#polotsk

[sonyaheaneyauthor]

Forced russification in Belarus: The cityscape of Polotsk, from 1812, 1912 and 2006. The majority of historical buildings in Belarus built during the Grand Duchy of Lithuania and the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth were demolished by Tsarist and Soviet authorities.

[orthodoxadventure]

[littlehistorian]

Vseslav of Polostk (1039-1101; also known as Vseslav the Sorcerer or Vseslav the Seer) was Prince of Polotsk (1044–1101) and Grand Prince of Kiev (1068–1069).

Vseslav was the son of Bryachislav Izyaslavich, Prince of Polotsk and Vitebsk, and was thus the great-grandson of Vladimir I of Kiev and Rogneda of Polotsk.

Vseslav had a great reputation for sorcery. The Russian Primary Chronicle states that he was conceived by sorcery and was born with a caul (a veil of birth membrane) on his head, and that the sorcerers told his mother that this should be bound to his head for the rest of his life as it was a sign of good luck.

[venicepearl]

Sophia of Minsk or Sophia of Polotsk (died 5 May 1198) was a Danish queen consort by marriage to King Valdemar I of Denmark, and a landgravine of Thuringia by marriage to Louis III, Landgrave of Thuringia.

[araiz-zaria]

En Guerre — Laurent Gouvion St Cyr

.

Joyeux Anniversaire Monsieur Le Marechal!

[redfield-by]

Праект будаўніцтва Наваполацкага/Полацкага трамваю

[ancientbygone]

i just decided earlier today that my character of ii is slavic specifically belarusian and idk if that will recontextualize his mimics in any way

[dmixt]

Principality of Polotsk

[indecisiveavocado]

dear antizionists,

Please name me ten cases wherein:

There was going to be probably murderous antisemitism (not just words, but actions)

Before it could happen, and of their own accord, non-Jews intervened and stopped it from happening.

These cases can be from anywhere and anytime.

Why?

Because if you can't, well--if you can't show me even ten times where non-Jews have showed concern for Jews and saved us--what the fuck kind of hope do we have?

And for what it's worth, here's a non-exhaustive compendium of cases where that didn't happen. For courtesy, I'm only counting it after 1440, when Gutenberg invented the printing press, as a communication breakthrough close to where modern times are generally stated to begin. (This also gets me out of listing the seventy bajillion medieval blood libel cases.) I am, unless on an unusual scale (so, not cities but countries) not counting expulsions. just assume a constant drumbeat.

1450s: Jews burned at the stake, Breslau

1460s: Jews of Fez, Morocco, massacred.

1470s: Jews slaughtered in part of Sicily. Over 300 die

1480s Spanish Inquisition begins.

1490s: At the urging of preacher Muhammad al-Maghili, Jews of Tlemcen, Algeria are killed; Thanks to al-Maghili, Jews of Tuat, Algeria, are killed; Jews expelled from Spain; Jews in Mali offered the choice of conversion, expulsion or death. Judaism illegal in Mali. This at the urging of guess what preacher?; Killed, Mecklenburg, Trnava, Mecce; Expelled, Portugal

1500s: Killed, Lisbon. Or maybe it was Christians accused of being Jews. I'm counting it; Burned at the stake, Berlin

1510s: Killed, Apulia, Hebron, Tsfat

1520s: Killed, Mezinok

1530s, 40s, 50s: expulsions, so damn many. also martin luther's on the jews and their lies. few small killings. jews barred from entering russia.

1560s: goa inquisition; killed for not converting, polotsk;

1570s: Mexican inquisition

1590s: killed, lublin

1610s: killed, frankfurt

1630s: killed, krakow, leczyca, peru

1640s: killed, portugal

1648-55: chmielnicki genocide. 100k+ jews die.

1660s: killed, istanbul, lviv

1670s: exile of mawza, yemeni jews sent into the desert to die

1680s: various massacres, hungary; killed, worms, prague

1690s: killed, majorca and portugal

1720s: ashkenazim barred from jerusalem along with those who look ashkenazi. jews expelled from ukraine

1730s: haidamaks attack jews, ukraine; killed, jaroslaw

1740s: jews expelled from ukraine, again;

1760s: uman masscare. later, r' nachman of breslov will choose to live in uman, to help the souls of the murdered move on.

1770s: killed, hebron, basra

1780s: expelled, morocco; killed, libya

1790s: killed, tetouan (in morocco); killed throughout morocco; confined to the Pale by catherine the great

1800s: killed, tlemcen

1810s: killed, algiers, denmark, latvia, bohemia, the latter three as part of the hep-hep riots

1820s: jews kidnapped from parents, russia, as young as 8 or 9, forced to serve in military; pogrom, odessa

1830s: killed, tabriz, tsfat, tsfat again, mashhad

1840s: very nearly blood libel, damascus, syria; averted with jewish effort

1860s: gen. order #11; jews killed, marrakesh, fez, barforush, tunisia

1870s: killed, demnat; pogrom, odessa, again

1880s: killed, tlemcen, algiers, petach tikva; wave of pogroms, including in kirovgrad, kyiv, warsaw, balta, ekaterinoslav, nizhini novgorod, called "storms in the negev"; may laws issued

1890s: killed, corfu, zakynthos, hamadan, iran, tripolitania, oran, algiers; dreyfus affair

1900s: wave of pogroms, most infamously in kishinev, but also odessa, dnipro, kyiv, simferopol, romny, kremenchug, nikolayev, nizhni novgorod, kerch, rostov-on-don, minsk, gomel, bialystok, siedlce, kishinev again, etc., etc; killed, casablanca

1910s: killed, shiraz, fez; leo frank killed; genocided in russian civil war, including in bender, tiraspol, kharkiv, kyiv, vitebsk, bratslav, chernihiv, kremenchuk, lviv, ovruch, zhytomir, proskurov, balta, chernobyl, elysavet, kodyma, uman (again; this time nachman was dead), bila tserkva, pinsk, vilna, and elsewhere, often several times in one city

1920s: killed, jerusalem, jaffa, oran, hebron, tsfat; expelled, mongolia; mein kampf published; ford falls for protocols

1930s: pogrom, balti, grodno, przytyk, brest, constantine, yaffa, tiberias; nazi takeover and subsequent persecution; thousands of afghani jews expelled; nuremberg laws; anschluss pogroms; kristallnacht

1940s: shoah, duh; seriously the shoah; could mention a bazillion things but I won't, suffice to say it's one giant flashing "we can't trust you"; farhud; jedwabne; babyn yar, iasi; wannsee conference; killed, benghazi, croatia, cairo. pogroms, manama, aleppo, aden, jerada, tripolitania, tripoli, egypt, krakow, kielce, kunmadaras (did I mention those three were of shoah survivors coming "home"?). expelled, jewish quarter, jerusalem. many of those in arab lands were due to "antizionism".

1950s: civil-rights-movement related shul bombing

1960s: more civil-rights-movement related shul bombings; all egyptian jewish men placed in concentration camps and kept there for over two years due to the actions of israel, they're antizionist not antisemitic; wave of antisemitism, poland, as if they weren't satisfied with killing 90 percent of their jews; jews persecuted under the guise of being antizionist, ussr, nothing familiar here. around now jews are expelled from libya.

1970s: munich massacre,

1980s: various attacks and bombings

1990s: a few bombings and such, most notably AMIA bombing in argentina

2000s: a few bombings. jews have mostly left arab countries but that doesn't stop there from being bombings

2010s: occasional killings; 2018 pittsburgh synagogue shooting where I live

2020s: a few shootings, approximately seven bajillion attacks, stabbings, etc. Hell, in the past two weeks alone, three people have been killed and twelve injured. That's more than one death/injury per day, and this hasn't been particularly unusual!

So:

If you can't find instances where such plots were foiled without the urging of Jews--

and if I can find a bazillion where they weren't, often committed by the authorities--

is it not reasonable to say Jews can't trust non-Jews for our safety?

And that, therefore, we must have a state?

Because that's what Zionism is.

Not "I fully support Israel."

Not "I don't think Palestine should exist"

Not "fuck Gazan children".

But "We cannot trust you and so we need our own state where we can be safe. Where the authorities won't kill us."

And if you're opposed to that, despite the mountains of evidence in the form of corpses that not doing so does lead to Jews being killed because they can't go anywhere--

Is it so wrong to call you antisemitic?

[sovietpaintings]

Чырвоныя Землі Полаччыны | Red Lands of Polotsk;

Victor Gromyko, 1970.

[portraitsofsaints]

Happy Feast Day

Saint Josaphat Kuntsevych of Polotsk

1580-1623

Feast Day: November 12 (New), November 14 (Trad)

Patronage: Ukraine

Saint Josaphat, born in Ukraine, became a monk for the Ukrainian Order of St. Basil and 5 years later a priest for the Byzantine Church. He worked for unity and peace between the Eastern Orthodox and Latin Roman Churches, which were divided since 1054. Josaphat was made the first Bishop of Vitebsky in 1617 during an intense level of unrest between the two groups. Being the holy man that he was, he started building and reforming his diocese. In 1623, a mob of Orthodox citizens was incensed to riot and murdered Bishop Josaphat. He was canonized as the first Eastern Church saint in 1867.

Prints, plaques & holy cards available for purchase. (website)

[smoothie03]

Belarus Candy Design!!

Includes:

Zefir/a certain kind of marshmallow (zefir is more universally known)

"birds milk" chocolate by OJSC Kommunarka (I decided for this one because I thought the wrapping was extremely pretty and it seemed to be advertised as a popular gift set a lot when I went on the website of the confectionery, I had a little bit of struggle deciding between the different chocolates to draw. A lot of them looked tasty and fun to draw)

пернік/Pryanik (a sort of lebkuchen/gingerbread)

Krambambula (drink)

History bar code:

880- founding of the Kyivan Rus

1067 - founding year of Minsk

~1200s - From the 13th to 14th century, the former principalities of Polotsk, Minsk, Turov and others were annexed by the Grand Duchy of Lithuania.

1795 - Belarus got annexed by the Russian Empire

1991 - Belarus became independent after the fall of the USSR

[orthodoxadventure]

The relics and the cross of Saint Euphrosinia of Polotsk

[sovietpostcards]

"Red Lands of Polotchina" by Viktor Gromyko (1970)

Polotchina = area around the city of Polotsk, Belarus

[inky-duchess]

Do you know Tsar Nicholas II's full title? I remember it being very long, as it encompassed all the territories of Russia that he was Emperor/King/Duke/Prince of, but I can't seem to find it anywhere?

Tsar Nicholas II, Emperor and Autocrat of all the Russias, Tsar of Moscow, Kiev, Vladimir, Novgorod, Kazan, Astrakhan, of Poland, of Siberia, of Tauric Chersonese, of Georgia, Lord of Pskov, Grand Duke of Smolensk, of Lithuania, Volhynia, Podolia and Finland, Prince of Estonia, Livonia, Courland and Semigalia, Samogotia, Bialostock, Karelia, Tver, Yougouria, Perm, Viatka, Bulgaria, and other countries; Lord and Grand Duke of Lower Novgorod, of Tchernigov, Riazan, Polotsk, Rostov, Yaroslav, Belozero, Oudoria, Obdoria, Condia, Vitebsk, Mstislav and, all the region of the North, Lord and Sovereign of the countries of Iveria, Cartalinia, Kabardinia and the provinces of Armenia, Sovereign of the Circassian Princes and the Mountain Princes, Lord of Turkestan, Heir of Norway, Duke of Schleswig-Holstein, of Storman, of the Ditmars, and of Oldenbourg.

But he preferred Nicky.

[zenia62]

Letter from Marshal Victor to Saint-Cyr

Translation might not be perfectly accurate as I'm only using google translate 🌙

Sienno, October 27, at noon [Reg. Victor]

When I had the honor of writing to you on the 22nd of this month, I assumed you were still in Polotsk, and that is why I was heading for Vitebsk, with the intention of going with the entire IX Corps to Ghorodok, in order to prevent the enemy, by this movement, from advancing on you with all his forces. I learned only very indirectly of the attempt he made on you, and yet it was on the basis of these uncertain reports that I received that I set out to support you, and I arrived as far as Orcha in the same uncertainty. The news I received about the fighting that took place at Polotsk from the 18th to the 20th was also vague, and I was surprised not to receive more official information I have nevertheless decided to change the direction of the IXth Corps and to bring it closer to Oula in order to soon be able to reunite it with the IInd and then resume the offensive against the enemy. Your letter of the 17th was not delivered to me until the 25th; I have now received the one you did me the honor of writing to me on the 24th. I have sent you one of my aides-de-camp to find out your situation, I am awaiting his return as well as the information he is to bring me. I have just sent the order to General Daendels to leave Vitebsk and quickly establish himself at Bechenkovitschi with his division and a cavalry regiment. The 28th Infantry Division commanded by General Girard, and three light cavalry regiments, under the orders of General Fournier, are arriving today at Sienno. The 120th Infantry Division, commanded by General Partouneaux, will be there tomorrow so that the entire IX Corps will be within range on the 29th to effectively support the He. I will direct it on the same day, the 29th, according to the information my aide-de-camp brings me.