Jurka Listapad (Belarusian: Ю́рка Лістапа́д, full name Ю́рый Іва́навіч Лістапа́д); 7 April 1897 - 5 July 1938) was an active participant in the Belarusian independence movement and anti-Soviet resistance, publicist and a victim of Stalin's purges of 1937-38.
Jurka Listapad | |
|---|---|
| Юрка Лістапад | |
 | |
| Born | 7 April 1897 |
| Died | 5 July 1938 (aged 41) |
| Cause of death | Executed (posthumously exonerated) |
| Alma mater | Teachers College of Panevėžys |
| Occupation(s) | teacher, publicist |
| Movement | Belarusian independence movement and anti-Soviet resistance |
Early years
editListapad was born on 7 April 1897 into a farming family in the village of Varkavičy, Slutsky Uyezd, Minsk Governorate of the Russian Empire (nowadays Slutsk District, Minsk Region of Belarus).[1]
In 1914 he graduated from a teachers college in Panevėžys and returned to his native Slutsk.
After a spell as a teacher, Listapad moved to Minsk and worked in publishing. He also started writing as well as translating. His work “Sluckaje viasieĺlie” (Belarusian: Слуцкае вясельле, The Slutsk Wedding) was published in 1920. He was an active member of several Belarusian pro-independence organisations, such as the National Committee and “Paparać-kvietka" (Belarusian: Папараць-кветка, The Fern Flower).[2]
Anti-Soviet Resistance and persecution
editIn 1920 Listapad was elected to the Belarusian Rada (Council) of Slutsk and participated in the Slutsk uprising, an anti-Bolshevik pro-independence military campaign in central Belarus.[2]
Following the defeat of the uprising, he briefly lived in exile in the Second Polish Republic but returned to Slutsk in 1922 and established an underground anti-Soviet organisation.[3]
He was arrested in 1925 and sentenced to five years in prison.[4] He was re-arrested in 1930 and then again in 1933 after which he was sent to the Gulag.[1]
Death sentence and posthumous exoneration
editIn March 1938 Listapad was sentenced to death for “anti-Soviet propaganda”. He was posthumously exonerated during the Khrushchev Thaw in 1956.[1]
Works
edit- Слуцкае вясельле (The Slutsk Wedding) // Беларусь, 1920, No. 108—110
- Узьбіліся на свой шлях (Whipped up in our Way) // Наша думка (Вільня), 1921, No. 9—10
References
edit- ^ a b c "Юрка Лістапад – Рада Беларускай Народнай Рэспублікі" [Jurka Listapad - the Rada of the Belarusian Democratic Republic] (in Belarusian). 29 August 2017. Retrieved 2021-06-08.
- ^ a b Ул. Ляхоўскі, Ул. Міхнюк, А. Гесь. Слуцкі збройны чын 1920 г. у дакумэнтах і ўспамінах [Ul. Liachoŭski, Ul. Michniuk, A. Hieś. The Slutsk uprising of 1920 in documents and memoirs] - 2-ое выд. дапрац. - Менск: Энцыклапедыкс, 2006. С. 289—290. - ISBN 985-6599-25-3 (In Belarusian)
- ^ Арлоў, Уладзімер (2020). ІМЁНЫ СВАБОДЫ (Бібліятэка Свабоды. ХХІ стагодзьдзе.) [Uładzimir Arłou. The Names of Freedom (The Library of Freedom. ХХІ century).] (PDF) (in Belarusian) (4-е выд., дап. ed.). Радыё Свабодная Эўропа / Радыё Свабода - Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty. pp. 178–179.
- ^ Слуцкі паўстанец. Працэс «Лістападаўцаў». [A rebel of Slucak. Listapadaŭcy's Process] // Беларускае слова : газэта. — 1926, 31 сакавіка. — № 8. — С. 2.(In Belarusian)