Ściapan Niekraševič (), also known as Stepan Nekrashevich (; 8 May 1883 – 20 December 1937) was a Belarusian academic, political figure and a victim of Stalin's purges.

Early years

Niekraševič was born in the estate of Daniłoŭka in Minsk province of the Russian Empire (nowadays in Śvietłahorsk district of Homiel region of Belarus) into the family of a petty nobleman. He graduated from the Vilna Teachers' Institute in 1913 and embarked on a teaching career. During World War I he was conscripted into the Russian Imperial Army.

Involvement in the Belarusian independence movement

While in the army, Niekraševič became involved with an organisation of Belarusian soldiers on the Romanian Front and in 1917 organised a conference in the city of Odessa. He published a bulletin for Belarusians in southern Ukraine. He accepted the authority of the

Belarusian Democratic Republic The Belarusian People's Republic (BNR; , ), also known as the Belarusian Democratic Republic, was a state proclaimed by the Council of the Belarusian Democratic Republic in its Second Constituent Charter on 9 March 1918 during World War I. The ...

and agreed to represent the

Rada of the Belarusian Democratic Republic The Rada of the Belarusian People's Republic (, ) was the governing body of the Belarusian Democratic Republic. Since 1919, the Rada BNR has been in exile where it has preserved its existence among the Belarusian diaspora as an advocacy group ...

in southern Ukraine and, in particular, held negotiations with representatives of the French military in Odessa on behalf of the Rada.

Academic career in Soviet Belarus

Niekraševič returned to Soviet Belarus around 1920 and became actively involved in establishing Belarusian schools and cultural institutions. He was appointed the first Chairman of the Institute of Belarusian Culture, the forerunner of the Belarusian Academy of Sciences and in 1929 became vice president of the academy. During the 1920s and 1930s he published a number of scholarly works, including a Russian-Belarusian Dictionary (together with Mikoła Bajkoŭ) and a standard dictionary of the Belarusian language.Rudling, Per Anders. ''The Rise and Fall of Belarusian Nationalism, 1906–1931''. University of Pittsburgh Press, 2014. Niekraševič is considered to be an “obsessed linguist” who “continued the traditions of 9th century Belarusian linguist

Yefim Karsky Yefim Fyodorovich Karsky (, ; , older name form) ( – 29 April 1931) was a Belarusians, Belarusian linguist, Slavist, ethnographer, and paleographer, founder of Belarusian language, Belarusian linguistics, literary studies and paleography, a me ...

and developed them at a new level”.

Persecution, death and exoneration

In October 1929, the authorities of Soviet Belarus ordered "the dismissal of academic Vaclaŭ Lastoŭski from the duties of the Permanent Secretary of the Belarusian Academy of Sciences and academic Ściapan Niekraševič from the duties of Vice President of the Belarusian Academy of Sciences" for allowing publications within the academy espousing “views that are completely incompatible with the policies of the Soviet government, and sometimes views hostile to the Soviet government”. In 1930 Niekraševič was arrested and exiled to the

Udmurt ASSR The Udmurt Autonomous Soviet Socialist Republic was an autonomous republic of the Soviet Union, named after the Udmurt people. It originated on 4 November 1920 as the Votyak Autonomous Oblast (" Votyak" is an obsolete name for Udmurts, "Vot" ...

in Soviet Russia. He was rearrested in November 1937 and on 19 December of the same year sentenced to death. Niekraševič was posthumously exonerated first during the

Khrushchev's Thaw The Khrushchev Thaw (, or simply ''ottepel'')William Taubman, Khrushchev: The Man and His Era, London: Free Press, 2004 is the period from the mid-1950s to the mid-1960s when Political repression in the Soviet Union, repression and Censorship in ...

in 1957 and completely during Gorbachev's Perestroika in 1988.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Niekraševič, Ściapan 1883 births 1937 deaths Belarusian National Republic Great Purge victims from Belarus Belarusian independence activists 20th-century Belarusian scientists Belarusian nobility