The Noose (Bykau)
.jpg)
The noose ( Belarusian Сотнікаў (Sotnikau), originally Ліквідацыя (liquidation), Russian Сотников ) is a novella by the Belarusian writer Wassil Bykau , which - completed in July 1969 - was to appear in the Belarusian literary magazine Polymja . While the printing was delayed, the author had translated his text into Russian. The novella first appeared in the May 1970 issue of the Moscow Novy Mir .
In 1976 Larissa Schepitko used motifs from the loop for her film The Raising . In 2013 the text was added to the list of readings recommended for Russian students. On the occasion of Vasil Bykov's 90th birthday, the novella was published for the first time in an uncensored version in 2014 under the original title Liquidation in Belarusian.
content
- Sotnikau
Sotnikaus father, a watchmaker and formerly " red squadron skommandeur the Revolutionary Military Council of the Caucasus Army ," was civil war invalids . The father hoped for a better fate for the son.
Before the war , Sotnikau junior was a teacher. The battery commander Sotnikau's regiment was encircled and heavily decimated by the enemy in the summer of 1941 . Against the attack of the Jus and Hes , the enormous firepower of its howitzers had fizzled out. Sotnikau had to get off the tractor when the German tanks attacked. The battery operator pushed the gunner from his position at one of the last remaining intact howitzers aside - it was a matter of seconds - he took aim at a couple of enemy tanks one after the other, and hit them each time. There was no time to attach the spars . The omission was bitterly avenged. Most recently, Sotnikau's soldiers had fired from the trench at the viewing slits of the tanks.
- action
Towards the end of February 1942 in occupied Belarus : It's all about survival. The 26-year-old former sergeant of Sagittarius nkompanie Kolya Rybak, the son of a middle peasants, and the 25-year-old caught a cold, by coughing shaken Sotnikau should grab some groceries for her hidden in the forest guerrillas in surrounding rural villages.
The two partisans try their luck at the 67-year-old Starost Piotra Katschan in Lyassiny. Although Piotra is appointed by the enemy as head of the village, they do not shoot the old man who seeks consolation over his Bible reading. Piotra slaughters one of his three remaining sheep for the starving partisans in the snow-covered forest. During the nightly march towards the forest, Sotnikau engages in a firefight with an emerging police patrol and enables Rybak to escape with the shouldered sheep.
Rybak doesn't know how to make his comrade in the forest understand where he left Sotnikau and goes back on his own trail in the snow. Because Sotnikau was shot in the thigh and the two of them are safely caught by the police in the light of day, they have to go to a farm again - this time as a shelter. The two partisans only find a crowd of children in it. When her mother, Dzjomjansche Auhinnja, comes home, three Belarusian policemen follow her. The two partisans hide behind tow in the attic of the farmhouse . Sotnikau has one of his coughing fits. The partisans do not open fire because of the children in the house and are arrested. The wailing Dsjomjansche is a police officer with the ramrod beaten and taken away. Your children are left alone.
Rybak, who so far has been able to get out of every fix, this time finds no way to escape from the police building, a sturdy stone structure. In addition, Sotnikau fatally wounded the police officer Chadaronak in the nightly firefight.
Police investigating officer Partnou handed Sotnikau over to Büttel Budsila after an unsuccessful interrogation. The latter breaks Sotnikau's fingers and tears out his fingernails with steel pliers. Rybak wants to save his life during interrogation with Partnou and offers a collaboration. In the communal cell in the police cellar, a rat hole, in addition to the two partisans, the Starost Piotra, the Dzjomjansche and Basja - a 13-year-old Jewish girl who was able to hide from the henchmen in the village for a long time - are held. Piotra reports to the partisans that the police found the sheep in the snow. And Piotra is supposed to sound out the partisans in prison.
Wassil Bykau puts the reader in the picture in good time. The five are on death row. Sotnikau lost consciousness several times. In one of the waking moments he realizes that this is his last night. He envies the soldiers - formerly at his side, who fell through the bullet in battle. In any case, as a former commander of the Red Army , he wants to go straight to his death. Sotnikau comes to terms with his death. A feeling of freedom overtakes him. What else can he do good? He wants to take the blame. According to his will, the four inmates are to be released.
The next morning the prisoners are woken up with "stepping out to be liquidated". When Rybak is handcuffed, he calls out to Partnou, begging in vain. Sotnikau makes his testimony before the chief - that is, the superior of investigator Partnou; takes all the blame and asks for the release of the other four. The request is not granted. Rybak can finally curry favor with Partnou; offers its services. Rybak is untied. Sotnikau shouts: “Bastard!” The Starost Piotra adds quietly but firmly to Rybak's address: “Think of God.” The Starost steps forward to the place of execution. Five hemp loops are knotted under a stable archway for the unfortunate. Sotnikau wants to despair for a moment. He wanted to die as a soldier through the bullet. He commands himself to walk upright. This is difficult for him. Partnou also noticed this. At Patnou's orders, Rybak has to lean on Sotnikau and help on the block of wood that is under the noose. Sotnikau breaks free from Rybak; wants to take the last step alone. Rybak tells himself that he has to hold the log on police orders. Sotnikau can no longer stand by and puts an end to it with his sound foot. The eponymous fifth loop for Rybak remains empty. On command, Rybak has to join the group of police who represented the firing squad and march with them. Wassil Bykau writes about Rybak: “He was an enemy to everyone and everyone. Probably himself too. ”When Rybak is quoted as the boss, he protects against a visit to the latrine. Rybak found a crossbar to hang on the ceiling, but the trouser strap had been removed in front of the cellar. Rybak leaves the latrine. The police chief waits impatiently.
reception
Lola Debüser wrote in May 1975 about Rybak's betrayal: "Rybak lacks the very own feeling of responsibility, the very own 'What I believe in', which, for example, the village star Piotra has with his Bible ..."
German-language editions
- The loop. Translated from the Russian by Thomas Reschke . P. 5–171 in Wassil Bykau: Novellas. Volume 2. With an afterword by Lola Debüser. Publishing house Volk und Welt. Berlin 1976 (1st edition, edition used)
Web links
- Full text
- Entry at fantlab.ru (Russian)
Remarks
- ↑ Wassil Bykau means with the word police in each of his Belarusian partisan stories from 1942 the Belarusian police installed by the German occupiers. The latter was recruited from enemies of the Soviet power .
- ↑ Wassil Bykau announced that Rybak wanted to run away at the first opportunity.