Ivan Yermachenka

Ivan Yermachenka, 1921

Ivan Abramawitsch Yermachenka ( Byelorussian Іван Абрамавіч Ермачэнка ; born May 1, 1894 in Kapachouka near Baryssau in the Minsk governorate ; † February 25, 1970 in Binghamton (New York) , United States ) was a Belarusian politician, activist and leader of a Belarusian self-made activist .

Life

Yermachenka studied first in Baryssau and then at the University of Moscow . He fought as a volunteer in the Russian Army in World War I and attended the officers' school . Towards the end of the war, Yermachenka received the rank of commander. He emigrated with other members of the White Army to Turkey , where he came into contact with the Belarusian national movement. Yermachenka joined the government-in-exile of the Belarusian People's Republic and played an important role in diplomatic activities from 1920 to 1923. In 1921 he organized the first Belarusian consulate in Constantinople and maintained contacts with the governments of France and Italy . From 1922 he lived in Prague , where he completed his medical studies at Charles University . In Prague his participation in the Belarusian national movement played a rather secondary role. On April 20, 1939, Yermachenka and Wassil Sacharka , President of the Rada BNR, sent a 17-page memorandum to Adolf Hitler , in which he was asked to take the interests of the Belarusian people into account in future developments . On August 3, 1939, Yermachenka and Sacharka were summoned to the German Foreign Ministry, where the chairman of the Eastern Department of the Ministry, Professor Mayer, explained to them that Germany was against a unified, indivisible Russia, but that at the same time he could not make any concrete promises.

Second World War

During the Second World War , Yermachenka returned to Belarus from exile in Prague and actively worked with the German occupiers. He enjoyed the trust of Alfred Rosenberg and was appointed head of the White Ruthenian Self-Help Work (WSW). He saw the self-help system as a starting point for achieving greater autonomy and therefore tried to promote the Belarusian language and culture. On June 29, 1942, General Commissioner Wilhelm Kube Jermatschenka appointed his "Belarusian confidant", who was to advise him on all "Belarusian" matters. Jermatschenka was involved in the recruitment of people for the Reich Labor Service by asking all city and district chiefs of the self-help organization to cooperate, although he noted that the deployment in Germany was anything but harmless. He tried to protect his own clientele by initially not designating any "nationally conscious Belarusians" to be transported to the West. In mid-December 1942, Jermatschenka obliged the individual rayon chiefs of the WSW to send at least a thousand workers per area commissioner to the Reich. Ultimately, however, he was unable to meet the occupiers' labor needs, which decisively weakened his position and the Belarusian self-help organization.

At the beginning of April 1943, Yermachenka was deposed as head of the WSW on the pretext of personal gain and sent back to Prague . Jury Sabaleuski was appointed as his successor .

post war period

In 1948 Jermatschenka emigrated to the USA , where he took part in the government-in-exile of the Belarusian Central Council . He lived there under the pseudonym John Jermaczenko in the city of Binghamton (New York) , where he died in 1970.

Individual evidence

1. ↑ Biography of Ivan Jermatschenka on slounik.org (English)
2. ^ Leonid Rein: The kings and the pawns. Collaboration in Byelorussia during World War II. Berghahn Books, New York 2011, ISBN 9780857450432 , p. 96.
3. ↑ Alexander Brakel: Under Red Star and Swastika. Baranowicze 1939 to 1944. Western Belarus under Soviet and German occupation . (= Age of World Wars. Volume 5). Ferdinand Schöningh Verlag, Paderborn et al. 2009, ISBN 978-3-506-76784-4 , pp. 207-210.
4. ↑ Alexander Brakel: Under Red Star and Swastika. Baranowicze 1939 to 1944. Western Belarus under Soviet and German occupation . (= Age of World Wars. Volume 5). Ferdinand Schöningh Verlag, Paderborn et al. 2009, ISBN 978-3-506-76784-4 , p. 213.
5. ^ 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, ISBN 1-891227-42-4 , p. 445.