Government removes Stalin repression sagas from Belarus literature school-books
On September 1, students started studying according to new literature textbooks. One year ago when the contents of the new literature manuals were being drafted, there was a wide public debate on whether it was worth changing the curriculum. The result is almost what many have feared: some works by the Belarusian classic writers have disappeared, while others are given less hours.
The European Radio for Belarus has approached the most “educated” ministry, but spokesman Viktar Iuchankau said no changes were introduced into the school curriculum. “Those are just rumors”, he said.
We decided to crosscheck by calling a high-school Belarusian literature teacher. Natallya Yanisauna, a Belarusian language and literature teacher at the Lyceum of the Belarus State University, told ERB that the curriculum was indeed changed.
“All our teachers feel very bad about these changes. Some works, essential for the Belarusian literature studies, have been removed. For example, The Samson Samasuy’s Notes by Mryi is not studied any longer. Just four hours instead of at least eights hours are given for The Ears Under Your Sickle by Karatkevich. Some new works have been added, but I don’t think it is appropriate,” she said.
Previously, we used to study The Battue by the legendary Vasil Bykov in the 10th grade. Now it has been replaced with his Sotnikov. The Victims by Ivan Shamyakin, the famous work about the Stalin’s repressions in Belarus in 1930s, has been removed from the curriculum.
Vasil Bykov’s The Battue narrates about a Belarusian family which was persecuted as kulaks during the collectivization policy in the Soviet Union. The family was exiled to a Siberian concentration camp. However, the key character manages to run away and returns to his native land. While he is in Siberia, his son becomes a local communist party official and launches the battue for his own father. In order not to compromise his son, the main hero chooses to die in swamps.
Sotnikov is a story about two partisans during WWII that got trapped by the Nazi police collaborators (Polizei). One of them, Sotnikov, doesn’t wish to cooperate with the Nazi. His fellow comrade gives him up to the Polizei, so Sotnikov ends up on the gallows…
Photo: www.kommersant.ru
