Biełaruś

Scattered throughout the world, perishing, dwining, / You still await the Promised One, O Jews, / For Him the sons of Biełaruś are pining, / And thither all will go, both we and you. / Your torch is bright where Palestine is waiting, / Our torch is bright—in Mother-Biełaruś, / The time will come when chains will fall and vanish, / Our chains will fall; all spring will flower for us.

Marzaliuk ends his examination of Biełarusian anti-Semitism in the gdl by stating that, without acknowledging the existence of some anti-Semitism in historic Biełaruś, Biełarusians will never understand their distinctiveness in this regard: for even though this particular type of racism existed in the gdl, it never came close to the evil practised by some of Biełaruś’s neighbours.

Respectfully, the present study calls the reader’s attention to the historical part, supplemented by biographical data from the early representatives of Biełaruś’s artistic growth. This is followed by an exploration of Biełaruś’s present-day artistic community, and finally, the circle will be closed with an attempt to imagine a future “beginning of the beginning” for Biełaruś and its artists.