Twelve

This book is a story about a journey that began in 1944 in Baranavichy, continued west through wartime and post-war Germany, headed north across the English Channel to picturesque Scotland, turned south into central England and returned to the European continent in Belgium, only to diverge from there, after years of joint travels, along narrower individual paths in different directions. On this road, twelve Belarusian orphaned boys from Baranavichy met and agreed to stick together, deciding to make their way through life with joint efforts. The idea of a free Belarus served as a guide for them, kept them together, and gave impetus to creative and public work. The book is created as a memoir-documentary. It, along with memoirs, diary entries and excerpts from the émigré press, also contains letters, journalistic articles and literary works, the authors of which are the heroes of the story. Most of the documentary material included is published for the first time. At the same time, this book is the author's epistle to young Belarusians of the 21st century. The reason for this is my own difficult experience.