Hamlin

On the night of October 29–30, 1937, Stalin’s NKVD executed 132 people in Minsk. Among them were Belarusian poets, writers, scientists and teachers. Yuliy Taubin was just 26. Valery Marakou was 28. They were publishing books, translating foreign authors, falling in love and making plans. They should have had decades of life and work ahead of them. Their books were banned, their manuscripts burned, their names erased from textbooks. The regime wanted people to forget they had ever lived. Some of their work is lost forever. We will never know what else they might have created. Today, Belarusians are again imprisoned for their words and views. Books are banned, and cultural figures remain behind bars. When I think about 1937, I cannot help thinking about the families living with fear in Belarus now. But the poems that survived are still being read, translated and set to music. We can still hear these poets speak about love, friendship, joy and uncertainty. We can recognise something of ourselves in their words. On this Night of Executed Poets, I ask you to find one of their poems. Read it to yourself or someone you love. Learn about the person who wrote it. We cannot return the lives that were taken. But we can keep their words alive and work for a Belarus where no one is punished for what they write, say or believe. Join an event tonight: tsikhanouskaya.org/en/event/…