Jazep Mamońka (; 28 January 1889 – 10 September 1937) was а
Belarusian politician and victim of
Stalin’s purges.
Early years
Mamońka was born in the village of Zaliessie in
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 partitio ...
of the Russian Empire (now
Slucak district of Minsk region in Belarus).
[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. 152–153.[Маракоў, Леанід.]
Рэпрэсаваныя літаратары, навукоўцы, работнікі асветы, грамадскія і культурныя дзеячы Беларусі. 1794-1991: Мамонька Язэп Аляксеевіч
epressed writers, scientists, educators, public and cultural figures of Belarus. 1794-1991: Mamońka Jazep, by Leanid Marakou]. ''www.marakou.by'' (in Belarusian). Retrieved 2021-08-22.
From a young age he joined the revolutionary movement and in 1907–1917 was a member of the Socialist Revolutionary Party, Party of Socialists-Revolutionaries. He was twice arrested by the tsarist authorities and spent nearly 3 years in prison.
During
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 ...
, Mamońka served as a telegraph operator at the headquarters of the XII Russian Imperial Army.
Involvement in the Belarusian independence movement
In May 1917 Mamońka founded an organisation of Belarusian soldiers in
Riga. In September of that year he became a member of the
Belarusian Socialist Assembly
The Belarusian Socialist Assembly, BSA ( be, Беларуская сацыялістычная грамада, translit=Bielaruskaja sacyjalistyčnaja hramada, BSH) was a revolutionary party in the Belarusian territory of the Russian Empire. It wa ...
(Hramada) and later a member of the Central Committee of the party.
He was one of the organisers of the
First All-Belarusian Congress
The First All-Belarusian Congress ( be, Першы Ўсебеларускі кангрэс or Першая Ўсебеларуская канферэнцыя) was a congress of Belarusian political organisations and groups held in Minsk in Decembe ...
and was elected to its Council.
In 1918 he was one of the founders, together with
Paluta Badunova
Paluta Aliaksandraŭna Badunova ( be, Палута Аляксандраўна Бадунова; 7 September 1885 – 29 November 1938) was a key female political figure in the Belarusian independence movement of the early 20th century. She w ...
and
Tamaš Hryb, of the .
From December 1919 he was a member of the Presidium and held various important positions in 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 ...
.
Exile, return and 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 ...
Between 1922 and 1928 Mamońka lived in exile in Czechoslovakia, Lithuania and Latvia but in September 1928 decided to return to
Soviet Belarus
The Byelorussian Soviet Socialist Republic (BSSR, or Byelorussian SSR; be, Беларуская Савецкая Сацыялістычная Рэспубліка, Bielaruskaja Savieckaja Sacyjalistyčnaja Respublika; russian: Белор ...
. He was arrested at the border by the
Joint State Political Directorate (OGPU) and later sentenced to 10 years in 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 ...
prison camps.
Execution
On 2 September 1937 he was sentenced to death by an
NKVD troika
NKVD troika or Special troika (russian: особая тройка, osobaya troyka), in Soviet history, were the People's Commissariat of Internal Affairs (NKVD which would later be the beginning of the KGB) made up of three officials who issued ...
and executed eight days later. He was posthumously exonerated in 1989 and 1993.
He is buried in a mass grave of Gulag victims in the
Sandarmokh
Sandarmokh (russian: Сандармох; krl, Sandarmoh) is a forest massif from Medvezhyegorsk in the Republic of Karelia where possibly thousands of victims of Stalin's Great Terror were executed. More than 58 nationalities were shot and bur ...
forest massif in Russia’s
Republic of Karelia.
References
{{DEFAULTSORT:Mamonka, Jazep
1889 births
1937 deaths
People from Minsk Region
Belarusian Socialist Assembly politicians
Members of the Rada of the Belarusian Democratic Republic
Great Purge victims from Belarus
Soviet rehabilitations