Masiej Siadnioŭ (also Majsiej Siadnioŭ; ; 1 September 1915 (according to other sources 1913) — 5 February 2001) was a

Belarus Belarus,, , ; alternatively and formerly known as Byelorussia (from Russian ). officially the Republic of Belarus,; rus, Республика Беларусь, Respublika Belarus. is a landlocked country in Eastern Europe. It is bordered by R ...

ian poet and novelist.

Early years

Siadnioŭ was born into a poor farming family in the village of Mokraje, Mahilioŭ governorate of the Russian Empire (now Kaściukovičy district in Mahilioŭ region of Belarus). One of his teachers at secondary school (who was an acquaintance of famous Belarusian poet

Jakub Kolas Yakub Kolas (also Jakub Kołas, be, Яку́б Ко́лас, – August 13, 1956), real name Kanstantsin Mikhailovich Mitskievich (Канстанці́н Міха́йлавіч Міцке́віч, ) was a Belarusian writer, dramatist, poet a ...

) encouraged Siadnioŭ's interest in literature. After school Siadnioŭ went on to study at the Mścislaŭ Pedagogical College (1930–31) and in 1933 entered the Minsk Higher Pedagogical Institute.

Gulag The Gulag, an acronym for , , "chief administration of the camps". The original name given to the system of camps controlled by the GPU was the Main Administration of Corrective Labor Camps (, )., name=, group= was the government agency in ...
and escape

In the last year of his studies in October 1936, he was arrested on charges of participation in the "National Democratic" movement. According to the verdict, he was allegedly a member of an "anti-Soviet, counter-revolutionary organisation" while at the Mścislaŭ Institute. He was sent to a Gulag prison camp in the

Kolyma region Kolyma (russian: Колыма́, ) is a region located in the Russian Far East. It is bounded to the north by the East Siberian Sea and the Arctic Ocean, and by the Sea of Okhotsk to the south. The region gets its name from the Kolyma River ...

of the Russian Far East. After 5 years in the

Gulag The Gulag, an acronym for , , "chief administration of the camps". The original name given to the system of camps controlled by the GPU was the Main Administration of Corrective Labor Camps (, )., name=, group= was the government agency in ...

, Siadnioŭ was brought to Minsk for retrial, however the invasion of Belarus by the Nazis allowed him to escape and he returned to farming in his native village.

Life in exile

Fearing re-arrest, he fled the advancing Soviet troops in 1943 and ultimately settled in the United States where he would spend the rest of his life. From 1967 to 1983, Siadnioŭ worked for

Radio Liberty Radio is the technology of signaling and communicating using radio waves. Radio waves are electromagnetic waves of frequency between 30 hertz (Hz) and 300 gigahertz (GHz). They are generated by an electronic device called a transmit ...

, heading its Belarusian edition.

Exoneration and death

Siadnioŭ was exonerated from all charges by the Supreme Court of Belarus in 1992. He died in the United States on 5 February 2001 and was buried in the Belarusian cemetery of South River, New Jersey.

Bibliography

* Ля ціхай брамы : Вершы t the Quiet Gate: Poems 1955; * Ачышчэньне агнём : вершы urification by fire: poems 1985; * Раман Корзюк : Раман aman Karziuk: Novel 1985; * І той дзень надыйшоў : Раман nd that day came: Novel 1987; * А часу больш,чым вечнасць : Вершы ( nd more time than eternity: Poems 1989; * Патушаныя зоры : вершы, раман xtinguished Stars: Poems, Novel 1992; * Масеева кніга : Успаміны,старонкі дзенніка,эсэ (Masiej's (Moses') book: Memoirs, diary pages, essays], 1994; * Выбраныя творы / Масей Сяднёў elected works/ Masiej Siadnioŭ 2014; * Масей Сяднёў: pro et contra asiej Siadnioŭ: pro et contra 2018.

References