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Opposition activists hold flower-laying ceremony on occasion of 99th birthday of poetess Larysa Heniyush

Opposition activists on August 8 marked the 99th birthday of prominent Belarusian poetess Larysa Heniyush (1910-1983) by laying flowers at her grave in the village of Zelva, Hrodna region.

Participating in the flower-laying ceremony were 20 people from Minsk, who were joined by local residents, opposition politician Vyachaslaw Siwchyk told BelaPAN.

“We visited the local church, tidied the grave of the poetess, laid flowers and lit candles,” Mr. Siwchyk said.

The trip to Zelva had been organized by the Hrodna regional branch of the founding committee for the Belarusian Christian Democracy party and the Memorial group of the Belarusian Voluntary Society for Historical and Cultural Heritage Protection. According to Mr. Siwchyk, commemorative events will also take place on August 9, the poetess’ birthday.

“I view these events as preparations for the centenary of the poetess’ birth next year,” Mr. Siwchyk said. “I believe there will be many events on this occasion in 2010 and this anniversary will be commemorated on a large scale and nationwide.”

Mr. Siwchyk noted that civil society activists would continue petitioning the Presidential Administration and other governmental agencies to exonerate Larysa Heniyush despite the fact that the previous petitions had been ignored.

Larysa Heniyush was born in a village near Vawkavysk, Hrodna region, on August 9, 1910, and lived in Prague after graduation from a school in Vawkavysk. She worked as secretary for Vasil Zakharka (Zacharka), president-in-exile of the Belarusian National Republic from 1928 to 1943. She kept the presidential archives, supported Belarusian emigrants, political refugees and prisoners of war. Heniyush was arrested on March 5, 1948 and held in prisons in Czechoslovakia and then in Soviet prisons in Vienna, Lviv and Minsk. In 1949, she was sentenced in Minsk to 25 years for an alleged conspiracy against the Soviet Union. She served her term in Stalinist labor camps. Heniyush was released in 1956 before the end of her term, but she was never cleared of the charges against her. The poetess lived in Zelva until her death on April 7, 1983. She never accepted Soviet citizenship.

In December 2007, the then prosecutor general, Pyotr Miklashevich, rejected a petition to exonerate the poetess, which was signed by more than 70 prominent Belarusians. Mr. Miklashevich explained in his reply that he was not authorized to overrule the decisions of the Supreme Court of Belarus. The Supreme Court ruled on November 24, 1999, that Larysa Heniyush was not eligible for exoneration.

Heniyush published two collections of poetry and verses for children with the help of her friends in 1967. A book of her poetic heritage and memoirs, in which she recalls the years that she had spent in labor camps, the tragic destiny of her family and co-prisoners, was published after her death.

Heniyush`s works were removed from the general school curriculum soon after Alyaksandr Lukashenka’s election as president in 1994.