Journeys into the Past | THE WORLD OF SYBIR

Nicolas Werth’s Russian Odyssey. In Search of a Father Gone Missing

Christophe Solioz: May 1943. Some five hundred kilometres from Moscow, in Voronezh, which had just been liberated by the Red Army, several questions arise: ‘Will the Soviet Union be a European state like any other? Probably not. But do we know what the Europe of tomorrow will look like?’

From Professor to Delegate. The Post-war Life of Professor Marian Heitzman [part II]

Dmiriy Panto: Following his release from the Soviet Union, a new, no less intense and demanding phase of life began for Marian Heitzman. In Tehran, where he most likely remained until the end of 1942, mentally broken and physically exhausted, he was recovering and resting after his gruelling work and imprisonment in Uzbekistan. Once he had regained his strength, he had to set about looking for work.

“As 500 years ago, truth and justice stand with us”. Belarusian Dissent Between Memory and Mobilization

Tatsiana Astrouskaya: The ongoing Belarusian struggle for political and cultural subjectivity is shaped simultaneously by the universal language of human and political rights – she speaks of truth and justice – and by the language of national self-determination.

“A Belarusian of Polish Culture” Roman Skirmunt (1868–1939)

Aleksander Smalańczuk: Roman Skirmunt described himself as a “Belarusian of Polish culture.” His sympathies towards the Belarusian cause eventually made him one of the leaders of the Belarusian national movement.

Enthusiasts, book-carriers and ‘directors’. On the roots of the Lithuanian national revival

Krzysztof Buchowski: Part of the programme to Russify Lithuanian territories following the January Uprising was a ban on printing in the Lithuanian language using the Latin alphabet. All publications were to be printed in Cyrillic. The spectre of annihilation hung over the development of the Lithuanian language. In 1867, Bishop Motiejus Valančius came up with the idea of printing Lithuanian publications in Prussia. The organisation of this undertaking was entrusted to the resourceful entrepreneur Jurgis Bielinis, who carried the first batch of pamphlets across the “green border” hidden in a sack.

From Professor to Delegate. The Story of Professor Marian Heitzman [part I]

Dmitriy Panto: What can an individual do in the face of war? How should one conduct oneself amidst chaos and violence? What choices should be made when the world loses its moral compass? The story of Marian Heitzman offers one possible answer to these fundamental dilemmas.

‘The Lithuanian Pole’ Michał Römer and the Formation of the Krajowość Idea

Aliaksandr Smalianchuk: The study of the idea of krajowość* and the activities of its proponents – the krajowcy – is, in essence, a discussion of the confrontation between tolerance and xenophobia, and between openness and ethnocentrism.

Literature as a Political Tool

Sergei Lebedev: Born as a mass phenomenon in the 19th century, when the Russian Empire was rapidly conquering the Caucasus and Central Asia, Russian literature bears the hallmarks of this conquest, serving as a chronicler and instrument of colonisation.

‘A Man of Phenomenal Intellectual Ability and Strong Ethical Principles’: January Uprising Insurgent Nikolai Witkowski in Siberian Exile.

Dzmitry Matwiejczyk: A significant part of the participants of the January Uprising were young people who were just starting to find their way in life.

Letters from Siberia on Birch Bark

Ērika Jaskólska Residents of Latvia deported to Siberia by the Soviets sent letters to their loved ones written on birch bark. In 2009, these letters were inscribed in the Latvian register of UNESCO’s Memory of the World programme. The collection of letters written by...

Hues of Sybir

Anna Pisula Motto: The only beautiful thing there in Kazakhstan was the tulips blooming on the steppes in early spring. After winter, the vast steppes, saturated with meltwater, turned green. As soon as the snow had melted – sometimes as early as late March – tulips...

The Belarusian Katyn list. What is it, and who might have been on it?

Maciej Wyrwa: To this day, we do not know where and how the victims of the Katyn massacre were executed in Belarus, nor where their bodies were hidden.

« Older Entries