place of Kalinouski's execution in Vilnius, Lithuania

File:Paminklas kalinauskui.JPG|Monument in Šalčininkai, Lithuania

File:Pomnik Konstantego Kalinowskiego w Mostowlanach 2017.jpg|Monument in Mostowlany, Poland

File:Полк Каліноўскага. Лагатып.png|Logo of the Kastuś Kalinoŭski Regiment (2022)

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See also

  • Belarusization (1920s–1930s)
  • Belarusian nationalism
  • Belarusian national revival since the 19th century
  • "Long Live Belarus!", patriotic slogan
  • Soft Belarusization under Lukashenko
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Notes

References

  • Website about Kalinowski (in Belarusian)
  • Biography of Konstanty Kalinowski, belarusguide.com
  • Archival documents and materials - 1863-4 uprising in Belarus
  • Why have Belarusan authorities forgotten Kastuś Kalinoŭski uprising?
  • Konstanty Kalinowksi biography, belarus-misc.org
  • Каліноўскі як далакоп беларускай мовы, 3 December 2013, in Belarusian
  • 15 November 2024, in English