Branisłaŭ Adamovič Taraškievič (Belarusian: Браніслаў Адамавіч Тарашкевіч, Russian: Бронислав Адамович Тарашкевич, Polish: Bronisław Adamowicz Taraszkiewicz; January 20, 1892 – November 29, 1938) was a Belarusian public figure, politician, and linguist.
He was the creator of the first standardization of the modern Belarusian language in the early 20th century.[1] The standard was later Russified by the Soviet authorities. However, the pre-Russified (classical) version of the standard was and still is actively being used by some groups of intellectuals and the Belarusian diaspora and is informally referred to as Taraškievica, named after Branisłaŭ Taraškievič.
Taraškievič was a member of the underground Communist Party of West Belarus (Камуністычная партыя Заходняй Беларусі, КПЗБ/Kamunіstyčnaja partyja Zаchоdniaj Biеłаrusi, KPZB) in Poland and was imprisoned for two years (1928 - 1930). Also, as a member of the Belarusian Deputy Club (Białoruski Klub Poselski), he was a deputy to the Polish Parliament (Sejm), in the years 1922 - 1927. Among others, he translated Pan Tadeusz into Belarusian, and since 1969, a Belarusian - language high school in Bielsk Podlaski has been named after him.
In 1933 he was set free due to a Polish–Soviet prisoner release in exchange of Francišak Alachnovič, a Belarusian journalist and playwright imprisoned in a GULAG, and lived in Soviet exile since then.
He fell victim to the Great Purge of the late 1930s.