Ignat Dvorchanin (1895-1937) was a multitalented person, scholar, literary critic, poet, publicist, translator, historian, teacher, publisher, public, cultural, educational and political figure.
He was born in Pogiri village of the Slonim district in the Grodno province (now Dyatlovo district of the Grodno region). After graduating from the Dyatlovo higher school he worked as a public teacher in Khmelnitsa village of the Slonim district from 1912 to 1915. In 1915, he was called up for military service. In the middle of 1917, he came to Minsk, engaged in propaganda work among soldiers, took part in the preparation of the All-Belarusian Congress. He was appointed Secretary of the Cultural and Educational Department of the Belarusian National Commission in Moscow and worked for "Dzyannitsa" newspaper in 1918. In 1920, I. Dvorchanin became a non-degree student of the Vilna Belarusian Gymnasium. Having graduated from the institution, he was then sent to Dvinsk (now Daugavpils, Latvia), where he organized Belarusian teacher's courses, lectured on the Belarusian language and literature, created a Belarusian theatre group and choir, cultural and educational society of Belarusians "Batskaushchyna."
In 1921, Ignat Dvorchanin entered Prague University. He actively participated in public and political life and was one of the leaders of the Belarusian Student's Association. In 1925, he graduated from the university with a Ph.D. degree (the topic of his dissertation was “Francysk Skaryna as a Cultural Figure and Humanist on the Belarusian Soil”).
Since 1926 (after returning to Vilnius) I. Dvorchanin fulfilled assignments of the Central Secretariat of the Belarusian Farmers and Workers Community, was a member of the General Directorate of the Belarusian School Society and taught at the Vilnia Belarusian Gymnasium. Later he became Deputy Chairperson of the revolutionary democratic organization "Zmaganne". In his speeches, he defended the rights of the Belarusians of Western Belarus. In 1930, he was arrested by the Polish authorities and sentenced to 8 years in prison. As a result of the exchange of political prisoners between the USSR and Poland in 1932, he was released and moved to Minsk. He worked in the Commission for the Study of Western Belarus at the Academy of Sciences of the BSSR and was Acting Director of the Institute of Linguistics. He was arrested in 1933 and sent to a camp for 10 years. He was again convicted in 1937 and executed on December 8 of the same year. Rehabilitated in 1956
I. Dvorchanin appeared in media in 1917. His works were published in the periodicals “Dzyannitsa”, “Rodnyia Goni”, “Malanka”, “Our Way”, “Belarusian School in Latvia”, “Young Life” and others. While studying in Prague, he also took an active part in literary life, made presentations, printed poems in student magazines “Pramen”, “Student's Thought”, “Peravyasla”. The main motives of I. Dvorchanin's pieces were the struggle for the revival of the Belarusian culture, the recognition by the Belarusian people of their historical and political dignity, and equality with other peoples. Under the pseudonym I. Gudok, he translated the poem by A. Blok “The Twelve” into Belarusian (Vilnia, 1926).
A real event in the socio-cultural life of Western Belarus was the “A Chrestomathy of the New Belarusian Literature (dated 1905)” prepared by I. Dvorchanin and published in 1927 in Vilnia (in the form of a full edition and separate issues). The publication played a huge role in schooling and the patriotic education of youth. Here there were the best pieces by Belarusian writers (Yadvigin Sh., Ciotka, Yanka Kupala, Yakub Kolas, M. Bogdanovich, Z. Byadulya, F. Alekhnovich and others), brief comments on their life and career.
The collections of the National Library contain publications of Ignat Dvorchanin himself (including lifetime ones), as well as materials about him. You can find them through the e-catalogue. Information about his life and work is contained in the factographic database “Belarus in Persons and Events”. Digital copies of his individual works are presented in the virtual resource “Belarusian Literary Heritage. 1919-1939 Journals.”
Bibliology Research Department
