The Belarusian Statehood (the beginning of the 20th c.)

Jaremič Fabijan (also spelled Jaremicz Fabian, Jeremich, Yeremicz; Ярэміч Фабіян), technologist, political leader. Fabijan Jaremič was born in the village of Dułaŭcy, near the town of Vaŭkavysk on January 20, 1891. The family was poor and everyone in the family had to work from an early age. When Jaremič was still a youngster, his mother died and Fabijan had to leave home to go to the city of Horadnia to find work. He worked in many places as an apprentice and studied at a technical vocational school, specializing in telephone services. Later he continued his studies in St. Petersburg where he graduated from the Electrotechnical Institute. In St. Petersburg he came into close working contact with Belarusian activists and joined the Belarusian political movement. These associations led him to spend considerable time in organizing Belarusian workers. In 1917 Jaremič was in Miensk participating in the preparation for the All-Belarusian Congress. He also played an active role in the proceedings of the Congress.

After the revolutionary years, Fabijan Jaremič settled in Vilna where he served as a chief of a telephone-telegraph station. From the very beginning of his stay in Vilna Jaremič became a leading and influential member of the Belarusian community. He ran for the Polish Sejm and was elected three times. In the Polish Sejm Jaremič served as chairman of the Belarusian Representatives' Club. Jaremič made numerous speeches on the floor of the Sejm and took part in several international conferences, defending the human and civil rights of the Belarusians. He edited the newspaper Sialanskaja Dola. Because of his Belarusian activities and his vocal protests against Polish policies in Belarus, Fabijan Jaremič, although a member of the Polish Sejm, underwent regular, periodic harrassment by the Polish authorities.

During World War II Jaremič participated in Belarusian life and paid for his efforts with ten years of imprisonment by the Soviets. After spending a decade in jails and labor camps, he was permitted to return to Vilna, where he died soon after his return, on June 26, 1958.

References: Źnič, Rome, no. 48, 1958, pp. 4-5; Baćkaŭščyna, Munich, August 3, 1958; Biełaruski Kalandar, Vilna, 1923, p. 34.

Паведаміць пра недакладнасьць