Kruchkovsky, Tadeusz

He studied at the Pedagogical College in Volkovysk ( 1976 - 1980 ), then at the Faculty of History of the University of Grodno ( 1983 - 1988 ). After graduating, he taught history at the university for several months, after which he entered graduate school at the Institute of Slavic Studies and Balkan Studies of the Russian Academy of Sciences. In 1993 he defended his thesis on "The Polish Question in Russian Historiography of the II Half of the XIX Century." Returning to Belarus, he worked at the Department of General History of the University of Grodno.

Since the beginning of the 90s. of the last century actively participated in the revival of Polishness in Belarus. In 1997-2000 was chairman of the Grodno branch of the Polish Scientific Society. At the same time, he acted as the head of the Grodno branch of the Union of Poles of Belarus.

At the V Extraordinary Congress of St. Petersburg in November 2000, he was elected chairman of the organization, replacing Tadeusz Gavin . Soon after his election as head of the St. Petersburg Union, he said that this organization would not support any political movements and would protect exclusively the interests of Poles in Belarus. According to opponents of Kruchkovsky, after this statement, St. Petersburg suspended all contacts with Belarusian NGOs and opposition parties. Nevertheless, loyalty to the authorities did not solve the problems of St. Petersburg - in particular, the Polish school in Novogrudok was never opened.

In 2005, Tadeusz Kruchkowski lost the election for the post of chairman of St. Petersburg. According to some estimates, the reason for the defeat was Kruchkovsky’s unsuccessful policy regarding the regime of Alexander Lukashenko , as well as the sexual scandal to which the then chairman allegedly had a relationship ^[1] . After losing the election, Kruchkovsky did not give up the struggle for power in St. Petersburg . In July 2005, with the support of police and riot police, he broke into the organization’s estate in Grodno ^[2] , while the then legal leadership of St. Petersburg, led by Anzhelika Boris, was removed from the building. He is accused of having starred in an anti-Polish film shown on Belarusian television immediately after the March Congress of St. Petersburg; and also took an active part in the extraordinary congress organized in Volkovysk with the help of the authorities ^[3] at which Joseph Luchnik was elected chairman. For activities directed against the interests of Poland in 2005 , Tadeusz Kruchkovsky was forbidden to visit this country for 15 years (according to other sources - for life) ^[4] .

T. Kruchkovsky himself assessed this prohibition as follows: “A zakaz wjazdu do Polski dla szeregu działaczy ZPB ... czy nie jest to celowym niszczeniem polskosci dla dobra narodowców białoruskich, z którymi Gawin i Borys majniezózczzczzczzzczzczzzczzczczczczcz

• Kruczkowski Tadeusz, “Polacy na Białorusi na tle historii i współczesności”, Słonim , 2003 .

• MFA: The Polish side divides the Belarusian Poles into pleasing and objectionable - Statement by the Belarusian Foreign Ministry in the case of T. Kruchkovsky. 2005-10-07
• Piekło nad Niemnem (inaccessible link) - Conversation with Kazimir Pavelko, Senator of the Republic of Poland. 2005-12-08