# Letter from the Chairman of the Belarusian Deputies' Club to the Minister of War on the Plundering by the Uhlans

- URL: https://syn.by/en/history/archives/belarusian-deputies-club-minister-war/
- Published: 1924-06-28T19:30:00+00:00
- Updated: 2026-11-12T01:55:10+00:00
- Section: Archives
- Language: en
- BE edition: https://syn.by/historya/arkhivy/pismo-starshyni-pasolskaha-kliubu.md
- RU edition: https://syn.by/ru/istoriya/arhivy/pismo-predsedatelya-posolskogo-kluba.md

> The Chairman of the Belarusian Deputies' Club forwards to the Minister a complaint from the inhabitants of the village of Kuchkuny. The Polish uhlans stationed there are plundering houses and pastures and seizing farm property, and the starosta does not react. He asks that the plundering be stopped and the guilty punished.

![](https://syn.by/wp-content/uploads/2026/11/illustration-6665-1024x585.webp)

From the Chairman of the Belarusian Deputies' Club to the Minister of War.

Warsaw, 17.VI.1924

To the Minister of Military Affairs, on the spot,

Today the Belarusian Deputies' Club received a petition of the following content:

"A week and a half ago Polish uhlans, 53 in number, arrived in our village. They are headed by a lieutenant. From the very moment of their arrival they began to plunder whatever came to hand. They rob everything they come upon, and what they have no need of they destroy without pity. At night they forbid the inhabitants to leave their houses. Meanwhile they themselves tear the roofs off buildings, break down doors, force their way into barns and houses, and plunder every kind of food and clothing, take livestock and implements, and milk the cows at night. By day they mow the stubble and the meadow grass in the fields, and send everything they have looted off somewhere on their own carts. They graze their horses on the grain in the fields; at the slightest need they take our horses to ride, sparing not even 2-year-old foals. In this way they run our horses to exhaustion and ruin them. When an owner asks them to spare a young or thin horse, he is beaten mercilessly.

"We turned to the starosta's office for help. The starosta answered our request: 'This is what you deserve!'

"The same plundering goes on, besides our village, in the villages of Yachnae, Yablonouka, Mikalayeushchyna, Rusakovichy and Ottseda, but in the last of these, because Catholics predominate there, the priest appealed to the starosta, who said: 'To jest nasza krew!', and the plundering stopped at once. But we have been left defenseless and in a few days have lost everything we had; only the bare walls of the houses will remain, if they too are not burned once there is nothing left to plunder.

"For this reason we beg for help and protection as quickly as possible, both in Warsaw and on the spot.

"Authorized inhabitants of the village of Kuchkuny:

(—) signatures."

Village of Kuchkuny, 16 June 1924.

Bringing the above to the Minister's attention, we ask that an order be issued at once for the plundering to be stopped and for the guilty to be severely punished. We ask to be informed of the steps taken.

(—) B. Rahula.

Chairman of the Belarusian Deputies' Club, Member of the Sejm.