Background
Dovnar-Zapolsky was born in the townof Rechitsa of the Mazyr district in the Minsk Province(now it is in the Homel Region) to a modest gentry family. His father was a Collegiate Secretary
He received primary education at a public school and continued his education at Mazyr progymnasium and Kievgymnasium. In 1893, he graduated from Kiev University.While at the University, he was strongly influenced by his teacherU.B.Antanovich, whose ideas were the closest to his own. When a student was atthe gymnasium and at the University, M. Dovnar-Zapolsky was under police surveillance and therefore after the graduation he had problems in finding ajob.
Education
He received primary education at a public school and continued his education at Mazyr progymnasium and Kiev gymnasium.
Wrote a magister dissertation on history in Fall 1901 and a doctoral dissertation on history in 1906
Career
Thanks to the efforts of T.D.Florinsky, the dean of history and philology faculty at Kiev University,the young historian was allowed to reside in Moscow. Since 1894 M.Dounar-Zapolskyworked at the Moscow archive of the Ministry ofJustice and at Rzhevskaya’s gymnasium; and since 1899 he was privat-docent(unestablished lecturer) at Moscow University.
In 1901, M.Dounar-Zapolsky defended his Master’sdegree thesis, Political Economy of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania underthe Jagiellons. In 1905, he defended his doctoral thesis based on his monographEssays on the Organization of the West-Russian Peasantry in the 16th century. The same year he established the higherwomen’s courses in Kievand the following year he set up the higher commercial courses. In 1909, thecourses were reorganized into the Commercial Institute. Until 1917 M.Dounar-Zapolsky wasthe principal of that first institution of education in economy in the RussianEmpire;
he alsoheaded the chair of national economy history, chaired a group of studies inhistory and ethnography and later of sociology. In 1918, he headed theBelarusian Chamber of Commerce in Kiev.M.Dounar-Zapolsky contributed to newspapers Belaruskaye Slova (The BelarusianWord), Belorusskoye Ekho (The Belarusian Echo), Volnaya Belarus (Free Belarus). He was alsoa member of a commission on establishing the Belarusian University.In 1919, M.Dounar-Zapolskypublished his brochure The Fundamentals of Belarusian Statehood (both in Frenchand German), where he presented his own interpretation of the history of Belarus and explained why Belarus shouldbe sovereign and independent. In 1920–1922, M.Dounar-Zapolsky was a professorat the University of Kharkov, a lecturer at the Instituteof National Economy and a consultantat the People’s Commissariat of Foreign Trade in Ukraine. Since 1922 until 1925 M.Dounar-Zapolsky livedand worked in Baku.There he was the University vice-rector, a professor at the PolytechnicInstitute, a head of a department at the People’s Commissariat of Trade andIndustry of the Azerbaijan SSR, and a director of the Museum of Agricultureand Trade, founded by him. In 1925, M.Dounar-Zapolsky moved to Minsk. In 1925-1926 he was a professor at thechair of the Belarusian history of the pedagogical faculty at the Belarusian State University;he was also a member of the Institute of the Belarusian Culture.
In theautumn of 1926, he had to move to Moscow becauseof the persecution of national intellectuals in Belarus. His monograph The Historyof Belarus was forbidden, and he himself was accused of propagation of the‘national-democratic’ ideas. In Moscow,M.Dounar-Zapolsky was a professor at the Timiryazev Academy of Agriculture anda lecturer at the Plekhanov Institute of National Economy. He was a full memberof the Institute of History in the USSR Academy of Sciences. Because ofM.Dounar-Zapolsky’ s high reputation among scientists for his versatileactivities, he was not subjected to repression. He died and was buried in Moscow.
His person and works attracted all sorts of polarized opinions. Up to the 1930s, he was regarded generally positively by M.K. Lyubavskiy, V.I. Picheto, F.F. Turuk, D.I. Dovgyallo and others. Beginning in the 1930s, he fell under stigmatizing critique and denunciation as a scientist by S.Ya. Vol'fson, V.M. Pertsev, V.K. Shcherbakov and others. In the 1940s—1970s, comparatively "safe to touch" parts of his works (ethnographical, archeological, archeographical) were being explored and built upon by V.K. Bandarchyk, M.F. Pilipyenka, I.U. Chakvin, M.M. Ulashchyk, L.V. Alyaksyeyew). Historical part of his work remained visible as scarce references up to the mid-1980s. Attempts at estimating him as a historian were made in monographies of U.M. Mikhnyuk, Z.Yu. Kapyski, V.U. Chapko. In the 1990s, there appeared works researching the generalised scientific position of Dovnar-Zapol'skiy (S.I. Mikhal'chanka), the evolution of historical concept (Dz.U. Karaw, M.F. Shumyeyka).
John Leslie Howard Keep and Alter L. Litvin refer to both Dovnar-Zapol'ski and Picheta as "moderate (Belarusian) nationalists."
He established the higher women’s courses in Kiev and the following year he set up the higher commercial courses. In 1909, the courses were reorganized into the Commercial Institute. Until 1917 M.Dounar-Zapolsky was the principal of that first institution of education in economy in the Russian Empirenational-democratic
Politics
He participated in then-illegal movements of the 1880s and was temporary banned to settle in Kiev. Later, he sympathised with left movements.
Dovnar-Zapol'skiy actively supported the Belarusian People's Republic (BPR), headed the Belarusian Chamber of Commerce in Kiev in 1918 (confirmed by the Belarus People's Secretariat on 24 April 1918), and prepared the project of the creation of the Belarusian University in Minsk at the end of March 1918. From May to October 1918, he participated in the work of the BPR's diplomatic mission in Kiev, which sought the recognition of the BPR from representatives of Soviet Russia, Ukraine, Don, Germany and Austro-Hungary.
At the request of the BPR's authorities, he prepared the notable informational "Memorandum" ("Foundations of statehood of Belarus"), published in Grodno and Vilna in 1919 in Belarusian, Russian, Polish, German and French languages; also translated to English by P. Clark. This Memorandum contained the historical ground for the necessity of creation of independent Belarusian state and was presented at the Versailles conference by the BPR's delegation, albeit without positive outcome.
His two sons perished in the ranks of Red Army during the Russian Civil War.
His printed but unpublished book "History of Belarus" caused uprage among the Belarusian political authorities (beg. 1926), was denounced as a "Cathechism of Belarusian National Democratism", and was subsequently banned; the manuscript was confiscated. Consequently, Dovnar-Zapol'skiy was forced to move to Moscow, effectively exiled (Fall 1926), and never after returned to Belarus.
From 1930 to 1934, he was heavily criticised for the alleged "Neo-Narodnichestvo", attributed the authorship of the ideological basis of "National Democratism", equated to the "agents of fascism" by acad. V.K. Shcherbakov, politically denounced together with his scientific school by his former pupil prof. A.P. Ogloblin (Kiev, 1934).