Forum of Slavic Cultures finally online!

Founded in 1994, the Forum of Slavic Cultures has only recently debuted on the internet. The international cultural organization unites representatives from all 13 Slavic countries to join forces to promote Slavic cultures at home and abroad. The organization is based in Ljubljana, Slovenia.

The Forum's members are: Belarus, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Bulgaria, Croatia, Macedonia, Montenegro, Poland, the Russian Federation, Serbia, Slovakia, Slovenia and Ukraine, with The Czech Republic as an observer status. Attention is also paid to Slavic minorities in non-Slavic countries, including the Lusatian Sorbs in Germany.

While the Forum has a variety of projects, among the most pressing right now are those designed to highlight Slavic cultures in Brussels in honor of Slovenia's current stint as the first Slavic president of the European Union.

So far, no activities have been planned for New York, but Slavs of New York is nevertheless very proud to be among the Forum's links!

Local Belarusians gearing up for protests

On Sunday, 18 March, the Belarusian-American Association and its youth organization will lead a demonstration in commemoration of a protest on Kalinouski Square in Minsk against rigged presidential election results. The demonstration will take place at 10:30 a.m. near UN headquarters, between 42nd and 43rd street on First Avenue in Manhattan.

Similar events will take place around the world, in Paris, Bordeaux, Berlin, Geneva, Chemnitz, Freiburg, Vilnius, Lund, Stockholm, Brussels, Porto, Lisbon, Riga, Bucharest, Ljubljana, Arhus, Bern, Helsinki, Dublin, Montenegro, Nancy and Boston. More at Charter97 and BAZA.

Information from last year's protests: Sunday: Elections in Belarus, New York’s Belarusians protest, Protests in Belarus continue.

Another protest is planned for the same location on 25 March, the 89th Anniversary of the Declaration of the Belarusian People's Republic (see Slavs of New York from last year’s 88th Annversary). That one starts at 10:00 a.m. (Charter97).

Brooklyn's Belarus II

A couple weeks ago, we got an email asking after Belarusian-owned restaurants or restaurants serving Belarusian food, and we were stumped. Last Thursday, however, the kids over at Gothamist came to the rescue with their discovery of Belarus II (495-497 Neptune Avenue, Coney Island/Brighton Beach, Brooklyn), a real live Belarusian deli!

The store is three blocks from the boardwalk, open 24 hours, and offers freshly-made ethnic delicacies such as potatoe pancakes and pickles.

New York's Belarusians protest

About 80 people turned out on Sunday for the demonstrations organized by the Belarusian-American Association, but incumbent President Aleksandr Lukashenka was indeed reelected to a third term in internationally-criticized elections.


Previously on Slavs of New York: Sunday: Elections in Belarus

Chagall Peace Window rededicated

The Chagall Peace Window returned to the Visitors’ lobby of the United Nations yesterday with a dedication ceremony timed to coincide with UN Day and the 60th anniversary of the organization’s founding.

The window was originally installed at the site in 1964, in honor of former UN Secretary-General Dag Hammarskjöld and all those who have lost their lives in the pursuit of peace. It is a free-standing piece of stained glass.
Its creator, Mark Chagall, was a Jew born in Viciebsk, Belarus. His work is important not only to Jewish culture but to Belarusian culture overall. Over the years, the work began to show its age. The restoration was undertaken by the Maecenas World Patrimony Foundation (MWPF). Though the restoration was actually finished in the summer of 2001, the dedication ceremony slated for UN Day that year was postponed due to the 11 September attacks in New York. The Visitors’ Lobby of the UN building is open to the public.

Slavic WIlliamsburg & Greenpoint

The most densely Slavic part of New York City is easily Greenpoint, in Brooklyn. The bulk of the neighborhood is clearly Polish, with the first Polish immigrants arriving around 1890 and founding the monumental St. Stanislaus Kostka Church (607 Humboldt Street at Driggs) in 1896. The building dates from 1903.

The local Polish community – and the church – are so important to the area that Humboldt Street in front of the church is known as Lech Walesa Place, and Driggs Street is called Pope John Paul II Plaza. Another nearby Polish-named landmark is the Kosciuszko Bridge, joining Brooklyn and Queens. Formerly the Meeker Avenue Bridge, it was renamed in honor of Polish patriot Tadeusz Kosciuszko in 1940.

Other Slavic landmarks include the Greek Catholic Church of St. Elias (149 Kent Street between Manhattan Avenue and Franklin Street), and the Polish National Home, better known to local hipsters as the Warsaw (261 Driggs Avenue).

The nicest Polish bookstore in the area by far is Ksiegarnia Literacka (161 Java Street). Polish restaurants include Old Poland Bakery and Restaurant (192 Nassau Street), Pod Wierchami (119 Nassau Street), Lomzynianka (646 Manhattan Avenue), Stylowa (694 Manhattan Avenue), Christina's (853 Manhattan Avenue), Polish and Slavic Credit Union (175 Kent Street) and Little Poland (136 Greenpoint Avenue)

On the border of Greenpoint and Williamsburg is one of the most impressive buildings in either neighborhood: the Russian Orthodox Cathedral of the Transfiguration of Our Lord (228 N.12th Street at Driggs). The church is easily recognizable thanks to its five large copper domes (currently being restored). The church was built between 1916 and 1921, and was modeled after the Moscow Kremlin’s Cathedral of the Dormition. The iconostas within features icons painted by monks from Kiev’s famous Monastery of the Caves. The congregation is largely Carpatho-Rusyn, and the parish priest, Very Rev. Wiaczeslaw Krawczuk, is Belarusian.

Williamsburg, just south of Greenpoint, is also not lacking in Slavic sites. The most important is easily the Holy Trinity Church of the Ukrainian Autocephalic Orthodox Church in Exile (117-185 S.5th Street at New Street), which occupies a landmark building built in 1906 as the main branch of the Williamsburg Trust Company. It served in that capacity just a few years, until 1911, and then was abandoned until 1928 when it became a courthouse. The Ukrainians took it over in the 1960s.

Sources of information about Poles in Greenpoint include Search for Polonia by Kari Levinson and Sally Valentin and If You're Thinking of Living In/Greenpoint; An Inviting Area, Once You Get There by Dulcie Leimbach in the New York Times. For information about the small Polish presence in Queens, try Polish In Queens:Never Afraid To Work Hard For Their Dreams by Tamara Hartman.

For info on Transfiguration Cathedral, check out At Russian Orthodox Church in Williamsburg; Restoring the Cupolas Of a Landmark Cathedral in the New York Times, From Russia With Love - The story of Brooklyn's most beautiful cathedral from billburg.com and the church’s listing in the OCA directory of parishes.

(Photo: (top) St. Stanislaus from Forgotten New York; (bottom) Transfiguration Cathedral by Jason Kempin, from billburg.com)

Belarusians in Brooklyn

One of the least-visible Slavic communities in New York is the Belarusians. Anyone who's been to Atlantic Avenue in Brooklyn, however, has certainly noticed St. Cyril of Turau Cathedral, the community's centerpiece.

The church was founded in 1950 by Belarusians fleeing the Soviet Union after World War II. Initially, services were held in rented premises in East New York, near an existing Belarusian parish, the Russian Orthodox Church of the Holy Trinity at 400 Glenmore Avenue, founded in 1909.

After a couple years, the parish quickly moved to East 4th Street in Manhattan, allying themselves with the Holy Trinity Carpatho-Russian Orthodox Church. By 1957, the community had managed to purchase their current building at 401 Atlantic Avenue, a former Episcopalian church on Atlantic Avenue in Brooklyn, built in 1850.

Today, the parish is quite small, with just about two dozen regular members. But it is significant nevertheless, as it is the seat of the Belarusian Autocephalous Orthodox Church, which is made up of 15 parishes in the US, UK, Australia and Canada.

Check out "Keeping the Faith," an article about the parish, and http://www.belarus-misc.org/bel-dusa.htm for more information about Belarusians in the United States.

And a good excuse to visit the church will come on 25 September, when the parish holds its annual Belarusian Festival, part of the annual Atlantic Antic street festival.