A monument to Kalinovsky

NGO "Right alliance" started collection of signatures for construction a monument of Kastus Kalinovsky in Minsk.

NGO, 22(380) 11.06.2004 www.ngo.by

Will a Monument to Kastus Kalinovsky be Erected in Minsk?

By Galina Abokunchik

The architecture committee of the Minsk Executive Committee suggested setting a monument to Belarus' national hero Kastus Kalinovsky in Minsk Pervomaisky district. The project was initiated by a group of Minsk citizens who signed a request addressed to the city authorities. Now the Pervomaisky district authorities have submitted the project for the government's final approval.

First, the Pervomaisky district authorities turned to the city administration for their assistance in rebuilding the park at the crossroads of Pervomaiskaya and Zakharova streets. The city authorities' counteroffer to place a monument to Kastus Kalinovsky came as a surprise for district officials, so they haven't taken any further actions to implement the proposal so far. Deputy Head of the district executive committee Nikolay Metlitsky said: "I haven't made decision about Kastus Kalinovsky. As a rule, such projects are timed to some memorable dates. It is possible that such a date may come next year and the government will pass a decree to commemorate the date."

The youth movement "Right Alliance" has been pressing on the city authorities to place a monument to Kastus Kalinovsky for a long time. Activists of the youth movement renewed themselves the memorial plaque to Kastus Kalinovsky that was stolen from the Vilnius cinema building in 1998. The stolen memorial plaque was planned to be placed on 25 March when Belarusian oppositionists celebrate the Independence Day. However, the memorial sign was taken away by riot squad officers. Then the alliance members gathered more than 500 signatures of Minsk citizens to address the city authorities and the government with the request to renew the memorial plaque and to set a monument to the national hero in the Belarusian capital, alliance's leader Yuras Karetnikov told Radio Liberty. "The Minsk Executive Committee responded that a monument to Kastus Kalinovsky is to be placed at the crossroads of Pervomaiskaya and Zakharova streets. They also said that the Pervomaisky district authorities were instructed to renew the memorial tablet on the Vilnius cinema building by October. We have proper official papers," Yuras Karetnikov said.

I asked Pervomaisky district official Mikhail Krokhmal whether they are doing anything to renew the stolen plaque to Kastus Kalinovsky. "We can't renew on our own a memorial tablet neither to Kalinovsky nor to others. Two more memorial tablets were stolen - to Karbyshev and Fogel. They were renewed by the city authorities without our assistance."

Historian Leonid Lych explained the reluctance of government officials to commemorate Kastus Kalinovsky: "The authorities' unwillingness to commemorate Kalinovsky's memory is accounted for the fact that it would oblige them to remember other outstanding people that made a significant contribution to the cause of Belarusian state independence. We haven't forgotten yet our old principles of glorifying those people whose actions caused tremendous damage to the Belarusian people instead of commemorating our national heroes."

This summer the House of Representatives has abolished the state order of Kastus Kalinovsky, Radio Liberty reported earlier.

Belarus today, 17.08.2004 www.belarustoday.info