Prasa białoruska międzywojennej Łotwy (przegląd wydawnictw)

Abstract

The presented article describes the Belarusian press that was published in Latvia in the interwar period (1920–1933). The available publications usually only mention that Belarusian-language newspapers were published in Riga or Daugavpils, were mentioned by name, provided general information, or analysed a specific aspect (the language of the texts or some issue raised in the press). The author’s intention is to provide a broader description of each of the printed newspapers with the fullest possible information about their editorial office, authors, subject matter, or place of publication. The second important issue was to show the political, social, and cultural conditions that influenced the functioning of the Belarusian minority in Latvia and, inter alia, creating new newspapers in Belarusian and publishing them. For this purpose, the author conducted a library query in Riga (The National Library of Latvia), in London (Francis Skaryna Belarusian Library and Museum) and in Prague (Slavonic Library of the National Library in the Czech Republic). The creation of new newspapers and the frequency of their appearances depended primarily on the finances of Belarusian organizations and their activity as well as current political events (such as the so-called “Belarusian trial” and the introduction of authoritarian rule by K. Ulmanis in 1934). The most important were the newspapers edited by the most active activists (K. Jezavitaŭ and S. Sakharaŭ) and published by the largest Belarusian organizations (newspapers: Голас беларуса, Беларуская школа ў Лавтвіі and Школьная праца). Most of the newspapers were published irregularly and/or only one or a few issues were published.