The theme of war in the works of Yakub Kolas 1941–1945

The works written by Yakub Kolas during the war are a considerable part of literary heritage left by the people’s bard. With his literary word the poet reacted very fast to the tragic events of the war, heroic struggle of the Red Army and widespread guerrilla movement against the occupiers of the Belarusian people. It was a sharp, passionate publicistic word, penetrated with a sense of anger and contempt for the enemy, and belief in an inevitable victory over the forces of evil and darkness.

In the most difficult circumstances of wartime Yakub Kolas worked with extraordinary tension and spared no effort. He works as a social activist, vice president of the Academy of Sciences of the BSSR, and also as a poet and enthusiastic publicist. As a writer and patriot to the Fatherland, he contributed significantly to literary mastering of the war theme.

This contribution could be even more significant, taking into account his talent and authority in the society at that time. However, a number of objective factors did not promote, although a subjective element existed. It means that a psychological state of the poet, who lived dark days of the thirty-seventh year, violent destruction of a large writers’ cohort, arrests of relatives and vain attempts to help them. All these influenced on both Kolas’s perception of the world and poetic thoughts, which developed, rose to a new level, kept a faith in the revival of his native land in hard times in prison and in the 1920s. At the end of the 1930s, the master’s ideas couldn’t be expressed in a full range because of social and political circumstances reduced their free flight, pressed down to the ground, pushed into the way of official interpretation of events and phenomena.

These factors, of course, influenced in some way on the work of Yakub Kolas in wartime. Living conditions and financial situation of his family, especially, in the first period of life in Tashkent, were quite difficult. The middle-aged writer patiently carried a burden of substandard living conditions, personal grief caused by the lack of information about his son Yuri, who was at the front and whose fate remained unknown, isolation from their native land and the circle of friends. Writing played a significant role in Yakub Kolas’s life.

For the first years of the war a prevalent part of his poetic heritage was works, addressing to citizens and expressing anger, indignation, contempt for the invaders, who brought death, destruction and suffering. On 24 June 1941, Yakub Kolas issued his first military poem Шалёнага пса на ланцуг (Chain Up the Rabid Dog!)
which was published in the Belarusian language by the newspaper Pravda. It arose like a vivid poetic response to the events occurred in the early days of the war. The poet calls the people to arms, reforge a plow into a sword and altogether attack the enemy.

Undoubtedly, it was made by a social order, and the poet filled it efficiently. The poems Душою і сэрцам мы з вамі, героі (Our Souls And Hearts Are With You, Heroes), Фашысцкім бандытам (To Fascist Robbers), На абарону (To Defense), Смерць разбойнікам (Death To The Robbers),  Абаронцам роднай зямлі (To Defenders of the Motherland), Народу-барацьбіту (To My Warrior-People), На звера (Attacking The Beast), У цяжкую часіну (At A Hard Time) are samples of publicistic genre which sounds as a call and slogan, demonstrates an anti-fascist orientation, belief in inevitable victory and contempt for traitors.

The works of 1941 are full of optimism and contains following assertions:

Nevertheless, Y. Kolas described the war with its horrors and suffering, and he also created a sinister appearance of the hated invader:

Yakub Kolas belonged to that category of artists whose inspiration comes when he directly percept real events, specific people and their lives. As a writer he had t see the events that he was going to recreate, show figuratively, see real people, who can be the heroes of his works, hear their voices and fix in memory some special gestures, face expressions, their vocabulary and intonation, understand the inner motives of actions and behavior. Of course, he needed to see their everyday life, home atmosphere, in which they lived, worked and fought. It is obvious that a long being at the front to a large degree deprived the writer of such a possibility. He used newspaper reports about the war, wartime episodes, and the situation in the occupied territories. In other words, it was information, changed by military censorship. That’s why some of his works have few bright, realistic elements, vivid details and characters are often familiar to characters in posters, although the circumstances demanded an ordinary, everyday language.

He stopped to write prose and entirely focused on poems. In his poetic forms Kolas used quite various literary devices. Here we can see a direct address to "defenders of our native land" (Our Souls And Hearts Are With You, Heroes),  to fearless and courageous "fighters and members of the Komsomol", "the Komsomol fighters"; and an appeal to the people-heroes (To Defense) to raise "higher, brighter" hammer so that to revenge invaders and show courage.

The writer wrote some poems in the form of weeping, requiem over the grave of a soldier who died in an unequal battle, but didn’t violate a military oath and later remained a hero in the people’s memory (Над магілай партызана (Above the Partisan’s Tomb). Yakub Kolas often turned to a form of so-called "curse", predictions of inevitable retribution of Nazis for their crimes.

In the poet’s literary heritage there are many many examples of such poetic forms as pamphlets: На восі Рым-Берлін (On The Axe Rome-Berlin), Калымага ’’Рым-Берлін’’ (The Clunker "Rome-Berlіn"), На міжнародныя тэмы (Concerning International Themes) etc as well as satirical sketches, whose characters are real people (Hitler, his henchmen), generalized characters of fascist, Nazis, etc. (Пахаванне Гейдрыха (Heidrich’s Funeral), Дучэ (Duce), Рыцар Шыкльгрубер (Knight Schicklgruber). In wartime Yakub Kolas wrote satires which became radiant pages in his creative work. One of them, Гітлер і чарадзей (Hitler and a Wizard), vividly combines artistic and publicistic elements, characterized by a traditional style for the poet when a thought and figurative image merge.

Works about the war:

Collections:

• Адпомсцім / We’ll Revenge
• Голас зямлі / The Voice Of The Land

Poems:

• Адплата / Retribution
• Суд у лесе / Tribunal in the Wood

Verses:

• Абаронцам роднай зямлі / To Defenders of the Motherland
• Байцам і камандзірам Чырвонай Арміі / To Soldiers and Commanders of the Red Army
• Бацьку Мінаю / To Father Minai
• Душою і сэрцам мы з вамі, героі / Our Souls And Hearts Are With You, Heroes
• Здраднікі / Traitors
• Злачынцы суда не мінуць / Criminals Won’t Evade the Tribunal
• Лес / The Wood
• Майму другу / To My Friend
• На абарону / To Defense
• На восі Рым-Берлін / On The Axe Rome-Berlin
• На Захад / Going West
• На звера / Attacking The Beast
• Набліжаецца час расплаты / The Time Of Restitution Is Near
• Над магілай партызана / Above the Partisan’s Tomb
• Народу-барацьбіту / To My Warrior-People
• Салар / Salar
• Смерць разбойнікам / Death To The Robbers
• Стары гасцінец / The Old Road
• У цяжкую часіну / At A Hard Time
• Фашысцкім бандытам / To Fascist Robbers
• Шалёнага пса на ланцуг / Chain Up the Rabid Dog

Sources:

1. Колас, Я. Збор твораў : у 12 т. / Якуб Колас ; рэдкал. : В. Барысенка [і інш.]. – Мінск : Дзяржвыд БССР, 1961–1964.
2. Жыгоцкі, М. Сіла праўды: слова пра ваенную публіцыстыку Якуба Коласа / Мікола Жыгоцкі // Беларуская думка. – 2008. – № 5. – С. 78–81.
3. Жыгоцкі, М. У суровыя гады ваеннага ліхалецця / Мікола Жыгоцкі // Полымя. – 2009. – № 12. – С. 148–163.
4. Мушынскі, М.І. Вобраз вайны ў творах Якуба Коласа 1941–1945 гг. / М.І. Мушынскі // Вялікая Айчынная вайна ў мастацкай літаратуры : матэрыялы рэсп. навук. канф., Мінск, 27 крас. 2005 г. / [рэдкал.: І. С. Роўда (адк. рэд.) і інш.]. – Мінск, 2007. – С. 9–22.