On October 29, Sviatlana Tsikhanouskaya joined a commemorative event held by Belarusians in Estonia for the Night of the Executed Poets, which marks the anniversary of the mass execution of 132 Belarusian cultural figures and intellectuals by the Soviet regime in Minsk on the night of October 29–30, 1937.
The participants read poetry and remembered the people who were killed by Stalin’s regime.
In her speech, Sviatlana Tsikhanouskaya recalled that 89 years ago, an entire generation of Belarusian cultural figures was nearly wiped out in a single night. Today, the regime is once again persecuting Belarusian writers and publishers, banning books, and pushing the Belarusian language out of public space.
“Belarus has its own history, its own language, its own culture, and its own heroes. No dictator can take that away from us. We are not simply remembering those who were killed. We are giving their voices back”.
Ms. Tsikhanouskaya thanked the Belarusian community in Estonia for preserving the language and traditions, supporting artists and writers, and bringing Belarusians together. She also thanked their Estonian friends for supporting Belarusian culture.
After the commemorative event, she met with the Belarusian diaspora for an informal conversation in an informal setting.
At the end of her speech, Sviatlana read the poem “The Oath” by Michaś Čarot, which the poet scratched into the wall of his prison cell in Minsk before he was executed in 1937.
