Ivonka Survilla ( be, Івонка Сурвілла, born Ivonka Šymaniec, be, Івонка Шыманец, pl, Iwonka Szymaniec, April 11, 1936) is the President of the

Rada of the Belarusian Democratic Republic The Rada of the Belarusian Democratic Republic ( be, Рада Беларускай Народнай Рэспублікі, Рада БНР, Rada BNR) was the governing body of the Belarusian Democratic Republic. Since 1919, the Rada BNR has bee ...

, a self-proclaimed Belarusian

government in exile A government in exile (abbreviated as GiE) is a political group that claims to be a country or semi-sovereign state's legitimate government, but is unable to exercise legal power and instead resides in a foreign country. Governments in exile us ...

Early life

Ivonka Survilla was born in Stoŭbcy, then part of 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 ...

(

West Belarus Western Belorussia or Western Belarus ( be, Заходняя Беларусь, translit=Zachodniaja Bielaruś; pl, Zachodnia Białoruś; russian: Западная Белоруссия, translit=Zapadnaya Belorussiya) is a historical region of mod ...

), into the family of Uladzimier Šymaniec, an engineer, and Evelina Šymaniec née Paškievič. In 1940, after the Soviet annexation of

, Uladzimier Šymaniec was arrested by the Soviets and sentenced to five years imprisonment in

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 escaped due to the German attack on the USSR.The Road from Stoupcy to Copenhagen to Paris to Madrid to Ottawa to Miensk — The Memoirs of Ivonka Survilla
(in Belarusian) In 1944 the family fled to the West through

East Prussia East Prussia ; german: Ostpreißen, label=Low Prussian; pl, Prusy Wschodnie; lt, Rytų Prūsija was a province of the Kingdom of Prussia from 1773 to 1829 and again from 1878 (with the Kingdom itself being part of the German Empire from 187 ...

with the thousands of other refugees and eventually reached

Denmark ) , song = ( en, "King Christian stood by the lofty mast") , song_type = National and royal anthem , image_map = EU-Denmark.svg , map_caption = , subdivision_type = Sovereign state , subdivision_name = Danish Realm, Kingdom of Denmark ...

where they lived in a refugee camp for several years. On the way Ivonka's younger sister died. In 1948 her family moved to

France France (), officially the French Republic ( ), is a country primarily located in Western Europe. It also comprises of Overseas France, overseas regions and territories in the Americas and the Atlantic Ocean, Atlantic, Pacific Ocean, Pac ...

and settled in

Paris Paris () is the capital and most populous city of France, with an estimated population of 2,165,423 residents in 2019 in an area of more than 105 km² (41 sq mi), making it the 30th most densely populated city in the world in 2020. S ...

. Survilla's family members were active participants in the life of the local Belarusian community. Ivonka Šymaniec has studied at

École nationale supérieure des Beaux-Arts The Beaux-Arts de Paris is a French ''grande école'' whose primary mission is to provide high-level arts education and training. This is classical and historical School of Fine Arts in France. The art school, which is part of the Paris Science ...

and then graduated from a humanities faculty of the

Sorbonne Sorbonne may refer to: * Sorbonne (building), historic building in Paris, which housed the University of Paris and is now shared among multiple universities. *the University of Paris (c. 1150 – 1970) *one of its components or linked institution, ...

. In 1959 Ivonka Šymaniec married Janka Survilla, a Belarusian economist, activist and radio broadcaster. With him she moved to

Madrid Madrid ( , ) is the capital and most populous city of Spain. The city has almost 3.4 million inhabitants and a metropolitan area population of approximately 6.7 million. It is the second-largest city in the European Union (EU), and ...

where they ran a

Belarusian language Belarusian ( be, беларуская мова, biełaruskaja mova, link=no, ) is an East Slavic language. It is the native language of many Belarusians and one of the two official state languages in Belarus. Additionally, it is spoken in some p ...

radio program supported by

Francoist Spain Francoist Spain ( es, España franquista), or the Francoist dictatorship (), was the period of Spanish history between 1939 and 1975, when Francisco Franco ruled Spain after the Spanish Civil War with the title . After his death in 1975, Spai ...

In Canada

After closure of the radio station in 1965, Janka and Ivonka Survilla moved to

Canada Canada is a country in North America. Its ten provinces and three territories extend from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean and northward into the Arctic Ocean, covering over , making it the world's second-largest country by tot ...

in 1969 where Ivonka started working as translator for the federal government. She eventually became the head of Translation Services at Health Canada.Нашчадкі мастака Ўладзімера Шыманца працягваюць беларускія традыцыі і прадстаўляюць беларускую культуру ў заходніх унівэрсытэтах.
/ref> In Canada Ivonka Survilla became an active member local Belarusian organisations. In 1989, Ivonka Survilla, with the assistance of her husband Janka Survilla and friends Zinaida Gimpelevitch and Pauline Paszkievicz-Smith, created the Canadian Relief Fund for Chernobyl Victims in Belarus. This charitable organization provides medical aid in various forms, reciprocal medical staff visits between Canada and Belarus, food aid as well as providing health respites for children in various locations within Canada.

As President of the Rada of the Belarusian Democratic Republic

Ivonka Survilla was elected president of the Rada of the Belarusian Democratic Republic in 1997. She is the first woman president of the

Rada The Royal Academy of Dramatic Art (RADA; ) is a drama school in London, England, that provides vocational conservatoire training for theatre, film, television, and radio. It is based in the Bloomsbury area of Central London, close to the Senat ...

and the first president elected after the dissolution of the

Soviet Union The Soviet Union,. officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR),. was a transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 to 1991. A flagship communist state, it was nominally a federal union of fifteen national ...

and creation of an independent

Republic of Belarus A republic () is a "state in which power rests with the people or their representatives; specifically a state without a monarchy" and also a "government, or system of government, of such a state." Previously, especially in the 17th and 18th ...

. Survilla regularly addresses the Belarusian society on March 25 and other occasions. She is a founding signatory of the

Prague Declaration on European Conscience and Communism The Prague Declaration on European Conscience and Communism was a declaration which was initiated by the Czech government and signed on 3 June 2008 by prominent European politicians, former political prisoners and historians, among them former ...

. In 2013 she was awarded the Canadian

Queen Elizabeth II Diamond Jubilee Medal The Queen Elizabeth II Diamond Jubilee Medal (french: Médaille du jubilé de diamant de la reine Elizabeth II) or The Queen's Diamond Jubilee Medal was a commemorative medal created in 2012 to mark the 60th anniversary of Queen Elizabeth II's ...

for "her lifelong work in restoring democracy to Belarus".

Personal life

Ivonka Survilla has two daughters. One of her daughters, Maria Paula Survilla, (1964–2020) was a professor of ethnomusicology at

Wartburg College Wartburg College is a private Lutheran liberal arts college in Waverly, Iowa. It has an additional campus, Wartburg West, in Denver, Colorado. History Wartburg College was founded in 1852 in Saginaw, Michigan, by Georg M. Grossmann, a nati ...

Waverly, Iowa Waverly is a city in Bremer County, Iowa, United States. The population was 10,394 at the time of the 2020 census. It is the county seat of Bremer County and is part of the Waterloo– Cedar Falls Metropolitan Statistical Area. The sister cit ...

. Her husband Janka Survilla died in Ottawa in 1997. Survilla has participated in more than 30 exhibitions as a painter.

References

External links

Official page
on

website
Ivonka Survilla answers questions
{{DEFAULTSORT:Survilla, Ivonka 1936 births Living people People from Stowbtsy People from Nowogródek Voivodeship (1919–1939) Members of the Rada of the Belarusian Democratic Republic Belarusian emigrants to Canada 20th-century Belarusian women politicians 20th-century Belarusian politicians Belarusian anti-communists Belarusian emigrants to France University of Paris alumni Politicians from Ottawa 21st-century Belarusian women politicians 21st-century Belarusian politicians Heads of government in exile