On Tuesday evening, January 9, 2023, the audiovisual hall of the Sybir Memorial Museum was filled with representatives of Sybiraks’ unions and associations, as well as friends of the Museum and representatives of the city of Białystok. An important point of the meeting was the presentation of the radio play “The Nativity Play from Tara”.

During the evening, there was a ceremonial presentation of awards granted by the Association of Sybiraks. This is an important distinction for those who constantly work to keep the memory of the history of struggle and martyrdom of Poles exiled to Sybir.

The awards were presented by Jolanta Hryniewicka, President of the Białystok branch of the Association of Sybiraks:

– With great kindness and cordiality, we would like to present our Sybiraks’ award, a commemorative medal of the 95th anniversary of the Association of Sybiraks, to President Rafał Rudnicki. Thank you for caring – she said.

The second awarded person was Artur Fiłonowicz. – Thank you for your help – said President Hryniewicka. – It’s an honor and a privilege  – replied the awarded person.

The special guests of the meeting were actors representing theaters in Białystok and Gdańsk, headed by Marek Tyszkiewicz and Andrzej Żak, the originators of recording nativity plays based on Sybiraks’ notes. They presented the Museum’s latest publication, “The Nativity Play from Tara by the Irtysh River.”

The radio play was recorded on the basis of a unique gift received by the Museum in the writing form of nativity plays played over a hundred years ago in the community of Polish exiles and their families.

The creation of this publication was accompanied by months of hard, but very necessary and valuable work by the team of the Sybir Memorial Museum and actors from Białystok and Gdańsk, headed by Andrzej Żak – the director of the radio play. The publication can be purchased in the museum shop.

Here you can read the history of the nativity play from Tara by the Irtysh River.

The meeting ended with a concert of carols and pastorals performed by the Chamber Choir of the University of Białystok, conducted by prof. Edward Kulikowski, who introduced the audience to the magical atmosphere of the New Year.