Jurka Vićbič

Jurka Vićbič (15 June 1905 – 6 January 1975, also known as Jury Stukalicz) was a pen name of Sierafim Alaksandravich Ščarbakoŭ, a Belarusian writer, publicist and a prominent member of the Belarusian diaspora.

Life in Belarus Vićbič was born in Vieliž, Viciebsk Province of the Russian Empire into the family of an Orthodox Priest. He graduated from a teaching college and started writing in the late 1920s. In 1929 his first work appeared in (, High Ground), a literary journal which was published between 1927 and 1931 in Soviet Belarus, followed by his books The Death of Irma Lajming in 1932 and The Formula of Bones’ Resistance in 1937.

However, his work L'Shana Haba'ah B'Yerushalayim (, lit. "Next year in Jerusalem", ) was not permitted for publication in Soviet Belarus. Vićbič was accused of “polluting the Belarusian language with archaic words and Belarusian literature with fictional characters hostile to the Soviet reality” and ostracised for his “style which clearly differentiate the writer from the cannons of the contemporary Soviet writing”.

Life in exile

After World War II, Vićbič lived in Western Europe and then in the US becoming a prominent member of the Belarusian diaspora. He founded a literary society Šypšyna ( (Wild Rose)) and launched a journal with the same name. Later, he was instrumental in the publication of another journal Źviniać zvany Śviatoj Safii ( (The Bells of St Sophia Ringing)).

In 1956 he published a book Nioman flows From Under a Holy Mountain . Further books We will get there! and Anti-Bolshevik Uprisings in Belarus were published posthumously.

Vićbič died on 6 January 1975 and was buried in the South River Belarusian Cemetery in New Jersey, USA.

Notable works

The Archbishop and the Serf , 1931 – a historic novel about Jasafat Kuncevyč The Death of Irma Lajming , 1932 – a tragic story of a young noble woman L'Shana Haba'ah B'Yerushalayim (, lit. "Next year in Jerusalem", ) – a story about a Jewish community in the early 20th century Belarus The Formula of Bones’ Resistance , 1937 – another book of prose fiction Neman flows From Under a Holy Mountain , 1956 – “a unique explanation of the origin of more than 500 Belarusian geographical names” We will get there! , 1975 – a compilation of Vićbič ’s articles Anti-Bolshevik Uprisings in Belarus , 1996 – a book about anti-Soviet resistance in Belarus in the 1920s