“The Night of executed poets,” also known as the “Black night,” stands as one of the most tragic events in Belarusian history. On the night of October 29-30, 1937, in a singularity of “The Great Terror” raging in the Soviet Union, more than 130 members of the Belarusian intellectual elite – scientists, politicians, cultural activists, as well as poets and writers – were executed. Out of 22 poets and writers were figures such as Todar Klasztorny, Anatol Volny, and Michal Czarat, who wrote his final poem, “Oath,” on the wall of the Minsk internal prison… Before they were executed, the authorities destroyed their achevements, burning unpublished manuscripts in the prison courtyard. The murdered intellectuals were buried in Kurapaty, along with hundreds of thousands of other victims of Soviet brutality, including Poles killed during the so-called Polish Operation of the NKVD, as well as some of the victims of the Katyn Massacre.

Volny Choir was formed during the 2020 protests in Belarus and remains a symbol of resistance against the regime of Alexander Lukashenko. Banned in Belarus, the choir performs abroad. The members appear in costumes that cover their faces, preserving their anonymity.

The multimedia room of the Sybir Memorial Museum was filled to the brim, and those who did not fit into the room were standing on the hollways listening to the Belarusian songs entangled with short biographies of the murdered writers and fragments of their poetry. It was an unforgettable commemoration evening.