Vasil Zacharka ( be, Васіль Захарка, April 1, 1877,
Dabrasielcy near
Grodno – March 14, 1943, Prague) was a Belarusian statesman and the second president of the
Belarusian People's Republic
The Belarusian People's Republic (BNR; be, Беларуская Народная Рэспубліка, Bielaruskaja Narodnaja Respublika, ), or Belarusian Democratic Republic, was a state proclaimed by the Council of the Belarusian Democratic R ...
in exile.
Early life
Vasil Zacharka was born in a peasant family near
Grodno. In 1895 he became a certified church school teacher and later worked at school.
In 1898 Zacharka was mobilized to the Russian army and was demobilized in 1902. By that time he already was member of a large Belarusian national organization, 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 ...
.
He was again mobilized in 1904 following the outbreak of the
Russo-Japanese War
The Russo-Japanese War ( ja, 日露戦争, Nichiro sensō, Japanese-Russian War; russian: Ру́сско-япóнская войнá, Rússko-yapónskaya voyná) was fought between the Empire of Japan and the Russian Empire during 1904 and 1 ...
and served in the military on several administrative posts till 1917.
[ВАСІЛЬ ЗАХАРКА. ПРЭЗІДЭНТ БЕЛАРУСКАЙ НАРОДНАЙ РЭСПУБЛІКІ]
/ref>
Political activism
Vasil Zacharka was an active participant of the Congress of Belarusian West Front Militarymen on October 22, 1917 in Minsk
Minsk ( be, Мінск ; russian: Минск) is the capital and the largest city of Belarus, located on the Svislach and the now subterranean Niamiha rivers. As the capital, Minsk has a special administrative status in Belarus and is the admi ...
and became secretary of the newly created Central Belarusian Military Council. He was also elected member of the Council of the First All-Belarusian Congress later that year.
After proclamation of the independence on March 25, 1918, Vasil Zacharka held different positions in the government of Belarus.
In exile
With the Bolshevik invasion of Belarus in 1919, the government of Belarus had to evacuate to 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 ...
and then to Grodno. Zacharka was among the creators of appeals to the League of Nations
The League of Nations (french: link=no, Société des Nations ) was the first worldwide intergovernmental organisation whose principal mission was to maintain world peace. It was founded on 10 January 1920 by the Paris Peace Conference that ...
, Great Britain, France, USA and other countries by the Belarusian government.
On June 2, 1920 Zacharka was appointed chief of the Belarusian diplomatic mission to Moscow where he held negotiations with the Russian foreign minister Georgy Chicherin
Georgy Vasilyevich Chicherin (24 November 1872 – 7 July 1936), also spelled Tchitcherin, was a Russian Marxist revolutionary and a Soviet politician who served as the first People's Commissar for Foreign Affairs in the Soviet government from ...
. Zacharka tried to convince the Soviets to recognize the independence of Belarus and to liberate Belarusian political prisoners held in Russian jails.
After the Peace of Riga
The Peace of Riga, also known as the Treaty of Riga ( pl, Traktat Ryski), was signed in Riga on 18 March 1921, among Poland, Soviet Russia (acting also on behalf of Soviet Belarus) and Soviet Ukraine. The treaty ended the Polish–Soviet Wa ...
in 1921 the Belarusian government in exile passed resolutions criticizing it and supporting the Slutsk defence action
The Slutsk uprising () or the Slutsk defence ( be, Слуцкі збройны чын, links=no, translit=Slucki zbrojny čyn) was an unsuccessful armed attempt to establish an independent Belarus. It took place in late 1920, near the end of the ...
.
In 1925 Zacharka managed to prevent the government of the Belarusian People's Republic to abandon its authority in favour of the Belarusian Soviet Socialist Republic, despite the fact that many members of the democratic government were advocating this idea.
Zacharka served as deputy president of the Belarusian People's Republic Piotra Krecheuski and became president upon his death in early 1928. As president he protested against the transferral of 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 ...
from the Belarusian SSR to the Republic of Lithuania
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 c ...
in October 1939.
On 20 April 1939 Zacharka sent together with Ivan Yermachenka a seventeen-page memorandum to Adolf Hitler
Adolf Hitler (; 20 April 188930 April 1945) was an Austrian-born German politician who was dictator of Nazi Germany, Germany from 1933 until Death of Adolf Hitler, his death in 1945. Adolf Hitler's rise to power, He rose to power as the le ...
personally asking him to take into account the interests of Belarus in any ''future developments''. On 28 June 1941 Zacharka telegraphed to Hitler, that he wishes him a ''quick and decisive victory over the Judeo-Bolshevik regime on all fronts''. When it became clear that the Germans were not ready to create a Belarusian government, and Belarusians were given the place of executors of the orders of the German leadership, Vasil Zacharka stopped cooperating with the Germans and began to sharply criticize them in his articles. The Rada of the Belarusian Democratic Republic did not recognize the Belarusian Central Council, a puppet administrative body established by Nazi Germany.
In July 1941, as a member of the Belarusian Self-Help Committee, Zacharka issued a document to the Jewish family Wolfsohn, which they passed off as Orthodox Belarusians, although all committee members were aware that they were Jews. Because of this, the Wolfsohn family was able to survive the Second World War.
Vasil Zacharka died in Prague in 1943 and left a rich archive of documents about the Belarusian Democratic Republic.
Works
* Галоўныя моманты беларускага руху, Прага, 1926 – захоўваецца ў рукапісе ў Бібліятэцы імя Францыска Скарыны ў Лёндане (''Main Episodes of the Belarusian National Movement'')
* Беларусь – роля і значэньне на ўсходзе Эўропы. (''Belarus – its Role and Importance in Eastern Europe'')
* Пратэст Захаркі Прэзыдэнту Летувы – Спадчына №1–1994
* Закон аб грамадзянстве БНР ад 14 сьнежня 1919 – Спадчына №1–1994 (''Law on Citizenship of the Belarusian Democratic Republic'')
Sources
* Галіна Глагоўская "Васіль Захарка – Другі Прэзыдэнт БНР" // Спадчына №1–1994 alina Hlahouskaja, ''Vasil Zacharka, the Second President of the BNR'', published in the magazine ''Spadchyna'', №1/1994]
* Васіль Захарка На вернай службе бацькаўшчыне й народу (на 10 год сьмерці) // Спадчына №1–1994 [''Vasil Zacharka at his Faithful Service to Fatherland and the People'', '' Spadchyna'', №1/1994]
References
{{DEFAULTSORT:Zacharka, Vasil
1877 births
1943 deaths
People from Zel’va District
People from Volkovyssky Uyezd
Belarusian Socialist Assembly politicians
Members of the Rada of the Belarusian Democratic Republic
Belarusian diplomats
Belarusian expatriates in the Czech Republic
Belarusian independence activists
Burials at Olšany Cemetery