10 of the Most Famous People from Belarus

Photo by Post of Belarus- Wikimedia

10 of the Most Famous People from Belarus

Belarus, officially the Republic of Belarus and historically Byelorussia is a landlocked country in Eastern Europe. It is bordered by Russia, Ukraine, Poland, Lithuania and Latvia.

Covering an area of 207,600 square kilometres (80,200 sq mi) and with a population of 9.3 million, Belarus is the 13th-largest and the 20th-most populous country in Europe.

The country is administratively divided into 7 regions. Minsk is the capital and largest city.

Belarus’s history of its people is well documented from its mighty rulers, development of the Cyrillic language to its artists and literary giants. 

The bohemians are used to a tradition of individual excellence.

This list includes people who were born and raised in Belarus, as well as those who were born there but moved away at a young age for one reason or another.

Let’s have a look at the 10 most famous people from Belarus.

1.   Shimon Perez- Politician

Shimon Peres was born Szymon Perski in Visheno village in Belarus but was formerly in Poland.

He is an Israeli politician who served as the 9^th President of Israel (2007–2014).

His political career spans 70 years and at the time of his retirement, he was the world’s oldest head of state and was considered the last link to Israel’s founding generation.

For his 90^th birthday, the government of Belarus handed Perez his commemorative birth certificate and invited her daughter, Zvia Valdan, to the unveiling of a plaque at the house where Perez was born.

He was a gifted orator, international diplomat and military officer.

2.  Ruslan Salei- Ice Hockey Pro

Photo by Pointnshoot – Wikimedia

He was a Belarusian professional ice hockey player. Salei played 14 seasons in the National Hockey League (NHL) for among others Colorado Avalanche, the Florida Panthers and the Mighty Ducks of Anaheim.

Before being selected for the Ducks, he played in Belarus for Dinamo Minsk in the Russian Elite League.

He was also a popular figure in Belarus as he played for the Belarus national team from 1994-to 2010.

Though he didn’t earn a medal or top 3 finishes in his Olympic/International tournaments, he stood out as a popular player from his home country.

Salei died in 2011 when a-42 passenger aircraft, carrying almost the entire Lokomotiv Yaroslavl team crashed near Yaroslavl, Russia, en route to Minsk, Belarus.

3. Victoria Azarenka- Tennis Player

Photo by Tourism Victoria – Wikimedia

Victoria Fyodarauna Azarenka is a Belarusian professional tennis player.

Azarenka is a former world No. 1 in singles and at one time held the top ranking for a combined total of 51 weeks.

She is the first Belarusian player, male or female, to win a Grand Slam tournament singles title.

 Azarenka is an aggressive baseliner, known for her movement, speed, court coverage, footwork, and balance, allowing her to blend offence and defence effectively. She has represented Belarus in the Olympics.

4.  Alexander Lukashenko – Politician

Photo by BeITA news agency – Wikimedia

One of the last remaining dictators in Europe Alexander Lukashenko, Lukashenko is a Belarusian politician with communist leanings.

Lukashenko was elected president of Belarus in 1994. An authoritarian and unpredictable leader who resisted economic and political reforms suppressed perceived dissent and has led Belarus into isolation from its European neighbours and the international community at large.

He favours closer ties with. In 1996 he persuaded voters to approve a new constitution that gave him sweeping l powers, including the right to prolong his term in office, to rule by decree, and to appoint one-third of parliamentarians.

5. Olga Korbut- Gymnast

Photo by luke Rauscher – Wikimedia

Olga Korbut is a former gymnast who competed for the Soviet Union. Nicknamed the “Sparrow from Minsk”.

She became the star during the 1972 Munich Games with a series of dramatic performances.

Korbut captured the public imagination with her charismatic and daring performances in the team competition aged just 17 years old then.

She was the first gymnast to perform a backflip to catch on the uneven bars.

In her honour, the movement has since become known as the Korbut Flip. Moreover, she was also the first to do a backward somersault on the beam.

6.    Marc Chagall- Artist

Self Potrait photo by Paradise Chronicle – Wikimedia

Marc Chagall was born Moishe Shagal in Liozne, near Vitebsk, in modern-day Belarus, in 1887. He was an artist of international repute.

The Belorussian-born French artist was an early modernist associated with several major artistic styles and created works in a wide range of artistic formats.

His repertoire included painting, drawings, book illustrations, stained glass, stage sets, ceramics, tapestries and fine art prints.

Chagall composed his images based on emotional and poetic associations rather than on rules of pictorial logic.

His Jewish heritage, the village of Vitebsk and Belarusian folk culture inspired his works.

After many successful exhibitions, Chagall went back to Russia to visit his family and fiancée, Bella. Unfortunately,   the outbreak of the First World War prevented his return to France.

7. Vasil Bykov – Author

Bykov was born Vasil Vladimirovich Bykov on June 19, 1924, in the province of Vitebsk, Belarus.

His family was peasants. By the time Bykov was 17, he was volunteering for the red army.

The Hrodna Pravda newspaper employed him as a writer after the war.  His novellas or short novels; Sotnikov, The Obelisk and To Live Till Sunrise.    

Shortly after the war ended, Bykov went to work writing for the Hrodna Pravda newspaper.

It was around the same time that his first published books called novellas, or short novels, were released, including Sotnikov. The Obelisk and To Live Till Sunrise.

His central subject was war atrocities and the lives of soldiers and officers on the front lines of battle.

 He was critical of the Soviet government’s abuse of power and his anti-Russian writing caused him considerable problems, including the censoring of his work in Russian translations and harassment from the KGB.

Despite this, he was highly regarded by the  Belarusian public and literary critics. He received several awards including the USSR State Prize and the Lenin Prize.

He was the People’s Writer of Belarus.

8. Francysk Skaryna- Humanist

Skaryna Bible photo by Mysli- Wikimedia

Francysk Skaryna Belarusian 1470 – before 29 January 1552) was a Slavic humanist, physician, and translator of the Bible.

He is known to be one of the first book printers in all of Eastern Europe, laying the groundwork for the development of the Slavic language.

He published the first book in Eastern Slavic language in 1517 in Prague laying the groundwork for the development of the Church Slavonic language

Skaryna was one of the pioneers of publishing in Cyrillic script while he used an Eastern Slavic language; it is difficult to determine precisely what language he used since there was no standard Belarusian language at that time.

There are scholars who believe that Skaryna laid the foundations of the Belarusian literary language.

9.  Vladimir Kovalenok- Astronaut

Photo by Post of Soviet Union – Wikimedia

Vladimir Kovalenok is a retired Soviet cosmonaut. born in the village of Beloye, Krupki district, the Minsk region, on March 3, 1942. 

Kovalenok is one of those who pioneered space exploration. He made three space missions: in 1977, 1978, and 1981. He spent 216 days in space in total. In 1977, Kovalenok flew aboard Soyuz 25.

The spacecraft tried to dock with the Salyut 6 space station. However, a computer malfunction forced the crew to head back to Earth.

In 1978, the crew of Soyuz 29 was more successful. They docked with Salyut 6 and spent 139 days there.

He made his third spaceflight aboard Salyut 6 again in 1982.

He retired from the cosmonaut team in 1984. From 1990 to 1992 he was a Director of the 30th Central Scientific Research Institute, Ministry of Defense.

10. Darya  Domracheva- Biathlete

Photo by Wikijunkie – Wikimedia

Domracheva is a retired Belarusian biathlete and coach who competed in the Biathlon World Cup from 2006 to 2018.  

Born in Minsk in 1986, Domracheva was four when she moved to Nyagan in Siberia a short distance from Khantyi-Mansiisk, one of the capitals of world biathlon.

After becoming the first female biathlete in history to win three titles at the same Olympic Winter Games, at Sochi 2014, Darya Domracheva was absent from the sport for a long period because of illness.

In 2018 he made an emphatic return, helping Belarus win relay gold at PyeongChang to take her gold medal tally to four, a record for women’s biathlon.

Belarus has a rich history of famous personalities that goes back centuries. It is this blood of their courageous ancestors that still flows in the veins of the later generations that makes them excel where they dare.