Maksim Tank was a Belarusian Soviet journalist, poet, and translator.
Background
Maksim Tank (real name Jauhien Ivanovich Skurko) was born on September 4, 1912, in Pilkovschina, Myadelsky district, Minsk region, the Republic of Belarus into a wealthy peasant family. In 1914, his family went to Moscow as refugees from the approaching First World War and lived there till 1922.
Education
Because of the hunger in Russia, the family returned to its home village, which by then became part of the Second Polish Republic.
In 1928, Maksim Tank joined an underground communist youth organization in his school in Radaskovicy. Despite good performance in the school, in 1929 he was expelled together with several other pupils for participating in a protest against closure of Belarusian schools by the Polish authorities. He was also expelled from his following school in Wilno for participation in student protests.
Career
After the annexation of West Belarus by the Soviet Union, Maksim Tank worked as a culture journalist and as an education administrator in Vilejka. After the beginning of the war, he was evacuated to Saratov and then returned to the Bryansk Front to work as a reporter for several Soviet publications.
In 1945-1948, Maksim Tank worked as an editor at the satirical magazine Vozhyk. From 1948 to 1966, he was editor in chief of the major Belarusian literature magazine Polymia.
Since the late 1940s, Maksim Tank held various senior positions in the Belarusian Soviet legislative system. In 1947-1971 he was a member of the Supreme Soviet of Belarus; of which he was chairman in 1963-1971. In 1969-1989 he was a member of the Supreme Soviet of the USSR.
After Belarus regained independence, Maksim Tank admitted being a supporter of the Belarusian White, Red, and White flag and opposed the controversial referendum to change the national symbols of Belarus organized by president Alexander Lukashenko.
In the early 1930s, Maksim Tank participated in the Belarusian underground communist activism, writing for Belarusian and Polish underground publications. In 1932, he was arrested and placed in the Lukiskės Prison in Wilno.
In late 1932, he illegally crossed the border with the Soviet Union and joined the Belarusian underground group in Minsk. He was eventually arrested by the Soviet authorities, interrogated by the NKVD and deported to Poland. After his return, Maksim Tank was an activist of the illegal youth branch of the Communist Party of West Belarus in Wilno and Navahrudak. He was several times arrested and spent a total of two years in prison.
In 1936, Maksim Tank was admitted into the underground Communist Party of West Belarus.
Membership
Union of Writers
1966 - 1995
Personality
Quotes from others about the person
Head of the Department of Belarusian Philology and culture of BSPU Irina Govzich: "Maxim Tank is one of the experimental poets. He believed that it was impossible to limit oneself to rhyme or strict rules in poetry."
Connections
Maksim Tank was married and left a son and 2 twin daughters.