Mikałaj Ułaščyk (

Belarusian language Belarusian (, ) is an East Slavic languages, East Slavic language. It is one of the two Languages of Belarus, official languages in Belarus, the other being Russian language, Russian. It is also spoken in parts of Russia, Lithuania, Latvia, Polan ...

: Мікалай Улашчык ''Mikalai Ulashchyk'';

Russian Russian(s) may refer to: *Russians (), an ethnic group of the East Slavic peoples, primarily living in Russia and neighboring countries *A citizen of Russia *Russian language, the most widely spoken of the Slavic languages *''The Russians'', a b ...

: Николай Николаевич Улащик; February 14, 1906 – November 22, 1986) was a

Belarus Belarus, officially the Republic of Belarus, is a landlocked country in Eastern Europe. It is bordered by Russia to the east and northeast, Ukraine to the south, Poland to the west, and Lithuania and Latvia to the northwest. Belarus spans an a ...

ian academic

historian A historian is a person who studies and writes about the past and is regarded as an authority on it. Historians are concerned with the continuous, methodical narrative and research of past events as relating to the human species; as well as the ...

and

archaeologist Archaeology or archeology is the study of human activity through the recovery and analysis of material culture. The archaeological record consists of Artifact (archaeology), artifacts, architecture, biofact (archaeology), biofacts or ecofacts, ...

known for significant contributions to the research in the medieval history of

.Асноўныя навуковыя працы Мікалая Улашчыка (The main academic papers of Mikałaj Ułaščyk)
in Belarusian)

Biography

He was born in the village of Vickaŭščyna close to

Minsk Minsk (, ; , ) is the capital and largest city of Belarus, located on the Svislach (Berezina), Svislach and the now subterranean Nyamiha, Niamiha rivers. As the capital, Minsk has a special administrative status in Belarus and is the administra ...

. His birthplace later became a subject of one of his works. In 1929 Mikałaj Ułaščyk graduated from the

Belarusian State University The Belarusian State University (BSU) (, ; ) is a university in Minsk, Belarus. It was founded on October 30, 1921. The university was ranked 387th in the world in the 2023 QS World University Rankings. History 1919–1949 On February 25, 1919, ...

, specialised in history. In 1930 he was arrested by the

NKVD The People's Commissariat for Internal Affairs (, ), abbreviated as NKVD (; ), was the interior ministry and secret police of the Soviet Union from 1934 to 1946. The agency was formed to succeed the Joint State Political Directorate (OGPU) se ...

together with a large number of Belarusian intellectuals accused of "anti-

Soviet The Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR), commonly known as the Soviet Union, was a List of former transcontinental countries#Since 1700, transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 until Dissolution of the Soviet ...

activity" and "

nationalism Nationalism is an idea or movement that holds that the nation should be congruent with the state. As a movement, it presupposes the existence and tends to promote the interests of a particular nation, Smith, Anthony. ''Nationalism: Theory, I ...

" within the framed-up

Case of the Union of Liberation of Belarus The Case of the Union of Liberation of Belarus () was a political and criminal case initiated by the GPU of the Byelorussian Soviet Socialist Republic against several Belarusian scientists and culture activists. The case formed part of a wave of S ...

. He was deported to a

labor camp A labor camp (or labour camp, see British and American spelling differences, spelling differences) or work camp is a detention facility where inmates are unfree labour, forced to engage in penal labor as a form of punishment. Labor camps have ...

close to Vyatka. After his release in 1935 he was again twice arrested and imprisoned in the following years (1941–1942, 1950–1955) because of his active opposing the official Soviet propagandist historiography. After the final release he was not able to go back to

and settled in

Moscow Moscow is the Capital city, capital and List of cities and towns in Russia by population, largest city of Russia, standing on the Moskva (river), Moskva River in Central Russia. It has a population estimated at over 13 million residents with ...

where since 1955 he worked at the Institute of History of the

USSR Academy of Sciences The Academy of Sciences of the Soviet Union was the highest scientific institution of the Soviet Union from 1925 to 1991. It united the country's leading scientists and was subordinated directly to the Council of Ministers of the Soviet Union (u ...

. Mikałaj Ułaščyk became doctor of sciences and author of numerous works on the

History of Belarus The lands of Belarus during the Middle Ages became part of Kievan Rus' and were split between different regional principality, principalities, including Principality of Polotsk, Polotsk, Principality of Turov, Turov, Principality of Vitebsk, Vite ...

and the

Grand Duchy of Lithuania The Grand Duchy of Lithuania was a sovereign state in northeastern Europe that existed from the 13th century, succeeding the Kingdom of Lithuania, to the late 18th century, when the territory was suppressed during the 1795 Partitions of Poland, ...

related to the research of chronicles, source documents and archaeography. He was also the editor of 32nd and 35th volumes of the

Full Collection of Russian Chronicles The Complete Collection of Russian Chronicles (, abbr. ''PSRL'') is a series of published volumes aimed at collecting all medieval East Slavic chronicles, with various editions published in Imperial Russia, the Soviet Union, and Russian Federat ...

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Ulascyk, Mikalaj 20th-century Belarusian historians 1986 deaths 1906 births Belarusian State University alumni Belarusian male non-fiction writers Soviet historians