Francišak Alachnovič was a Belarusian writer, journalist and Gulag

Gulag

The Gulag was the government agency that administered the main Soviet forced labor camp systems. While the camps housed a wide range of convicts, from petty criminals to political prisoners, large numbers were convicted by simplified procedures, such as NKVD troikas and other instruments of...

 survivor.

Alachnovič was a well-known theatrical writer, director and journalist in West Belarus

West Belarus

West Belarus is the name used in reference to the territory of modern Belarus which belonged to the Second Polish Republic between 1919 and 1939. The area of West Belarus was annexed into the Belarusian Soviet Socialist Republic following staged elections soon after the Nazi-Soviet Invasion of...

. He was editor of the newspaper Biełaruski zvon published in Vilnius

Vilnius

Vilnius is the capital of Lithuania, and its largest city, with a population of 560,190 as of 2010. It is the seat of the Vilnius city municipality and of the Vilnius district municipality. It is also the capital of Vilnius County...

.

In 1926 he decided to stay in East Belarus

East Belarus

thumb|Coat of arms of East BelarusEast Belarus usually refers to the part of Belarus that was under Soviet occupation between 1919 and 1939, as opposed to West Belarus that was part of the Second Polish Republic in that time....

 after a conference in Minsk. After a couple of months he got arrested by the NKVD

NKVD

The People's Commissariat for Internal Affairs was the public and secret police organization of the Soviet Union that directly executed the rule of power of the Soviets, including political repression, during the era of Joseph Stalin....

 and sent to Solovki concentration camp. He spent seven years in the Gulag and was exchanged for Branislau Tarashkevich, a West Belarusian politician held in Polish prison, in 1933.

Alachnovič's Gulag experience became a basis for his 1934 book of memoirs U kipciuroch GPU (In the claws of the GPU

State Political Directorate

The State Political Directorate was the secret police of the Russian Soviet Federative Socialist Republic and the Soviet Union from 1922 until 1934...

), that was later translated into several languages.

During the Second World War, Francišak Alachnovič was editor of the newspaper Biełaruski hołas published in Vilnius. Besides that, he was one of the leaders of the Belarusian Independence Party

Belarusian Independence Party

The Belarusian Independence Party was a Belarusian separatist military organization during the Second World War.-Creation:The BNP was probably created in 1939—1940 in Vilnius . The initiator of its creation was padre Vincent Hadleŭski...

 - a Belarusian Christian Democratic underground antifascist organization led by padre Vincent Hadleŭski

Vincent Hadleuski

Vincent Hadleŭski was a Belarusian Roman Catholic priest, publicist and politician.Born in the village Shchury near Vaukavysk, he graduated from a Catholic seminary in Vilna and the Catholic academy in St.Petersburg...

.

In 1944, Francišak Alachnovič was assassinated by a Soviet terrorist.