The Belarusian State Archives-Museum of Literature and Art runs an exhibition dedicated to the books “I am from the fiery village” and “The Blockade Book”

These days we remember one of the most tragic events of the Great Patriotic War – the Siege of Leningrad. From September 8, 1941 to January 27, 1944, almost 900 days of great suffering, grief, hundreds of thousands died of hunger and cold. Those who survived, until the last day lived with great pain in heart, with a constant memory of the tragedy. The tragedy of Leningrad is reflected in many works of art, but “The Blockade Book”, created by the Belarusian writer Ales Adamovich and the Russian writer Daniil Granin, is always remembered first. But the first was a book by Belarusian writers Ales Adamovich, Yanka Bryl and Vladimir Kolesnik “I am from the fiery village” about hundreds of tragedies of Belarusian villages burned by the Nazis along with their inhabitants. These two books represent a special genre of literature, which can be called differently: collections of memoirs, diaries, documentary tragedy, reportage from the scene, book-memory, book-document. These books were created with the aim of telling about the great tragedy of peoples during the Great Patriotic War through the stories of its direct participants – residents of villages and cities.

The Belarusian State Archives-Museum of Literature and Art (BGAMLI) runs an exhibition “In collaboration with the people” dedicated to the books “I am from the fiery village” and “The Blockade Book”. The exhibition was prepared jointly with the Central State Archives of Literature and Art of St. Petersburg (TsGALI St. Petersburg).

The exposition presents documents from the personal fonds of A. Adamovich, Ya. Bryl, V. Kolesnik held at the BGAMLI: recordings of conversations with residents of burnt villages, drafts of book manuscripts, correspondence of authors on the preparation of the book “I am from the fiery village”, photographs of villagers (book characters), made by V. Kolesnik, photographs of A. Adamovich and Ya. Bryl during the collection of materials for the book in the Mogilev region.

The Central State Archives of Literature and Art of St. Petersburg donated for the exhibition unique documents from the personal fond of the writer D. Granin, who together with A. Adamovich worked on “The Blockade Book”. At the exhibition you can see the diaries and memoirs of residents of besieged Leningrad, transcripts of conversations with them, letters from people who survived the siege to the authors, letters from A. Adamovich to D. Granin, a card index and photographs of the siege survivors – the heroes of the book, interviews with the authors, reviews of the “The Blockade Book” in different languages.

We invite you to visit the exhibition in the reading room of the BGAMLI Archives-Museum or to see the materials presented on the exhibition on the BGAMLI website.