Veterinarian who chaired the First All-Belarusian Congress and, as chairman of the Rada, presided over the declaration of independence
Born in Zadzvieja in the Minsk Governorate in 1879, he graduated from the veterinary school in Warsaw in 1903 and worked as a veterinarian and as a teacher at the agricultural college in Marjina Horka. He served in the Russo-Japanese War and was active in the Belarusian Socialist Hramada. Elected chairman of the First All-Belarusian Congress in December 1917, he was arrested when it was dispersed. In February 1918 he was a Belarusian delegate at the Brest-Litovsk peace talks; as chairman of the Rada from March he presided over the session of 24–25 March that proclaimed independence, and from July to November he headed the People’s Secretariat. In the 1920s he worked in agriculture in Soviet Byelorussia; arrested in 1930 in the case of the “Union of Liberation of Belarus”, he passed through exile and the Gulag, and his fate after his release in 1943 is unknown.
Also known as: Janka Sierada · Ivan Mikitavič Sierada · Yan Serada
Activities and affiliations
- 1918 Legislature and state representation · Belarus state institutions
- 1918 Government and administration · Belarus state institutions
- 1918 Diplomacy and international organization · Belarus state institutions
- 1917 Social movements and organizing
- 1921–1925 Agriculture and land policy · Soviet Union
- 1925–1929 Education · Soviet Union
Career Timeline
- 1907–1911Veterinarian in the Minsk Governorate; teacher at the Marjina Horka agricultural college
- 1917Chairman of the First All-Belarusian Congress
- 1918Member of the Belarusian delegation at the Brest-Litovsk peace talks
- 1918Chairman of the Rada of the Belarusian People’s Republic
- 1918Chairman of the People’s Secretariat and secretary for foreign affairs
- 1925–1929Docent at the Belarusian Agricultural Academy