Resistance and love – Larysa Hienijuš, a Belarusian poet you should know about
A life story of a prominent Belarusian poet and activist, and a translation and recording of one of her poems.
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Every day, I’m learning and connecting with the Belarusian culture that I was robbed of growing up in Russified Belarus. For the past month, I’ve been reading Belarusian poetry and learning about Belarusian writers. Often, I can spend hours completely immersed in the words that speak to my heart with so much clarity and warmth of belonging that I can’t hold back the tears.
The struggles, the fight for freedom from the oppressors, love and deep worry for native language and culture – all the topics that Belarusian poets have written about, sadly, haven't lost their relevance till these days. They became even more urgent as Belarus had been completely swallowed by Russia, and the vast majority of Belarusians forgot their language and roots.
When I came across the poetry of Larysa Hienijuš (Geniusz), a Belarusian poet I had never heard before, I was captivated by her honesty, energy, and immense talent. As I started to learn more, I wondered why I had never been taught about her in school, where I studied Belarusian literature for years. The answer is simple – Hienijuš’s works were banned, and her poems continue to be censored in Belarus even after her death.
Further in this post, you will find my English translation of one of Larysa Hienijuš poems and a recording where I read the original poem in Belarusian language.
Larysa Hienijuš was born in a wealthy family in Western Belarus In 1910. When she was 11 y.o., her native region was given to Poland as a result of The Treaty of Riga. In her memoir, Larysa shared how oppressive the Polish authorities were towards Belarusians and their culture. Unfortunately, when the Soviets came later, things became only worse.
Larysa Hienijuš married at the age of 25 and soon after moved with her husband and their son to Prague, where her husband studied medicine at the prestigious Charles University. In 1939, the Molotov–Ribbentrop Pact was signed, and Russians occupied Western Belarus. Larysa’s father was arrested and shot. Her mother and two sisters were deported to Kazakhstan, where they died. Hienijuš continued to live in Prague, where she became the General Secretary of the Belarusian Democratic Republic (BNR) government in exile. During that time, she risked her life by issuing a document for the Wolfson family, who were Jewish, which listed them as Orthodox Belarusians. Thanks to that document, the Wolfson family survived.
In Prague, Larysa Hienijuš provided support to Belarusian refugees and took care of the BNR archive, which the Soviets tried very hard to get hold of and destroy. She published her first collection of poems in 1942. Larysa Hienijuš was not only a poet but a very passionate activist who tirelessly worked to preserve Belarusian culture and language. An interesting fact is that while living in Prague, her neighbor was the sister of Lesya Ukrainka, a prominent Ukrainian writer and activist.
Soviet authorities sought the extradition of Hienijuš and her husband for years for “anti-Soviet nationalist activities,” which, in reality, were the celebration and preservation of Belarusian culture and language. In 1949, Larysa and her husband were arrested by the Czechoslovak communists, stripped of their Czechoslovakian citizenship, and handed over to Russians. Larysa Hienijuš was tortured personally by the head of the Belarusian Soviet Secret Police (NKVD) to make her give the Soviets the BNR archive. Despite severe pressure and beatings, she didn’t disclose the archive’s location. She and her husband were sentenced to 25 years of imprisonment in labor camps in Ural and Siberia. Hienijušes managed to send their 12 y.o. child to relatives in Poland, who later ended up in the orphanage.
Larysa Hienijuš continued to write poetry during her years in prison. She didn’t lose her spirit and united Belarusians and prisoners of other nationalities together. They called her “Mother” and memorized Hienijuš’s poems by heart, reciting them as prayers. After 8 years of unimaginable hardship and labor, Larysa Hienijuš and her husband were released during the 1956 amnesty.
In her memoirs, she wrote about her time in Gulag:
“I got up from my knees a different person, somewhat strong and completely calm in a new way. Only my Motherland existed for me then… I had not appreciated that choosing to die for the Motherland is not scary, but easy, joyful, almost celebratory.”
After the release, Hienijušes returned to Western Belarus and refused to accept Soviet citizenship. Till the end of their lives, their passports had notes “Stateless’ – because the only state they considered themselves citizens of was free Belarus.
The Secret Police followed Larysa Hienijuš everywhere, read the letters she wrote and the ones that were sent to her, and installed the spying devices in her home. Despite the surveillance, her house became a center for the Belarusian cultural elite in the 1970s-80s.
For years, Hienijuš’s poems were banned. She worked as a cleaner. Later, she published several poems in Belarusian magazines and a collection of works in 1967. However, she was allowed to publish only children’s poetry after that. The majority of her poems were published years after her death.
After the death of her husband, Hienijuš was allocated a meager pension and was allowed to visit her son in Poland only once. She was barely surviving and lived her last years in poverty. When she died in 1983, her house was turned upside down, and a personal Belarusian archive she collected over her life was taken. Her son used all his contacts to reach out to the administration of the Communist Party of Belarus to save the archive. The archive was returned and later preserved in the museum.
In 2023, Luskashenko’s regime activists destroyed the monument in honor of Larysa Hienijuš, which stood in the town she lived in. Her love for Belarus continues to pose a danger to the pro-Russian authorities even decades after her death.
Larysa Hienijuš wrote this poem exactly fifty-six years ago, on September 14, 1968. Below is my English translation and the recording of the poem in Belarusian.
Larysa Hienijuš Sep 14, 1968 To hell with alcohol, shake, and twist. Stop spinning the heads of the youth with lies! A shot is aimed at the nation’s heart, Will it die tomorrow or survive? Another language has filled our towns. Village folks are treated as second-class people. We can’t merge into the enemy’s sea and give them our youth, blood, and children. We can’t. We are at our home, we are not guests. Uninvited scoundrels sat down at the tables. They “mercifully” throw leftovers to us and keep breeding crimes on our land. We — are the guards of our nation’s cradle. The enemy is cruel, and our destiny is hard. The tombstones are crying behind us. Our brothers hold grudges in their hearts. The motherland’s future depends on us. We must achieve what our parents could not. With reproach, our grandkids will ask about freedom and the language we lost. Today, our language is at stake. We must save it from the fire while it’s still not dead. The words “I love you” — weak words. The powerful words — I will protect!!!
Recording of the poem in Belarusian:
Reading about the life of Larysa Hienijuš and her poetry, I thought about how much love she had for Belarus, Belarusian culture, justice, and freedom. How much strength and talent she had. She paid an incredibly high price for that. Only because of her sacrifice and countless Belarusians like her, I had an opportunity to be born on my land, learn my language, and hold the identity occupiers have been trying so hard to erase. I believe that one day, Belarus will become the country Larysa Hienijuš always dreamed of seeing. Meanwhile, we must all do our part by learning, educating, and fighting against Russian colonialism and oppression.
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A person's culture and heritage are a core part of their identity. Suppressing that culture is a form of cultural genocide. Larysa Hienijuš was an extraordinary person and a gifted poet. It's wonderful that you have discovered, and are inspired by, her in your quest to shake off Russian cultural oppression and reclaim your Belarusian identity.
Thank you Darya for sharing Larysa Hienijuš's story, her powerful words, and for giving voice to them in a language too little heard even in the place where it should flourish but where it instead lies silent with roots dormant in native soil. May Ukraine's victory bring the rain and sun that coax those roots into life and then into bloom.