Dominik Semashko (, ; 16 August 1878 – 27 November 1932) was a

Belarusian Belarusian may refer to: * Something of, or related to Belarus * Belarusians, people from Belarus, or of Belarusian descent * A citizen of Belarus, see Demographics of Belarus * Belarusian language * Belarusian culture * Belarusian cuisine * Byelor ...

activist. In the 1890s, he joined the

Polish Socialist Party The Polish Socialist Party (, PPS) is a democratic socialist political party in Poland. It was one of the most significant parties in Poland from its founding in 1892 until its forced merger with the communist Polish Workers' Party to form ...

and other socialist groups advocating workers' rights. The police forced him to flee to Switzerland where he received engineering education and firefighting training. During World War I, he was

fire chief A fire chief or fire commissioner is a top executive rank or commanding officer in a fire department. Nomenclature Various official English-language titles for a fire chief include ''fire chief'', ''chief fire officer'' and ''fire commissioner ...

Vilnius Vilnius ( , ) is the capital of and List of cities in Lithuania#Cities, largest city in Lithuania and the List of cities in the Baltic states by population, most-populous city in the Baltic states. The city's estimated January 2025 population w ...

from 1915 to 1918. In 1918, he was elected to 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 ...

and then became part of the

Council of Lithuania In the history of Lithuania, the Council of Lithuania (; ; ), after July 11, 1918, the State Council of Lithuania () was convened at the Vilnius Conference that took place between 18 and 23 September 1917. The twenty men who composed the c ...

. Initially, he was a supporter of a union between

Lithuania Lithuania, officially the Republic of Lithuania, is a country in the Baltic region of Europe. It is one of three Baltic states and lies on the eastern shore of the Baltic Sea, bordered by Latvia to the north, Belarus to the east and south, P ...

and

Belarus Belarus, officially the Republic of Belarus, is a landlocked country in Eastern Europe. It is bordered by Russia to the east and northeast, Ukraine to the south, Poland to the west, and Lithuania and Latvia to the northwest. Belarus spans an a ...

along the lines of the old

Grand Duchy of Lithuania The Grand Duchy of Lithuania was a sovereign state in northeastern Europe that existed from the 13th century, succeeding the Kingdom of Lithuania, to the late 18th century, when the territory was suppressed during the 1795 Partitions of Poland, ...

but later became more aligned with Lithuania. He represented Lithuania at the

Paris Peace Conference Agreements and declarations resulting from meetings in Paris include: Listed by name Paris Accords may refer to: * Paris Accords, the agreements reached at the end of the London and Paris Conferences in 1954 concerning the post-war status of Germ ...

and during the negotiations of the

Soviet–Lithuanian Peace Treaty The Soviet–Lithuanian Peace Treaty, also known as the Moscow Peace Treaty, was signed between Lithuania and Soviet Russia on July 12, 1920. In exchange for Lithuania's neutrality and permission to move its troops in the territory that was rec ...

. In 1920–1922, he was Minister for Belarusian Affairs. He then retired from politics and devoted his time to firefighting.

Biography

Semashko was born into a family of poor nobles from

Raseiniai Raseiniai (; Samogitian dialect, Samogitian: ''Raseinē'') is a city in Lithuania. It is located on the south eastern foothills of the Samogitians highland, some north from the A1 highway (Lithuania), Kaunas–Klaipėda highway. History Grand ...

. He was born in

though in his autobiography he noted

Surdegis Surdegis is a town in Anykščiai district municipality, in Utena County, in northeast Lithuania. According to the 2011 census, the town had a population of 158 people. Notable residents *Algimantas Masiulis Algimantas Masiulis (July 10, 1931 ...

as his birth place. He studied at the Real Gymnasium in Vilnius but was expelled for anti-Tsarist activities after he joined the

. In 1895, he moved to

Kamianske Kamianske (, ; ), previously known as Dniprodzerzhynsk from 1936 to 2016, is an industrial city in Dnipropetrovsk Oblast, Ukraine, and a port on the Dnieper, Dnieper River. It serves as the administrative center of Kamianske Raion and Kamianske ...

on the

Dnieper The Dnieper or Dnepr ( ), also called Dnipro ( ), is one of the major transboundary rivers of Europe, rising in the Valdai Hills near Smolensk, Russia, before flowing through Belarus and Ukraine to the Black Sea. Approximately long, with ...

river in Ukraine to work in a factory. There he joined a volunteer firefighter brigade and a union advocating for workers' rights. For that, he was searched by the Tsarist police and had to escape to

Lviv Lviv ( or ; ; ; see #Names and symbols, below for other names) is the largest city in western Ukraine, as well as the List of cities in Ukraine, fifth-largest city in Ukraine, with a population of It serves as the administrative centre of ...

in then

Austria-Hungary Austria-Hungary, also referred to as the Austro-Hungarian Empire, the Dual Monarchy or the Habsburg Monarchy, was a multi-national constitutional monarchy in Central Europe#Before World War I, Central Europe between 1867 and 1918. A military ...

in 1898. There he joined the workers' organization Borba (fight, struggle), was arrested by the police, and exiled to Switzerland. He completed firefighting courses in

Biel/Bienne Biel/Bienne (official bilingual wording; German language, German: ''Biel'' ; French language, French: ''Bienne'' ; Bernese German, locally ; ; ; ) is a bilingual city in the canton of Bern in Switzerland. With over 55,000 residents, it is the ...

and a technical school in

Winterthur Winterthur (; ) is a city in the canton of Zurich in northern Switzerland. With over 120,000 residents, it is the country's List of cities in Switzerland, sixth-largest city by population, as well as its ninth-largest agglomeration with about 14 ...

in 1902. In 1903, he joined Polish socialists in London and helped them publish various revolutionary brochures in Belarusian. He returned to the factory in Kamianske during the

Russian Revolution of 1905 The Russian Revolution of 1905, also known as the First Russian Revolution, was a revolution in the Russian Empire which began on 22 January 1905 and led to the establishment of a constitutional monarchy under the Russian Constitution of 1906, t ...

. He again joined the volunteer fire brigade. He returned to Vilnius in 1911 and organized a fire brigade in

Šnipiškės Šnipiškės is a neighborhood in Vilnius, the capital of Lithuania. Vilnius Central Business District is a part of Šnipiškės. Located on the north bank of the river Neris, it became the site of a modern business district with skyscrapers which ...

in 1914. Semashko rallied the men into a militia to protect the city from hooligans and fires when the

Russian Imperial Army The Imperial Russian Army () was the army of the Russian Empire, active from 1721 until the Russian Revolution of 1917. It was organized into a standing army and a state militia. The standing army consisted of Regular army, regular troops and ...

abandoned the city during the

Great Retreat The Great Retreat (), also known as the retreat from Mons, was the long withdrawal to the River Marne in August and September 1914 by the British Expeditionary Force (BEF) and the French Fifth Army. The Franco-British forces on the Western F ...

in mid-1915. He became the city's

(''brandmajor'') and commanded both local and German

Ober Ost The Supreme Commander of All German Forces in the East (), also known by its German abbreviation as , was both a high-ranking position in the armed forces of the German Empire as well as the name given to the occupied territories on the German s ...

firefighters during the fire. At the same time, he turned away from Polish political activists towards Belarusian and Lithuanian causes. He was a contributor to the Belarusian newspaper ''Homan'' and was elected to the

in January 1918. He participated in the declaration of independence of the

Belarusian People's 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 drafted plans for establishing a Belarusian university, named after

Adam Mickiewicz Adam Bernard Mickiewicz (24 December 179826 November 1855) was a Polish poet, dramatist, essayist, publicist, translator and political activist. He is regarded as national poet in Poland, Lithuania and Belarus. He also largely influenced Ukra ...

, in

Minsk Minsk (, ; , ) is the capital and largest city of Belarus, located on the Svislach (Berezina), Svislach and the now subterranean Nyamiha, Niamiha rivers. As the capital, Minsk has a special administrative status in Belarus and is the administra ...

. On 23 April 1918, he participated in discussions with the

regarding the territory of Lithuania and Belarus after the war and ideas on resurrecting the old

. On 27 November 1918, Semashko and five other Belarusians joined the Council of Lithuania. In January 1919, as a representative of the Belarusian minority, Semashko was sent by Lithuania to the

. His role at the conference became more prominent after a Belarusian delegation, led by Prime Minister

Anton Luckievich Anton Ivanavič Luckievič (, , ; 29 January 1884 – 23 March 1942) was a leading figure of the Belarusian independence movement in the early 20th century, an initiator of the proclamation of the independence of Belarus, the Prime Minister and t ...

, arrived in Paris in summer 1919. In mid-June 1919, Semashko issued a memorandum that unconditionally recognized the territories of the former

Vilna Vilnius ( , ) is the capital of and List of cities in Lithuania#Cities, largest city in Lithuania and the List of cities in the Baltic states by population, most-populous city in the Baltic states. The city's estimated January 2025 population w ...

and

Grodno Governorate Grodno Governorate was an administrative-territorial unit (''guberniya'') of the Northwestern Krai of the Russian Empire, with its capital in Grodno. It encompassed in area and consisted of a population of 1,603,409 inhabitants by 1897. Gro ...

s as Lithuanian. According to Tomasz Błaszczak, Semashko began to take an anti-Belarusian stance and came to fully support Lithuania's independence. In April 1920, he was sent as a representative of the Council of Lithuania to the negotiations of the

. However, he played a minimal role and was quickly recalled to

Kaunas Kaunas (; ) is the second-largest city in Lithuania after Vilnius, the fourth largest List of cities in the Baltic states by population, city in the Baltic States and an important centre of Lithuanian economic, academic, and cultural life. Kaun ...

. After the elections to the

Constituent Assembly of Lithuania The Constituent Assembly of Lithuania or Constituent Seimas () was the first parliament of the independent state of Lithuania to be elected in a direct, democratic, general, secret election. The Assembly assumed its duties on 15 May 1920 and was ...

in May 1920,

Jazep Varonka Jazep Jakaŭlevič Varonka (4 April 1891 – 4 June 1952) was the first Chairman of the People's Secretariat (i.e. head of government) of the Belarusian Democratic Republic from 21 February to May 1918. Biography Varonka was born in Sokółk ...

was replaced by more pro-Lithuanian Semashko as the Minister for Belarusian Affairs without portfolio. As the minister, he published weekly two-page Belarusian newsletter ''Pahonia'' (Пагоня, the Belarusian name of the Lithuanian coat of arms) from July to October 1920. Its circulation was 2,000 copies. Activities of the ministry were minimal and the Belarusians did not trust or support Semashko. He resigned in August 1922 but continued as acting minister until the cabinet change in February 1923. Lithuanians could not find a suitable replacement and the position was temporarily taken by

Ernestas Galvanauskas Ernestas Galvanauskas (20 November 1882 – 24 July 1967) was a Lithuanian engineer, politician and one of the founders of the Peasant Union (which later merged with the Lithuanian Popular Peasants' Union). He also served twice as Prime Min ...

, who at the same time was Prime Minister and Minister of Foreign Affairs. The last ministry employees were dismissed by the end of 1923. After 1922, Semashko withdrew from politics and devoted his energy to firefighting. Notably, he did not join any Belarusian organizations. He established and briefly edited monthly journal ''Lietuvos gaisrininkas'' (Lithuanian Fireman) in 1923 and published a book on firefighting techniques in 1926. He was a special consultant on firefighting to the

Ministry of the Interior An interior ministry or ministry of the interior (also called ministry of home affairs or ministry of internal affairs) is a government department that is responsible for domestic policy, public security and law enforcement. In some states, the ...

from 1924 to his death. Semashko assisted in organizing firefighter units in Kaunas and elsewhere. For his efforts, he was awarded the

Order of the Lithuanian Grand Duke Gediminas The Order of the Lithuanian Grand Duke Gediminas is the Lithuanian Presidential Award which was re-instituted to honour the citizens of Lithuania for outstanding performance in civil and public offices. Foreign nationals may also be awarded this O ...

. He was also a

freemason Freemasonry (sometimes spelled Free-Masonry) consists of fraternal groups that trace their origins to the medieval guilds of stonemasons. Freemasonry is the oldest secular fraternity in the world and among the oldest still-existing organizati ...

and a member of the Lithuania Lodge. He died in 1932 after getting an inflammation in his lungs.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Semashko, Dominik 1878 births 1932 deaths Politicians from Vilnius People from Vilensky Uyezd Members of the Rada of the Belarusian Democratic Republic Government ministers of Lithuania Lithuanian Freemasons Fire chiefs Recipients of the Order of the Lithuanian Grand Duke Gediminas Members of the Council of Lithuania