Forest-Protector
Uladzimir Hramovich
When we hear about partisans, we immediately imagine people in a military uniform, sometimes bearded, in the forest, where there are dugouts and some organized partisan life. Did the partisans really look like that, though? How accurate are wartime artifacts? How was it possible to record the face of a partisan in the wartime? Finally, how can one see what was meant to remain hidden?
On August 2, 1967, the magazine "Literature and Art", No. 31, published a small article about a photo of Ales Adamovich in a partisan squad. Among other things, the article contained Adamovich's comments regarding the circumstances of the picture:
"In this photo published for the first time there are fighters of the partisan squad named after Kirov and among them there is A. Adamovich (author's note - in the center). He was fifteen years old then. He came to the squad together with his mother. Wait a minute, though, why do fighters have such a civilian look?
The writer A. Adamovich said: "When we were taking pictures, partisan Trakhleb (he is on the far left in the picture) asked us: put away the weapons, guys. I want to send a photo to my mother. She lives in a German garrison. What if someone sees that her son is among partisans?
So here in this picture we already look like peaceful guys, either tourists, or interns-foresters. And two steps away from us there are dugouts, wedges, weapons workshop, hospital, kitchen, steam mill, that of the partisans, but serving the population as well – in short, a solid Belarusian partisan camp of 1943, from where the partisans entered the battle and where they returned, keeping entire districts under their control. The whole of Belarus was a combat partisan camp then."
In these memories of Adamovich, the description of what remained behind the frame and could give the impression that the photo is "not of peaceful guys" seems to be the most interesting.
That is, not the seen, but the excluded from the frame indirectly indicated that in front of us were partisans, not students or tourists. Without the participant's story, we wouldn't know what was beyond the photo card. It gives us the opportunity to take a closer look at the seemingly ordinary pictures of the middle of the last century. Look at the faces of people who can only seem to be tourists or mushroom pickers, and try to "see" the hidden.
There was a lot hidden. Here, for example, is a photo of Adamovich of the same year, where a partisan wedge is leaving the forest. Not so sharp in quality, but rare in terms of documentation, the photo shows us well what the forest was like for Belarusians during the war. It was not only a home, but also a protector.
In 1985, Elem Klimov released his film "Go and See". The script was based on Ales Adamovich's books "Hatyn Story", "Partisans", "Executioners" and "I am from the burned village..." At the beginning of the film, when the main character Fleur finds himself in a partisan unit in the forest, one can see how partisan photos were taken. Viktar Manayeu, who plays the photographer, with a touch of irony and grotesqueness, earnestly tries to compose the shot perfectly, because, as his character says, "There is just one record left for everyone”.
"Partisan Republic" with the advent of Perestroika began to change and deconstruct, to teem with new, previously unknown documents and historical discoveries. Together with these changes, one started to reconsider the relationship between man and nature. The times of melioration and industrialization turned out to be not as straightforward as they had seemed before. In the socialist understanding, nature is something that must be conquered and reworked for the benefit of the man. Socialism and the productivity of the land as the epitome of progress served as the indisputable moral basis for the transformation of the landscape, but this all changed dramatically in April 1986.
Forest-Enemy
During the war, the forest was home to guerrillas and people under occupation, but in 1986, the forest, fields and rivers happened to become places of danger. The "enemy" was spilt in the air and scattered on the ground. The Charnobyl accident became the enemy invisible to the human eye, which one had to learn to see.
There came a disaster that Belarusians had never faced before. A huge territory of the country got contaminated with radiation. The whole earth, and with it the forest, were poisoned by a new, unfamiliar and invisible enemy. Adamovich was one of the first to sound the alarm talking about the global danger to all living things, as well as the special damage caused to Belarus, because our territory received the largest share of radiation pollution.
Here are the entries we can find in Adamovich's diaries in the first months after the tragedy:
May 1986.
"From the cloud floating ominously over the north of Ukraine and the south of Belarus, there appeared a face, not at all holy. Stalin’s face. What does it have to do with all of this? A lot.
As in 1941, the war is already rumbling, and those who are supposed to make decisions, crook their heads looking up to him, trying to hear his order: to consider or not to consider this a war? They found out that the nuclear power plant had exploded, that it went to Belarus, long-suffering, again, Nestsiarenka is running around, telling everyone: it is coming! It's coming! It is necessary to warn the population! The same is obviously happening in Kyiv, but the officials formed by him have one thought: What will they tell us? Die, but check yourself! Die, but mind politics above all! Those 18-year-old girls who are now in the Minsk hospital would not have received 1,000 x-rays, because they would not have stood on the windows, they would not have washed them, but they would have closed them. And how many are there? We don't know, time will show and it's scary to think."
In these records, one can trace how Adamovich compares Charnobyl to war and how the catastrophe, which was not visible, but which covered a significant part of the territory, was criminally silenced. The tragedy at the Charnobyl nuclear power plant became that historical moment when the post-war narratives began to disintegrate and when one began to revise the social landscape, which had been built by the victors under the pressure of political crises. The generation led by such people as the former partisan Masherau began to leave, and with it the reality was changing, which required learning new ways of considering, perceiving and reacting to changes.
Władysław Strzemiński, a Polish avant-garde artist, theoretician and vanguard, born in Minsk, has a unique book prepared after the Second World War, but published after his death, entitled "Theory of Vision". This book is a collection of lectures and texts by the creator, where he traces how an artistic image or simply drawing and composition changed throughout the known history of mankind. From ancient rock linear graffiti to the Renaissance and on to Impressionism. The book shows how scientific knowledge and experience have changed people's perception of nature and reality and how it affected art works and art history. Unfortunately, the artist did not leave any reflections on how the post-war reality changed and how the witnesses of the events saw it.
The collection "People of the Forest" ends with the 1980s, the time of significant political and natural changes in our land, and we can reflect and try to invent our own personal way of "theory of vision", to consider what is hidden behind seemingly ordinary photos of the forest and people in it. Look at the thickets and the undergrowth; look closely at those who decided to record this moment in their lives. Try to see in a new way what was hidden by time or what a careless look oversaw. To see partisans in ordinary young guys in the forest or to see in a peaceful forest landscape a person who is worried about what is covert in this pleasant fresh green of trees and grasses.
ЛЕС-АБАРОНЦА
Уладзімір Грамовіч
Калі мы чуем пра партызанаў, то адразу ўяўляем людзей ў ваеннай форме, часам з бародамі, у лесе, дзе ёсць зямлянкі і наладжанае партызанскае жыццё. Але ці сапраўды так выглядалі партызаны? Наколькі дакладнымі з'яўляюцца артэфакты часоў вайны? Як можна было ў ваенны час зафіксаваць аблічча партызана? І, нарэшце, як можна ўбачыць тое, што па прызначэнні павінна заставацца схаваным?
ЛЕС-ВОРАГ
Падчас вайны лес быў домам для партызанаў і людзей ва ўмовах акупацыі, але ў 1986 годзе здарылася так, што лес, палі і рэкі сталі месцам небяспекі. «Вораг» быў разліты ў паветры і рассыпанны па зямлі. Чарнобыльская аварыя сталася тым нябачным чалавечаму воку ворагам, якога трэба было яшчэ навучыцца бачыць.
Уладзімір Грамовіч
Калі мы чуем пра партызанаў, то адразу ўяўляем людзей ў ваеннай форме, часам з бародамі, у лесе, дзе ёсць зямлянкі і наладжанае партызанскае жыццё. Але ці сапраўды так выглядалі партызаны? Наколькі дакладнымі з'яўляюцца артэфакты часоў вайны? Як можна было ў ваенны час зафіксаваць аблічча партызана? І, нарэшце, як можна ўбачыць тое, што па прызначэнні павінна заставацца схаваным?
2 жніўня 1967 года ў часопісе “Літаратура і мастацтва” №31 выйшаў невялікі артыкул пра фотаздымак Алеся Адамовіча ў партызанскім атрадзе. Апроч іншага, артыкул утрымліваў каментары Адамовіча пра абставіны ўзнікнення здымка:
«На этом впервые публикуемом снимке – бойцы партизанского отряда имени Кирова и среди них – А. Адамович (Пазн. аўтара – у цэнтры). Было ему тогда пятнадцать лет. В отряд он пришел вместе с матерью. Но позвольте, почему у бойцов такой штатский вид?
Писатель А. Адамович рассказал: «Когда мы фотографировались, партизан Трахлеб (на снимке он крайний слева) попросил нас: уберите, хлопцы, оружие. Я матери хочу переслать фото. Она в немецком гарнизоне живет. Вдруг кто увидит, что сын в партизанах?
И вот на этом снимке мы уже выглядим как мирные ребята – не то туристы, не то практиканты-лесоводы. А в двух шагах от нас – землянки, танкетки, оружейная мастерская, госпиталь, кухня, паровая мельница, партизанская, но обслуживающая и население, – словом, основательный белорусский партизанский лагерь 1943 года, откуда уходили на бой и куда возвращались партизаны, державшие под полным контролем целые районы. Вся Беларусь была боевым партизанским лагерем».
У гэтых успамінах Адамовіча найбольш цікавым падаецца апісанне таго, што засталося за кадрам і магло б выдаць, што на фота – “не мірныя рабяты”.
То бок не ўбачанае, а выключанае з кадра ўскосна абазначала, што перад намі менавіта партызаны, а не студэнты ці турысты. Без гісторыі ўдзельніка мы б не даведаліся пра тое, што было за межамі фотакарткі. Яна дае нам магчымасць больш пільна ўгледзецца ў, здавалася б, звычайныя здымкі сярэдзіны мінулага стагоддзя. Глядзець на твары людзей, якія могуць толькі падавацца турыстамі ці грыбнікамі, і старацца “бачыць” схаванае.
А схаванае было шмат што. Вось, напрыклад, фотаздымак Адамовіча таго ж года, дзе партызанская танкетка выязджае з лесу. Ужо не такі рэзкі па якасці, але рэдкі па дакументальнасці фотаздымак добра паказвае нам, чым быў для беларусаў лес падчас вайны. Ён быў не толькі домам, але і абаронцам.
У 1985 годзе выходзіць фільм “Ідзі і глядзі” Элема Клімава. За аснову сцэнара былі ўзятыя кнігі Алеся Адамовіча “Хатынская аповесць”, “Партызаны”, “Карнікі” і “Я з вогненнай вескі…”. На пачатку фільма, калі галоўны герой Флёра апынаецца ў партызанскім атрадзе ў лесе, можна нібы падгледзець, як рабіліся партызанскія фотаздымкі: Віктар Манаеў, які грае фатографа з доляй іроніі і гратэску, надта стараецца ідэальна скампанаваць кадр, бо, як кажа яго герой, “Адна пласцінка засталася на ўсіх!”.
“Рэспубліка-партызанка” з пачаткам перабудовы пачынае змяняцца і дэканструявацца, напаўняцца новымі, раней невядомымі дакументамі і гістарычнымі адкрыццямі. Разам з гэтымі зменамі пачынаюць пераасэнсоўвацца і адносіны чалавека з прыродай. Часы меліярацыі і індустрыялізацыі выявіліся не такімі адназначнымі, як здавалася раней. У сацыялістычным разуменні прырода – гэта тое, што павінна быць пераможана і перапрацавана на карысць чалавека. Сацыялізм і прадуктыўнасць зямлі як увасабленне прагрэсу служылі бясспрэчнай маральнай асновай пераўтварэння ландшафту, але гэта ўсё кардынальна змянілася ў красавіку 1986 года.
ЛЕС-ВОРАГ