3. Pogrom

In the meantime life in Druia was fairly quiet. With the use of Belarusian limited to private conversation between the four remaining Belarusian priests and their morning and evening prayers, there seemed nothing left for the Polish authorities to complain about. But even this was too much for some, and in May 1937 the Father Superior (Lysik) suggested, without success this time, that the Belarusian prayers should be replaced by Polish or Latin. On the whole, however, with the appointment of the Polish superior the relations with the local authorities seemed to have improved. Until Christmas 1937 that is. One of the priests, Joseph Dashuta, wrote to Tsikota on 24 January 1938: "Here in Druia the relations have improved lately, because we have a good captain of the Frontier guards. The police chief is also a reasonable man, but after the feasts (i.e. Christmas – A.N.), when the clerics stayed here, we hear voices that Father Hermanovich is rearing enemies for Poland... Some clerics openly spoke to certain (Polish) patriots about their wish to see Belarus independent..." This news disturbed Father Tsikota, and in February he wrote to Dashuta: "The news about the clerics made me very worried... Please write, or better tell Father Hermanovich and ask him in my name to think seriously about what he is doing and not to endanger our work".

Tsikota was not the only person displeased with Hermanovich. The Polish authorities were also worried, although for different reasons. His infrequent short visits to Druia made the local police nervous. In Vilna he was under constant secret surveillance, which became more severe as the time went on. An observant man, Father Hermanovich had no difficulty spotting his "tail". He played all sorts of tricks on him. For example, as he himself was telling later, he would take a walk in the rain, protected with an umbrella and galoshes, while the agent caught unawares would be soaked to the skin. On one occasion he went straight to the police station and complained that someone was stalking him... But on the whole it was an unpleasant situation. On 12 June 1938 Father Hermanovich and his seminary friend, Father Victor Shutovich, celebrated the 25th anniversary of their priesthood. This coincided with the annual Belarusian pilgrimage to the "Calvary", an ex-Dominican church outside Vilna with several chapels representing the Passion of Christ. It was a great success. Later Father Victor Shutovich wrote to his friend, Father Chrysostom Tarasevitch at Lisle near Chicago: "Under other circumstances, on return from the "Calvary", the three of us (i.e. Adam Stankievich, Joseph Hermanovich and Victor Shutovich – A.N.) should have stopped somewhere together to talk, to laugh. But that was not to be. At every door of Father Joseph's monastery (i.e. the Marian college – A.N.) there was a secret agent, making notes of when and where he goes, when and from where he comes back".

By this time the fate of Druia had already been sealed. Unable to accuse the Marian fathers of breaking any law, the administrativce authorities made use of new regulations, which allowed them to deport from the so-called "frontier zone" any person deemed dangerous to the security of the state. Both Druia and Vilna were in the frontier zone. So by the order of the Governor (wojewoda) of Vilna province, Ludwik Bocianski, that Belarusian Marian Fathers were forced to leave Druia by 10 June. They did so, by the decision of the Superior, quietly on 9 June, going only a few miles away, where the frontier zone ended. They were able to return quietly on 14 June to celebrate the feast of Corpus Christi on 16 June. On the same day the Polish nationalists organised a protest meeting against them. Among those who attended it was Father Borodzicz who had done so much harm in 1929. The final act took place on 23 June. Ceslaus Sipovich describes it in the chronicle: "On 23 June 1938 the Chief of the Braslau secret police and the county sheriff (starosta) came to the monastery of the Belarusian Marian Fathers in Druia and ordered the fathers to leave. They threatened that if the fathers didn't leave voluntarily, they would break into the monastic enclosure and drag them out by force. The (police) car and the monastery were surrounded by armed police. The Fathers, without hurrying, finished celebrating their holy masses... Out of respect for their priestly dignity the Fathers did not let the police to drag them by force to the car... A crowd of people gathered, women began to cry loudly; a photographer came, but just as he was about to take a picture of the Fathers getting into the car, a policeman stopped him..." The four priests expelled were Joseph Dashuta, Casimir Smulka, Vitalis Khamionak and George Kashyra. They stopped for a short time again only a few miles away, in the house of the landowner Huz, a friend of Druia, waiting for further developments.

In the monastery, apart from the superior, Father Oysik and another Polish priest, Fr Oksiutowicz who came to help him from Warsaw, there remained only the clerics who had come from Vilna for the summer vacation. Their turn came on Friday 8 July. They were engaged in haymaking in the monastery's meadow, when at 6 p.m. the local police chief came with expulsion orders for five clerics, namely Casimir and Boniface Sarul, Anthony Padziava, Anthony Aniskovich and Ceslaus Sipovich. The chief, a local man, well known to all, was very embarassed and explained to the clerics that he was only carrying out the orders. Then the chronicle writes: "Anthony Padziava (he was arranging hay in the cart – A.N.) came down from the cart, went to take a swim in the river Dzvina, then in the presence of all kissed the ground and said: 'Good bye, my beloved land, you have been our provider'. Another student (Sipovich – A.N.) when left alone began to cry bitterly. Why? He could not say himself... After a short consultation about whether to sign the expulsion papers brought by the chief of police, in a tense atmosphere Father Oysik said: 'We did everything we could to make Fathers come back. To no avail. The Nuncio himself refused to speak on our behalf'. Having understood that the resistance of the clerics... would be ineffective... it was agreed that if the following 24 hours brought no change, they would give up and, according to the wish of the Superior, conform to the order as set out in the (expulsion) paper each one of them received... On the same day the Father Superior left for Vilna. The clerics remained, waiting for the Father Superior's telephone call. If such a call did not come by 6 p.m. on Saturday, they were to leave the monastery and go to their parents... On the same Friday clerics Padziava and Sipovich cycled to Kanstantynava to see the exiled Fathers... Father K. Smulka, together with Padziava and Sipovich, went on the shore of the lake... (Father Smulka) was saying: 'It is good that they persecute us. What is bad is that they persecute us only for the national idea. And we have never been directly involved with it. The Poles, by expelling us, have done a foolish thing; it is quite clear that nothing good will come from it for them'.

On Saturday morning all the clerics began slowly getting ready to go to their parents... Sipovich... went to (say goodbye) to the sisters of the Holy Eucharist... Coming out into their courtyard Sipovich met a teacher of the Druia school Sajkowski, whom he knew well. They greeted each other. 'Hallo and goodbye, – said Sipovich. – in a few hours time I must be out of Druia'. Sajkowski grabbed the hand of the cleric and, as it seemed at that time, sincerely and convincingly said: 'God is my witness, now I believe that they persecute priests in Russia'. These words were very significant, because Sajkowski was a Pole...

On Saturday 9 July at about 5 p.m. the young Marians left their nest... For a short time they stayed in their villages. Soon the Very Reverend Father Superior General called them all to Warsaw. There they passed their summer vacation, hoping to be able to return to Vilna and continue their studies...

The conclusion of this sad story was that the Belarusian Fathers were forced to remain in the Polish province... except Father Hermanovich who decided to go back to Harbin. Clerics Aniskowicz and Sipovich at the suggestion of the Father Superior General agreed to change to the Eastern rite. Anthony Padziava, K. Sarul, Francis Apiachonak, Uladyslau Iashuk, and Boniface Sarul continued their studies at Warsaw seminary. Anthony Tsviachkouski went to live in Warsaw on Vilna Street as an instructor, and Felix Zhurnia to Bielany as assistant secretary to Father Provincial Mroczek.

To Druia came the Polish Marian Fathers with their Superior E. Kulesza. Also in Vilna at Zhyhimont street there will be Polish clerics who will do their studies at Vilna seminary".

Father Hermanovich received an expulsion order in Vilna at about the same time as the clerics in Druia, and left for Warsaw on 13 July. He had no wish to remain in Poland, and preferred to return to Manchuria, even though his experience of that country had not been a happy one. In any case he left in a calmer frame of mind than the first time because he knew that this time he would not be allowed to remain in Belarus. But first he went to Rome where he remained till March 1939.

Of the clerics, Anthony Tsviachkouski, a close friend of Sipovich, left the Marian Congregation for good. He was followed later by two more, Uladyslau Iashuk and Casimir Sarul. Four others, Anthony Padziava, Boniface Sarul, Francis Apiachonak and Felix Zhurnia finished their studies and were ordained priests in Poland, without ever returning to Belarus.

The remaining two, Ceslaus Sipovich and Casimir Aniskowicz (the only Pole in the group), accepted the invitation of the Superior General Andrew Tsikota to change to the Byzantine rite and go to Rome to the Russian College (popularly known as "Russicum") in preparation for being sent to Harbin.

Apparently Sipovich made up his mind about the change of rite on 5 August 1938. At least that is when he told Tsikota about it. The decision was made final during the annual retreat on 6-13 August, which Sipovich offered for the following intentions: "1. The union of the Churches, especially the Eastern and the Roman Catholic; 2. That God may help me to do his will, and give light of understanding and strength to work in the Eastern rite". On the last day of the retreat he made the following note: "I thank all my holy patrons for the help, given to me during these eight days. Quite deliberately and putting aside all doubts I have decided to embrace the Eastern rite if this is what Jesus will demand of me tomorrow".

The expulsion of the Belarusian Marian Fathers was marked by complete silence on the part of the Polish hierarchy and the Papal Nuncio, and by virulent attacks in the Polish press, in particular in the Cracow-based Ilustrowany Kurier Codzienny  and the Glos Narodowy, published in Vilna. Among the few voices raised in defence of the Belarusian Marian Fathers was that of Przegl?d Wile?nski, which shortly afterwards was itself forced to cease publication due to harassment by the administration. In an article in its final issue of 6 October 1938 the author P. Kontryba (pen name of Father Uladyslau Talochka) likened the role of the Polish Catholic hierarchy in these unhappy events to that of Joseph's brothers in the Old Testament when they sold him into slavery in Egypt[18]. Another author who defended Druia was the Jesuit Jan Urban in his Oriens[19].

Incidentally both Uladzislau Talochka and Adam Stankievich were expelled from Vilna in December 1938. In addition Talochka was threatened by Archbishop Jalbrzykowski with ecclesiastical censures and forbidden to write for newspapers. As diocesan priests they  remained in the territory of the Vilna diocese in places outside the frontier zone, Stankievich in Slonim and Talochka in Bialystok. The "pogrom" against the Belarusians was not limited to Vilna province. In the Navahradak province the young Belarusian Greek Catholic priest, Leo Haroshka, was expelled from the frontier town of Stoupcy. The lay associates of Father Stankievich fared still worse. The head of the F. Skaryna Printing press and editor of the youth journal Shliakh moladzi  Jazep Najdziuk, the editor of the journal Kalossie Jan Shutovich, Victor Iermalkovich and others were arrested late in August 1939 and sent to the notorious Bereza Kartuzka prison camp. Fortunately their sufferings did not last long. On 1 September 1939 the war broke out and a little more than two weeks later the Polish Republic ceased to exist.

In his unfinished manuscript life of Andrew Tsikota, Ceslaus Sipovich wrote: "How empty would be the renaissance of our national life, if there had been no Belarusian monastery, which  radiated holiness, industry, and deeper understanding of Christianity in all its aspects – moral, ascetic and psychological – for all Belarusians to see. It was in order to fill this empty place that Father Andrej Tsikota founded in very unfavourable circumstances in Druia on the Dzvina a Belarusian monastery of Marian fathers and brothers"[20]. Further on he continued: "The Druia monastery, when there were assembled together Fr Fabian Abrantovich, a scholar, a profound philosopher, and at the same time a simple and generous man; Fr Joseph Hermanovich, a poet, writer, educator of youth; Fr Vitalis Khamionak, apostle of the people who knew every hamlet and every inhabitant in the Druia parish and was considered by the people a saint; Fr Dashuta, Doctor of Canon Law, a devotee of liturgical chant, – when all these fathers, under the leadership of Tsikota, began to work together in the monastery, in the parish and in the school, not only Druia, but the whole of Western Belarus became conscious of the existence of a Belarusian religious centre"[21].

The above passages, written by Sipovich in 1972, give an idealised picture of Druia and its importance in Belarusian religious and national life in the 1920s and 30s. Unfortunately the reality was quite different. Whatever the intentions of its founders were, they were never fully realised. The main reason was the hostility of the Polish authorities who saw in Druia an obstacle to the polonisation of the Belarusian Catholic population. With a few notable exceptions, the Polish ecclesiastical authorities and clergy  were no better. Even Polish Marian Fathers disliked the idea of a Belarusian religious house. When Blessed George Matulewicz was still alive, he tried to calm their spirits, assuring them that Druia was no threat to Poland. His successor, Buchys, had no sympathy with the Polish point of view, but did not understand Belarusians either, seeing in them only apt instruments for the "conversion of Russia".

On 27 June 1954 Father Haroshka wrote to Father Sipovich, asking "whether all Marian fathers and clerics, who were expelled from Druia, belonged to the Eastern rite, or there were (among them) also those who were of Latin rite". Father Sipovich answered on 29 June 1954: "The Druia monastery was entirely of Latin (i.e. Roman) rite. There was no Eastern chapel or vestments. Only some fathers (Abrantovich, Hermanovich, Tsikota, Nailovich K., Padziava Thomas) assumed the Eastern rite, but they worked in Harbin and not in Druia. All expelled clerics, like the fathers, belonged to the Latin rite. From the clerics I alone remained of Eastern rite, and from the fathers J. Hermanovich". Father Leo Haroshka, himself a priest who, like Druia Fathers, was expelled from his parish by the Polish authorities, obviously  knew little or nothing about the existence of the "Belarusian religious centre", of which, according to Sipovich, the whole Western Belarus was conscious.

Druia needed more priests, but Harbin not only weakened the existing community, it also frightened off potential candidates. There were young clerics studying for the priesthood, but of the first three who graduated in 1935, two were sent immediately to Harbin. The five new clerics who started their studies in the same year were not expected to complete them till 1941.

The opinion among Belarusians seems to have been that Father Tsikota gave in too easily to the demands of the Polish authorities. On 7 October 1938 Adam Stankievich wrote to Hermanovich : "When he (Tsikota – A.N.) was in Vilna, we argued that his policy had failed to achieve its aim. True, it was I who was talking, and he did not agree, but the (subsequent) events seem to have proved me right. It is therefore necessary (for him) to reconsider the policy and make some changes". Father Victor Shutovich was more categorical. On 15 October 1938 he wrote to Fr John Tarasevitch in Lisle near Chicago: "At this moment I doubt whether the Belarusian members of religious congregations can do anything good for Belarus. I have in mind the example of the Marian Fathers. Tsikota is my friend, he is full of life and energy. He did much for the Belarusians before he entered the (Marian) Congregation. The Congregation broke him and made a cosmopolitan out of him. In Druia he did more for the Poles than for Belarusians. And they repaid him with derision and mudslinging. Now he, like you, is an exile, far from his native country, with no fixed abode in the world. Other Belarusian members (of the Congregation) are also dispersed, not one of them remained in their native land. That's religious life for Belarusians!"

In 1938 very little remained of the original idea of Druia. Thus the expulsion of Belarusian priests was the coup de grace for something which for all intents and purposes had already ceased to exist. This, of course, in no way excuses the behaviour of the Polish authorities.

The sad irony was that while the Poles were engaged in combatting Belarusian Catholic priests, the fate of the Polish state hung in the balance. One year later the Second World War broke out, Poland fell, and Western Belarus was reunited with its Eastern part within the Belarusian Soviet Republic. Whatever trials and tribulations were in store for Belarusians in the years that followed, of Polish rule there remained nothing except unpleasant memories.

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