M. V. Dovnar-Zapolsky: important events of life and work (biographical overview)
Mitrofan Victorovich Dovnar-Zapolsky (1867-1934)
Personal diversity, active social temperament, wide range of interests are the most characteristic features of Mitrofan Victorovich Dovnar-Zapolsky.
M.V. Dovnar-Zapolsky – Doctor of Historical Sciences, Professor, full member of the Institute of Belarusian Culture (Inbelkult, later Belarusian Academy of Sciences), founder of Belarusian national historiography.
The main subjects of his interest included history, ethnography, folklore and literary studies. In his activity he was supported by ideas of economic materialism and the liberal-democratic methodology.
Dovnar-Zapolsky is the author of over 200 scholarly works. His papers contain large factual material gathered in numerous ethnographic and folklore expeditions and the primary sources examined in all major Russian and some foreign archives and libraries. His research topics are very diverse and span many centuries. These are works on ethnography, social history, economics and politics in Belarus, Russia, Ukraine, Lithuania, Poland from the early centuries to the first quarter of the Twentieth century. These include the innovative research on issues of national economy and liberation movement in Russia previously not reported or banned. On his initiative and with his active participation, many archival documents were published for the first time on a strictly scientific basis, as well as a multi-volume book of essays and articles on Russian history.
Dovnar-Zapolsky lectured at the universities of Moscow, Kiev, Kerch, Kharkov, Baku and Minsk. He was initiator and director of a number of higher educational institutions. He was active in scientific-pedagogical activities and trained a group of prominent historian-scholars. Also he founded his own scientific-historical school.
Dovnar-Zapolsky maintained creative relations with many scholars and participated in all archaeological congresses as a chairman, adviser and opponent. He collaborated with many publishing houses, newspapers and magazines.
Many archive documents testify to the literary creativity of Dovnar-Zapolsky. He is the author of plays, stories, translations and one novel.
Dovnar-Zapolsky’s intensive work in science, teaching and pedagogics were combined with his active social activity and service in government structures, where he showed himself as a diplomat and practical economist.
Belarus holds a special place in Dovnar-Zapolsky’s work. Starting from his first studies, his major attention was focused on Belarusian national rebirth. Dovnar-Zapolsky is an outstanding researcher of Belarusian history, who investigated the national and cultural uniqueness of the Belarusian people. He was engaged in preparing and publishing a number of books of archival documents containing valuable primary sources for the history of Belarus in the 14th-18th centuries, earlier not printed and unknown to researchers. He was one of the first who investigated Belarus as a separate subject of historical research. He is the author of the first special works on the origins and formation of Belarusian statehood, in which he explains the historical reasons for the right of Belarus to independence and self-determination. In his works he highlights the existence of Belarusian nation with its own history, specific ethnographic features, rich people’s culture and its own Belarusian language. Dovnar-Zapolsky created a map of the settlement of the Belarusians. In Ukraine, he was active in consolidating the Belarusians and in solving the economic, commercial and diplomatic issues in the interests of Belarus. He stood at the origins of the Belarusian University and the Belarusian Archaeographical Organization.
The dramatic circumstances of Dovnar-Zapolsky’s personal life, his persecution and lack of need for academic works within the Soviet system considerably hampered his activities.
The creative achievements of Dovnar-Zapolsky were recognized by his contemporaries and remain important in the present time. This is testified by numerous reprints of his works (over a hundred during his lifetime and over forty after his death).
In the native town of Dovnar-Zapolsky in Rechitsa, Gomel Region, a monument was erected and beginning from 1997 seven International Scholarly Dovnar Readings were conducted. In Kiev, the Jubilee Academic Conference was held to celebrate the 140th anniversary of his birth. In Minsk, an exhibition was organized in the Library of the Belarusian National Academy of Sciences to mark his 146th anniversary. Also, a street in Kiev bears the name of Dovnar-Zapolsky.
Many records relating to Dovnar-Zapolsky’s life and work are dispersed in archives and libraries in six countries (seven in Belarus, fifteen in Russia, five in Ukraine, two in Lithuania, one in Azerbaijan and in Canada). The Central State Archives of Ukraine in Kyiv holds a separate collection containing 212 storage items relating to Dovnar-Zapolsky.
Today many fundamental works by Dovnar-Zapolsky occupy a worthy place among the works of prominent researchers of the history of Belarus and other Slavic countries. His scholarly legacy remains important and, as before, has its proponents and opponents.
Presently the commemoration of Mitrofan Victorovich Dovnar-Zapolsky in Belarus demands additional efforts appropriate to his contribution to the theory and practical applications in the social, economic and political spheres.
The major events of life and work of M.V. Dovnar-Zapolsky
– Rechitsa (1867-1879)
– Mozyr (1880-1885)
– Kiev (1885-1894)
– Moscow (1894-1901)
– Kiev (1901-1913)
– Saratov (1914-1917)
– Kiev (1917-1919)
– Kerch (1920)
– Kharkov (1920-1922)
– Baku (1922 -1925)
– Minsk (1925-1926)
– Moscow (1926-1934)
Mitrofan Victorovich Dovnar-Zapolsky was born on 14 June (2 June Old
Style) 1867 in the district town of Rechitsa, Minsk Province, Russian
Empire (now Gomel Region, Republic of Belarus).
He came from the old and noble Belarusian family (coat-of-arms Pobog) known from the
16th century and completely impoverished by the 19th century. The family branch
of Mitrofan Dovnar-Zapolsky (his great grandfather Anthony, grandfather Martin) in
1802 was recognized as the Russian nobility.
Father Victor Martinovich Dovnar-Zapolsky was collegiate secretary and
department head at the police administration in Rechitsa.
Mother Aleksandra Stanislavovna (nee Lindaher), who was also of noble origin,
raised four children except Mitrofan: Pyotr, Sofia, Maria and
Serafima.
Due to financial difficulties, constant resettlement from one area to another, and as a result the family’s breakup Mitrofan (who had stayed with his father) received primary education in various school institutions – in Rechitsa, Baranovichi, Plovdiv (Bulgaria) etc.
1880
– began studies in a six-year secondary school in Mozyr
1883
– first steps in research work and publication of the first
short article on local history «From Mozyr» (Kiev)
1884-1885
– publication of seven short articles mainly of ethnographic
character, including «From Mozyr» (3 items), «By the banks of the Pripyat», «Books
for the people» (Saint-Petersburg)
1885, autumn
– left school voluntarily because of poor progress in studies and low assessment of his abilities
1885, autumn
– began studies at the Kiev First Gymnasium (classical school)
– publication of short articles «From Kiev» and
«On the nervous generation» (Saint-Petersburg)
1886
– publication of the first article of economic character «The peasant
economy in Tver Province: from local studies» (Moscow)
1887
– publication of the essay «From Kiev to Rogachev», which expressed demand on
behalf of Belarusian peasants to print literature in the
Belarusian language (newspaper «Minsky listok»)
1888
– worked as a home teacher to earn living
– established contacts with the University’s environment and became acquainted with Professor V.
Antonovich, head of the Department of Russian History at the Kiev St. Vladimir
University, chief of a Kiev-based historiographical school
– publication of the first brochure «Belarusian wedding parties and
songs:
An ethnographic sketch» (Kiev)
– was expelled from the Gymnasium on 1 April 1888, two months before graduation,
after the gymnasium inspector had found unauthorized books at Dovnar-Zapolsky’s
apartment, mainly works on Slavonic studies brought from Bulgaria
during his visit to his mother
– publication of a large essay
«The Belarusian past», which speaks of the necessity of national rebirth for
the Belarusian people similarly to the Czechs, Slovaks and Serbs; for
the first time essentially shows Belarusian history from national positions in contrast
to the Great-Polish and Great-Russian concepts; advances the thesis of
independence for the Belarusian nation with its own history, culture and language
different from the neighboring peoples; and assumes the equality of
Belarusians among the European nations (in six issues of the newspaper «Minsky
listok»)
– publication of a short geographical essay «Old
Belarus: the 9th-12th cc.» (newspaper «Minsky listok»)
– publication of the paper
«The statistical essays of the North-Western Region: I. Population and area; II.
Popular schooling; III. Land property; IV. Agriculture; V. Factory-and-works
industry» (in fourteen issues of the bulletin «Vilensky vestnik»)
– publication of the review of the book «Doctor F. Skorina, his translations, books, language»
by V. Vladimirov (newspaper «Minsky listok»)
– refusal of Dovnar-Zapolsky’s petition to return to the Gymnasium in the autumn
of 1888 for the probability that he would continue prohibited activities
1889
– finished the Kiev Second Gymnasium on passing the exams as an external
student and decided to enter the University despite his father’s refusal in
financial assistance
– excellently passed the entrance exams to the Kiev St. Vladimir University,
was freed from tuition payments and was awarded the scholarship of SS.
Cyril and Mithodius
– began studies at the History and Philology Faculty (in the speciality of
Russian history) at the Kiev St. Vladimir University – a major scholarly center
in the western region of the Russian Empire (including Ukraine, Belarus and
Poland), where a regional scientific school was founded by Professor V.
Antonovich to investigate among other issues the historical legacy of the
Grand Duchy of Lithuania and the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth
(Rzeczpospolita), thus influencing Dovnar-Zapolsky’s choice of Belarusian studies
– organized the publication of «Calendar of the North-Western Region» –
supplement to the newspaper
«Minsky listok»
– publication in Moscow of «Calendar of the North-Western Region for 1889»
edited by Dovnar-Zapolsky (with the active support of V. Zavitnevich and M.
Shakhov), which also printed Dovnar-Zapolsky’s own articles on history,
ethnography and statistics in Belarus, including «The Belarusian dialect», «V.
Dunin-Martsinkevich’s novella in verse in the Belarusian language «Gapon» (From
the history of Belarusian ethnography)», «The Easter in Belarus [written in
Slutsk district, Minsk province, the village of Konyukhi]», «The church court in
Smolensk Duchy in the 12th century»,
«Saint Vladimir and his time: (devoted to the 900th anniversary of the
christening of Rus)»
– publication of the review of N. Yanchuk’s book «In Minsk
Province: (Notes from the 1886 trip)» which criticized the positions of Russian,
Polish and Ukrainian scholars claiming for Belarus as part of their national
formations («Vilensky vestnik»)
– development of the concept of scholarly research of Belarus with the support
of local researchers for the preliminary committee of the Archaeological Congress in Vilna;
foundation
of a regional research center, periodical, museum and library
the 1890s
– active contacts with fellow-countrymen, specialists in Belarusian studies A.
Elsky, E. Romanov, P. Slupsky, A. Zinovyev, N. Nikiforovsky, E. Lyatsky, Ya.
Luchina etc. with the purpose of their consolidation to investigate
Belarusian history
1890
– publication in Moscow of «Calendar of the North-Western Region for 1890»
edited by Dovnar-Zapolsky and including his works «Essays on the history of
Belarus:
From the beginning to the death of Vladimir Monomakh (1125)», «Statistical data
on the North-Western Region», reviews of P. Bryantsev’s «History of the
Lithuanian state from the old times», E. Volter’s «The family life of the
Lithuanian and Zmudz people», А. Veselovsky’s «From the history of the novel and
the novella»
– publication of the paper «An essay on the history of
Krivichi and Dregovichi lands until the end of the 12th century» («University
news»)
– publication of a historical and ethnographical study «The magic in
the North-Western Region in the 17th and 18th cc.» (Moscow)
– publication of the review of the book «The
Belarusian antiquities» and the article «The funeral rites of the Belarusians»
(newspaper «Minsky listok»)
1891
– publication in Kiev during his studies at the university of his first
monograph «An essay on the history of Krivichi and Dregovichi lands until the
end of the 12th century», for which he was awarded the gold medal
– member of the Imperial Society of Amateurs of Natural Science, Anthropology
and Ethnography
– expeditions to the provinces of Minsk and Grodno to study folklore and daily
life of local residents, which resulted in the publication of «Notes from
the trip to Belarus» in the newspapers «Vilensky vestnik» and «Minsky listok»
1891-1894
– publication of 30 works (articles, essays, reviews) on ancient history,
Belarusian ethnography, Belarusian dialect, and notes for the Ninth
Archaeological Congress in Vilna
1892
– awarded the silver medal by the Russian Geographical Society for the work «Peasant
games in Minsk Province»
– received official thanks from the preliminary committee of the Ninth
Archaeological Congress in Vilna for his valuable recommendations on the
society’s work
– ethnographic studies in Minsk Province
1894
– began intensive activity to organize the Belarusian Scholarly Circle,
a basis for future Belarusian Organization, with its own periodical and
branches in Moscow (E. Lyatsky), Minsk (Ya. Zinovyev) and Kiev (M.
Dovnar-Zapolsky)
– graduated from the Kiev St. Vladimir University with the gold medal and high
evaluation by the state examination commission, but at the same time was prohibited to teach in the Kiev school district
because of his disloyalty
– received professor’s scholarship at the Department of Russian History at the Kiev
St. Vladimir University thanks to professors V. Antonovich, T. Florinsky and
other lecturers
– assigned by the Kiev
St. Vladimir University to collect materials for his
dissertation at the Moscow Archives of the Justice Ministry of the Russian
Empire, which preserved one of the most valuable sources on the Belarusian
history of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania – the Lithuanian Metrica
1894
– moved to Moscow in the summer of 1894
– began work in the Moscow Archives of the Justice Ministry to study the
archive documents and prepare the master’s dissertation on the economic
system of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania in the 16th century
– began pedagogical activity as a teacher at Rzhevskaya’s Female Gymnasium
1895
– ethnographic studies in Grodno Province
– publication in Kiev of the first large book «Belarusian Polesye. Ethnographic
materials collected by M. Dovnar-Zapolsky. Issue 1. The songs of Pinsk Polesye
residents», which received positive
review from Academician E. Karsky and other scholars and initiated
academic discussion on issues of ethnography in Polesye Region
– publication of the essay on Belarusian ethnography «Dunin-Martsinkevich and his poem «Taras on the
Parnassus» («Vitebskie gubernskie vedomosti»)
1896
– married Nadezhda Ilyinichna Zeifert
– prepared for publication several volumes of archival materials,
including an important monument of Belarusian Middle Ages – «Records of the
Lithuanian-Russian State» containing legal acts of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania
(Lithuanian Metrica)
– publication of the paper «From the history of the Lithuanian-Polish
struggle for Volhynia:
the treaties of 1366» (Kiev)
– publication of the paper «From the history of the Union of
Lublin» («Kievskaya starina»)
– publication of 12 book reviews on issues of history, archaeology,
ethnography and jurisprudence on Belarusian, Lithuanian, Ukrainian and Estonian
lands
1897
– awarded the silver medal for diligent work at Rzhevskaya’s Gymnasium
– taken on the staff of the Moscow Archives of the Justice Ministry as senior
assistant archivist for the Lithuanian Metrica and continued studies on
compiling the name index and description of books; finally chose his main
subjects of research – history of economics and archaeography
– secretary, and in fact organizer and editor of publications at the
Archaeographical Commission of the Moscow Archaeological Society, founded on the
initiative of Dovnar-Zapolsky (for five years)
– worked in archives in Saint-Petersburg and Warsaw
– publication of the book «Documents of the Moscow Archives of the
Justice Ministry»,
which for the first time included the most important documents of «Records of
the Lithuanian-Russian State (14th-16th cc.)» with valuable data on the history
of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania (Moscow)
– publication of «Notes on the Crimean affairs in the Lithuanian
Metrica» (Simferopol)
– publication of «Essays on the family law of peasants in Minsk
Province» (Moscow)
– publication of the monograph «The Western Russian
agricultural community in the 16th century» (Saint-Petersburg)
– publication of a historical essay «The Polish-Lithuanian Union in
the Seims until 1569» (Moscow)
– publication of Dovnar-Zapolsky’s report at the Imperial Society of Amateurs of
Early Written Language «On the 16th-century Western Russian chronicle at the
Synodal library: [Barkulabov Chronicle»]
– publication of the paper «Collection of Polish
proverbs of the 18th century» («Ethnographical review»)
– publication of the review to the book «Papers of
the Ninth Archaeological Congress in Vilna. 1893» («Archaeological news»)
1898
– birth of son Vsevolod
– publication of the paper «Lithuanian records of the Tartar
hordes:
The treasury book of the Lithuanian Metrica of 1502-1509» (Simferopol)
– publication of the text of the Barkulabov Chronicle –
a historical and literary monument of the 16th and 17th centuries («University
news»)
– publication of the works of the Archaeographical Commission of the
Moscow Archaeological Society «Antiquities» (volume
1, issues 1-2) edited by Dovnar-Zapolsky (Moscow)
– publication of the paper «Berestye starostvo in the 16th
c.» («University news»)
– publication of the review «On the history of economic life in Galicia in the
16th century» to the book «Sources into the history of Ukraine-Rus»
1899
– began work at the University of Moscow as a privat-docent at the Department
of Russian History led by Professor V. Klyuchevsky
– publication of the paper «V.N. Tyapinsky, a translator of
the Gospel to the Belarusian dialect: I-II» (Saint-Petersburg)
– publication of the text of «Records of the Lithuanian-Russian State (14th-16th
cc.)», which first systematized documents on the history of the
Grand Duchy of Lithuania for 150 years (Moscow)
– publication of the works of the Archaeographical Commission of the
Moscow Archaeological Society «Antiquities» (volume
1, issue 3) edited by Dovnar-Zapolsky (Moscow)
– speech at the Eleventh Archaeological Congress in Kiev with a review of
activities of provincial archival commissions
– acted as opponent (together with Professor V. Klyuchevsky) to doctor’s
dissertation «The Lithuanian Seim» by M. Lyubavsky
1900
– birth of son Vyacheslav
– publication of the paper «To the history of the land reform in
Livonia in 1580-1582» (Moscow)
– publication of the paper «The state economy in the
Grand Duchy of Lithuania under the Jagiellon Dynasty» («University news»)
– publication of the works of the Archaeographical Commission of the
Moscow Archaeological Society «Antiquities» (volume 2, issue 1) edited by
Dovnar-Zapolsky (Moscow)
– met with writer Leo Tolstoy at his house in Khamovniki to discuss the history
of the Decembrist Movement and their cooperation to publish and edit a
literary and political weekly (the project was not implemented because of the
censor’s opposition)
1901
– successful defence of master’s dissertation at the Kiev St. Vladimir University on the topic
«The state economy in the Grand Duchy of Lithuania under the Jagiellon Dynasty»,
its publication in Kiev and receiving the P. Batyushkov Prize
– transferred to the Kiev St. Vladimir University by order of the Education
Minister of the Russian Empire
– taken on the staff of the Kiev St. Vladimir University as a privat-docent at
the Department of Russian History
– lecture «The historical process of the Russian people in Russian
historiography» at the Kiev St. Vladimir University on 20 September 1901
containing the slogan «back to Marxism», which caused a stormy favourable
reaction from the students and was disapproved by the professorate
– publication of the reviews «Controversial questions in the
history of the Lithuanian-Russian Seim» and «The old inventories of the
Lithuanian Metrica» (Saint-Petersburg)
– publication of the paper «The reform of the comprehensive school under Empress Catherine II»
(«Pedagogical listok»)
1902
– birth of daughter Irina
– chairman of the Kiev Archaeographical Commission
– founder and chairman of the history and ethnography circle of students at the Kiev
St. Vladimir University, who investigated economic management in Russian regions in Middle Ages (the circle
functioned for 11 years, published
«University news», released 10 books of academic works; in future many of its
members became famous historians and scholars)
– elected as a member of the Kiev City Council, where until 1905 he was active in
solving social and economic issues
– confirmed as an acting extraordinary professor at the Department
of Russian History at the Kiev St. Vladimir University
– publication of the works of the Archaeographical Commission of the
Moscow Archaeological Society «Antiquities» (volume 2, issue 2) edited by
Dovnar-Zapolsky (Moscow)
– publication of the
paper «The historical process of the Russian people in Russian historiography»
and seven book reviews on various aspects of administration in the 16th-19th
centuries in the Grand Duchy of Lithuania and in Russia (Moscow magazine
«Russkaya mysl»)
– publication of «Notes on the establishment of the Statistical Bureau under the
Kiev City Council»
1903
– report at the Historical Society of Nestor the Chronicler «From the history of
serfdom in Western Russia in the 18th-19th cc.»
– publication of two book reviews on
ancient Russian law and Russian history in the first half of the 19th
century (Moscow magazine «Russkaya mysl»)
1904
– Ministry of Internal Affairs banned pedagogical activity to Dovnar-Zapolsky
– publication of the first volume of «Reading book in Russian
history» edited by Dovnar-Zapolsky, which included a number of his own writings «Veche»
(popular assembly in ancient Russia),
«Princes and prince’s administration», «Colonization by the Slavs of the East
European Plain until the half of the 13th century», «The Scythian tombs», «The
serfs»,
«The church and the clergy», «The map of ancient Russia in the 11th-13th cc.»
(Moscow)
– publication of the
paper «The establishment of ministries in Russia and the Decree on Laws of the
Senate of 8 September 1802» (in three issues of «Vsemirny vestnik»)
– publication of the paper «The
political ideals of М.М.
Speransky» (journal «Nauchnoye slovo»)
1905
– successful defence of doctor’s dissertation on the topic «Essays on the
organization of Western Russian peasantry in the 16th century» and its
publication in Kiev
– head of the Department of Russian History as an ordinary professor, lectured
on the history of the Moscow period in the Russian Empire and on the juridical
sources to the history of Russian law
– member of the editorial council of the liberal publication «Kievskiye otkliki»,
whose contributors were many famous writers and humanist scholars
– took part in the creation of the Higher Female Courses in Kiev
– publication of the paper «A page from the history of serfdom in the
18th-19th cc.» (Moscow)
– publication of the paper on the major agrarian reform in the Grand Duchy of
Lithuania «The peasant reform in the Lithuanian-Russian State in the half of the
16th century»
– publication of the book «From the history of social movements in
Russia», including articles «The historical process of the Russian people in
Russian historiography», «New notes by a Decembrist», etc. (Kiev)
– publication of the first and second volumes of «Russian history in
essays and articles» edited by Dovnar-Zapolsky (Moscow)
– publication of legal documents from the collection of Count A. Uvarov edited by Dovnar-Zapolsky
(Moscow)
1906
– speech at the preliminary committee of the Fourteenth Archaeological Congress in Chernigov
– publication of «Memoirs of the Decembrists (notes, letters,
testimonies and constitution drafts, extracted from the investigation file, with an
introduction and commentaries)» – the first officially permitted publication on
the history of the Decembrist movement, which began the academic research of
this social phenomenon (Kiev)
– publication of a historical essay «The secret society of the
Decembrists» written on the basis of investigation files (Moscow)
– publication of the paper «The political system in ancient Russia: The
popular assembly (veche) and the prince»
and «Church and clergy in pre-Mongolian Russia» (Moscow)
– founder and director of the Higher Commercial Courses in Kiev
1907
– founder of the Kiev Commercial Institute on the basis of the Higher
Commercial Courses (the second educational institution of this kind in the
Russian Empire and the first one in Ukraine) and its director for 10 years on
the basis of his own model of higher education, which combined fundamental
theoretical training and practical orientation (he used this experience in
future to create four higher educational institutions); head of the Department
of the History of National Economy; author of a special (and the only one in
Russia) course of lectures on the economic history of Russia, taught Russian
modern history and Russian law
– publication of the paper «The ideals of the Decembrists» (Moscow)
– publication of the work «A new type of the higher education» («Review of
teaching in the Kiev Commercial Institute»)
– publication of the Archives of South-Western Russia, Volume 5, Part 8 «Legal
acts on Ukrainian administration in the 16th-17th cc.» (Kiev)
1908
– participated in developing the draft law on the higher commercial
education in Russia
– publication of the paper «Ukrainian starostvos in the first half of
the 16th c.» (Kiev)
1909
– elected as an honorary member of the Vitebsk Academic
Commission
– publication of the first volume of the book «Research papers and
articles» which contained many works by Dovnar-Zapolsky, including 16 articles on
ethnography, sociology, statistics, Belarusian written language,
previously unpublished articles «Handicraft industries in Minsk Province»,
ethnographical essays «Belarusians» etc. (Kiev)
– publication of the first volume of «Russian history in essays and
articles» edited by Dovnar-Zapolsky and including his earlier not printed works «The
prince, his council and administration», «Colonization by the Slavs of the East
European Plain until the half of the 13th century», «A review of economic system
in ancient Russia», «The serfs», «The church and the clergy», etc. (Moscow)
– publication of «The map of ancient Russia in the 11th-13th cc.» compiled by
Dovnar-Zapolsky (in the first volume of «Russian history in essays and
articles»)
– speech by Dovnar-Zapolsky «The historical viewpoints of V.B. Antonovich» dedicated
to the memory of the scholar
– report at the Fourteenth Archaeological Congress in Chernigov «A historical
note on Chernigov»
1910
– founder of the Society of Amateurs of Social Knowledge, which included the
sections of history, pedagogics and law
– publication of the second volume of «Russian history in essays and
articles» edited by Dovnar-Zapolsky and including his works «Political
parties in the first half of the 16th c. and the power of the Moscow tzar», «The
time of Ivan the Terrible» (Moscow)
– publication of the paper «Trade and industry in Moscow in the
16th-17th cc.» (Moscow)
– publication of the papers «Moscow humanists and obscurants in the 16th c.» and
«The organization of Moscow artisans in the 17th c.»
1911
– publication of the paper «At the dawn of the Peasant Emancipation:
Public lectures on serfdom on the eve of emancipation and the short course of
the reform» (Kiev)
– publication of the work
«The Great Reform: Russian society and the peasan question in the past and in
the present» edited by Dovnar-Zapolsky (Saint-Petersburg)
– report at the Fifteenth Archaeological Congress in Novgorod «On the historical
path of Kiev»
1912
– publication of the third volume of «Russian history in essays and
articles» (Kiev)
– publication of the work «Lectures on Russian history» (Kiev)
– publication of the first volume of «Review of Russian modern
history» (Kiev)
– publication of the textbook on the history of the Moscow period (Kiev)
– publication of the paper «The
role of Emperor Alexander I in the Patriotic War» (Moscow)
– publication of the work «The immediate tasks of the Russian export»
(Kiev)
– one of the founders and the first board chairman of the South Western Branch
of the Russian Export Chamber, board member in several banks in Kiev, participant at the First South Russian Commercial and
Industrial Congress,
participant at the Congress of Workers in Commercial Navigation and Port
Business in Southern Russia
1913
– publication of «The historical and cultural atlas on Russian history» edited
by Dovnar-Zapolsky and compiled by his pupil Natalia Polonskaya (Kiev)
– publication of the article «The review of the history of economic life in
Russia» («The academy of commercial knowledge», Saint-Petersburg)
– publication of the article «The immediate tasks of the Russian export» («News
of the Kiev Commercial Institute»)
– publication of the work «The academy of commercial knowledge» by Dovnar-Zapolsky
as editor and
co-author (Saint-Petersburg)
– publication of the collected papers «The historical and
ethnographical circle of students at the Imperial University of St. Vladimir»
(Moscow)
– Dovnar-Zapolsky’s book «Russian history in essays and articles»
was recommended by the Ministry of Public Education
and the Chief Administration of Military Educational Institutions to libraries
of secondary, military and other educational institutions
– work at the Kiev Commercial Institute and the Kiev University which moved
to Saratov during the First World War
– preparing drafts of two new higher educational institutions –
Institute of Geography and Institute of Archaeology
1914
– publication of the work «Russian export and the world market: in
tables and diagrams» (Kiev)
– publication of his speech on historical geography and
ethnography at the session of the historical and geographical circle at the Kiev
University
– reviewed articles in «Universtity news»
on Russian history in the 16th century
–
Dovnar-Zapolsky’s book «Russian history in essays and articles» was recommended by
the Ministry of Trade and Commerce for senior classes of secondary educational
institutions in the jurisdiction of the trade and commercial department
1915
– member of the central committee of the Kiev branch of Grand Duchess Tatiana
Nikolaevna’s Committee for the Temporary Relief of Victims of War
– publication of two
works «Semyon Ivanovich Gamaleya» and «The government persecutions of
freemasons» in the book «Freemasonry in the past and in the present»
– publication of the collected papers of students at the historical and
geographical circle at the Kiev St. Vladimir University, edited by Dovnar-Zapolsky
1916
– publication of the paper «Foreign policy and people’s education» in the
magazine «Problems of the Great Russia»
1917
– breakup of the family, his wife and both sons fell under the influence of
bolshevik V. Zatonsky, his sons openly repudiated their «reactionary father,
Black-Hundred chauvinist, proletariat’s enemy» and became actively involved in
the Kiev Revolutionary Committee and the Red Guard
– conflict with the left-revolutionary student committee
at the Kiev Commercial Institute, students obstructions at the University, tense
relations with the faculty in connection with falsifications and unfounded
accusations
– unfairly accused in cooperation with the tsar’s
regime (case opened by the Kiev Deputies Soviet with the real possibility of
death penalty); the accusation was dismissed «for lack of corpus delicti»
thanks to the support of his pupil and close friend N. Polonskaya
– dismissed from the post of director at the Kiev Commercial Institute
– one of initiators of two new educational institutions in Kiev –
Institute of Geography and Institute of Archaeology, the latter’s
first director
– publication of the article «The December Revolution of 1825»
– Dovnar-Zapolsky’s criticism against disbandment of the All-Belarusian
Congress by Bolsheviks in December 1917
1918
– work at the Belarusian Military Organization (later Belarusian Organization)
in Ukraine, from April 1918 as a board chairman
– publication of the article «Organize yourself!»
with a call to join Belarusian nationalist organizations in Ukraine
(«Belarusian echo», June 1918)
– founder and board chairman of the Belarusian Trade Chamber in
Kiev, whose main task was to purchase bread and other provisions for Belarus (from March 1918)
– publication of articles «The organization of trade» and «Trade
perspectives in Belarus» («Belarusian echo»)
– elected a committee member of the All-Ukrainian Union of Householders
Cooperative Organizations
– publication of the programme article «The die is cast» in connection with the
declaration of independence of the Belarusian National Republic (BNR), which
advocated the right of Belarus to self-determination («Belarusian word», 1 April
1918)
– publication of the article «The last days:
On the claims of Polish right-wingers» («Belarusian word», April 1918)
– publication of the article «On the question of
renaming government institutions: [Terminology]» («Free Belarus», May 1918)
– publication of articles «The state
construction in Belarus and internationalist relations» and
«Cultural constructional work and populism in Belarus» («Belarusian echo», June
191)
– member of the permanent delegation of the Belarusian National Republic in Kiev,
participant in Belarusian-Ukrainian negotiations on bordelines (from April 1918)
– representative of the BNR government in negotiations between Ukraine and
Soviet Russia
– participated in writing the Memorandum on Belarusian statehood and
submitting it on 25 April 1918 to the German ambassador for the government of the
Ukrainian National Republic
– publication of the diplomatic document «The
note of the delegation:
[Memorandum of the BNR Rada and Government] on the affairs of the Belarusian
National Republic in
international negotiations,
submitted to Chairman of the Russian delegation Kh.G. Rakovsky on 29 May 1918»
on non-recognition of the items of the Brest Treaty of 3 March 1918 relating to
the territory and interests of Belarus, signed by M.V. Dovnar-Zapolsky and A.
Tsvikevich («Belarusian echo», 8 June 1918)
– writing and publication of the
theoretical and political essay «The foundations of Belarusian statehood», the
first attempt of scientific explanation of historical mechanisms of the state
self-determination for the Belarusian people from the analysis of historical,
economic and ethnographical factors, where
Dovnar-Zapolsky advanced a theory of the ancient Belarusian sovereignty of
the Polotsk and Turov duchies, and later the Grand Duchy of Lithuania
(«Belarusian echo», 1 November 1918)
– member of the Commission for Opening the Belarusian University
(founded by the BNR government), author (together with academician E. Karsky)
of the project of opening the Belarusian University (from April 1918)
– elected the presidium chairman of the Commission for Opening the
Belarusian University (July 1918)
– publication of the appeal to the BNR Rada for assistance in
opening the Belarusian State University («Free Belarus»)
1919
– his sons Vyacheslav and Vsevolod died at the age of 19 and 21
– was invited to the post of finance minister at the BNR
government (May 1919)
– created a map of the settlement of the Belarusians
– publication in Grodno of the theoretical and political essay «The foundations
of Belarusian statehood» as a separate book in the Belarusian (2nd edition,
Vilna), Russian, French, German and Polish languages for its submission by the
BNR government to foreign ambassadors and missions with the purpose of
recognition of the Belarusian sovereignty
– departure from Kiev in December 1919 because of the breakdown of the Kiev University and the Kiev Archaeological Institute and another seizure of power
by
the Bolsheviks
– worked in the Kerch museum as a lecturer on archaeology
– met his future wife Nadezhda Markianovna, daughter of an archivist in the
Kerch museum, who formerly studied at the University of Dijon and taught in high
school
– opening of the Bosporus University of Kerch in March 1920, organized on the
initiative of Dovnar-Zapolsky, its rector and
lecturer
– taken ill and then arrested after the Bolsheviks took power in the Crimea,
escaped the revolutionary tribunal, and was transported under guard to Kharkov in the
end of 1920
1920
– released from arrest in the end of 1920 thanks to staying in hospital and
with the assistance of his family and friends
– professor at the Kharkov Institute of Public Education (Soviet model of former
Kharkov University) and the Kharkov Institute of National Economy
– chairman of the technical and economic council at the People’s Commissariat of
Workers and Peasants Inspection of Ukraine
– consultant at the People’s Commissariat of Foreign Trade of the Ukrainian SSR
– English publication of the theoretical and political essay
«The foundations of Belarusian statehood» (Paris)
1921
– invitation (the first one) by the BSSR Government to move to Belarus was
refused on health grounds despite understanding «his obligation to be in Minsk»
1922, February
– invitation to the newly created University of Azerbaijan
1922
– one of the organizers of Azerbaijan University, professor at the department of
the history of economy, first rector of the university
– professor at the Baku Politechnical Institute
– chief of the trade and commerce administration at the People’s Commissariat of
Industry and Trade of the Azerbaijani SSR
– founder and director of the Museum of Agriculture, Trade and Industry of
Azerbaijan
– publication of works mainly of economic character in Azerbaijani mass media: «State
of the world market», «World market and the economy of Germany», «Administration
in conditions of NEP»,
«NEP and NAP», «On the eve of the Genoa Conference», «Russian-German treaty», «Foreign
trade of the RSFSR in 1921», «On issues of trade regulation», «On issues of
customs policy» etc.
1923
– publication of the book «Commercial and industrial museums» (Baku)
– publication of the article «On question of the industrial bank» («Bakinsky
rabochy»
1924
– speech at the open session of the Faculty of Natural Sciences at Azerbaijan
University «V.I. Ulyanov-Lenin as a scholar» (on the occasion of
his death)
– elected as permanent member of the Institute of Belarusian Culture (Inbelkult)
as «an outstanding member of the science community»
1925
– publication of Dovnar-Zapolsky’s speech at the session of the Faculty of
Natural Sciences at Azerbaijan
University «V.I. Ulyanov-Lenin as a
scholar»
– publication of the study «Administration and court under Nicholas I» (Baku)
1925
– moved to Minsk on the invitation of the BSSR People’s Commissariat of
Education and the Institute of Belarusian Culture (Inbelkult)
– founder and chief of the archaeographical commission at the History and
Archaeology Section of the Institute of Belarusian Culture, whose main tasks
included restitution of Belarusian archives and publication of the
Lithuanian Metrica
– supervised the compilation of the first large volume of
«Belarusian archives» – a book of collected legal documents of the Lithuanian
Metrica (16th and 17th cc.) and the academic edition of the Archaeography
Commission which included materials from the Minsk, Warsaw, Moscow and Mogilev
archives
– publication in Belarusian mass media of articles «Lithuanian Metrica: [On
the return to Belarus and publication of documents]», «On the Belarusian
language at the time of Skoryna: historical essay», «Federation or
centralization?:
(an essay on the ideology of the Decembrists)»
– member of the economic commission at the State Planning Committee of the BSSR,
simultaneously involved in the industrial commission
– chief of the editorial and publishing section at the State Planning Committee
of the BSSR, which published the magazine «Socialist Construction», a
newsletter of the State Planning Committee, and the weekly «National Economy of
the BSSR»
– professor at the Belarusian State University from 1 October 1925,
taught the history of Russian economy at the Faculty of Law and Economy and the
history of Belarus at the Faculty of Pedagogy
– prepared for publication the study «National Economy of Belarus in 1861-1914»
– completed the fundamental work «A History of Belarus»,
which examined the path of the Belarusian people from the primitive communal
system to the early 1920s
1926
– participated at the First Congress of Researchers of Belarusian Archaeology
and Archaeography in January 1926 as the congress chairman, delivered reports on
Belarusian archival holdings outside the BSSR, which resulted in a special resolution
appealed to the government on the necessity of the immediate return of the
archives to the BSSR; publication of lists of
Belarusian old archives held in the RSFSR and Poland in the congress papers
– critical review of Dovnar-Zapolsky’s work «A History of Belarus»
by the chief of the press department at the CP(b)B Central Committee V. Serbenta (later
director at the Institute of Party History at the CP(b)B Central Committee),
which started reprisals against the scholar and a monthly examination of the
issue on Dovnar-Zapolsky
(from January to July 1926) at the Bureau of the
CP(b)B Central Committee
– resolution of the closed session of the Bureau of the CP(b)B Central Committee
of 28 January 1926 banning the publication of Dovnar-Zapolsky’s book «A History
of Belarus» «as expressing the position of Belarusian nationalist democratism
and essentially distorting the history of Belarus»
– resolution of the session of the Bureau of the CP(b)B Central Committee of 4
February 1926 «On the commission about Dovnar-Zapolsky’s «theory», which contained the
demand of «systematic refutation of Belarusian nationalist democratism according
to Dovnar-Zapolsky’s book» by famous Party members and writers
– resolution of the commission of the CP(b)B Central Committee of 4 February 1926
on the Belarusian intelligentsia and the Inbelkult, containing the decision to
remove Dovnar-Zapolsky from work at the Belarusian State University
– report «Regional studies in the field of history and archaeology» at the First
All-Belarusian Congress of Local Studies in February 1926
(published in the congress papers)
– resolutions of the Secretariat and Bureau of the CP(b)B Central Committee in
March 1926 on organization of Dovnar-Zapolsky’s departure from the BSSR and
publication of critical articles concerning his book «A History of Belarus»
– resolution of the closed session of the Bureau of the CP(b)B Central Committee
of 2 April 1926 in view of the unfulfillment of previous decisions on «Dovnar-Zapolsky’s
case» to organize his exit outside the BSSR not later than 1 June 1926 and on measures to purchase the scholar’s library
– attempts by the chairman of the the BSSR State Planning
Committee S. Karp [and the administration of the Belarusian State University and
the Inbelkult] to cancel the Party’s decision on Dovnar-Zapolsky’s expulsion
from the BSSR and
the negative decision at the closed session of the Bureau of the CP(b)B Central
Committee of 11 June 1926
– publication of the first issue of the weekly
«National Economy of the BSSR» edited by Dovnar-Zapolsky
– publication of the monograph «National Economy of Belarus
in 1861-1914», with positive reviews by historians and economists
– publication of the study «The dynamics of
the economy of the BSSR» (journal «Soviet Construction») and the report of the BSSR State Planning Committee «Regionalization
in Belarus»
– forced resignation by Dovnar-Zapolsky from the Belarusian State University from 1
October 1926
– Dovnar-Zapolsky’s departure from Minsk to Moscow in the autumn of 1926; the
major part of his personal library (over 11,000 volumes) was transferred to the Institute of
Belarusian Culture
1926
– professor at the K. Timiryazev Agricultural Academy (the course of economic
geography)
– teacher at the G. Plekhanov Institute of National Economy (the course of the
history of commerce)
– employee at the History Institute of the Academy of Sciences of the USSR
– chairman of the historical and economic section at the Academic Association of
Eastern Studies at the Central Executive Committee of the USSR
– employee at the Moscow Province Planning Commission
– employee at the Research Institute of Fur Trade at the People’s Commissariat
of Foreign Trade of the USSR
– study of issues in industrial cooperation and artisan crafts
– publication of the work «The balance of national
economy on the district scale» («Economic construction»)
– publication of the work «Paper industry in Russia»
1927
– publication of the last significant work «The
economic review of the BSSR. Agriculture, industry, trade» (in the 5th volume of
the Great Soviet Encyclopaedia under the entry for «Belarusian SSR»)
– publication of a
historical overview «On the jubilee of Belarusian book printing» and the article
«The social and economic structure of the Lithuanian-Belarusian state in the
16th-18th centuries» (Inbelkult’s «Historical and archaeological compendium»)
– publication in Minsk of the first volume of «Belarusian Archives» – a
compendium of legal documents of the Lithuanian Metrica 16th-17th cc. (the
first archaeographic edition in Belarus in the Soviet period), compiled under
the direction of Dovnar-Zapolsky
1928
– publication of the book «The USSR by districts: Western District (Belarusian
SSR and Western Region of the RSFSR)
– publication of the article «The struggle for bread in
Italy» («Agrarian problems»)
– publication of the article «Merchandise resources in
textile industry» («Commercial issues»)
1929
– «The Slavonic Review» (London) regarded Dovnar-Zapolsky among seven Belarusian
scholars whose opinion must be taken into account in the scholarly world
of Slavic studies
– Ukraine’s Party bodies had blocked the proposal by the presidium of the
Academy of Sciences of Ukraine on Dovnar-Zapolsky’s election as its honorary
member
– publication of a critical article on the
historical roots of National Democratism in Dovnar-Zapolsky’s works (newspaper
«Zvyazda»)
– celebration session at the history section of the Belarusian Academy of
Sciences dedicated to 45 years of Dovnar-Zapolsky’s scholarly activity
– Moscow and Leningrad scholars nominated Dovnar-Zapolsky for election to the
Academy of Sciences of the USSR; prominent scholars repeatedly appealed to the
BSSR government with a high appraisal of his activities
– resolution of the Bureau of the CP(b)B Central Committee on the information by
V. Ignatovsky about
Dovnar-Zapolsky’s nomination to the Academy of Sciences of the USSR (14 June 1929),
containing an explicit refusal
1930
– The History Institute of the Belarusian Academy of Sciences blocked Dovnar-Zapolsky’s
election as a full member of the Academy of Sciences of the USSR based on his
being
mentioned in the so-called «Academic Affair of Platonov–Tarle»
– resolution of the plenary session of the CP(b)B Central Committee(October 1930)
on the counter-revolutionary organization
«The Union of Liberation of Belarus», which critisized Dovnar-Zapolsky’s views
on the October Revolution and the role of peasantry in it
– resolution «On the situation at the historical front in the BSSR and the tasks of
Maxist historians» (14 November 1930), in which Dovnar-Zapolsky was called a
typical representative of the bourgeoisie and landowners in his views on the
history of Belarus, connected with «Russian great-power chauvinism and even
partly with clerical Black-Hundred chauvinism»
1931
– joint plenary session of the CP(b)B Central Committee and Central Control
Commission in April 1931, where Dovnar-Zapolsky was called a counter-revolutionary
and one of the ideologists of Belarusian nationalism
– criticism of Dovnar-Zapolsky in the magazine «Savetskaya kraina» (№7), where
he was called «an official historian of nationalist democrats»
1932
– article by S. Volfson in the book «Science at the service of the nationalist
democratic counter-revolution» accused Dovnar-Zapolsky as «an ideological father» of nationalist democrats
1934
– political charges against the whole historical school of Dovnar-Zapolsky,
which was accused
of both Ukrainian-Belarusian nationalism, Russian great-power
chauvinism, and national fascism at the same time
– article by A. Ogloblin, former pupil of
Dovnar-Zapolsky, in September 1934, criticized his activities and accused him of nationalism and
fascism
– Dovnar-Zapolsky died of heart attack on 30 September 1934, was buried at the Donskoye cemetery in Moscow