Anton Lutskevich

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 the Minister of Foreign Affairs of the Belarusian Democratic Republic persecuted by the Soviet authorities. He was a brother of Ivan Luckievič.

Early life Luckievič was born in Šiauliai, Kovno Governorate, Russian Empire into the family of a petty nobleman of Nowina Coat of Arm who at the time worked as a railway official.

In 1902 he graduated from the Minsk Gymnasium. This was followed by studies at the Faculty of Mathematics and Physics of St. Petersburg University and the Faculty of Law of the Universität Dorpat.

Involvement in revolutionary activities In 1903 Luckievič, together with his brother Ivan and another prominent figure of the Belarusian national movement, Vacłaŭ Ivanoŭski, founded the Belarusian Revolutionary Assembly (later the Belarusian Socialist Assembly) with the goal to fight for democracy and national rights for Belarusians, including the right to pursue education in the Belarusian language, as well as to rise up against the Russian Tsarist authorities. In 1904, Luckievič was arrested in Minsk for distribution of revolutionary literature, but was eventually released with his right to leave the city restricted. Nevertheless, he left for Vilnius in 1906 because there was an assassination attempt against the Governor of Minsk, , committed by and Aleksandra Izmailovich, who had frequented Luckievič's apartment, which automatically put him under threat of arrest.

In Vilnius, the Luckievič brothers were instrumental in the setting up of the publishing house "Naša Chata" ("Our House") and the Belarusian Publishing Society in 1906 as well as the publication of the first Belarusian newspapers "Naša Dolia" ("Our Destiny"), "Naša Niva" ("Our Cornfield") and "Homan" (the "Babble").

Luckievič was also one of the founders of the Freemasonry Lodge “Jedność” (“Unity”) established in Vilnius in 1910 as well as an active member of the Lodges “Lithuania” and “Belarus” representing Belarusian national interests there. He was involved in publishing activities of the lodges as he authored the vast majority of articles for the Russian-language newspaper “Вечерняя газета” (“Evening Newspaper”) and published the Polish-language newspaper “Kurjer Krajowy” (“The National Courier”). left

World War I After the occupation of Vilnius by the German troops in 1915 Luckievič became the vice-president of the Belarusian Society of Help for Victims of War. The German authorities had forbidden any political activity and this Society actually covered the clandestine Belarusian People's Committee that was also headed by Luckievič. The same year, together with his brother Ivan as well as Alaiza Paškievič (Ciotka), Luckievič participated in the creation of the Belarusian Social Democratic Workers’ Group uniting representatives of Vilnius' factories that was an autonomous unit of the Belarusian Socialist Assembly.

At the time of the Belarusian Democratic Republic In 1918, Luckievič was elected President of the Belarusian Council of Vilnius.

In September – November 1918, Luckievič headed a Belarusian delegation to Ukraine and met there with Hetman Pavlo Skoropadskyi. He also secretly met with Christian Rakovsky, a Bolshevik politician. As a result of these meetings Luckievič ascertained that Soviet Russia would not recognise the Belarusian Democratic Republic. The Belarusian delegation arrived to Paris five months after the beginning of the conference, when the positions of the neighbouring countries (Lithuania and Poland) had been already heard. The reason for such a late arrival to the conference was the initial lack of finances and the necessity to wait for a loan from Ukraine.

Luckievič stayed in Paris for three months. In July 1919, he established contacts with Ignacy Paderewski, Prime Minister of Poland and Head of the Polish delegation, and handed over a draft agreement “On the Creation of the Union of Two Sovereign States – the Belarusian Democratic Republic and the Polish Republic” to him. This agreement specified provisions for close cooperation between the two countries and also had a secret attachment on military cooperation and mutual actions on establishing borders with the neighbouring countries.

In 1921, Luckievič became President of the Belarusian National Committee in Vilnius. He also taught in the Belarusian Gymnasium of Vilnius and, in 1921, founded the Belarusian Scholar Council, which would later merge with the Society of the Belarusian Schools. He was also instrumental in establishing the Ivan Luckievič Belarusian Museum.

In 1922 he headed the Belarusian Central Electoral Committee in Vilnius and formulated the tactics and structure of the Belarusian Deputy Club, a Belarusian fraction in the Polish Sejm.

Arrest by Soviet authorities and death

After the Soviet annexation of Western Belarus, Luckievič participated in the Conference of the Belarusian intellectual elite and urged to revive the Belarusian school, culture and arts. He supported the unification of Soviet Belarus and Western Belarus. On 30 September 1939, Luckievič was arrested by the Soviet authorities in Vilnius and, later, transferred to Minsk. On 8 August 1940, he was charged with cooperation with the Polish intelligence service, the creation of counter-revolutionary organisations within the Belarusian nationalist circles and the establishment of the government of a bourgeois Belarus headed by the national fascist Luckievič. On 14 June 1941, he was sentenced for anti-Soviet activities to eight years of Gulag prison camps.