Vasil Bykaŭ was born in the village Byčki , not far from Viciebsk in 1924 . In 1941 he was in Ukraine when Germany attacked the USSR . At first seventeen-year-old Bykaŭ dug trenches – then he volunteered for the Red Army . He was arrested and almost shot as a German spy . For years after the war he continued to serve , returning to the USSR only in the mid-1950s . There he started to work as a journalist for the Hrodna Pravda newspaper . In that same decade his first novellas began to come out , of which the most famous are " Sotnikaŭ " , " The Obelisk " , " To Go and Not Return " , and " To Live Till Sunrise " . " Sotnikaŭ " ( " The Ordeal " ) inspired director Larisa Shepitko 's film " The Ascent " , released in 1977 and winner of the Golden Bear award at the 27th Berlin International Film Festival . During and after the Perestroika , he participated in pro-reform movement ( e.g. Popular Front of Belarus ) . In October 1993 , he signed the Letter of Forty-Two
27th Berlin International Film Festival
27th Berlin International Film Festival
Vasil Bykaŭ