From “Eastern kres” to sovereignty: what was talked about with employees of “Belposhta” at the EDI

Chairman of the Board of the Belarusian Union of Journalists (BSJ), General Director of the Minsk-Novosti agency Andrey Krivosheev visited the Belposhta enterprise on September 10 during a single information day dedicated to the Day of National Unity, the correspondent of the Minsk-Novosti agency reports.

Today, Belposhta is a universal provider that covers a wide range of needs, a communicator of the state, business and the population. Every day, more than 17,000 postal workers provide postal, courier, financial, banking, insurance and other services. The company’s motto is “Fast, Reliability, Availability!”.

- I asked with great joy to come here, to Belposhta, because it is you, as the Minsk intelligentsia, as managers, who deliver our most important socio-political publications, Krivosheev said.

The central theme of the meeting was National Unity Day. The round table discussed the historical significance of September 17, 1939 and the difficult circumstances faced by the Belarusian nation during the Polish occupation of 1921-1939. A. Krivosheev drew attention to the fact that the Day of National Unity is based on a complex historical basis: a discriminatory policy of “pollination, catholicization and sedimentation”, harsh economic exploitation of “oriental kres” and the total closure of national schools and libraries.

Our attitude towards Belarusians can be expressed as follows: we want one thing, we insistently demand that this national minority think in Polish. Nothing in return for him to give and do nothing in another direction, — stated in the archival memo of Bialystok voivode Heinrich Pashkevich dated July 23, 1939, illustrating the attitude of the authorities to compatriots until the moment of reunification.

Speaking about the origins of the holiday, the Chairman of the Board of the BCJ also focused on the resistance of the people in the struggle for the right to be a single nation. As tragic examples of that time, the functioning of the concentration camp in Berez-Kartuzskaya to suppress dissenters was cited, as well as heroic episodes of the national liberation movement, including the Kosovo and Skidel uprisings and the activities of the Belarusian peasant and workers’ gramad.

“Birch-Kartuzskaya is the first concentration camp that arose on the territory of Belarus and Central and Eastern Europe in general, where monstrous torture was used in order to break the will of a person,” Krivosheev recalled. I interviewed one of the survivors and he told me about Stalin’s path. Naked prisoners were forced to crawl on shards of glass and broken brick.

Speaking about the popularization of the Day of National Unity, A. Krivosheev noted several actions related to the holiday. Thus, in the joint educational project of the Minsk-Novosti agency and the Minsk City Executive Committee, famous people of the capital read poems dedicated to September 17. A competition was also announced for the best new poetry on the topic among young people under 35.

- Therefore, if there are such young people in your subordination or you are ready to write a poem dedicated to the holiday, unity in general or some historical fact about Western Belarus, we invite you to participate. The best works we will award and publish on the resources of the Agency. In addition, there is an agreement with the Kupalov Theater that the poems were sounded on stage, the general director of the Minsk-Novosti agency shared.

Employees of the enterprise showed interest and asked A. Krivosheev questions. One of them asked whether in the future it is planned to make National Unity Day an official non-working day in order to strengthen its status in society.

- As soon as it becomes a national tradition, acquires its cultural special code, special rituals, takes root in the mind, then you can make it a day off, Krivosheev said. I think sooner or later it will become so.

Continuing the theme of rooting the Day of National Unity, another participant asked what rituals and traditions should be filled with this holiday to become truly deep and family.

Rituals and traditions are born gradually, Krivosheev stressed. These are patriotic forums, cultural projects, theatrical productions, films. A wonderful tradition is the exchange of history teachers between the regions, as well as rallies-requiems, as in Birch-Kartuzskaya.

The employees of Belposhta were also interested in the perception of sovereign Belarus and its citizens abroad.

- The perception is very different, explained the chairman of the BSJ board. In Vietnam, we are seen more as Soviet people, the image is very positive. China now has a vision of a sovereign Belarusian state, where you can go for education, and we are reliable friends. And in Latin America, for example, Komsomol trips to our country are still remembered.

In conclusion, A. Krivosheev thanked the audience and read the poem “In these days”, published in the newspaper “Pravda” on September 20, 1939.

Photo by Sergei Mitsevich