Knowledge Day with BGAMLI

In the Republic of Belarus, September 1 is traditionally celebrated as Knowledge Day.

September 1 is an important day for all students, when it is customary to congratulate schoolchildren, students, teachers and professors on the beginning of a new school year. It is difficult to find a person who would not be touched on this day by pleasant memories of his first school bell, his first teacher. Knowledge Day is a holiday that appeared in Soviet times and has been celebrated since 1984. This day is an official holiday in some post-Soviet states, including Tatarstan.

The friendship between Belarus and Tatarstan has a long history of exchange of culture and traditions, economic cooperation. Strong historical ties have developed between the peoples, strengthening their relations.

As part of the Action Plan for 2024 for the implementation of the joint project with the Republic of Tatarstan «Day in History», for the Day of Knowledge, the Belarusian State Archive-Museum of Literature and Art presents the documents of Stepan Khuseinovich Aleksandrovich – an ethnic Belarusian Tatar – an outstanding literary scholar, critic, original prose writer, erudite and thoughtful teacher. Stepan Khuseinovich was born in Kopyl in 1921 in the family of a tanner. In his autobiographical notes «My Homeland – Kopyl» S.Kh.Aleksandrovich lovingly recalls his native places, where he spent his childhood, what success the Belarusian book enjoyed at that time in his life. After graduating from Kopyl Secondary School in 1939, S.Kh. Aleksandrovich entered the Belarusian State University (BSU), but he did not have to complete the first year: he was called up to the ranks of the Red Army. During the Great Patriotic War he was at the front. He took part in the battles for Kerch and Feodosia. He was seriously wounded and taken prisoner, from where he escaped and returned to his homeland. He fought in a partisan detachment. Memories of the war formed the basis of his story «Distant Lightnings» (1967). After the war he taught at school. In 1950, S.Kh.Aleksandrovich graduated from the philological faculty of BSU in absentia. In 1971, he defended his doctoral dissertation on «Problems of the development of Belarusian literature and printing in the second half of the 19th – 20th centuries». He worked as a senior researcher at the Yanka Kupala Institute of Literature of the Academy of Sciences of the BSSR and the Yakub Kolas Museum. Since 1963 – associate professor, since 1974 – professor of BSU. In 1984 he received the title of «Honored Worker of Culture of Belarus». He died on May 1, 1986 in Minsk.

1. Photo. V.Vitka, S.Aleksandrovich, M.Khvedorovich among teachers in Kopyl. 1962

2. Article by A.Martinovich «Znitouvayuchy ucharashnyae s sennyashnim» (Cultivating Charm with Today) for the 60th anniversary of S.Aleksandrovich. Newspaper «Minskaya Pravda» No.242. 12/15/1981

3. Photo. S.Aleksandrovich and F.Yankovsky at the Minsk Pedagogical Institute named after A.M.Gorky. 1970s

4-5. Information about S.Aleksandrovich in the booklet «Literary Kopylshchyna». 1984