Niekraševič Ściapan (also spelled Nekrashevich Stsiapan; Некрашэвіч Сьцяпан), teacher, scholar, and political leader. Niekraševič was born in the village of Daniłaŭka, Śvietłahorsk region, on May 8, 1883; he died on December 20, 1937. Niekraševič graduated from the Vilna Teachers' Institute in 1913. During World War I he served in the Russian Army and became involved in the organization of Belarusian soldiers on the Rumanian Front. Niekraševič initiated and conducted a conference of Belarusian soldiers in the city of Odessa in 1917. He began publication of a bulletin for the Belarusians in Odessa and in southern Ukraine. He shared the political principles of the Belarusian Democratic Republic and accepted an invitation to represent the Belarusian Government in the south of Ukraine. In Odessa he conducted negotiations with representatives of the French military on behalf of the Belarusian Democratic Republic. Niekraševič returned to Soviet Belarus around 1920 and became actively involved in establishing Belarusian schools and Belarusian cultural institutions. He was appointed the first Chairman of the Institute of Belarusian Culture, the forerunner of the Academy of Sciences of the Belarusian SSR. In 1929 he became vice president of the Academy. During 1920-1930 he held positions in the top leadership of Soviet Belarus and published numerous scholarly works. Together with Mikoła Bajkoŭ, he compiled a Russian-Belarusian Dictionary, 1925. In 1930 Ściapan Niekraševič was arrested and exiled to the Udmurt ASSR. He never returned to Belarus.
References: The Modern Encyclopedia of Russian and Soviet History, vol. 24, 1981, p. 133; Biełarus, New York, no. 314, 1983; Baćkaŭščyna, Munich, no. 581, November 19, 1961; BSSR Karotkaja Encyklapedyja, vol. 5, 1981, p. 445.
