Hermanavichy: Following the Modern Paths of the 'Eternal Wanderer' Dryzdwicz

Monuments of past writing about the initial formation of Slavic settlements include the ancient chronicle "The Tale of Bygone Years" and its continuation in the Laurentian, Hypatian, and other archival codices. When describing past events in written monuments, many Belarusian settlements are mentioned.

In the documents of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania of 1563, the village of Hermanovichi is first noted as the property of the Sapieha family on the border of the Vilnius and Polotsk voivodeships.

In 1739, Józef Stanisław Sapieha sold the estate to Jan von Eckel Gilzen. Hermanovichi became the center of a separate estate, to which the surrounding villages of Atoki, Bely Dvor, Marijampol, Peremeny, Puzany, Rechki, and Yuzefov were attached. The next owners of Hermanovichi were the Szczyrba family. They founded a church and a chapel here.

After the second partition of the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth, the town found itself in the Disna district of the Vilnius Governorate of the Russian Empire. Later, it became the center of a volost. A distillery, a water mill, a shop, and a tavern began to operate.Maja Yakimovich visited the Jazep Drozdovich Art and Ethnographic Museum, located in a magnificent building. The exhibition halls are situated on two floors. Half of the palace is occupied by a kindergarten. It is planned to relocate it to a school, and expand the exhibitions in the vacated premises.

The museum director, Ludmila Navitskaya, is pleased that tourists visit Hermanovichi all year round. On this day, they were expecting a group of guests from the capital. Last year marked the 130th anniversary of Jazep Drozdovich's birth. Over a thousand excursionists visited the museum.

Ada RAICHONAK, Chairperson of the district organization of the public association "Belarusian Association of Former Minor Prisoners of Fascism".

We walked through the halls, rich in exhibits, with Ludmila Navitskaya and scientific collaborators Tatsiana Kotovich and Elena Molokova. In two rooms on the first floor, peasant life exhibits are impressive. There are many works by blacksmiths, coopers, weavers, potters, and basket makers.

The exposition on the second floor tells about the life and work of the "eternal wanderer" Jazep Drozdovich. His childhood was spent in the hamlet of Punkі, which existed near Hermanovichi. From a young age, the peasant son's abilities manifested. His drawings adorned the covers of the "First Belarusian Calendar for 1910" and Kanstantsia Bujlo's book "Kurhannaya Kvetka".

Father Jan PUGACHOU.

After serving in the Tsar's army in 1917, Drozdovich returned to his native lands. He lived with relatives on the farmstead Leonovka, near Hermanovichi. Drozdovich wrote about the concerns of his fellow farmers in materials published in the newspaper "Nasha Niva".

In the 1930s, when the area was under Polish rule, he, along with Michas Mashara and Janka Pachopka, created a cultural center in Hermanovichi.

The family of potters Hanna and Siarhei RYMDZIONAK.

Jazep Narcyzavich had a wide range of interests: history, archaeology, ethnography, literature, astronomy. Traveling through the villages of the Dvina regionand Polesie, recorded and processed folk vocabulary for dictionaries. He wrote poems and kept diaries. During one of Drazdovich's trips around the Vitebsk region, peasants found him unconscious. He was taken to the hospital, but it was not possible to save him. A bas-relief has been installed on his grave near the village of Malyye Davydki in the Glubokoye district, a bust in the district center of Glubokoye, and a monument to the "eternal wanderer" in the Trinity Suburb of the capital. The National Museum of Belarus held an exhibition "The World of Yuzef Drazdovich." Streets in the capital's Loshitsa microdistrict, in Orsha, Molodechno, Glubokoye, Sharkovshchina, Radashkovichi, and Novogrudok are named in honor of the national artist. His works are kept in the National Museum of History and Culture of Belarus, the National Museum of Lithuania, and other museums and libraries.

The creation of the Yuzef Drazdovich Art and Ethnographic Museum in Hermanovichi was initiated by educator Ada Raychonak. Without her personality, the history of Hermanovichi would be incomplete, so my next acquaintance is with this amateur historian and cultural figure. Creating museums is her element. A former prisoner of the Vitebsk ghetto, Ada Elyevna heads the district organization of the public association "Belarusian Association of Former Minor Prisoners of Fascism." In peacetime, she graduated from the Polotsk Pedagogical College and taught in the village of Malyye Alashki in the Sharkovshchina district – the birthplace of the famous breeder Ivan Sikora. Ada Elyevna studied by correspondence at the Pskov Pedagogical Institute. She used books from Sikora's rich library. At the initiative of the teacher, a museum of the renowned scientist was created in Malyye Alashki.

Graduates of Hermanovichi Secondary School of the 1976 class: Vera Zuy, Anatoliy Udodkin, Galina Garlukovich (Rimdzyonak), Alyaksandr Pyatkevich, Ada Turonak (Redzko), Stefan Katovich.

After getting married, Ada Elyevna moved with her family to Hermanovichi. Here, her husband Oleg Georgievich was the chairman of the collective farm. The teacher also created an art gallery named after her late son Mikhas. One of the halls is dedicated to the Holocaust. The hostess of the gallery organizes plein airs for artists from Belarus and neighboring countries.tries. The exhibition is replenished with new canvases.

The meeting with potters Anna and Sergey Rymdzionok was also interesting. They converted the former dairy farm of the farm into a workshop. Its head, Sergey Leonidovich, is a member of the Belarusian Union of Folk Art Masters. He shares his experience with young potters. Young Dmitry Smolykov was found making pottery. On an electric potter's wheel, a lump of clay took the shape of a vase under the teenager's skillful hands. The pottery is fired in a special electric kiln. Shelves are decorated with vases, cups, figurines, whistles, souvenirs.

Large family of Lyudmila and Alexander ABRAMCHIKOV.

Sergey Leonidovich, sensing my interest in the craft, explained that not all clay is suitable for pottery. They found a special deposit near Germanovichi. A weaving club also operates here. Under the experienced Anna Rymdzionok, girls are learning to weave beautiful rugs, napkins, towels, runners, and carpets. The masters' products are in demand at fairs, holidays, and events.

Last year, Sergey Rymdzionok was recognized as the best in the nomination "Folk Decorative and Applied Art" of the republican competition "Person of the Year in Culture." Dmitry Smolykov received a special prize "Whistle of the Best Sound" at the "Slavianski Bazaar" in Vitebsk.

The amateur musical group "Garmoniya" of the Center for Culture and Folk Traditions was awarded the honorary title of "People's." "Vyalikasel'skiya vyachorki" is popular with rural audiences. Every year in June, it has become a tradition to hold a holiday of the agro-town. Last year, the celebration was dedicated to the 455th anniversary of Germanovichi.

Driver of OJSC "Knyazh" Artyom MISHUTA.

The elders remember the wonderful sound of the church organgan. During the era of mass atheism, the church was turned into a collective farm warehouse. The unique musical instrument was destroyed. Of all the priests, Hermanovich had to meet only with Father Jan Pugachev that day. He hopes that the organ will be restored.

The shrine is in its third century. The two-story Shirinov Palace, surrounded by a shady park, is the same age. Between these architectural monuments stands a three-story school building. At the end of summer, graduates of 1976 met here. That year, 64 students from two classes received their diplomas.

And this year, only five first-graders will cross the school threshold. Among them is Ilya Abramchik from a large family. Everything is ready for school for him, as well as for his older siblings, brother Kirill and sister Nadezhda. The youngest in the family, Eva, is not yet a year old. The Abramchiks' house is located in a picturesque corner of the agro-town. They bought it with state assistance. After the birth of their third child, the bank loan was written off.

We walked around the spacious yard with the owners. In front of the garden, the foundation for a bathhouse has been laid. Alexander Fyodorovich is building the log house in his free time from work in the forestry. Lyudmila Stanislavovna has plenty of household chores. Almost twenty acres of potatoes on the household plot need to be dug.

On the day of my business trip to Hermanovichi, a notable anniversary of a resident of the village council occurred. I hurried to meet Vladimir Bruiko from Velikoye Selo together with Maya Yakimovich, the head of the agro-town, Tatyana Pugavka, and the deputy production director of JSC "Sharkovshchinsky Agrotechservice", Marina Khadanyonok. Social worker Tatyana Gorachka met us at the entrance. The host, Vladimir Vasilyevich Bruiko, turned 95!

Teacher Ina PUCHINSKAYA with children on the playground.

At this time, a car stopped near the yard, and a woman with a suitcase got out. Lyolya Vladimirovna, the jubilee's daughter, arrived from the Russian city of Tver. She has lived there for over half a century. To my question, whether she had forgottennative language, he echoed: it is impossible to forget one's language, just as it is impossible to forget one's parents. His reunion with his father was touching. Before his jubilee, his son Vladimir Vladimirovich, who lives in Kamchatka, spent almost a month with him.

The widowed owner has been living alone in the house for eleven years. His youthful years fell during the war. At seventeen, fascists took him into slavery. He worked in Germany at a military factory, and then for a Swiss farmer who had twelve daughters. Vladimir Vasilyevich recalled how the Swiss offered him to marry any of them. The young man's soul yearned for his native lands. After the war, he returned home and started a family. He and his wife worked in the collective farm until retirement.

There are three farms in the village council. Germanovichi is the central estate of JSC "Knyazh". That day, the machine operators were finishing the grain harvest. We discussed the specifics of the harvest with the director of the agricultural enterprise, Vladimir Buda. The head is satisfied with the yield of the grain field. Almost 28 centners of grain were threshed from each of the 1200 hectares. Five grain harvesters worked in the field. Viktor Khadanyonok was recognized as the best. We went to his machine yard. For the tenth season, he harvested grain on a "Polesie DS-12" combine. After the harvest, he switched to a powerful tractor with soil cultivation units.

Mechanizer Yury Metlo is threshing grain on household plots, the total area of which is 140 hectares. Many residents of the village council sow grain on their plots to provide fodder for their personal livestock. There are more than three hundred cows in the village council's yards. Franz Shishko, whom we met on the street in the village of Shishki, has two cows. His neighbors Wanda and Ivan Shishko keep the same number. They sell milk to an individual entrepreneur. Buyers purchase fruits and vegetables from the villagers. The branches of apple trees in Shishki's orchards bend to the ground with ripe fruit. For some reason, in the neighboring agro-town of Velikoye Selo, the orchards are resting this year. But the potato fields are pleasing with a good harvest.

A fresh breeze entered the cabin of the car in which we were speeding from Germanovichi to Sharkovshchina with the driver Artem Mishuta. From him, I learned that after high school, three out of fourteen classmates chose to work the land. He, along with Alexander Fyodorov and Danila Gаўрыловічам скончылі Лепельскі дзяржаўны аграрна-тэхнічны каледж і працуюць у гаспадарцы. З дыпломам механіка вярнуўся дамоў і загадвае майстэрняй Вадзім Радкевіч. Пасля заканчэння Белдзяржсельгасакадэміі ўзначаліў інжынерную службу Дзмітрый Мацюш.

Пэўна, будучае Германавіч за такімі гаспадарамі.