Larisa Genyush’s grandson: If monuments to her are being demolished, then she is important
Olga Bondareva, a pro-government activist from Grodno, demanded the demolition of the monument to Larisa Genyush, who calls her a “Nazi criminal”, in the urban village of Zelva (Grodno region). The bust was installed in 2003 on the territory of the Life-giving Holy Trinity Church with the blessing of the then head of the Orthodox Church of Belarus, Metropolitan Filaret. Despite the fact that the local authorities refused Bondareva, a few days ago the monument disappeared. Last fall, Bondareva managed to demolish busts and commemorative plaques of several Belarusian figures, including Larisa Genyush, in the private museum of Old Roads (Minsk region).
“Stayed for twenty years and did not interfere with anyone”
“There was a monument – and no, nobody knows what happened to it. Whether the church removed it and hid it until better times, or some bad person did it,” comments the poet’s grandson Michal Geniusz, who lives in Poland, commenting about the removal of the bust in Zelva, Bialystok. He was in Belarus “before the pandemic” and visited Zelva. Michal draws attention to the fact that the bust in the churchyard “remained for twenty years and did not disturb anyone”. “Larisa Genyush is very important if her monuments are already being demolished. The monument can be removed, but what is in people’s hearts, in people’s souls, no one will change or take away”, observes DW’s interlocutor with emotion.
Michal Geniuš says he is constantly approached for permission to publish his grandmother’s works. A few years ago, in Belarus, he published a complete book of poems for the children of Larisa Genyush, which included both the author’s and censored versions of poems. “Nobody messed with me, the book came out, there were meetings where many people came. People know Genyush, they remember her poems, they are important to them,” shares the poet’s grandson.
Geniush’s hands were asked by nobility and priests
Larisa Genyush (nee Miklashevich) was born in 1910 in the village of Volpa (now the Volkovysk district of the Grodno region) in a wealthy peasant family. In 1921, under the terms of the Riga Peace Treaty, the western territories of Belarus, including Volkovysk, were ceded to Poland.
According to the researcher of literature, playwright and screenwriter Vasil Dranko-Maysyuk, Larisa Miklashevich from her youth had no end of admirers, both nobles and young Orthodox priests asked for her hands. “An artist from the itinerant theater, who was showing a play for the family, asked for her hand at the end of the play”, says the researcher. The girl refused. In 1937, she married a medical student, Jank Geniusz, and moved in with him in Prague. In 1939, after the Red Army entered Poland, Larisa Genyush’s father was shot, and her mother and two sisters were sent to Kazakhstan, where they never returned.
Geniusz life in Prague
During the Second World War, Geniyush lived in Prague, published in Belarusian publications, the publication of which was authorized by the Nazi authorities. The poetess was a member of the Rada (government in exile. – Red.) of the Belarusian People’s Republic (BNR), and since 1943 was its general secretary. In addition, Geniush, together with her husband, took part in the work of the Self-Help Committee of Belarus, which dealt with social and health issues.
After the German attack on the USSR in 1941, the head of the Committee, Ivan Yermachenko, at an extraordinary meeting, read a telegram to Adolf Hitler with the wishes of “a speedy victory over the Bolsheviks”. Later, in her memoirs, Genyush claimed that neither she, nor her husband, none of the Belarusians present signed the telegram, and their signatures were forged. Many researchers believe that there is no reason to doubt the veracity of her words.
In 2019, Belarusian historian Dmitry Drozd petitioned the Israeli Embassy in Minsk and the Yad Vashem Holocaust Memorial Complex for a request to recognize the members of the Self-Help Committee of Belarus in Prague as Righteous Among the Nations – for saving Arkady, Anatoly and Yarina Valfson. The speech was even about Larisa Geniyush and her husband. According to the historian, thanks to the committee, the Walfson family received a document attesting that they were Orthodox Belarusians, although all members of the organization knew that they were Jews. Thanks to this, the family was saved and survived the occupation.
Genyush was interrogated by the head of the BSSR Ministry of State Security
In 1948, Janka and Larisa Genyush, who at the time were citizens of Czechoslovakia, were arrested in Prague and sent to the BSSR. They were accused of collaborating with the Nazis. Her 12-year-old son was taken by relatives to Poland. In Minsk, Larisa Genyush was interrogated, including by the Minister of State Security of the BSSR Lavrenty Tsanava. He demanded that documents from the archives of the People’s Republic of Belarus be released.
“In 1943, the president of the BNR, Vasil Zakharka, dying, gave her some of the documents for safekeeping. She was not afraid to take them, although in 1943-1944 there were many Soviet agents in Prague,” says Dranko-Maysyuk. The poetess never said where the archive was. Geniyush spouses were sentenced to 25 years in labor camps. They were released after partial rehabilitation in 1956.
Vasil Dranko-Maysiuk says that in the camp Larisa Geniyush was called “mother” because “she saved everyone”: “When other Belarusian women who became pregnant from the escort who raped her wanted to beat them so that there would be no children, Geniyush protected her. ” Memories of the Stalinist camps were included in the book Larisa Genyush “Confissão” (“Confession”), published in 1990, seven years after her death. “She writes about her camp experience uncensored, hard-hitting and realistic. This is a new discovery for her as a non-fiction writer”, observes the researcher.
Geniusz wrote poems for his grandchildren who live in Poland
After the release of Larisa Geniyush and her husband moved to their homeland in Zelva, the son remained in Poland. Zelva – a small village in the Grodno region, according to Drinko-Maysyuk, has become a place of attraction for cultural figures and scientists. He also draws attention to the fact that during the so-called “Brezhnev stagnation” Larisa Genyush began to publish in BSSR. “For a person who did not have Soviet citizenship (the poet basically did not accept citizenship of the USSR – Red.), who had anti-communist views, her books did well, she spoke in schools and libraries,” says the expert.
In 1967, the poetry collection “Nevadam z Nemana” was published, in 1972 and 1976 – books for children “Kazki dlya Mіkhaska” (“Tales for Mikhaska”) and “Good morning, Ales” (“Good morning, Ales”) , in them included poems written for grandchildren. “There are different grandmothers, mine also gave me intellectual support,” says Michal Geniyush. “She knew I love animals, so she would draw pictures of them, write poetry and send me letters.” He also remembers that Larisa Geniyush taught him to be kind and honest, to love his native language (Mikhal speaks excellent Belarusian. – Red.) and their lands. “She corresponded with me, she showed me books that I should read, she gave advice on how I should act to be a good person”, shares the interlocutor.
Not rehabilitated, referring to the law of 1928
Larisa Genyush died on April 7, 1983. They tried to fully rehabilitate her twice: in 1999, the Helsinki Belarusian Committee took the initiative, in 2017 – the organization “Youth of the Popular Front of Belarus”. Both times the Supreme Court of Belarus refused to rehabilitate. For the second time, he referred to articles of the BSSR Penal Code as amended in 1928 – “assistance to the international bourgeoisie” and “preparation for counter-revolutionary activities”. According to him, Genyush was tried “for the crimes committed during the Great Patriotic War.”
Source: DW
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