PIOTRA KRECHEUSKI
Administrator, political leader, historian. Krecheuiski was bom near
the town of Kobryn (presently Brest 'oblast") into the family of a
village-church deacon on August 7, 1879. He died in Prague on March
8, 1928.
Piotra
Krecheuiski studied at the Orthodox Theological Seminary in Vilna from
which he graduated in 1902. He however did not want to pursue the
career of a priest and became a teacher instead. He worked as a teacher
for several years in order to repay the cost of his study in the seminary.
A teaching career turned out not to be to his liking either and he went
Into bank administration. At the beginning of that career he was
under suspicion by the police because of his close ties with various political
groups. His bank position gave him excellent opportunities to establish
contacts with numerous Belarusians who were employed in the tsarist administration.
Krecheuiski was drafted into the Russian army during the war. His
administrative experience and his knowledge of the bureaucratic apparatus
favored his rapid advancement in the army as well as making it possible
for him to travel among the military units stationed in Byelorussia.
Making their acquaintance, he came to know well the Belarusians who were
in service. After the February Revolution, Krecheuski was able to
profit from his acquaintances within the military and assisted greatly
in establishing an organization of Belarusian soldiers. At the AR-Belarusian
Congress, at which he was a delegate from the Barysau businessmen's association,
Krecheuiski was elected to the Council of the Belarusian Democratic Republic.
In February of 1918 he became a member of the first Belarusian Government
with the function of state comptroller. Krecheuski was one of the
pioneers who formulated and declared Belarus to be an independent republic.
In May of 1918 Krecheuski became the Secretary of Commerce of the Republic.
On October 11, 1918 he was elected Secretary of the Council of the Belarusian
Democratic Republic. On December 13, 1919 Piotra Krecheuski was elected
President of the Council of the Belarusian Democratic Republic. As
the Covernment of the Belarusian Democratic Republic headed into emigration,
Krecheuski carried out his functions in Kaunas, then in Berlin, finally
settling in Prague. His immediate tasks were to establish working
contacts with the representatives of the Belarusian Democratic Republic
in various countries, which Krecheuski did very efficiently. Krecheuski's
activities in Prague were very diverse. He initiated numerous memoranda
along diplomatic lines to various Western European countries informing
them about the political situation in Soviet Belarus as well as the difllcult
position of Belarusians in Poland. Next on the agenda were Belarusian
affairs. Piotra Krecheuski convened a Belarusian political conference
In Prague in September of 192 1, at which Belarusian topics were elaborated.
Most importantly, all Belarusian organizations and parties outside of Soviet
Belarus unanimously recognized the representation of the Belarusian Democratic
Republic as their political symbol and rallying point.
Krecheuski's
political activities in Prague were diverse. He undertook and was
successful in obtaining scholarships for Belarusian students from the Czechoslovak
Government. He was also one of the pioneers who started the Belarusian
Archives in Prague and obtained the financial support for maintaining these
Archives. In fact, the Belarusian Archives in Prague were the first
of their kind, holding some of the most Important documents on modern Belarusian
history. As was said elsewhere, these Archives vanished from Prague
when the Soviets occupied Czechoslovakia in 1945. In the midst of
all his administrative and political activities, Krecheiuski managed to
participate in numerous scholarly conferences and authored several articles
on topics of Belarusian culture. He also edited an important political-scholarly
almanac "Zamez^naja Belarus" (Prague, 1926).
The most
important characteristic of Piotra Krecheuski, with lasting significance
for the Belausian political emigration, is the fact that he organized the
Office of the Belarusian Democratic Republic in Exile, he elaborated the
Symbolism of that Office, and he withstood the intrigues, the pressures,
and blandishments of the Bolsheviks to liquidate the Office of the Belarusian
Democratic Republic, i.e., to abandon the Symbol of Belarusian Independence
and Statehood and return to Soviet Belarus. Piotra Krecheuski and
his closest collaborators deserve the fullest credit for this; his courageous
stand alone puts Piotra Krecheuski in the ranks of major Belarusian political
leaders.
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