Anton Sokał-Kutyłoŭski (; 7 February 1892 - 7 March 1983) was an active participant in the Belarusian independence movement, a military leader of anti-Soviet resistance in the early 20th century and a Gulag prisoner.

Early life

Sokał-Kutyłoŭski was born into the family of a petty nobleman in the hamlet of Pieravaloki-Darahišča (later Čyrvonaja Horka), Pinsky Uyezd in the

Minsk Governorate The Minsk Governorate (russian: Минская губерния, Belarusian: ) or Government of Minsk was a governorate ('' guberniya'') of the Russian Empire. The seat was in Minsk. It was created in 1793 from the land acquired in the partition ...

of the

Russian Empire The Russian Empire was an empire and the final period of the Russian monarchy from 1721 to 1917, ruling across large parts of Eurasia. It succeeded the Tsardom of Russia following the Treaty of Nystad, which ended the Great Northern War. ...

(now

Luninets District Luninets District is an administrative subdivision, a raion of Brest Region, in Belarus. The district seat is Luninets. Demographics At the time of the Belarus Census (2009), Luninets District had a population of 73,200. Of these, 96.2% were of ...

Brest Region Brest Region or Brest Oblast or Brest Voblasts ( be, Брэ́сцкая во́бласць ''(Bresckaja vobłasć)''; russian: Бре́стская о́бласть (''Brestskaya Oblast)'') is one of the regions of Belarus. Its administrative cent ...

Belarus Belarus,, , ; alternatively and formerly known as Byelorussia (from Russian ). officially the Republic of Belarus,; rus, Республика Беларусь, Respublika Belarus. is a landlocked country in Eastern Europe. It is bordered by R ...

).Арлоў, Уладзімер (2020).
ІМЁНЫ СВАБОДЫ (Бібліятэка Свабоды. ХХІ стагодзьдзе
)'' 'Uładzimir_Arłou._The_Names_of_Freedom_(The_Library_of_Freedom._ХХІ_century.)''.html" ;"title="Uładzimir_Arłou.html" ;"title="'Uładzimir Arłou">'Uładzimir Arłou. The Names of Freedom (The Library of Freedom. ХХІ century.)''">Uładzimir_Arłou.html" ;"title="'Uładzimir Arłou">'Uładzimir Arłou. The Names of Freedom (The Library of Freedom. ХХІ century.)''(PDF) (in Belarusian) (4-е выд., дап. ed.). Радыё Свабодная Эўропа / Радыё Свабода - Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty. pp. 346–347. In 1910 he graduated from the Panevėžys Teachers' Seminary and in 1913-1915 studied in Saint Petersburg, St Petersburg. With the onset of

World War I World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, the United States, and the Ottoman Empire, with fightin ...

, he joined the Russian Imperial Army and studied at the Kazan Military School. He subsequently fought at the Eastern Front in Galicia and near

Vilnius Vilnius ( , ; see also other names) is the capital and largest city of Lithuania, with a population of 592,389 (according to the state register) or 625,107 (according to the municipality of Vilnius). The population of Vilnius's functional urb ...

, became an army captain and was awarded a St. George's Cross. After the

Russian Revolution The Russian Revolution was a period of Political revolution (Trotskyism), political and social revolution that took place in the former Russian Empire which began during the First World War. This period saw Russia abolish its monarchy and ad ...

he fought in the

White Army The White Army (russian: Белая армия, Belaya armiya) or White Guard (russian: Бѣлая гвардія/Белая гвардия, Belaya gvardiya, label=none), also referred to as the Whites or White Guardsmen (russian: Бѣлогв� ...

first in Southern Russia and then in Estonia but returned to Belarus in 1920.

Military leader of the Slucak Uprising

After his return, Sokał-Kutyłoŭski travelled to the Slucak area in central Belarus to join the unfolding anti-Bolshevik Slucak Uprising. There he was put in command of the Slucak brigade formed on the basis of two regiments – the 1st Slucak regiment and the 2nd Hrozaŭ regiment. Under his command, the Slucak brigade made some initial successful attacks near

Kapyl Kapyl ( be, Капы́ль, Kapyĺ, russian: Копыль, Kopyl; pl, Kopyl; lt, Kapylius; yi, קאפּוליע) is an urban settlement and the capital of Kapyl District in Belarus. It is located west-northwest of Slutsk and south-southwest o ...

, Cimkavičy and Vyzna and engaged the Omsk division of the Red Army along a 60-km front. However, despite support from the local population, the Belarusian units lacked ammunition and arms and on 31 December 1920 the Slucak brigade retreated across the Soviet-Polish border.

Later life

Between 1921 and 1939 Sokał-Kutyłoŭski lived in the

Second Polish Republic The Second Polish Republic, at the time officially known as the Republic of Poland, was a country in Central Europe, Central and Eastern Europe that existed between 1918 and 1939. The state was established on 6 November 1918, before the end of ...

. Following the

Soviet invasion of Poland The Soviet invasion of Poland was a military operation by the Soviet Union without a formal declaration of war. On 17 September 1939, the Soviet Union invaded Poland from the east, 16 days after Nazi Germany invaded Poland from the west. Subse ...

he was arrested by the

NKVD The People's Commissariat for Internal Affairs (russian: Наро́дный комиссариа́т вну́тренних дел, Naródnyy komissariát vnútrennikh del, ), abbreviated NKVD ( ), was the interior ministry of the Soviet Union. ...

, Soviet secret police, but escaped from jail after the commencement of the

German-Soviet War The Eastern Front of World War II was a theatre of conflict between the European Axis powers against the Soviet Union (USSR), Poland and other Allies, which encompassed Central Europe, Eastern Europe, Northeast Europe (Baltics), and Sout ...

in 1941. Between 1941 and 1944 Sokał-Kutyłoŭski worked in Hancavičy as a school inspector and was also involved with the Belarusian Home Guard and the

Belarusian Independence Party The Belarusian Independence Party ( be, Беларуская незалежніцкая партыя, БНП, ''Biełaruskaja niezaležnickaja partyja'', BNP) was a Belarusian nationalist political organization during the Second World War. Creati ...

. In April 1945 he was again arrested by the Soviet secret police and sent to the

Gulag The Gulag, an acronym for , , "chief administration of the camps". The original name given to the system of camps controlled by the GPU was the Main Administration of Corrective Labor Camps (, )., name=, group= was the government agency in ...

. He was released in November 1957 during the

Khrushchev Thaw The Khrushchev Thaw ( rus, хрущёвская о́ттепель, r=khrushchovskaya ottepel, p=xrʊˈɕːɵfskəjə ˈotʲ:ɪpʲɪlʲ or simply ''ottepel'')William Taubman, Khrushchev: The Man and His Era, London: Free Press, 2004 is the period ...

and subsequently emigrated to

Szczecin Szczecin (, , german: Stettin ; sv, Stettin ; Latin: ''Sedinum'' or ''Stetinum'') is the capital and largest city of the West Pomeranian Voivodeship in northwestern Poland. Located near the Baltic Sea and the German border, it is a major s ...

(the

Polish People’s Republic The Polish People's Republic ( pl, Polska Rzeczpospolita Ludowa, PRL) was a country in Central Europe that existed from 1947 to 1989 as the predecessor of the modern Republic of Poland. With a population of approximately 37.9 million near ...

) where he lived until his death on 7 March 1983. Sokał-Kutyłoŭski is buried in the Central Cemetery in Szczecin.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Sokal-Kutylouski, Anton 1892 births 1983 deaths People from Luninets District People from Pinsky Uyezd Belarusian nobility Belarusian independence movement Russian military personnel of World War I White movement people Belarusian Home Defence personnel Gulag detainees Soviet emigrants to Poland Belarusian diaspora