Nasha Niva

Nasha Niva (Belarusian: Наша Ніва, Naša Niva, literally Our field) is one of the oldest Belarusian weekly newspapers founded in 1906 and re-established in 1991.

The current editor-in-chief is Andrej Skurko, who succeeded Andrej Dyńko.

History

1906-1915

The newspaper was founded in 1906 by members of the Belarusian Socialist Union (Hramada) in Vilna (modern Vilnius) that was a centre of the Belarusian national movement at that time.

Nasha Niva was among the first newspapers in Belarusian language. It published news about Belarus and literary works by Belarusian authors. In 1915 the newspaper was closed down because of the World War I. During the Soviet rule Nasha Niva was claimed to be “counter-revolutionary” and “capitalist” despite the fact that its founders and authors were mostly adherents of socialism.

Since 1991

In 1991 the newspaper was re-established in Vilnius by the editor-in-chief Siarhiej Dubaviec.

Under the presidency of Alexander Lukashenko the newspaper was subjected to state pressure. At one point in the late 1990s there was an attempt to close down the newspaper because of its use of Taraškievica orthography.

In October 2003, former Czech President Václav Havel granted the cash portion of the Hanno R. Ellenbogen Citizenship Award to Nasha Niva editor Andrey Dynko. The Hanno R. Ellenbogen Citizenship Award is given each year by the Prague Society for International Cooperation to an individual who has dedicated his or her life to public...
Read More