Belarusian Americans in New York City

Many Belarusians live in Brighton Beach and elsewhere in South Brooklyn, along with other ex-Soviet immigrants including Russians and Ukrainians.

Around 55,000 people of Belarusian descent live in the New York City metropolitan area, with estimates ranging from 50,000 to 75,000.

In the late 1800s and early 1900s, a large wave of immigrants from what is now Belarus came to the United States, with many settled in New York City.

Many Belarusians settled here, along with Russians, Ukrainians, peoples of the Caucasus such as Georgians, and Central Asians (particularly Uzbeks).

[7] A small minority of Belarusians are Lipka Tatars, a Turkic ethnic group from Belarus, Poland, and Lithuania who practice Sunni Islam.

[8] Compared to some other Slavic and Eastern European groups such as Ukrainians, the Belarusian community in New York City and the United States is more scattered and less cohesive.

Bagels, dranikai (latkes), babka, cabbage rolls, borscht, and kholodets (meat jelly) remain staples in many Belarusian-American homes.

There is a Belarusian church, St. Cyril of Turov Cathedral, located at the intersection of Atlantic Avenue and Bond Street in the neighborhood of Boerum Hill.

While membership in the mosque has declined, it is still an important Lipka Tatar community hub and is open for major holiday events including iftar dinners and Kurban Bayrami (Lithuanian for Eid al-Adha).

[8] Due to Soviet Union's Iron Curtain, the Lipka Tatar community of New York City was cut off from their compatriots in the Baltic and Central European countries for decades.

Many Lipka Tatar families affiliated with the Powers Street Mosque can trace their roots back to the Belarusian city of Iwye.

[19] The Mount Hebron Cemetery in Flushing, Queens, contains a large monument to deceased Jewish immigrants and their descendants from the city of Grodno in western Belarus, maintained by the Grodner Aid Benevolent Association of Brooklyn.

The monument reads, "In memoriam to our dear parents, brothers and sisters of the city of Grodno and environs who were brutally persecuted and slain by the Nazis during World War II.