Franciszak Umiastouski

Francišak Umiastoŭski (Belarusian: Францішак Умястоўскі; 10 February 1882 – 1940?) was a Belarusian writer, journalist, military leader and a victim of the Katyn massacre, described as "one of the forerunners of the Belarusian national movement in the early twentieth century".

Early life Umiastoŭski was born into a noble family in Vilnia and was a cousin of the playwright Francišak Alachnovič. He studied at the St. Petersburg Institute of Technology. During his studies in 1902-1904, he joined the underground student organisation The Association of Belarusian Education and Culture. His first work (the poem Wind) was published in Kaladnaja Pisanka for 1904 (Petersburg, 1903).

In 1908, Umiastoŭski lived in the village of Isnaŭda in Viciebsk province. During 1908–1914, he published stories in the newspaper Naša Niva. The stories: Fear, In the Wood, Plica Polonica Doctor, Not a peasant's mind were written under the obvious influence of Belarusian folklore. He also translated works of Oscar Wilde and Nikolai Gogol.

Arrest and execution He was mobilised in the Polish army as officer at the beginning of World War II, and on 18 September 1939, captured by the advancing Soviet army. Interned in a camp, he was later executed in Katyn.