Frantsishak Alyakhnovich

Frantsishak Alyakhnovich

Frantsishak Alyakhnovich (March 9, 1883 in Vilnius – March 3, 1944 in Vilnius, Belarusian: Франці́шак Ка́ралевіч Аляхно́віч, Łacinka: Francišak Karalevič Alachnovič, Russian: Франтишек Ка́рлович Олехно́вич (also Аляхнoвичъ, Франц Олехнович)) was a Belarusian writer, journalist of Szlachta origins.

Alyakhnovich was a theatrical writer, director and journalist in West Belarus. He was editor of the newspaper Беларускі звон (Biełaruski zvon) published in Vilnius.

In 1926 he decided to stay in East Belarus after a conference in Minsk. Several months later he was arrested by the NKVD and sent to Solovki prison camp. He spent seven years in the Gulag; in 1933 he was exchanged for Branislaw Tarashkyevich, a West Belarusian politician and linguist held in Polish prison.

Alyakhnovich's Gulag experience became a basis for his 1934 book of memoirs У капцюрох ГПУ (U kapciuroch HPU, In the claws of the GPU), that was later translated into several languages.

During the Second World War, Alyakhnovich collaborated with Nazi Germany and was editor of the newspaper Беларускі голас (Biełaruski hołas, Belarusian voice) published in Vilnius. Apart from that, he was also one of the leaders of the Belarusian Independence Party - a Belarusian organization led by padre Vincent Hadleŭski which initially collaborated with the Germans.

In 1944, Frantsishak Alyakhnovich was assassinated.