Ales Bialiatski
Ales Ruzhantsoŭ… Yet another half-forgotten name in the constellation of our culture.
It is no wonder that one researcher of Belarusian literature, writing about the early twentieth century, said that the life story of many pioneers of Belarusian belles-lettres could serve as the basis for an adventure novel. Such was the dramatic life of Aliaksandr Ruzhantsoŭ, rich in events and changes. One thing can be said with certainty — throughout his entire life he carried a deep love for his Fatherland.
Ales Ruzhantsoŭ
Aliaksandr Ruzhantsoŭ was born on August 12, 1893, in Viazma, Smolensk region, on ethnographically Belarusian lands, into a well-known noble family. From this same family came the famous political caricaturist A. Ruzhantsoŭ, who during the first revolution of 1905 was forced to hide from the police because of his satirical caricatures of the tsar.
Ales received a higher education at the History and Philology Faculty of Moscow University. He participated in the First World War, and in 1919 served in the Lithuanian army as commander of a Belarusian battalion.
From 1921, Ruzhantsoŭ headed the central military library in Kaunas. During this time, he wrote poetry in Belarusian under the pseudonym Ales Smalenets, and studied the history of the Belarusian military in the Grand Duchy of Lithuania.
He published extensively on the history of the Belarusian military in “Kryvičy” — a Belarusian journal in Kaunas, edited by Vatslau Lastoŭski. In addition, he worked on Lithuanian bibliography, preparing reference works in Lithuanian, including a bibliography of all Belarusian military publications in Lithuania.
Maksim Haretski, in his review “Belarusian Literature after ‘Nasha Niva’,” noted: “Among the other Belarusian workers in Kaunas, one should mention A. Smalenets. Already in the Vilnius newspapers of 1921–1922, several of his poems were published, powerful in thought and quite original in form. Besides that, Ales Smalenets translates Belarusian poets into Lithuanian and Lithuanian poets into Belarusian, and also engages in scholarly activity.”
Ales Smalenets prepared a poetry collection titled “In the Native Land,” the manuscript of which, unfortunately, is unknown to us.
Ales Ruzhantsoŭ consistently worked on Lithuanian and Belarusian bibliography, holding the position of head of affairs at the Lithuanian Bibliographic Institute.
In 1931, Ales Smalenets co-founded the Lithuanian Librarians’ Association. He also researched the history of the uprisings of 1831 and 1863 in Kaunas.
A. Ruzhantsoŭ’s residence in Vilnius
In 1944, Ales Smalenets left for Germany, and in 1949 — for the United States. But even there, abroad, he remembered his Homeland. In the Lithuanian Encyclopedia, published in Boston in 1959, his articles “Yanka Kupala” and “Yakub Kolas” were included.
Ales Ruzhantsoŭ died on July 23, 1966, in Danville, Illinois.
An interesting page in our culture remains his journalistic and scholarly articles, and especially his poems — distinctive and melodious, like small watercolor sketches by a talented master. It is a great pity that the poet’s talent was not supported in its time, and the conditions of a life spent mostly abroad were not conducive to its development.
ALES RUZHANTSOŬ
THE EXECUTION
(dedicated to Maksim Haretski)
A flash of lightning in the brain: “I shall die!”
And the thought in a bloody whirl of time…
And into the unconscious body, so thirstily,
The bullets thrust their sharp little faces.
And it fell. And moans were heard
By the dark brick wall.
Suddenly the lanterns went out… Puffing on a cigarette,
Someone among the sailors cursed loudly…
On the snow a bloody stain reddened:
The gate of life had closed.
05.03.1922
ON THE OLD POSITION
Wherever you look — cannons, mines in abundance,
Trenches, rails, and the gates of fox burrows,
On the battery, two carriages without guns —
Silent witnesses of an unforgettable drama.
The wire hangs slack. The trench has caved in.
In its ditch, snakes coil in a tangle.
No people… The farmers are in foreign lands…
God knows if they will ever return.
1921
The creative legacy of Ales Smalenets belongs to two peoples — Belarusian and Lithuanian — and represents yet another thread connecting our fraternal nations.
Tragic was the fate of the Belarusian intelligentsia, scattered across the entire world, deprived of the opportunity to work for their people. And all the more precious for us is the cultural heritage of the pioneers of the Belarusian Revival, its devoted knights.
From the archive of Ales Bialiatski.
Source: Bialiatski A. Illuminated by Belarusianness. Vilnius, 2013. Pp. 317–320.