WWII veterans stage protest in front of Minsk office of pro-opposition newspaper Narodnaya Volya
Автор: Syarhey Pulsha
Around 30 veterans of World War II gathered near the Minsk office of the Narodnaya Volya on April 6 to express their outrage over the pro-opposition newspaper`s coverage of Belarusian resistance fighters, known as partisans, and Stalin purges before the war.
The city authorities had sanctioned the protest in downtown Minsk.
The elderly people arrived at the place at around 11 a.m., holding signs “We have given you peace and you have made us suffer,” “Calumniators should be held liable” and “We have beaten the Nazis, we will beat calumniators.”
Fragments from Minsk resident Ilya Kopyla’s memoirs focusing on Stalin’s terror and partisan activities in the Vitsyebsk region outraged the veterans.
“Nobody is allowed to pour mud onto people who have liberated Belarus from the Nazis,” Anatol Adonyew, head of the Minsk city organization of WWII veterans, told BelaPAN.
Narodnaya Volya editor Svyatlana Kalinkina met with the protesters. She pledged that the newspaper’s staff would receive representatives of veterans’ organizations, and suggested that they could have their reminiscences published.
Ms. Kalinkina told BelaPAN that the protest had come as a surprise to her. “Demonstrations in the close vicinity of the Presidential Administration building had never been allowed before,” she said. “It is really an extraordinary event.”
She acknowledged that Mr. Kopyla’s book offered “a different version of the war than that given by ideology officials.” “It looks differently at the resistance movement and what partisans did,” she said. “But I didn’t expect veterans to flock here for a protest. I thought that we would just receive indignant and angry letters and calls.”
A stereotype is thriving in Belarus’ society that there are “right and wrong” memories about the war,” the editor said. “The Narodnaya Volya, however, believes that all memories are right,” she said.
Ms. Kalinkina reiterated that the newspaper would offer protesters an opportunity to give their visions of the war. “The Narodnaya Volya is not the newspaper that denies people a say,” she said. “If material is about facts and events rather than just slogans, we will publish it. We even have a special section,” she said.
The demonstration lasted 10 minutes. The veterans dispersed after handing over their signs to the editorial staff.
The elderly people arrived at the place at around 11 a.m., holding signs “We have given you peace and you have made us suffer,” “Calumniators should be held liable” and “We have beaten the Nazis, we will beat calumniators.”