Open letter by Professor Shved: my dismissal is politically motivated

Here we present to your attention the full version of the open letter by professor Viachaslau Shved.

The doctor of historical sciences Viachaslau Shved has been factually dismissed from Hrodna State University named after Yanka Kupala. At first he was dismissed from the position of the head of the department of the Belarusian culture and regional tourism, and on 1 April the university council didn't elect him to the position of professor at the university contest.

Mr. Shved applied to lecturers of Hrodna State University with an open letter.


Dear Colleagues,

My labor contract at the position of the head of a department ended at the end of March 2013, and I was proposed to proceed to the position of a professor. I went through all necessary procedures. Having analyzed my work for the last 5 years, the contest commission unanimously recommended my candidacy for the participation in the contest at the university council.

On 1 April 2013 the voting took place at the university council. It results (30 – "for", 41 – "against") were evidently rigged.

The people who know me well enough couldn't vote in such a way. I think that there were no reasons for such a result. In published 28 scientific and 3 scientific-methodical works (including with the stamp of the Education Ministry). I am the head of the budget topic "Tourist evaluation of the monuments of history and culture of the Nioman area" and have taken part in several business topics as well. I hoped the city executive committee and the university to receive some international projects whose financing has already begun. I popularize the history of the Hrodna region and its tourist resources.

I have worked with You for more than 30 years. I started as an assistant and ended at the position of the head of a department, defended a candidate's and a doctor's theses. The department of tourism, and then – the faculty of tourism and services were created on my initiative and now are most popular among university entrants.

In 2012 the department brought 286 million rubles of profit to the university. That's to my idea the university takes part in the project "Increase of the attractiveness of the trans-border region by including ethno-cultural resources in the tourist activities (acronym – "Journey to Ethnic Tale") within the framework of the project "Trans-border cooperation "Poland-Belarus-Ukraine – 2007-2013".

I have the following scientific achievements for the 30 years of work: 287 publications including 4 monographs, 10 books and 5 schoolbooks.

That's why I am sure that my dismissal is a political decision – revenge for the issued book "Hrodna Studies. History of a European City". This book was written on my idea, I gathered the collective of authors, directed them, wrote more than a half of the book and edited it.

The book was written on request of the Hrodna teachers who worked with schoolchildren at the optional course "Hrodna Studies". The course was introduced on decision of a session of Hrodna City Council, initiated by its deputy A. Lasminski, who also approved the creation of the book, which was issued twice at Hrodna University after two years of visits to Hrodna Region Executive Committee which found no money for its issue. Then there was conducted the third edition, in the printing house of the Polish Academy of Sciences in Wroclaw.

Thus, the accusation of the authors in the underground publication of the book are groundless. I should also emphasized that what was printed in Poland is a book, not a schoolbook, in which the authors were accused as well. We also had the right to choose the chronological period in the history of Hrodna about which we wrote our text – up to 1994, which is also presented as our guilt.

Dear colleagues, I don't ask Your support. I want to explain my position and tell You that I have always wrote my works on the basis of historical facts, for which I earned the reputation of a deep and objective historian among my fellow historians.

Professor Viachaslau Shved


In his interview to "Nasha Niva" professor Shved stated that there was a strict order for his dismissal from the university and he won't be employed even to the position of a sweeper. "According to the university rules, the lecturer who is not elected to the position of professor at the contest, is dismissed from work. I know that I will be dismissed, it's just a question of time," said Mr. Shved.

The historian doesn't have any variants of further employment so far. "I need to think it over and discuss with people", says Viachaslau Shved.