On the pages of the newspaper “Batskaushchyna,” a publication about Belarusian-Lithuanian relations was printed, prompted by the appearance in the Lithuanian emigre newspaper “Tevishkas Zhiburiai,” published in Canada, of an article by a Lithuanian, Mr. Almus, who decided to honor the 60th anniversary of the Belarusian-Lithuanian intellectual Aliaksandr Ruzhantsaw with a series of publications devoted specifically to Belarusian-Lithuanian relations. (On Belarusian-Lithuanian Relations, in: “Batskaushchyna,” Munich, Nos. 39-40 (221-222), 31.10.1954, pp. 2-3; No. 41 (223), 7.11.1954, pp. 1-2)
For this purpose, he conducted a survey of 5 Belarusians, 5 Lithuanians, 1 Latvian, and 1 Estonian. To clarify how each understood the legacy of statehood of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania, Almus asked whose legal system was reflected in the Statute of Lithuania.
In the assessment of Jan Stankevich, the Statutes of Lithuania of 1529, 1566, and 1588 are Krivichian codes, because they reflect Krivichian customary law and the written laws of the preceding principalities (Polotsk, Vitebsk, Smolensk).
In turn, the second person surveyed by Almus, Dr. G., referred to the words of historical figures. For example, in the Preface to the third edition of the Statute, the Chancellor of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania Leu Sapieha said: “If it is shameful for other peoples not to know their own laws, then all the more so for us, because we have our laws not in a foreign language but in our very own.” From this the conclusion follows that the ancestors of the Belarusian people considered the Statute of Lithuania their own creation. Belarusians hold the same view today. (Ibid., No. 41 (223), 7.11.1954, p. 2)
The views of Lithuanian historians are different. They consider that one cannot regard the Statute of Lithuania as a Belarusian work if only because it has a Western character - Roman and canonical principles. If it were Belarusian, the basis of the Statute, given the Orthodox faith of the Belarusians at that time, would have been Slavic law created in the Kievan state - the Lithuanian historians wrote. (Ibid.)
Speaking about the current time, the surveyed individuals unanimously stated that cooperation between both peoples was insufficient, that it would be worthwhile to clarify all historical misunderstandings, and in the future, possibly create a Baltic-Belarusian-Ukrainian Federation. (Ibid.)
A publication by Yu. Dubovik titled On Lithuanian-Belarusian Friendship was dedicated to Belarusian-Lithuanian relations (in: “Batskaushchyna,” Munich, No. 22 (408), 08.06.1958, p. 1).
“The friendship between the Belarusian and Lithuanian peoples has deep historical roots,” the author of the publication notes. “Over the course of several centuries, the neighboring peoples - Belarusians and Lithuanians - gave an example of such good-neighborly and friendly coexistence, such mutual respect and tolerance, that it can rarely be encountered in the history of other peoples. Peoples of entirely different origin, different languages and with different levels of cultural development, created a joint state - the Grand Duchy of Lithuania - where, despite the dominance of Belarusian elements, each of the two peoples enjoyed equal opportunities for free cultural and economic development. Between Belarusians and Lithuanians there were practically no borders whatsoever. (…)
The current generation of Belarusians and Lithuanians has had and has the opportunity to see clearly how the Bolsheviks, carrying out their expansionist policy, violated and continue to violate the historical and contemporary mutual relations between our peoples. The continuous division and trading of Belarusian territories, the drawing of artificial borders that do not correspond to either historical or ethnographic data, and the contemptuous attitude of the Kremlin rulers toward the elementary needs of the population of these neighboring lands, speak of entirely different goals of Bolshevik policy.”