The Recent Belarusian Exodus Seen against the Background of Earlier Belarusian and Russian Emigrations

Abstract

In this article the recent exodus of members of the creative intelligentsia from Belarus is reviewed in loose comparison with that from Russia in the early 1980s, a period of oppressive stagnation. A further background presents the earlier emigrations from both countries due to revolution and the aftermath of war. The moving scene of destinations for displaced poets, prose writers, playwrights as well as some journalists, presents a picture of, on the one hand, generosity of the host countries and, on the other hand, the resourcefulness and enterprise of those who have escaped from the cruel boorishness of Lukašenka and from the ruthless destructiveness of Putin’s war. This article was written in an age of world mass migration and the author attempts to describe the emigration of Belarusian poets, prose writers and other cultural figures in the early 2020s, taking the Third Wave of emigration from the Soviet Union in the early 1980s as a background for comparison. These two large and diverse groups share the common feature of the loss of high quality poets and writers – both countries are deprived of an important element in the literary process. Poland has proven to be very hospitable during the recent exodus, particularly the Bielaviezha region, Wroclaw, Warsaw and Poznan, the first of which has opened its borders to such distinguished writers as: Niakliajeu (b. 1956), Arlou and his wife Aksak (both b. 1953), and another fierce opponent of Lukashenka’s regime, Jeva Viezhnaviec (pen-name of Sviatlana Kurs b. 1972). The author uses the historical, literary and comparative methods in the article.