Sviatlana Kurs’s (Eva Viežnaviec’s) essay “The USSR as Cradle and Grave” was written in the autumn of 2021 for a literary project of the Konrad-Adenauer-Stiftung marking the centenary of the founding of the Soviet Union and the thirtieth anniversary of its collapse. Authors from all the former Soviet republics were invited to contribute.
In January 2022, Tina Wünschmann translated the essay into German. At the time, she was already working on the German translation of Sviatlana Kurs’s novel “What Are You Going For, Wolf?”. Following Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine in late February 2022, many texts dealing with the Soviet legacy had to be reconsidered and placed in a new context. The planned publication was postponed, and the essay remained unpublished during the author’s lifetime.
Sviatlana Kurs died in Warsaw on 19 July 2026. In this essay, she combines historical research with personal and family history, showing how the events of the twentieth century shaped the lives of people in Belarus and continue to affect the present. Bringing the narrative up to the events of 2020 and 2021, she turns her funeral address for the Soviet Union into a testimony about imperial legacy, fear, memory and human dignity.
For the present publication, Tina Wünschmann has written a personal foreword about the history of the essay and its translation. She also explains why its images remained with her throughout the following years. The translator’s foreword appears at the beginning of the text we are publishing on our website.
The complete essay by Sviatlana Kurs can be read online or downloaded in the original Belarusian and in German translation.
The publication marks the fortieth day since Sviatlana Kurs’s death. On Saturday, 29 August 2026, a memorial service and gathering dedicated to the writer will take place at the Orthodox Chapel of St Leontius Karpovich in Vilnius. The liturgy commemorating the fortieth day since her death will begin at 10:30. At 12:00, colleagues, friends and readers are invited to share their memories and words of tribute. Excerpts from the essay “The USSR as Cradle and Grave” will also be read during the gathering.
Venue: Bokšto gatvė 4, Vilnius.