Collection of Publicist Works by Albin Stapovič Published in Poland
The Kazimierz Wielki University in Bydgoszcz Publishing House has released a fundamental collection of the publicist legacy of Albin Stapovič, a Belarusian politician and musicologist from the interwar period. The book is the result of many years of work by Professor Alena Hlahoŭskaja, writes Bellit.info.
Albin Stapovič (1894—1934) was one of the most prominent Belarusian figures in Vilnius in the 1920s—1930s. A teacher and choirmaster at the Belarusian Gymnasium in Vilnius, vice-chairman of the Belarusian Christian Democracy, and publisher of the newspaper «Biełaruskaja krynica». For two years, he represented Belarusian interests in the Polish Sejm (elected as a deputy in 1928). He died in Vilnius in 1934 and was buried in the Rasos Cemetery.
During his short life, Stapovič wrote many publicist articles. Starting with notes in «Naša Niva» in 1912, he continued his work until his very last days. The book «From Music to Politics», compiled by Alena Hlahoŭskaja, contains over 100 texts from Belarusian newspapers, speeches by Deputy Stapovič in the Polish Parliament, and more than 90 articles for the liberal Polish newspaper Przegląd Wileński, which advocated for cooperation with Belarusians.
In addition to the collection of publicist works itself, which spans 450 large-format pages, the book contains rich illustrative material from Lithuanian, Polish, and Belarusian archives. Particularly noteworthy is a collection of postcards and photographs from the 1910s—1930s, shared with Alena Hlahoŭskaja by the descendants of the Stapovič family. Among them, considerable space is dedicated to Albin's correspondence with his brother Kanstancin Stapovič (the poet Kazimir Svayak). The photos and postcards are presented in color print.
The book concludes with a detailed bibliographic description, including archival materials about Albin Stapovič, scholarly works dedicated to him, and a complete bibliography of his own publications.
Albin Stapovič's book «From Music to Politics» serves as a useful guide to the history of political thought in Western Belarus, as well as a comprehensive reference work on musicology. Both aspects of Stapovič's work are presented in full in this volume.