"A Forbidden Story Is Twice As Interesting"

Belarusian schoolchildren are getting around the restrictions and getting to the truth.

A reader of the "Basta!" Telegram channel described how the authorities are trying to “censor” the school curriculum, while students are finding ways around their bans.

“Back in mid-June, my son brought home a stack of history and Belarusian literature textbooks,” he writes. “They were all published between 2004 and 2010. And a binder of issues of the *Belarusian Historical Journal*. It turned out that the school had decided to clean out the library rooms, which were being used to store old books, and enlisted students doing their internships to help. They were ordered to dispose of the old textbooks on their own.

But children are curious creatures—and, as it turned out, resourceful ones. At first, they became interested in what was written in the textbooks. “Forbidden history” is doubly interesting—it covers the wars with Moscow, the Grand Duchy of Lithuania, and the national revival at the beginning of the last century. And in a couple of years, when the government changes, these books will be worth their weight in gold. A true rarity—just like those that escaped the Nazi book burnings under Hitler.”

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