On Sunday, the action ‘Dzyady’ took place in the centre of the Polish capital city; the representatives of the Belarusian diaspora honoured the memory of Stalinism victims as well as those whose deaths were linked to the 2020 post-election protests by holding a march.
Traditionally, Belarusians mark the Day of All Souls (Dzyady) on November 2. Belarusians staged annual Dzyady marches to Kurapaty, a Stalin-era mass executios site on the outskirts of Minsk for over 30 years. However, under the current political circumstances in Belarus, one would put at stake their being at liberty if they took part in such a rally.
What is more, on 29-30 October 1937, Stalin’s secret police (NKVD) killed more than 100 representatives of Belarusian national elite in the present-day KGB prison. Belarusian poets, writers, scientists were killed one by one without remorse. Until the year of 2021, a memorial event known as The Night Of Executed Poets was held in Kurapaty on October 29, the unofficial day of remembrance of the Soviet repressions in Belarus. This year, it has been organised in many corners of the world, but not in Belarus, as the authorities are persecuting the participants in any ‘dissident’ activity.
On November 1, Warsaw-based Belarusians gathered in front of the monument to Tadeusz Kosciuszko and then marched to Castle Square.
Pavel Latushka, a former diplomat and the head of the People’s Anti-Crisis Administration in exile, addressed the participants and made a short speech.
As reported earlier, Belarusians also marked Dzyady in Kyiv.
