Vincent Godlewski: Against Time

A book about Vincent Hadleuski – one of the key figures of the Belarusian national liberation movement of the first half of the 20th century. This is the story of a man who fought for the language, faith and identity of his people.

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The name of Vincent Hadleuski (1888–1942) is well known to everyone interested in the Belarusian national liberation movement of the first half of the 20th century. This man was not only one of the leaders of the Belarusian Christian Democracy –
the most influential independence organization of Western Belarus during the interwar period, but he also showed the inhabitants of villages and towns by his own example their right to use their native language in church.
The biography of Vincent Hadleuski was created based on a detailed study of various documents, memoirs, and materials from periodical press. The author organically integrated the priest's activities into the broad context of a dramatic era when Belarusians first declared their right to national statehood. His life path is described in detail from his birth in the village of Shurychy, near Vawkavysk, to his tragic death in the Traścianiec forest near Minsk.