Osud manželů Henijušových: návrat odebraného občanství
he Fate of the Henijuš Spouses: Return of Withdrawn Citizenship

Summary/Abstract: Emerging from the turmoil of 1945, the story of Jan and Larysa Henijušovi unfolds as a rare moment of civilian courage, legal ambiguity, and decades‑long struggle for justice, beginning with their remarkable rescue from Soviet agents thanks to the solidarity of local Czech residents. Their lives—rooted in medicine, poetry, exile politics, and humanitarian work—intertwined with the fates of other Belarusian activists who were not as fortunate and perished in the Gulag, highlighting both the brutality of postwar Soviet repressions and the passivity of Czechoslovak authorities. After briefly receiving Czechoslovak citizenship in 1947, the couple was arrested in 1948, stripped of that citizenship through a legally dubious administrative maneuver, and handed over to Soviet courts that sentenced them to 25 years of forced labor. Their attempts to return to Czechoslovakia after release in 1956 were thwarted, leaving them to live out their days in Belarus as surveilled, marginalized dissidents who nonetheless maintained deep affection for the Czech people. Decades later, renewed public interest, advocacy by descendants, and the work of civic actors led to a painstaking legal process that culminated in December 2024, when Czech authorities officially recognized that the Henijušovi had never lawfully lost their citizenship. Their posthumous reinstatement became a symbolic act of historical redress, resonating strongly in today’s Belarusian community as a reminder that injustice can be challenged even after many years.

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