Piotra Sych

Piotra Sych ( be, Пятро Сыч or ) (January 18, 1912 – June 20, 1963), was a Belarusian writer and journalist, born in Baturyna, Western

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 ...

, near

Vileyka Vileyka ( officially transliterated as Viliejka, be, Віле́йка , also ''Вялейка''; russian: Вилейка; lt, Vileika; pl, Wilejka) is a city in Belarus and the administrative center of the Vileyka District of Minsk Region. It i ...

. He started his journalistic career in

Wilno Vilnius ( , ; see also #Etymology and other names, other names) is the capital and List of cities in Lithuania#Cities, largest city of Lithuania, with a population of 592,389 (according to the state register) or 625,107 (according to the munic ...

in 1930's, initially writing for the

Polish language Polish (Polish: ''język polski'', , ''polszczyzna'' or simply ''polski'', ) is a West Slavic language of the Lechitic group written in the Latin script. It is spoken primarily in Poland and serves as the native language of the Poles. In a ...

newspapers, and studying philosophy at the

Wilno University Vilnius University ( lt, Vilniaus universitetas) is a public research university, oldest in the Baltic states and in Northern Europe outside the United Kingdom (or 6th overall following foundations of Oxford, Cambridge, St. Andrews, Glasgow a ...

. In 1939 he was drafted for the Polish army, then arrested by the

Soviets Soviet people ( rus, сове́тский наро́д, r=sovyétsky naród), or citizens of the USSR ( rus, гра́ждане СССР, grázhdanye SSSR), was an umbrella demonym for the population of the Soviet Union. Nationality policy in th ...

, spent some time in a jail in

Polatsk Polotsk (russian: По́лоцк; be, По́лацк, translit=Polatsk (BGN/PCGN), Polack (official transliteration); lt, Polockas; pl, Połock) is a historical city in Belarus, situated on the Dvina River. It is the center of the Polotsk Distr ...

, eventually sentenced to 10 years and sent away to Komi. As a citizen of

Poland Poland, officially the Republic of Poland, is a country in Central Europe. It is divided into 16 administrative provinces called voivodeships, covering an area of . Poland has a population of over 38 million and is the fifth-most populous ...

, he was released under the terms of Sikorski-Mayski Agreement and travelled to

Samarkand fa, سمرقند , native_name_lang = , settlement_type = City , image_skyline = , image_caption = Clockwise from the top:Registan square, Shah-i-Zinda necropolis, Bibi-Khanym Mosque, view inside Shah-i-Zinda, ...

in September 1941. There he joined the Polish Army in the East, being formed under command of General

Władysław Anders ) , birth_name = Władysław Albert Anders , birth_date = , birth_place = Krośniewice-Błonie, Warsaw Governorate, Congress Poland, Russian Empire , death_date = , death_place = London, England, United Kingdom , serviceyears ...

, just like hundreds of other Belarusians from Western Belarus (

Kresy Eastern Borderlands ( pl, Kresy Wschodnie) or simply Borderlands ( pl, Kresy, ) was a term coined for the eastern part of the Second Polish Republic during the interwar period (1918–1939). Largely agricultural and extensively multi-ethnic, it ...

). He spent the rest of the war fighting in General Anders'

Polish II Corps The Polish II Corps ( pl, Drugi Korpus Wojska Polskiego), 1943–1947, was a major tactical and operational unit of the Polish Armed Forces in the West during World War II. It was commanded by Lieutenant General Władysław Anders and fought wit ...

. He was wounded four times, and was a participant of the famous

Battle of Monte Cassino The Battle of Monte Cassino, also known as the Battle for Rome and the Battle for Cassino, was a series of four assaults made by the Allies against German forces in Italy during the Italian Campaign of World War II. The ultimate objective was ...

. After the war he spent some time in England before moving to

Munich Munich ( ; german: München ; bar, Minga ) is the capital and most populous city of the States of Germany, German state of Bavaria. With a population of 1,558,395 inhabitants as of 31 July 2020, it is the List of cities in Germany by popu ...

Germany Germany,, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It is the second most populous country in Europe after Russia, and the most populous member state of the European Union. Germany is situated betwe ...

in 1951 where he started publishing a magazine in Belarusian. In 1954 he became one of the first employees of the newly opened Belarus Service of

Radio Free Europe Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty (RFE/RL) is a United States government funded organization that broadcasts and reports news, information, and analysis to countries in Eastern Europe, Central Asia, Caucasus, and the Middle East where it says tha ...

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 ...

. He wrote the script of the stations' first radio programme in Belarusian language and was aired on May 20, 1954. The piece; "Azimuth of the Heart" was an exhortation and greeting to Belarusian people under Soviet rule "from the compatriots in the free world." In 1960's several years before his death, he started writing a memoir about the Belarusian soldiers at the

. According to various estimates, there were 1000-2000 Belarusians in this battle and about 200-250 of them were killed in action. The novel was called "Death and nightingales" (''Сьмерць і салаўі''). It was published in installments in the Belarusian magazine in Munich " Backaushchyna" from 1962-1963. The book was not completely finished though by Piotra Sych as he unexpectedly died at the age of 51. His wife Elza helped to prepare and publish it as a separate book several years after his death. {{DEFAULTSORT:Sych, Piotra 1912 births 1963 deaths People from Vileyka District People from Vileysky Uyezd Members of the Rada of the Belarusian Democratic Republic Belarusian journalists Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty people Polish military personnel of World War II Prisoners and detainees of the Soviet Union 20th-century journalists