Barys Kit: “I Have One Wish For Belarus To Be Free”
- 6.04.2016, 10:24
On April 6 famous Belarusian enlightener, scientist, researcher in the field of astronautics Barys Kit celebrates his 106th birthday.
Barys Kit’s name is put into the “time capsule” of the best scientists of the world cosmonautics, immured in the wall of the US Capitol. People who have special merits to the country are honored with this special gesture in the United States.
Over the past few years Barys Kit has been living in a nursing home in German Frankfurt On Main. He had a surgery after a hip fracture, and he is still unable to walk, he moves in a wheelchair.
A correspondent of Radio Liberty had a chance to talk with Barys Kit on the phone short before his birthday.
– Barys, first of all, how are you?
– My health has considerably deteriorated, but still there is some left. I do not move a lot, have to stay inside. I cannot walk, and have to use a wheelchair. And they are taking good care of me here ...
– Do you like the living conditions in your boarding house?
– “Like” is not the word I use any more, as I have come to the end of my life and I will not be here soon...
– How are you going to celebrate your 106th birthday?
– I will get some phone calls, maybe someone will come to see me, as always, I will be very happy if someone is interested in me ... 106 years is a very old age. There were many times in the past, when I thought I was going to die. But I didn’t...
I was in a terrible German prison and was dying every day, I was in Hlubokaye prison for 30 days. Every day the police took away 25 people to be executed, only 5 people survived, and I was one of them. So for 30 days, 30 times I was waiting for death.
But God, apparently, did not want my death. I must say that Kanstantsin Kasiak was the person who saved my life then. He went to a German Gebitcommissioner and demanded my release after 30 days in jail. He was my student at Navahrudak Belarusian gymnasium, and he was a very good one. At that time he helped a lot of Belarusians to get out of German prisons. But when Bolsheviks came, he was the first to be hung ...
– Barys, is there any news from your family?
– There is some news. My granddaughter had her second child a month ago, it’s a boy. One more great-grandson. This is good news. My whole family lives in America, scattered to the ends ... And my ex-wife Nina Korsak has recently died, and was buried in Washington. This is the news.
– Do you have any contacts with Belarus, with Belarusians? Do countrymen phone you, call in?
– It’s usually quiet, no one comes. Maybe there will be phone calls on my birthday.
Barys Kit does not know the latest news from Belarus, he doesn’t have an opportunity to follow them. But he gave a positive account on the release of political prisoners in Belarus last year, that the Belarusian language has become more popular in the society:
“These facts make me happy, because Belarus needs freedom.”
Waiting for the congratulations and wishes on the occasion of the 106th anniversary, Barys Kit also expressed his wish to Belarusians:
“I wish only one thing: I want Belaruss to become free from all those unwanted things, which have been happening recently.”