An old photo from Munich
München. RFE/RL Belarus Service. 1957-1958
This is a legendary team of Belarusian journalists from late 1950’s: the two guys sitting in front are Uladzimir Dudzicki (to the left; with glasses) and Piotra Sych (to the right). The people standing behind are (from left to right) Uladzimir Cvirka, Ryhor Krushyna, Barbara Wierzbalowicz, Janka Zaprudnik. All of them are distinguished personalities.
Piotra Sych was a war hero, a participant of the Battle at Monte Cassino. After the war he ended up in England before moving to Munich in 1951 where he launched an emigre magazine in Belarusian. In 1954, he became one of the first employees of the newly opened Belarus Service of Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty (which was called Radio Liberation back then). He wrote the script of the stations’ very first radio programme in Belarusian language which was aired on May 20, 1954. The piece “Azimuth of the Heart” was an exhortation and greeting to Belarusian people under Soviet rule “from the compatriots in the free world.” (more ).
Uladzimir Dudzicki was a Belarus’ service director, their boss. He was also a poet (a pretty good one, people say). In 1961, he moved from Germany to the USA. But, strangely enough, in 1976 he decided to come back to USSR and disappeared without any trace after crossing the border. Maybe he was killed by the Soviets, maybe he was arrested or assassinated by KGB, maybe he simply decided to start anew. There’s no trace whatsoever. His fate is unknown.
Ryhor Krushyna was a great poet (as some critics say, one of the greatest from the diaspora), but he never became famous during his lifetime. It’s worth noting that last year a collection of his poems was finally published in Minsk for the first time, a neat hardcover edition of selected poems.
Janka (Jan) Zaprudnik is probably the most successful of them all. He is a graduate of the Catholic University of Louvain, Belgium (1954), and holds a doctorate in history from New York University (1969). He spent 37 years with Radio Free Europe / Radio Liberty’s Belarus Service as a correspondent, producer, and editor. Zaprudnik also taught the history of Soviet Union at Queens College of the City University of New York and the history and politics of Belarus at the Harriman Institute of Columbia University. His published books include Historical Dictionary of Belarus, Belarus: At a Crossroads in History and several books in Belarusian. He’s still engaged in Belarus-related activities of the American diaspora.
Of the people on this photo he’s the only one still alive, unless Uladzimir Dudzicki is still alive, though I’m almost 100% sure that he’s long dead.
May 2nd, 2006 at 2:47 am
Fascinating. I didn’t know Zaprudnik, whose Belarus: At a Crossroads in History, I read with relish when my interest in Belarus was still young, was a Radio Svaboda person. His was about the only book in English there was to read at the time. Without his and your friend David Marples’ works, I would have been utterly in the dark.
May 2nd, 2006 at 5:48 am
Have you considered writing a book about the current state of Belarus?
May 2nd, 2006 at 12:06 pm
Great post.
/Tobias Ljungvall
May 2nd, 2006 at 5:54 pm
I heard he (Zaprudnik) was teaching at NYU back in 90’s. I wish he was still with this school…As a student at NYU I could have taken his class! I am 100 per cent sure that this class would be one of the best…
P.S. Just finished reading his book, “At crossroads in history”. (the few minutes ago droped it back in the Bobst Library, our major library at NYU :) ) I liked it, though I wish the author went in more details over some historical periods. (N. Vakar provides a lot of details in his book: Belarussia: The making of nation. )
P.s.s. Excellent post BR!