Ivan Yermachenka ( be, Іван Ермачэнка) (last name also transcribed commonly as John Ermachenko), May 13, 1894 - February 25, 1970) was a

Belarus Belarus,, , ; alternatively and formerly known as Byelorussia (from Russian ). officially the Republic of Belarus,; rus, Республика Беларусь, Respublika Belarus. is a landlocked country in Eastern Europe. It is bordered by ...

ian politician, diplomat and writer.

Life

Ivan Yermachenka was born into a peasant family near Barysau. In 1914 he graduated from a Russian under-officer school. He fought during World War I; by the end of it he reached the rank of

polkovnik ''Polkovnik'' (russian: полковник, lit=regimentary; pl, pułkownik) is a military rank used mostly in Slavic peoples, Slavic-speaking countries which corresponds to a colonel in English-speaking states and oberst in several German-speak ...

(colonel). During the

Russian Civil War {{Infobox military conflict , conflict = Russian Civil War , partof = the Russian Revolution and the aftermath of World War I , image = , caption = Clockwise from top left: {{flatlist, *Soldiers ...

of 1917-1922 Yermachenka fought for the anticommunist

White army The White Army (russian: Белая армия, Belaya armiya) or White Guard (russian: Бѣлая гвардія/Белая гвардия, Belaya gvardiya, label=none), also referred to as the Whites or White Guardsmen (russian: Бѣлогв� ...

and served as adjutant to General

Pyotr Vrangel Baron Pyotr Nikolayevich Wrangel (russian: Пётр Никола́евич барон Вра́нгель, translit=Pëtr Nikoláevič Vrángel', p=ˈvranɡʲɪlʲ, german: Freiherr Peter Nikolaus von Wrangel; April 25, 1928), also known by his ni ...

. In 1920 he emigrated to

Turkey Turkey ( tr, Türkiye ), officially the Republic of Türkiye ( tr, Türkiye Cumhuriyeti, links=no ), is a list of transcontinental countries, transcontinental country located mainly on the Anatolia, Anatolian Peninsula in Western Asia, with ...

, where he joined the Belarusian national movement. In 1921 Yermachenka was appointed ambassador of the

Belarusian Democratic 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 ...

Istanbul Istanbul ( , ; tr, İstanbul ), formerly known as Constantinople ( grc-gre, Κωνσταντινούπολις; la, Constantinopolis), is the List of largest cities and towns in Turkey, largest city in Turkey, serving as the country's economic, ...

and general consul for the Balkans. He established Belarusian consulate missions in

Bulgaria Bulgaria (; bg, България, Bǎlgariya), officially the Republic of Bulgaria,, ) is a country in Southeast Europe. It is situated on the eastern flank of the Balkans, and is bordered by Romania to the north, Serbia and North Mac ...

and in

Yugoslavia Yugoslavia (; sh-Latn-Cyrl, separator=" / ", Jugoslavija, Југославија ; sl, Jugoslavija ; mk, Југославија ;; rup, Iugoslavia; hu, Jugoszlávia; rue, label= Pannonian Rusyn, Югославия, translit=Juhoslavij ...

. In 1922 he was appointed deputy foreign minister of the democratic Belarusian government in exile in

Kaunas Kaunas (; ; also see other names) is the second-largest city in Lithuania after Vilnius and an important centre of Lithuanian economic, academic, and cultural life. Kaunas was the largest city and the centre of a county in the Duchy of Tra ...

. He then moved to

Prague Prague ( ; cs, Praha ; german: Prag, ; la, Praga) is the capital and largest city in the Czech Republic, and the historical capital of Bohemia. On the Vltava river, Prague is home to about 1.3 million people. The city has a temperate ...

where in 1929 he graduated from the Medical Faculty of

Charles University ) , image_name = Carolinum_Logo.svg , image_size = 200px , established = , type = Public, Ancient , budget = 8.9 billion CZK , rector = Milena Králíčková , faculty = 4,057 , administrative_staff = 4,026 , students = 51,438 , underg ...

. From 1938 Ivan Yermachenka worked on cooperation between the Belarusian exiled government and

Nazi Germany Nazi Germany (lit. "National Socialist State"), ' (lit. "Nazi State") for short; also ' (lit. "National Socialist Germany") (officially known as the German Reich from 1933 until 1943, and the Greater German Reich from 1943 to 1945) was ...

. On 20 April 1939 Yermachenka sent together with

Vasil Zacharka 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 in exile. Early life Vasil Zachark ...

, the president of the Belarusian Democratic Republic in exile, 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''. In October 1941 Yermachenka travelled to German-occupied

Minsk Minsk ( be, Мінск ; russian: Минск) is the capital and the 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 stat ...

to set up Belarusian Self-Help, the only legal Belarusian organization at that time. He later became advisor to

Wilhelm Kube Wilhelm Kube (13 November 1887 – 22 September 1943) was a Nazi official and German politician. He was an important figure in the German Christian movement during the early years of Nazi rule. During the war he became a senior official in the oc ...

, the German ''Generalkommissar'' of Belarus. In the spring of 1943 Yermachenka was dismissed from all his posts as a result of an operation of the SS and the German police against Kube. On April 27, 1943 he was expelled to

where the

Gestapo The (), abbreviated Gestapo (; ), was the official secret police of Nazi Germany and in German-occupied Europe. The force was created by Hermann Göring in 1933 by combining the various political police agencies of Prussia into one or ...

arrested him in relation to the September 1943 assassination of Kube. In early 1945 Yermachenka went to Germany. In 1948 Yermachenka emigrated to the US, where he worked as doctor. He co-founded the United Belarusian-American Help Committee in

South River, New Jersey South River is a borough in Middlesex County, New Jersey, United States. As of the 2010 United States Census, the borough's population was 16,008,United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 U.S. state, states, a Washington, D.C., federal district, five ma ...

. He died in Binghamton, New York in 1970.Antonio J. Munoz, Oleg V. Romanko: ''Hitler's White Russians. Collaboration, Extermination and Anti-partisan Warfare in Byelorussia, 1941–1944.'' Europa Books, Bayside NY 2003, , p. 445.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Yermachenka, Ivan 1894 births 1970 deaths People from Barysaw District People from Borisovsky Uyezd Belarusian politicians Belarusian diplomats Russian military personnel of World War I Belarusian people of World War I Belarusian military personnel White movement people People of the Russian Civil War Charles University alumni Belarusian collaborators with Nazi Germany White Russian emigrants to Lithuania Soviet emigrants to the United States Belarusian expatriates in the Czech Republic White Russian emigrants to Czechoslovakia Ambassadors of Belarus to Turkey