7 January marks 140th anniversary of R. Ziamkievich, Belarusian bibliographer, bibliophile, historian of Belarusian literature, essay writer and translator.
Ramuald Ziamkievich was born on February 7, 1881 in Warsaw in a family with Sluck roots. His father headed a printing house in Warsaw. After obtaining the profession of a mechanical engineer and working within the specialty, Ramuald nevertheless would spend most of his free time on literary and scientific activities and devote the rare hours of leisure to the collection of ancient books, manuscripts and rare publications on the history of Belarusian culture. For this purpose, he worked in the archives and the libraries of Vilnia, Saint Petersburg, Lviv, Rapperswil (Switzerland). As a result, an excellent collection of Belarusian, Ukrainian, Polish and Lithuanian old publications was assembled, including the Bible by Skaryna, Ostrog Bible, dictionary of P. Berynda, “Chronicles” of M. Belski, the first editions of Ja. Kaganowski and others. There were autographs by A. Rypinsky, A. Veryga-Darewski, V. Dunin-Martsinkievich, Ja. Luchyna, F. Bagushevich, M. Bagdanovich and other authors; Tatar manuscripts of the 16th and 17th centuries, written in Arabic letters in Belarusian, numerous books on bibliography and bibliophilia, etc.
Beginning in 1909, R. Ziamkievich published literary articles in the newspaper "Nasha Niva". He prepared and published the first specialized bibliographical reference book in the Belarusian language “Belarusian Biblіography” (1910). His biographical and bibliographical descriptions “Adam Ganory Kіrkor” and “Jan Barshchewskі – first Belarusian Writer of the 19th century” were published in 1911. In 1913–1914, the researcher conducted searches for historical and literary materials in Mahilioŭ region. He collected a unique library of publications on the history, literature, linguistics, folk poetry of Belarus, Lithuania and Ukraine, made a large contribution to the treasure-house of Belarusian literature having published unknown manuscripts of the Belarusian writers of the 19th – the beginning of the 20th century – M. Bagdanovich (1919), K. Kaganets (1920), Ja. Luchyna (1932).
Ramuald Ziamkievich took interest in the studies on ethnography and folklore of the Belarusians. He actively collaborated with M. Fedarowsky, Ch. Piatkievich, was in correspondence with E. Karski, gave his archive findings, manuscripts and memoirs to Warsaw slavist Jo. Golambek, when the latter was working on the monograph about V. Dunin-Martsinkiewich. Ramuald Ziamkievich gathered a large collection of the Belarusian people clothing. Many items bore unique embroideries and ornament. Unfortunately, in 1918 this collection was taken by the Germans to Berlin.
Ramuald Ziamkievich also translated literary pieces: he translated into Belarusian the works by Ukrainian writer V. Stefanyk and French writer A. Daudet, had a shot at poetry.
This multi-talented person left his mark in the history of Belarusian culture as a passionate bibliophile, bibliographer, local history expert, ethnographer, essay writer and translator, collector of intellectual and material wealth of our people. Unfortunately, his richest collections disappeared without a trace during the Second World War, and R. Ziamkievich died in a concentration camp. Only some of his manuscripts and letters have survived, which are now in the archives and libraries of Minsk, Vilnius, Warsaw, St. Petersburg and other cities.
Information about Ramuald Ziamkievich can be found in the electronic catalogue of the National Library of Belarus, the online encyclopaedia “Belarus in Persons and Events”, the database of the National database of authoritative/normative records.
Bibliology Research Department
