Arsiennieva, Natalia (1903—)
Arsiennieva, Natalia (1903—)
Belarussian poet, especially known in nationalistic circles, who continued writing for émigré journals after coming to the United States. Born in Baku, Azerbaijan, on November 20, 1903; studied at the University of Vilna; married an officer of the Polish Army.
Natalia Arsiennieva studied at the University of Vilna before she married an officer of the Polish Army. She lived in Poland from 1922 to 1940, when Soviet occupation authorities deported her as a "bourgeois nationalist intellectual" to Kazakhstan. She was released from captivity after Belarussian intellectuals protested. In the summer of 1941, Arsiennieva was in Minsk when German forces occupied the city, but she escaped the war zone, and, by 1945, she was in a German displaced persons camp. Emigrating to the United States in 1950, she continued to write and publish in émigré journals. Arsiennieva concentrated on writing highly nationalistic poetry colored by a historical experience of cultural survival despite national tragedy.
John Haag , Associate Professor of History, University of Georgia, Athens, Georgia