Birch bark letters from Siberia

Birch bark letter from Siberia by Kārlis Roberts Kalevics  [ lv ] (1877–1945)

Birch bark letters from Siberia were written by people deported to Soviet Gulag labor camps. Often they had only birch bark for writing letters, especially during the World War II when paper was scarce everywhere. ^[1] In 2023 Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, Poland and Ukraine, submitted a joint application to include birch bark letters from Siberia (1945–1965) in the UNESCO "Memory of the World" Register. The application presents 148 items, including letters and other documents on birch bark. ^{[2] [3]}

The preparations for this submission were started in 2015 by representatives of the three Baltic States. ^[4]

Estonia

In Estonia, they are kept in the Vabamu Museum of Occupations and Freedom and in the Estonian History Museum. ^[3]

Latvia

In 2009, the collection "Letters written in Siberia on birch bark" (Sibīrijā rakstītas vēstules uz bērza tāss) was included in the Latvian national register of the UNESCO Memory of the World Programme. It consists of 45 letters written in prisons and camps between 1941 and 1965. ^[5]

They are kept in eleven museums in Latvia, including the Tukums Museum, Aizkraukle History and Art Museum, Daugava Museum  [ lv ], Museum of the Occupation of Latvia, Madona Local Lore and Art Museum (Madonas novadpētniecības un mākslas muzejs), Riga Museum of Literature and Music (Rakstniecības un mūzikas muzejs), Talsi County Museum  [ lv ], Latvian Museum of National History. ^{[6] [7] [8]}

Agrita Ozola, head of the Tukums Museum  [ lv ], ^[9] published the book Sibīrijā vēstules (Siberian Letters). ^{[10] [11]}

Lithuania

On May 21, 2015, together with other objects, birch bark letters kept in the Museum of Occupations and Freedom Fights were entered into the Lithuania's national register of the Memory of the World. ^{[12] [4] [13]} Other places in Lithuania that preserve birch bark letters are the Martynas Mažvydas National Library of Lithuania, the Directorate of the State Kernavė Cultural Reserve, the Biržai Region Museum  [ lt ] "Sėla", a branch of the Gargždai Region Museum, the Special Archives of Lithuania, the Panevėžys Local Lore Museum  [ lt ], Salomėja Nėris Memorial Museum, branch of the Maironis Lithuanian Literature Museum, Šiauliai "Aušra" Museum, Wroblewski Library of the Lithuanian Academy of Sciences, and Kaunas Ninth Fort Museum. ^{[14] [15] [16]}

Poland

In Poland, they are preserved in Museum of Rev. Józef Jarzębowski  [ pl ] in Licheń Stary ^{[17] [18]} and in the Museum of the Second World War in Gdańsk. ^[19] In 2023, the Institute of National Remembrance received a diary made of birch bark written in Siberian exile. ^[19] In 2023, Archiwum Kresowe in Zielona Góra received photographs of a similar diary from a private archive. ^[20]

Ukraine

In Ukraine, they are preserved in the National Museum of the History of Ukraine in the Second World War, the Museum of Totalitarian Regimes "Territory of Terror"  [ uk ] and the Ternopil Regional Museum of Local Lore  [ uk ], Ternopil. ^[21]

Library of Congress

In the U.S. Library of Congress, the letter are kept in the collection "Siberian Letters on Birch Bark". ^{[22] [23] [24] [25] [26] [27] [28] [29] [30] [31] [32] [33] [34] [35] [36] [37] [38] [39] [40] [1]}

See also

• Birch bark manuscript
• Memory of the World Register – Europe and North America
• Population transfer in the Soviet Union

References

1. Image 2 of Letter on Birch Bark from Siberia by Kārlis Roberts Kalevics  [ lv ], October 1, 1941
2. Letters on birch bark written by Ukrainian political prisoners from Siberia will be included in the UNESCO heritage list – Ministry of Culture
3. Baltics, Poland, Ukraine submit gulag birch bark letters to UNESCO register
4. Dokumentai ant beržo tošies – į UNESCO Pasaulio paveldo registrą
5. Latvijas nacionālais reģistrs
6. https://www.unesco.org/archives/multimedia/document-2623
7. UNESCO programma „Pasaules atmiņa” Latvijas nacionālais reģistrs
8. Durbes pilī atklāj izstādi “Sibīrijas vēstules”, Museum of the Occupation of Latvia
9. Agrita Ozola, profile at literatura.lv
10. Agrita Ozola, Sibīrijas vēstules, 2023, ISBN   9789934918315
11. Agritas Ozolas grāmata “Sibīrijas vēstules”
12. http://genocid.lt/muziejus/en/807/c/
13. Tremtinių laiškai: ant beržo tošies, popieriaus skiautės – ne visi išsaugoti, bet išlaikyti širdyse
14. Į UNESCO registrą „Pasaulio atmintis“ pateikta 5 šalių paraiška įtraukti ant beržo tošies Sibire rašytus laiškus
15. Panevėžio kraštotyros muziejaus dokumentas – pakeliui į UNESCO, January 13, 2016
16. Edita Lansbergienė Priesakas ant beržo tošies, Biržai Museum, June 11, 2011
17. LETTERS ON BIRCH BARK: HISTORY AND CONSERVATION OF OBJECTS FROM THE MUSEUM OF REV. JÓZEF JARZĘBOWSKI IN LICHEŃ STARY
18. Życzenia z łagru
19. Archiwum IPN otrzymało niezwykłe pamiątki. To świadectwo o osobach, które zesłano na Syberię
20. Przyjaciele z zesłania. Ludmiła Marczak ze Stryjówki koło Zbaraża i jej syberyjski sztambuch na brzozowej korze spisany.
21. Ася Небор-Николайчук, Зберегти спадщину: до списку ЮНЕСКО подано берестяні листи депортованих до Сибіру людей, December 1, 2023
22. https://www.loc.gov/item/2021667710/
23. https://www.loc.gov/item/2021667711/
24. https://www.loc.gov/item/2021667713/
25. https://www.loc.gov/item/2021667714/
26. Letter and Poems on Birch Bark from Siberia by Gaida Eglīte, May 24, 1949.
27. https://www.loc.gov/item/2021667716/
28. https://www.loc.gov/item/2021667717/
29. https://www.loc.gov/item/2021667718/
30. https://www.loc.gov/item/2021667719/
31. https://www.loc.gov/item/2021667720/
32. https://www.loc.gov/item/2021667721/
33. https://www.loc.gov/item/2021667722/
34. https://www.loc.gov/item/2021667723/
35. https://www.loc.gov/item/2021667724/
36. https://www.loc.gov/item/2021667725/
37. https://www.loc.gov/item/2021667726/
38. https://www.loc.gov/item/2021667727/
39. https://www.loc.gov/item/2021667728/
40. https://www.loc.gov/item/2021667729/

External links

• Sibīrijā rakstītas vēstules uz bērza tāss A slide show by Agrita Ozola, with transcript

Further reading

• Zeszyt z kory brzozowej z wierszami pisanymi przez Marię Górniak w latach 1941–1943, Ozierki, obwód swierdłowski, Museum of Memory of Siberia  [ pl ]