Samuil Jafimavič Płaŭnik (; ; 23 April 1886 – 3 November 1941), better known by the pen name Źmitrok Biadula (), was a Soviet and Belarusian poet, prose writer, translator, and political activist in the Belarusian independence movement. He is considered one of the fathers of modern Belarusian literature. Biography Zmitrok Biadula (Samuil Jafimavič Płaŭnik) was born on 23 April 1886 in the small town of (now in Lahoysk District, Minsk Region) to a Jewish family. He began writing Hebrew poems at age 13, based on medieval liturgical poetry. He later started writing in Russian and Belarusian, publishing works in the Saint Petersburg press and the Vilnius magazine Mołodyje Porywy. In 1910 he published poetic prose in Nasha Niva. Following the Soviet takeover of Belarus, he began writing novels in the Socialist realist genre. After the German invasion of the USSR in 1941, Biadula fled Belarus. He lived first in Pizhma, Gorky Oblast, then, until the end of October 1941, in the village of Novye Burasy, Saratov Oblast. He died near Uralsk in Kazakhstan, where he was buried. In February 2020, the remains of Źmitrok Biadula were exhumed and delivered to Belarus. On 3 November that year, the 79th anniversary of his death, the remains were reburied at the in Minsk in a Christian ceremony. References 1886 births 1941 deaths 20th-century Belarusian poets 20th-century Belarusian writers 20th-century translators People from Lahoysk District People from Vilna Governorate Recipients of the Order of the Red Banner of Labour Soviet children's writers Soviet male poets Soviet translators Belarusian Jews Belarusian male poets Belarusian male writers Belarusian translators Yiddish-language writers Translators from Ukrainian Translators from Yiddish Translators to Belarusian 20th-century pseudonymous writers