Ułasaŭ Alaksandar (Уласаў Аляксандар), economist, journalist, political leader. Little personal data about him is available. He was born near the town of Radaškavičy in the Miensk province in 1874. Ułasaŭ studied in local schools and graduated from the Technical Institute of Riga. He entered the Belarusian political movement at the turn of the century and over the years Ułasaŭ became an important force in this movement through the years of the Revolutions. He and the Łuckievič brothers (Ivan and Anton) were the founders of the first Belarusian political party - the Belarusian Revolutionary (Socialist) Hramada. Together with the Łuckievič brothers he established and began publishing the newspaper Naša Niva and a number of other publications. He initiated numerous Belarusian organizations and brought together a number of young, dedicated, and promising Belarusian leaders. Ułasaŭ was also an accomplished journalist and economic analyst. At a time when emigration to the United States was not a very popular phenomenon among the Belarusian intelligentsia, Ułasaŭ developed authoritative arguments favoring Belarusian emigration to the United States and urged the immigrants there to establish their national organizations. Ułasaŭ was heavily involved in national activities prior to the All-Belarusian Congress, and greatly influenced the establishment of the Belarusian Democratic Republic. After the Treaty of Riga in 1921, he settled in Western Belarus where he was elected to the Polish Senate representing the Belarusian population. He headed numerous national organizations, including the Society of Belarusian Schools (TBŠ) during its most difficult times, i.e., after the Polish pogroms of the Belarusian Hramada.
Ułasaŭ was arrested by the Soviets in 1939, imprisoned in Miensk, and vanished. According to reports received by his family, Ułasaŭ was shot in Miensk around the end of June of 1941.
References: Byelorussian Youth, Brooklyn, N.Y., no. 17, 1963, pp. 8-11; Biełaruski Kalandar, Vilnia, 1923, p. 30; Belarusian Institute of Arts and Sciences, New York, Archives.
