{{Short description|Belarusian political activist}}{{Infobox military person | native_name = Барыс Рагуля | native_name_lang = Belarusian | image = Barys Rahula - Язэп Сажыч і Барыс Рагуля (cropped).jpg | caption = Rahula in between 1942 and 1944. | birth_date = 1 January 1920 | death_date = 22 April 2005 | birth_place = Navahrudak | nickname = Boris Ragula | commands = Schutzmannschaft Battalion 68 | alma_mater = Catholic University of Leuven }} '''Barys Rahula''' ({{langx|be|Барыс Рагуля}}, '''Boris Ragula''', 1 January 1920 – 22 April 2005) was a Belarusian political activist. He served as a military commander of the Belarusian auxiliary police unit Schutzmannschaft Battalion 68.{{Sfn|Grzybowski|2021|p=182}} After the war, he studied medicine in the West and became a doctor in Canada.<ref>[http://medhum.med.nyu.edu/view/12978 Against the Current: The Memoirs of Boris Ragula (as told to Dr. Inge Sanmiya)] - NYU Langone official website</ref>
==Biography==
=== Early life and arrest === Barys Rahula was born near Navahrudak and spent his early years in West Belarus, then part of the Second Polish Republic. In 1938, he became student at the University of Vilnius but was mobilized into the Polish army after the Nazi-Soviet invasion of Poland.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://bielarusnp.blogspot.com/2008/01/blog-post.html|title=Успамін пра Барыса Рагулю|accessdate=Mar 27, 2023}}</ref> He soon became a German POW, but in 1940 escaped from German prison to West Belarus occupied by the Soviets. In Belarus, he got arrested by the NKVD but managed to escape from prison in the first days after Germany's attack on the USSR.<ref>[https://www.svaboda.org/content/article/794870.html У Канадзе памёр Барыс Рагуля] at Радыё Свабода 2014 (www.svaboda.org)</ref>
=== Career === Under German occupation, Rahula commanded Schutzmannschaft Battalion 68, taking part in anti-partisan actions against Polish and Soviet partisans.{{Sfn|Grzybowski|2021|p=182}} The unit numbered about 600 people, mostly recruited from among students and graduates of the Novogrudok teachers' seminary, usually with a strong Belarusian patriotic sentiment.{{Sfn|Grzybowski|2021|p=182}} In April 1944, the unit fought a battle with Soviet partisans near Karelichy. In May 1944, it took part in a partisan action near Dokshytsy and Hlybokaye.{{Sfn|Grzybowski|2021|p=182}} Contrary to what he states in his memoirs, his unit was never incorporated into the Belarusian Home Defense (BKA) and did not become a Belarusian unit independent of German rule.{{Sfn|Grzybowski|2021|p=183}} He left Belarus with the German army ahead of the Soviet advance.
== Personal life and death == After the war, Barys Rahula studied medicine at the Catholic University of Leuven. In 1954 he moved to Canada and became one of the country's better known oncologists as well as one of the leaders of the Belarusian Canadian community. After the Chernobyl Disaster, Rahula organized fund raising to support victims of the catastrophe. He died in 2005.
==References== {{Reflist}}
== Bibliography ==
* {{Cite book |last=Grzybowski |first=Jerzy |title=Białoruski ruch niepodległościowy w czasie II wojny światowej |year=2021 |isbn=978-83-8229-251-0 |location=Warsaw |language=pl}}
==Selected books== * Беларускае студэнцтва на чужыне (''Belarusian Students in the Strange Lands'') * Жыцьцё пад агнём (''Living under Fire'') * Against the Current
==External links== {{Commonscatinline}} * [https://books.google.com/books?id=ay-JHs05HvIC&q=Boris+Ragula Boris Ragula. Against the Current] on Google Books. * [http://www.bielarus.org/open.php?n=508&a=17 Сьв. пам. Барыс РАГУЛЯ] {{Authority control}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Rahula, Barys}} Category:1920 births Category:2005 deaths Category:People from Karelichy district Category:Belarusian Independence Party politicians Category:Members of the Rada of the Belarusian Democratic Republic Category:Polish military personnel of World War II Category:Belarusian Home Defence personnel Category:Vilnius University alumni Category:Catholic University of Leuven (1834–1968) alumni Category:Soviet emigrants to Canada Category:Soviet politicians Category:Soviet expatriates in Belgium Category:Nazis who fled to Canada