Khadkevich Taras Kanstantsinavich (pen name Taras Vyarzila, Vyarouka, T. Vyarouka, Taras Lypnevy) was a prosaist, poet, translator, Belarusian Union of Writers' member since 1947, honored worker of Belarusian Culture (1972).
Background
Khadkevich’s parents were peasants. His father, Kanstantsin Andraevich, received 7 hectares of land from his grandfather. In spite of the fact that life was not easy, father wanted his children to succeed in life. Early in life Khadkevich helped his parents to take care of the household. He plowed, mowned grass, gathered crops,
grazed cattle.
Education
Khadkevich started to study when he was 6. Under the influence of his sister who was a teacher, he became interested in the spoken word (he read works by A. Pushkin, M. Lermontov, etc.). Khadkevich studied at seven-year school in Valyntsy village, and his first verse “Da novaga zhytstsaya” (“To new life”) was placed in the school wall newspaper. In 1926 he joined the Komsomol (Young Communist League) and got a “Maladnyak” (“Young Growth”) membership card.
After finishing the seven-year school, in 1927-1929 Khadkevich studied at Polotsk Pedagogical College. Then he worked in “Chyrvonaya Palachanka” newspaper (1929-1931), where he made friends with A. Astreika and E. Samuilenka. Since 1931 he lived in Minsk. Khadkevich studied at Byelorussian Pedagogical institute (1931-1933). He
combined study with the work in Belarusian Telegraph Agency, in “Rabselkor” (“Working and Country Correspondents”) editorial office. Khadkevich was a bureau member of the Komsomol organization of writers.
Career
In 1933-1934 he worked in “Chyrvonaya zmena” (“Red Shift”) newspaper. Khadkevich served in the Red Army (1934-1936), got into print in “Krasnoarmeiskaya Pravda” ( “Red Army’s Truth”), was preparing the book of poems “ Smyaetstsa moladz” in order to be published (remained unpublished). In 1936-1941 he visited different parts of the country as a roving correspondent of “Zvyazda” (“Star”).
Khadkevich took part in the liberation of Belarus. He was a platoon commander during World War II, fought under Vyalikiya Luki, Taraptsy. In September of 1941, he was wounded and was taken a prisoner of war. He was in
concentration camps of Taraptsy, Daugapils, under Riga, in “shtalagi” and at earthworks in Germany. Khadkevich took part in the international movement of Resistance. He escaped from captivity three times (last in 1945). While Khadkevich was in the Red Army, he was in Czechoslovakia, Hungary, Poland. After demobilization in autumn of 1945, he returned to Minsk and worked as a roving correspondent in “Zvyazda” (“Star”) newspaper (1945-1950). Then Khadkevich was the head of the newspaper’s department (1950-1951), the literary consultant of the Union of Soviet Writers in Byelorussian Soviet Socialist Republic (1953-1972). Khadkevich was rewarded with the “Orden Trudovogo
Krasnogo Znameni” (Order of the Labour Red Flag), “Znak Pashany” (“Sign of Respect”), and medals.
The first Khadkevich’s verse was published in “Malady araty” (“Young Plowman”) journal in 1925. Collected poetry “Smyalei, tavarysh” was published in 1932. Then Khadkevich turned to prose. His post-war creative works are devoted to an international anti-fascist unity (the stories “Bratarstva” (“Brotherhood”), “Rakha u garakh” (“Echoes in the Mountains”), to the collective life of the village ( the story “Vyasnyanka” (“Stone Fly”), the novel “Dal palyavaya” (“the Distance Field”), to the people who live in new cities (the novel “Pesnya Dzvini” (“the Song of Dvina”), the essay “Naftagigant na Dzvine” (Oil Giant on the River Dvina”). The embellishment of reality was in some of these works, which were very popular at the time.
Khadkevich is the author of five collections of stories for children. He translated books by M. Gorki, A. Chaushvili into Byelorussian language. Both Central Regional Library in Verkhnyadvinsk, and the street in Polotsk are named after T. Khadkevich.