The Blockade Book of the Belarusian and Russian classics Adamovich and Granin Celebrates the 40th Anniversary
11:03, 27 December
As part of the Russian Spiritual Culture Days, Moscow House in Minsk hosted a conference dedicated to the 100th anniversary of the Russian writer Daniil Granin and the 40th anniversary of the release of The Blockade Book, created together with the classic of Belarusian literature Ales Adamovich.
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This year the chronicle of the besieged city, recorded from the accounts of eyewitnesses of those 900 days of terrible trials and losses, marks its fortieth anniversary.
“It was an amazingly courageous act. Chronicle of the besieged city ... Taking into account a rather repressive regime of literary censorship of the day, it was a true literary feat to narrate about the events of the 900-day blockade, to make public that enormous death toll. I remember very well when we, schoolchildren of Leningrad, were given information about this book at literature lessons,” said Dmitry Mezentsev, Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary of Russia to Belarus, opening the conference.
He bitterly noted that today there are many who want to rewrite history and exalt those whose actions as traitors cannot have a double interpretation.
“Very soon, the Republic of Belarus, the Russian Federation, all CIS countries, all countries that honestly and truly respect the great feat of the Soviet soldier will celebrate the 75th anniversary of the Great Victory,” Mr. Mezentsev noted.
He also said that a monument to Daniil Granin had recently been unveiled in St. Petersburg in the presence of the President of Russia. The authorities of the northern capital are very passionate about preserving the memory of the besieged Leningrad.
Speaking at the conference, Head of the Union State Standing Committee Office in Minsk Marianna Schiotkina noted the contribution of the creative tandem of Granin-Adamovich to the preservation of Leningrad’s history.
“Alexander Mikhailovich and Daniil Alexandrovich worked together and created a wonderful work: The Blockade Book. It is remarkable as it does not have any conclusions of its own, there are no assumptions. It examines war through tragedy. When it comes from people, it always sounds different,” said Marianna Schiotkina. “Nothing matters if there is no peaceful sky, if there are no near and dear ones, if there is no peace and stability. This is always the main thing and that is what our wonderful writers emphasize by dipping us into this pain, this mire, this appalling human tragedy”, she said.
The Blockade Book has been translated into 15 languages. A copy in German, which was probably the hardest to translate both literally and figuratively, came out in January, said Natalya Adamovich, a daughter of the Belarusian writer. Soon, a French reader will be able to read 4,000 pages of the tragic history of the besieged city.
