Date: 3. December 2025, 3:00 p.m.

Location: R. 109, Landshuter Str. 4, 93047 Regensburg

Speaker: Gennadii Korolov (Tadeusz Manteuffel Institute of History, Mieroszewski Centre in Warsaw, Poland)

Organizer: “Think Space Ukraine”, funded by the DAAD (German Academic Exchange Service) with funds from the German Federal Foreign Office (AA)

Language: English

Belarusian Communities and Minority Challenges in Revolutionary Ukraine (1917-1918)

Abstract

The presentation explores the political and cultural experiences of Belarusian political and cultural organizations in revolutionary Ukraine during 1917–1918, a period marked by Ukrainian statehood, social transformations, and the redefinition of former imperial hierarchies. Drawing on institutional and biographical approaches, the paper examines the formation of Belarusian organizations in Kyiv, Odesa, Zhytomyr, Katerynoslav, and other centers, as well as their interactions with Ukrainian national authorities and the Belarusian Central Rada in Minsk. The analysis highlights the diasporic character of these communities, the predominance of non-local members, and the fluidity of Belarusian national identity. Despite aspirations for national-personal autonomy and recognition within the Ukrainian People’s Republic, Belarusian organizations remained fragmented, with limited political influence compared to other minorities. Their activities focused largely on cultural and educational initiatives, refugee assistance, and symbolic participation in broader political forums. The study argues that the Belarusian case illustrates the challenges of national self-organization and identity formation in a revolutionary period.

Gennadii Korolov

Gennadii Korolov, Dr. habil., associate professor, historian, and political scientist. He serves as Principal Investigator at the Tadeusz Manteuffel Institute of History of the Polish Academy of Sciences and as a Senior Research Fellow at the Mieroszewski Centre in Warsaw. He is also a member of the Polish-Ukrainian Commission for the Study of Relations in 1917–1921. Prof. Korolov has taught and conducted research at several institutions, including the Institute of Ukrainian History of the National Academy of Sciences of Ukraine (Kyiv), the University of Warsaw, Harvard University, Hokkaido University, the University of Vienna, the Leibniz Institute for East and Southeast European Studies (IOS) in Regensburg, and the University of Fribourg (Switzerland). His current research focuses on the period of wars and revolutions (1914–1923), the history of political and social concepts in East Central Europe, 19th- and 20th-century intellectual history, and Polish-Ukrainian relations. He is the author of a monograph on federalist projects in East Central Europe (1815–1921) and has published approximately 70 articles and essays. 

Photo: Marek Gorczyński