ARCHIWA PARAFIALNE KOŚCIOŁA RZYMSKOKATOLICKIEGO W BIAŁORUSKIEJ SOCJALISTYCZNEJ REPUBLICE RADZIECKIEJ
PARISH ARCHIVES OF THE ROMAN CATHOLIC CHURCH IN THE BYELORUSSIAN SOVIET SOCIALIST REPUBLIC

Summary/Abstract: In 1917, with the seizure of power by the Bolsheviks in parts of the former Russian Empire, measures were undertaken to separate the state from the Church. These included the creation of a system for civil registration of important events in people’s lives. The implementation of this system was initially carried out by confiscating record books from churches. It later turned into a campaign to destroy all documents that failed to describe ‘the struggle of the proletariat for its rights’. In 1939, 905 tons of historical documents, including materials from the parish archives of Belarus, were ground at the Albertin factory in Slonim. The incident became the apogee of the Soviet authorities’ struggle against ‘counter-revolutionary’ historical sources. The Catholic Church, as one of the ‘hostile’ elements to Soviet power, suffered heavy material, personnel and organizational losses. The article describes the actions of state authorities concerning the archival records of Roman Catholic parishes in Soviet Belarus. The basic normative acts on the basis of which church records were confiscated have been presented. Other actions by the state authorities to destroy parish archives are also shown. The paper also addresses the efforts of the Roman Catholic clergy to preserve the church’s archival legacy as an important source documenting the history of the Church in Belarus. The article also describes the various activities of Belarusian researchers who catalogued and compiled the resources of parish archives. The most valuable church records were given to state museums and libraries for preservation and to make them available for scientific research.

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