Over centuries, waves of Belarusians have sought refuge and opportunities beyond their homeland's borders, driven by a complex interplay of economic hardships, political repression, and the relentless pursuit of a more promising future.Various studies estimate that the Belarusian diaspora numbers between 2.5 and 3.5 million people. With 1.6 million emigrants of recent period, which is 17% of Belarusian population.[1] This total encompasses descendants of emigrants from Belarus during the late 19th and early 20th centuries, World War II-era emigrants, and those from the migration wave that began in the 1990s. Additionally, the diaspora includes individuals who migrated within the USSR and became residents of other post-Soviet states following its dissolution. There is also a distinct group of indigenous Belarusian minorities linked to the diaspora, residing along the borders of Belarus with Poland, Lithuania, and Russia.
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History of Belarusian emigration
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Early emigration from Belarusian lands can be traced back to the Grand Duchy of Lithuania, where, during the 15th and 16th centuries, legal frameworks were established allowing free individuals to travel abroad. Hundreds of young Belarusians studied at universities in Western and Central Europe and returned home freely, though many settled in other countries. Notable Belarusian emigrants include Ivan Litvin, Francysk Skaryna, Pyotr Mstislavets, Simeon of Polotsk, Ilya Kapievich, Stepan Askirka, and others who made significant contributions to European spiritual life.
Following Belarus's incorporation into the Russian Empire through the partitions of the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth, political motivations for emigration became prominent. Fear of repression by the Tsarist regime forced thousands of participants in the uprisings of 1794, 1830-1831, 1863-1864, as well as supporters of Napoleon and the restoration of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania during the 1812 Russo-French War, to flee. Some joined revolutionary and liberation movements in Europe and America (such as Tadeusz Kościuszko, Valery Vroblevsky, and Nikolay Sudzilovsky), while others contributed to the culture and science of their new countries without forgetting Belarus (like Ignacy Domeyko, Vikenty Dunin-Marcinkiewicz, Napoleon Orda, Alexander Rypinsky, and Konstanty Kalinowski).
Mass economic emigration from Belarusian lands occurred at the turn of the 19th and 20th centuries, marking the start of a Belarusian diaspora, as many Belarusians began to permanently reside outside their homeland. Before World War I, economic factors like landlessness and unemployment drove over 700,000 people (mainly peasants) to Siberia, while 500,000-800,000 emigrated beyond Russia’s borders to the USA, Canada, Brazil, Argentina, and Western Europe. Abroad, these Belarusian settlers became unskilled laborers and populated sparsely inhabited lands. [2]
Tsarist policies on emigration from ethnic Belarusian territories were influenced by the official doctrine that did not recognize Belarusians as a distinct nation, resulting in a dual approach. On one hand, the policy encouraged the resettlement of the "Russian element" (including Orthodox Belarusians) to Siberia and other remote areas to colonize and "Russify" them. On the other hand, emigration abroad was seen as weakening the "core Russian population" and was thus restricted by the state.
Belarusian emigration during World War I and II
The second significant wave of Belarusian emigration was caused by World War I, the 1917 revolutionary events, and the German and Polish occupations of Belarus. By May 1918, 2,292,000 Belarusian refugees were in the RSFSR, with the highest concentrations in Moscow (128,000), Petrograd (100,000), and central Russian provinces. Additionally, 122,000 people emigrated from Belarus to other countries, and approximately 50,000 were taken to Germany for forced labor. The Riga Peace Treaty of 1921 facilitated the return of over 700,000 refugees to Western Belarus from Soviet Russia between 1919 and 1924.
During the interwar period, three major waves of Belarusian emigration developed. The first was political emigration, including the Council, government, and military units of the Belarusian People's Republic (BNR), leaders of the Belarusian Socialist Revolutionary Party, and members of other national organizations. The second wave was labor-related peasant emigration, with residents of Western Belarus moving to the Americas and Western Europe. The third wave consisted of emigration from Soviet Belarus, both internal and external.
World War II led to significant migration in Belarus. Between fall 1939 and June 22, 1941, 1,170,000 Poles, Belarusians, Ukrainians, and other nationalities from Western Belarus and Western Ukraine, annexed by the USSR, were deported to the northern and eastern Soviet Union. Due to military actions against Poland, 70,000-80,000 Belarusians who served in the Polish army were captured by the Germans. Political emigration grew with the departure of individuals from Western Belarus following the Red Army's entry. Approximately 1.5 million BSSR residents evacuated to eastern USSR regions after the start of fascist aggression. Many Belarusians who fought in the Red Army were captured. Around 400,000 residents were forcibly taken to Germany for labor. Up to 400,000 Belarusians from the Bialystok area found themselves in Poland due to the Soviet-Polish border agreement of August 16, 1954. During the Belarusian-Polish repatriation from 1945 to 1948, 274,000 people moved to Poland, and 36,000 Belarusians returned from there. Post-war repatriation saw over 520,000 Belarusians return to the USSR.[2]
In the late 1940s and early 1950s, most Belarusian emigrants established permanent residences in North and South America, and Australia. Around 50,000 Belarusians settled in both the USA and Canada, with tens of thousands moving to Australia, Belgium, the UK, France, and Germany. Today, the largest Belarusian communities in the West are in the USA (600-650 thousand), Argentina (up to 150 thousand), and Canada (up to 100 thousand).
Migration began to increase in 2017, when due to the crisis in Russia, Belarusians started moving to the EU for work. The second significant wave arose after the Russian invasion of Ukraine. "And there are no signs that labor and political migration will decline," says political scientist Andrei Kazakevich.
Belarusian emigration today
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For almost three years now, modern Belarus has been experiencing the largest wave of emigration in its history. In response to the unprecedented protests against Alexander Lukashenko's dictatorship in 2020, the authorities initiated mass repressions.The unprecedented use of violence against protesters following the 2020 Belarusian presidential election forced many Belarusians to leave the country. According to the Polish Ministry of Foreign Affairs, from June 2020 to July 2021, Poland issued over 178,000 visas to Belarusians, including 12,000 humanitarian visas. For comparison, in the entire year of 2019, Poland issued only 7 humanitarian visas to Belarusian citizens. Lithuania issued over 4,000 humanitarian visas to Belarusians in the first nine months of 2021. Additionally, from September 2020 to August 2021, Lithuanian authorities issued 20,000 national visas to Belarusian citizens, and 206 individuals applied for asylum in Lithuania. The online publication dev.by, which specializes in the IT sector in Belarus, estimated that between 16,000 and 23,000 IT specialists left the country.
As of early 2023, Alexei Lavrukhin, the Director of Research at the Institute for Development and Social Market for Belarus and Eastern Europe, estimated the scale of emigration to be between 400,000 and 500,000 people, which is about 10% of the economically active population of Belarus. Furthermore, without positive changes within the country, and with prolonged stays abroad exceeding five years, the percentage of returnees is projected to be no higher than 2%.
With the start of the war in Ukraine, the next, even more massive wave of migration began in Belarus, which also included the organized mass relocation of IT companies. Although the peak moments have passed, people are still continuing to leave the country due to repression and the war.
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References
- ↑ Migration Data. Global Knowledge Partnership on Migration and Development (KNOMAD)
- ↑ 2.0 2.1 Белорусская эмиграция. Яблоко