Ales Prudnikau (April 14, 1910 – August 5, 1941) was a

Belarus Belarus, officially the Republic of Belarus, is a landlocked country in Eastern Europe. It is bordered by Russia to the east and northeast, Ukraine to the south, Poland to the west, and Lithuania and Latvia to the northwest. Belarus spans an a ...

ian poet. He was a cousin of another Belarusian writer, Pavel Prudnikau.

Biography

Ales Prudnikau was born into a peasant family. His father Traphim was called to the front at the time of

World War I World War I or the First World War (28 July 1914 – 11 November 1918), also known as the Great War, was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War I, Allies (or Entente) and the Central Powers. Fighting to ...

, he was badly injured and died soon after. Because of the unstable situation Ales couldn't find a constant place to study for a long time. In 1924-1930 he was studying in the seven-years school in the village Miloslavicy. In 1930 he worked on the building of the railway

Asipovichy Asipovichy (; ) is a town in Mogilev Region, Belarus. It serves as the administrative center of Asipovichy District. It is located southwest of Mogilev, south of the Minsk-Gomel expressway. It is located at the junction of railway lines betwe ...

Mahilyow Mogilev (; , ), also transliterated as Mahilyow (, ), is a city in eastern Belarus. It is located on the Dnieper, Dnieper River, about from the Belarus–Russia border, border with Russia's Smolensk Oblast and from Bryansk Oblast. As of 2024, ...

Roslavl Roslavl (, ) is a town and the administrative center of Roslavlsky District in Smolensk Oblast, Russia. It is a road and rail junction and a market town. Population: History Roslavl was founded as Rostislavl in the 1130s or 1140s. The name is ...

, then in 1931 he worked in Minsk (in editory, in

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). In 1932-1933 he was studying at the creative department of the Minsk pedagogical institute. In March 1933 he was arrested but after eight months was liberated and was called up to the

Red Army The Workers' and Peasants' Red Army, often shortened to the Red Army, was the army and air force of the Russian Soviet Republic and, from 1922, the Soviet Union. The army was established in January 1918 by a decree of the Council of People ...

, where he served until 1935. In 1935-1936 he worked on the local Klimovichy newspaper "Kamuna". In 1938 he graduated from the Leningrad pedagogical institute. He worked as the teacher, then as inspector of the Petrovo (now Kondopoga) raion of

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(in 1940-1956 - the

Karelo-Finnish Soviet Socialist Republic The Karelo-Finnish Soviet Socialist Republic (Karelo-Finnish SSR), also called Soviet Karelia or simply known as Karelia, was a republic of the Soviet Union. It existed from 31 March 1940 until it was made part of the Russian SFSR on 16 July 1956 ...

), at the same time was studying at the philological faculty of the Karelian University. Since the first days of the

German invasion of the Soviet Union Operation Barbarossa was the invasion of the Soviet Union by Nazi Germany and several of its European Axis allies starting on Sunday, 22 June 1941, during World War II. More than 3.8 million Axis troops invaded the western Soviet Union along a ...

, he was an intelligence operator at the front. He was killed on August 5, 1941, near the village Utuki of Kondopoga raion. He was rehabilitated in 1956.

Creative activity

Ales Prudnikau began his creative activity as a school poet together with his cousin Pavel Prudnikau in 1926. The time of his studying coincided with the process of

belarusization Belarusization () was a policy of protection and advancement of the Belarusian language and recruitment and promotion of Belarusian nationalists within the government of the Belarusian SSR (BSSR) and the Belarusian Communist Party, conducted by ...

BSSR The Byelorussian Soviet Socialist Republic (BSSR, Byelorussian SSR or Byelorussia; ; ), also known as Soviet Belarus or simply Belarus, was a republic of the Soviet Union (USSR). It existed between 1920 and 1922 as an independent state, and ...

, so it he began to write his verses in

Belarusian Belarusian may refer to: * Something of, or related to Belarus * Belarusians, people from Belarus, or of Belarusian descent * A citizen of Belarus, see Demographics of Belarus * Belarusian language * Belarusian culture * Belarusian cuisine * Byelor ...

. At the same time he was an informal correspondent for some newspapers. For example, after a treasure of ancient coins had been found in the village Stary Dzedzin, he wrote a report to the newspaper "Belarusian village" () together with Pavel. ''(For more information, look an article Stary Dzedzin)''. His first verses were published in 1930. In 1932 he wrote a poem "Stars of the Earth" () which was published as a book where he told about buildings of the

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.Памяць. С. 624. Some of his verses were published in the book "With the Blood of the Heart" (, 1967).

Editions of works

* Пруднікаў, А. Зямныя зоры / Алесь Пруднікаў. - Мн., Дзяржаўнае выдавецтва Беларусі, 1932. (Bel.) * Крывёю сэрца / укладальнік А. Вялюгін. - Мн., Беларусь, 1967. С. 116-122. (Bel.)

Literature

*Беларуская энцыклапедыя: У 18 т. Т. 13. - Мн.: БелЭн, 2001. - С. 48.''Беларуская энцыклапедыя'': У 18 т. Т. 13: Праміле - Рэлаксін/ Рэдкал.: Г. П. Пашкоў і інш. - Мн.: БелЭн, 2001. - 576 с.: іл. - С. 48. *''Беларускія пісьменнікі (1917–1990): Даведнік'' / Склад. А. К. Гардзінскі; Нав. рэд. А. Л. Верабей. - Мн., Маст. літ., 1994. - С. 441-442. *Маракоў Л. ''Рэпрэсаваныя літаратары, навукоўцы, работнікі асветы, грамадскія і культурныя дзеячы Беларусі. 1794-1991. Том II.'' С. 159-160. *''Памяць: Гіст.-дакум. хроніка Клімавіцк. р-на.'' - Мн.: Універсітэцкае, 1995. - 645 с.: іл. - С. 624. *Пруднікаў П. ''Далёкае, але не забытае: Успаміны.'' - Мн., Маст. літ., 1988. - 175 с. - С. 149-154.

Notes

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