Belarusian writer and scholar (1932–2022)
Adam Maldzis (, 7 August 1932 – 3 January 2022) was a Belarusian historian, literary critic, author and journalist. He was described as "a patriarch of Belarusian humanities", "an excellent connoisseur of literature" and "a living bridge between Belarus and the scholars of Belarusian studies around the world". He was “the author of unique studies of the Old Belarusian literature”.
Life and career.
Maldzis was born in the village of Rasoly, Oszmiany District, Poland (now in Astraviec District of Belarus) – a place on a cross-road of "different influences – national, religious and cultural". At school he began publishing articles in children's periodicals.
He earned a degree in journalism from the Belarusian State University followed by postgraduate studies at the Yanka Kupala Institute of Literature of the Belarusian Academy of Sciences. In 1962–1991, Maldzis worked at the Institute of Literature of the Academy of Sciences of Belarus. His main academic interest and specialism was in Belarusian-Polish and Belarusian-Lithuanian literary connections.
Despite strict ideological control in the Soviet Belarus, Maldzis managed to publish a review of Arnold McMillin's "A History of Byelorussian Literature from Its Origins to the Present Day" (1977) – the first English-language history of Belarusian literature.
In 1982, Maldzis was the first scholar from the Soviet Belarus to spend a considerable amount of time at the Belarusian Library in London working with the materials unavailable to researchers at home due to censorship.
In 1990, he made a public statement – the first in the BSSR – calling for the acknowledgement of the important and positive role of the Uniate Church in the history of Belarus.
In 1987, Maldzis became the head of the restitution commission of the Belarusian Cultural Fund. In 1991, he founded the International Association of Belarusian Studies. In the same year, he founded the Francis Skaryna National Research and Education Centre; he was its director in 1991–98. Maldzis served on the board of the Association of Belarusians of the World "Baćkauščyna" (Motherland).
Maldzis died on 3 January 2022, at the age of 89.
References.
 ;templatestyles src="Reflist/styles.css" / ;