From Bagdanovic Street to Communist dead-end

The streets in the Belarusian cities and towns have often changed their names. Every time it would happen for different reasons, but mainly due to a political demand.

We all have heard about the change of the names of Skaryna and Masherau avenues in Minsk. Aleg Trusau, the chairman of the Belarusian Language Society, shares his view on why those changes are never-enging.

“In this case, everything depends on Minskers. I will give you an example. I once was a member of the city council from the Green Lawns district. There used to be a street named after [Russian Soviet writer] Maxim Gorkiy. We gathered over 10,000 signatures and managed to succeed in renaming the street after the Belarusian classical poet Maksim Bagdanovic.

By now, people have long ago forgotten that there used to be the

Therefore, this social phenomenon depends on the indifference or an active stance of the public. Thanks to the Belarusian Language Society, even during the existing rule, over 20 original street names have been restored.”

In Baranavicy, the local activists of the Malady Front youth group launched an action titled “True Name”. They advocate for the return of the old original names of the streets in their town. Jaraslau Gryscenja has explained their position to the European Radio for Belarus.

“The action touches on every resident of this town. We have stopped living in the Soviet Union 17 years ago, but we continue walking on the streets like Komsomolskaya and Kommunisticheskaya. Meanwhile,

We do not need the streets like Sovietskaya. We need a street named after Razvadouski, the man who founded this town. We do not need

The example of the town of Maladzecna is very instructive in this regard, according to our local correspondent Zmicier Paniamonau.

“The residents of Maladzecna got the opportunity to return the old names of the streets only in early 1990s. Then, most of the seats on the local city council were occupied by pro-democracy deputies. They established an ad hoc commission, comprising such prominent figures like historian Genadz Kahanouski and artist Viacaslau Palivoda.

Thanks to their effort, the town returned its old names like Garadzkaja (dating back to 1450) instead of Pushkin, Volnaja (Free) instead of Dzerzhinsky [chief of the Soviet secret police after the 1917 Russian revolution], Francysk Skaryna instead of 60 Years of October Revolution. During the work of the commission, almost 90 percent of the streets returned their original names or at least got rid of the Communist sounding.

Not to forget the history, they renamed the Communist alley into the Communist dead-end street. They did not change the streets named after Chkalov [the Soviet legendary pilot] and Masherov and Markov.”

An interesting precedent occurred in a small village in the Biarezino district two years ago, when one of the residents succeeded in renaming the street he lived on. Presently, it is called Vitaut Vialiki (Vitaut The Great) Street. Culture researcher Vaclau Areska thinks that before making decisions on renaming the streets, authorities should first consult with the people residing there.

Vaclau Areska: “Since the times of the Soviet Union, renaming the streets has always had politics behind. The names of the streets were very much politically and ideologically motivated. This ideological influence has maintained until now just like in the 1990s. To build an independent and democratic state, it was important to get rid of the odious names. We are observing the same situation in the Lukashism epoch.

Therefore, I think we will have to rename the streets again, despite how difficult it is going to be. People should not be imposed historical or neo-political names if they don’t like it.”

Several years back, one of the streets in Minsk near the Kurapaty [an execution site during the Stalin’s rule] was renamed into

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Kurapackaja Street. However, soon the local residents demanded that authorities revoke the decision. People simply didn’t feel like living on the street with dreadful associations. Perhaps, politicians should indeed refrain from the usual demagogy and ask the opinion of the public before taking decisions to rename our streets.

Leninskaya Street. We will feel much better walking on the streets named after Francisk Skaryna or the Independence Street. We are currently collecting signatures on this matter. We have already collected over 300 signatures, the number is definitely going to grow,” Gryscenja said.

Kastus Kalinouski Streetis in a dreadful condition: it is totally messed up.

Gorkiy Street. There was a time when Mr. Liabedzka [now the leader of the United Civil Party] and other current opposition leaders were pushing for a referendum to rename Skaryna Avenue. Where are those oppositionists now? This is a clear example how one can default a good deed…