Belarusians awarded for revival of Poland

The Order of Poland Reborn is one of the Poland’s highest decorations. It has five classes: Grand Cross, Commander's with Star, Commander's Cross, Officer's Cross and Knight’s Cross. The Order can be conferred for outstanding achievements for the country. A Radio Liberty journalist Mr. Viacheslav Rakitski interviewed history expert Mr. Aleh Latyshonak.

Q: “Mr. Latyshonak, what is your achievement vis-à-vis Poland to be distinguished with such high award?”

A: “I may just repeat what was said by the President Lech Kaczynski while addressing those present in the course of the ceremony. He divided all the award recipients into activists of three underground movements: war, post-war and the underground of the 1970-1980s, fighting against the communist regime. I personally fall under the third category”.

Q: “Is this related to your activities at the beginning of the 1980s within the “Solidarity” movement?”

A: “I was a member of the underground organisation of “Solidarity” of Belostok region and I issued an underground newsletter. I was arrested for 8 months for those activities”.

Q: “'Solidarity' was tightly connected with the Catholic church. Most of the Belarusians in Poland are Orthodox. Was there wide support for the anticommunist and democratic movement from their side in Poland?”

A: “No, the opposite, the absolute majority of them were against it. One has to remember that Belarusians were comparing the situation in so-called People’s Poland with ‘sanational’ Poland. As a historian I may say that, obviously, the Belarusians in the People’s Poland felt much better.

In the end, Belarusians created their own national anti-communist opposition which was connected with “Solidarity” via partnership. Though the Belarusian opposition was standing for its own interests primarily. They had their own mentors, such as well known activists Jury Turonak and Sokrat Yanovich. However the majority were young people that realized that regardless of the lifestyle of Belarusians in the pre- and post-war periods, it was necessary to fight for the future. And there was no future in that rotten system.

We found ourselves in a reserve. All communist countries were falling behind the Western countries where civil or civilized relations it concerned. Our minority in Belostok region was a reserve in a reserve. All we had left was our national folklore and writing poems. I believe that our actions in fighting for civilized society prolonged our national survival”.

Q: “Mr. Latyshonak, is it true that Belarusians were the only national minority in Poland which supported the “Solidarity” movement or became its partner?”

A: “I wouldn’t say so. Just recently my Ukrainian friend and I were recalling which one of us had done more. Obviously, Ukrainians were engaged in the partnership as well, they also had their underground groups. However one has to remember that Belarusians live in their ethnic territory in Poland, while Ukrainians in Poland were unfortunately mostly resettled and were  victims of the post-war communist regime. Perhaps that is the reason why one might have the impression that we are larger in number than other minorities”.

Q: “Twenty years have passed since then. Speaking from today’s position, were the hopes of your fight justified?”

A: “Not all of them, but to a large extent they met our expectations. We wouldn’t be able to have all our establishments and to do so much in Poland if we haven’t changed the latter. However we couldn’t anticipate such a sudden end of the communist Poland. Therefore I think that we could have done a lot more in the 1990s and in the beginning of 2000s. We missed quite a few chances. However not everything depended on us, the Polish Belarusians. Then the more powerful political forces entered into the politics”.

Q: “Is it possible to say that a dialogue between the Belarusian minority and the state is properly developing?”

A: “I wouldn’t call it a full pledge development. I take the award literally, as the President has said. Lech Kaczynski emphasised, that he wanted to show that justice could be achieved, though not quickly, but while he was the President, he would search for people upon whom to confer such awards for their contributions to Poland. It seems to me that things will not be the best they could be in general, while the situation in Belarus continues. Regardless that we have lots of friends and supporters we will not be able to sustain the wave that now carries us all”.