For 20 years, the "Library of Freedom" series saw the light of nine dozen publications about Belarusian politics, language, history, society, journalism, prison, health and much more.

We continue to introduce you to our publishing output.

By the way, every book is available in digital format.

The sixth letter to those who can read.

Country of memory

In the early 1990s, when I became the editor-in-chief of the "Belarus" publishing house, I made a list of words that could not be used in the titles of books about history.

Vomited from the endless memories of the heart, fiery roads, hardened in the struggle.

The issue was, of course, not in the names, but in the quality of the memories themselves, because only free people can write real memories.

And although then, three decades ago, I banned the word "memory", today I am pleased to present this shelf of our "Library", which was born from the radio series "Modern Memoirs".

We asked contemporaries to write memoirs, helped to edit them, and for several years, the authors' voices in the first person told about the 20th century and Belarus in a way that no one but themselves could have done.

Journalism can restore memory through various means: recording interviews, publishing epistolary heritage, doing research and writing biographies.

Of course, our book publications are only the top of the forest of memory that grew on the waves of Freedom.

For example, the annual cycle "Remembrance of the century", where our listeners talked about their century, is worth noting.

And some authors of "Modern Memoirs" later published them in other publishing houses, for example, the book "Lyceum" by the director of the Kolasin Lyceum, Vladimir Kolas, was published.

And one more clarification.

I think that we and our colleagues did not return memory, but created it - because without these directed actions, without orders, without books, it simply could not exist physically.

Therefore, write!

Alexander Lukashuk, librarian of Svoboda

Ninety-first, Ninety-second, Ninety-third, Ninety-fourth, Ninety-fifth, Ninety-sixth

  • Ninety One (.pdf)

  • Ninety One (.epub)

  • Ninety Two (.pdf)

  • Ninety Two (.epub)

  • Ninety Three (.pdf)

  • Ninety Three (.epub)

  • Ninety-four (.pdf)

  • Ninety-Four (.epub)

  • Ninety Five (.pdf)

  • The Ninety-Five (.epub)

  • Ninety Six (.pdf)

  • Ninety Six (.epub)

The memories of a participant in events are always valuable - and if he is also a painstaking researcher, an ardent archivist and a talented journalist, then one can only quote the Nobel Laureate Svetlana Alexievich, who wrote to

Sergey Naumchyk

: "This is not just a book, it is a piece of history, it will remain forever.

History sometimes chooses us as chroniclers, and happiness is when we are ready for it."

Viteblians were lucky that Siarhei Namumchyk was from there and therefore stopped the construction of a nuclear power station there, the Supreme Soviet was lucky that he was a deputy and that is why this incredible phenomenon in the political history of Belarus did not disappear in the dust of the archives, Belarusian Independence and its heroes were lucky, and the enemies were on the contrary, because they will remain in history because Siarhei Naumchyk wrote about them.

Books were published not according to chronology, but according to writing, in several editions, and now they formed a classic cycle of political history, which itself became history.

"My shibboleth"

  • My shibboleth (.pdf)

  • My Shibboleth (Soundcloud)

  • My Shibboleth (YouTube, Audiobook)

(Everything is not easy with linguists - now it is customary to write "shibolet", with an emphasis on the second syllable.) Deputy of the Supreme Soviet, the first ambassador of independent Belarus in Germany, participant in the hunger strike against the referendum on the language, flag and coat of arms, virtuoso of the language

Piotr Sadovsky

not only named his memories with words from the Bible, but also defined their genre as arabesque.

This Belarusian path from Freud to Moses, from the Suvorov school to national awakening, where a meeting with a real wolf is less appetizing than meetings with fellow MPs - oh, you won't regret it!

"the road"

  • Road (.pdf)

The subtitle clarifies the route: Stouptsy — Copenhagen — Paris — Madrid — Ottawa — Minsk.

The beautiful book of the most beautiful chairman of the Council of the BNR

Ivonka Survila

(look at the photo in the book!) was published in two editions.

It is a rare thing to want to know more, more and more, but laconism is part of the style and the book is read faster than expected.

"Mr. Freedom"

  • Mr. Svoboda (.pdf)

One of the very rare portrait books dedicated to the journalist.

The dramatic story of

Sergei Ostravtsov

about Igor Hermenchuk, deputy, one of the fathers of the independence of Belarus, editor of the newspaper SVOBODA, must be studied by future reporters and editors.

Ihar Hermianchuk appears in development, from a student who lives in Belarus, with love, friends, to a deputy whose words are quoted, whose windows are shot at, whose newspaper is published in Belarusian with a circulation of one hundred thousand, she is feared and loved - and will never be erased from the history of Belarus press.

"Migratory birds"

  • Migratory birds (.pdf)

  • Migratory Birds (Soundcloud)

This is how Svaboda veteran Galina Rudnik

called her memories

, whose childhood passed without her father being arrested before the war, her youth in German refugee camps, and the rest of her life with Radio Svaboda.

The preface is called "Stalin's daughter chose her voice" - and this is a real story of how Svetlana Alliluyeva asked a girl from Bobruisk, Belarus, to read her memoirs at Svaboda.

For the first time, these and other stories are collected in this book.

"Workshop.

The story of a miracle"

  • Workshop.

    The Story of a Miracle (.pdf)

  • Workshop.

    The Story of a Miracle (Soundcloud)

Nobel Laureate Ales Bialiatski writes in his prison memoirs how he got hold of this book "Library" while behind bars: "I am reading "The Story of a Miracle" by Dubauets, it just turns my soul upside down."

The history of the first youth organization of the future, the Belarusian Singing and Dramatic Workshop (1981-1984), was written by its participants

Tatyana Sapach

and

Siarhei Dubavets

, who collected the testimonies of former masters.

Tatyana did not wait for the book - when the last program of the cycle was broadcast, in December 2010, she died in a car accident.

But miracles remain, and not only in memory.

"Mr. Sparrow was talkative"

Mr. Sparrow had a talk (.pdf)

This book has an author, but it is actually a book of people's memory.

The program "Journey of Freedom" took

Zmytro Bartosik

to such addresses and nooks and crannies of memories that witnesses dared to tell about only at the end of their lives.

And along the way, the book received the highest independent literary prize of Belarus, which bears the name of Jerzy Gedroyts.

But this, as it turned out, was only the first book of a trilogy of journeys through national memory.

"Clinic of the Chinese Dentist"

  • Chinese Dentist Clinic (.pdf)

  • Chinese Dentist Clinic (Soundcloud)

The indefatigable traveler of Freedom this time goes on a journey to the "forgotten addresses" of culture and resurrects entire eras, plots and passions with the magic wand of famous names with the unchanging result - discovery!

He finds traces of the Frenchman Apollinaire in Belarus and the Belarusian Rypinski in London's Tottenham, tells curious, scary, funny stories about Belarusian writers and the main hero of post-Soviet Belarus - Uladzimer Karatkevich, and in his adventures about "Lenin's daughter" and the Cold Synagogue, a whole long-lost world comes to life. the city of Minsk.

Tomorrow, all these addresses will become objects of pilgrimage for tourists.

For now, only Zmytser Bartosik

and you know about it

- when you open the second book of the trilogy.

"Kill Upalminzag"

  • Kill Upalminzag (.pdf)

The book is a bomb.

The 89th edition of the "Library" reveals the unknown war against the Soviet government in Belarus - uprisings, boycotts, resistance that took place in the post-war years.

This secret was hidden as a state secret for a reason - because Belarus was not only a partisan country, but also an anti-Soviet one.

Zmytro

Bartosik

's sensationalism built on documents completes the trilogy of his "Travels of Freedom" - trips to an unknown European country and conversations in Belarusian with its mysterious inhabitants.

There will be a continuation

LEARN ABOUT OTHER FREEDOM LIBRARY PUBLICATIONS

20th anniversary of "Library of Freedom".

Our guide to the Land of Mysteries

20th anniversary of "Library of Freedom".

Our guide to the country behind bars

20th anniversary of "Library of Freedom".

Our guide to the Land of Heroes

20th anniversary of "Library of Freedom".

Our guide to the Land of Time Travel

20th anniversary of "Library of Freedom".

Our guide to the Land of Poets

  • Alexander Lukashuk

    Radio Svaboda journalist

    lukashuka@rferl.org

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