2016/01/01 by Wim Coudenys · 1 citation
Arts and Humanities · Social Sciences · #Historical Studies and Socio-cultural Analysis #Historical Geopolitical and Social Dynamics #Vietnamese History and Culture Studies
paper · doi:10.1484/j.rhe.5.110726
openalex publication_date 2016/01/01 · openalex created_date 2025/10/10 · openalex updated_date 2025/11/06
Nicolas Belina-Podgaetsky (1896-1967) was the most prolific Russian emigrant author in Belgium between the late 1930s and early 1950s. His memoirs, as well as numerous children’s books on the plight of Christians under Soviet rule apparently met the criteria for good Catholic, anti-communist literature and were published by Durendal, Casterman and Bonne Presse/Goede Pers (Averbode). As typical of converts, however, the former Soviet journalist Belina-Podgaetsky tried to emulate his new masters’ views and in doing so overstepped the mark. His autobiography was meticulously edited to obscure his Soviet (and atheistic) past, while his fictional work contained so many ‘verifiable’ facts, that they became ‘True’ in a metaphysical and ideological sense. Notwithstanding extremely wide reaching circulation and publicity, his work never gained him the literary fame he craved. And despite his Russian and anti-communist profile, the Russian emigrants in Belgium never accepted him as one of their own. This article seeks to explore how the life and work of a minor author like Belina-Podgaetsky not only reflected Catholic anti-communism in Belgium during that era, but also contributed to its creation.