Каліноўскі на Свабодзе

Radio Svaboda has for the past two decades been returning Kastus Kalinouski (1838–1864) to the epicenter of civic thought, historical research and political discourse. Kalinouski was one of the leaders of an anti-Russian uprising in 1863, the creator of the first Belarusian government, and the founding father of political Belarus as a national idea and a country. Kalinouski was hanged by Tsarist authorities in Vilnius on 22 March 1864, his remains and those of 25 others buried in an unmarked grave. In 2001, Radio Svaboda began a quest to locate the grave of the insurgents; it maintained focus on the fate of Kalinouski until the culminating date of November 2019, when the remains of the insurgents were reinterred in a state ceremony in Vilnius, Lithuania. Among those present at the solemn rites were the presidents of Lithuania and Poland, representatives of the government of Belarus, cardinals and bishops from three countries, and thousands of national flag-bearing pilgrims from Belarus. “Kalinouski on Svaboda” is a compilation of reports, interviews, news items and research papers which reflect the complicated path of Belarusian independence in the 21st century. Writer and RFE/RL journalist Siarhiej Dubaviec, who started the Kalinouski conversation on Radio Svaboda in 2001, compiled and edited the book.