Nad Świsłoczą

In 1905, in the territory of the former Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth , included in the Russian Empire , the publication of the Polish-language press was prohibited by the Russian authorities. As a result of the 1905 revolution, legislation was liberalized in this area. The highest personal decree to the Governing Senate “On provisional rules on time-based publications” of November 24, 1905, in particular, abolished preventive censorship of newspapers published in cities, and also legalized its publication in national languages, including Polish. The Poles living on these lands used this opportunity, first of all, in Vilna . In Minsk, the publication of a press in Polish faces difficulties and is developing slowly due to the low interest of local Poles in such initiatives. They argued that their needs were already being met by the press published in Vilna ^[1] . Under these conditions, Polish publishing houses in Minsk were limited only to calendars and one-day newspapers. These second ones were published, as a rule, during an increase in the activity of the Polish community, for example, during congresses of the Minsk Agrarian Society ^[2] .

The editor-in-chief of Nad Świsłoczą was Vladimir Dvozachek ^[3] , a Polish leader born in the Kingdom of Poland , who lived in Minsk since April 1905. He was a supporter of the Polish nationalist " National Democracy " ("Endeia") and was unpopular among the elites of Minsk ^[4] . When publishing this journal, he was guided by the goal of raising the level of consciousness among the Minsk Polish community about the need to create a local Polish-language press. He also fought with the common rule to avoid local topics. Nad Świsłoczą had an informational and journalistic function. It was dominated by articles on the activities of Polish organizations in Minsk and its environs, usually in a critical tone. The publication also called for the preservation of Polish identity, for example, in the October issue of 1913, in the article Swój, Swój do swego! was encouraged to shop in Polish stores, and in a May 1914 issue in an article Sprawy wyznaniowe wrote about the difficulties that the Russian authorities created for people who wanted to change their religion ^[3] . In 1914, in the journal "Nad Świsłoczą" a calendar was printed with information about the life of the Minsk province ^[3] . In total, from June 1912 to May 1914, 8 issues of this journal were published ^[3] .

On October 12 (25), 1914, "Nad Świsłoczą" began to appear weekly and received the subtitle: Tygodnik. Organ polityczny, społeczny i literacki poświęcony sprawom Ziemi Mińskiej i Mohylewskiej (Weekly. Political, public and literary body dedicated to the affairs of the Minsk and Mogilev lands). Vladimir Dvozachek remained the chief editor. The magazine had a local and provincial character, was sent to the Poles who lived in the Minsk and Mogilev regions. The editors declared the presentation of the Catholic, Polish and non-partisan programs. Along with this, she emphasized the need for national solidarity, therefore, only those articles that had in mind the benefit of the Polish cause were published in the journal, those that were anti-Polish in nature and those that stirred up disorder in the minds of society were rejected. One of these topics was considered the issue of the Belarusian national revival. In an editorial in the first issue they wrote that the Belarusian question is raised artificially, this is only a national fiction ^[3] .

In the weekly there were articles commenting on the activities of Polish organizations in Minsk, such as the Polish Gymnastic Society Sokol or the Polish Society Enlightenment . They also wrote about the life of the Polish community, provided statistics on the participation of Poles in the agricultural and industrial products of the region ^[3] . Published literary work of Minsk Poles, mainly S. Vezhbitsky ^[5] .

The magazine, which openly declared a struggle for Polish interests in the former territories of the Commonwealth , met with a negative attitude from the Russian authorities. On October 15, 1914, the censor Dashkevich in his report considered that the articles Białorusini , Z sądów and Pomoc dla Królestwa , which were published in the fifth issue of the weekly, were written in chauvinistic Polish style . On this basis, on October 20, the Nad Świsłoczą magazine was closed, and the entire circulation of the sixth issue was confiscated ^[5] .

After the closure of the weekly Nad Świsłoczą weekly, Vladimir Dvozachek did not give up activities in the field of the Polish press in Minsk. Already in early January 1915, his wife, Maria, applied for permission to publish a new weekly entitled “Pogon” ( Belorussian. Pagonia ). The first issue of the journal was published on March 7, 1915 ^[5] .

• Straż imienia Marii

• Dariusz Tarasiuk: Między nadzieją a niepokojem. Działalność społeczno-kulturalna i polityczna Polaków na wschodniej Białorusi w latach 1905-1918. Lublin: Wydawnictwo Uniwersytetu Marii Curie-Skłodowskiej, 2007, s. 211. ISBN 978-83-227-2629-7 .