Čarapuk-Zmahar Janka (also spelled Charapuk-Zmahar Ianka, Charapuk Ivan; Чарапук-Змагар Янка), political leader, economist. Čarapuk-Zmahar was born in the village of Novy Dvor in the Horadnia region on August 12, 1896. He died in Chicago on November 16, 1957. Janka Čarapuk-Zmahar studied at the High School in Horadnia and at the University of St. Petersburg where he was enrolled in the department of Economics and Law. From his teenage years Čarapuk-Zmahar was a nationally-conscious Belarusian and a regular reader of the newspaper Naša Niva. He became involved in Belarusian activities almost full time after the February Revolution. Čarapuk-Zmahar participated in the organization of the All-Belarusian Congress, December 1917, and entered the diplomatic service of the Belarusian Democratic Republic as early as 1918. He was a special envoy of the Belarusian Government to Germany, the Baltic States, and Czechoslovakia. In 1921 the Belarusian Government gave him the assignment of going to the United States and initiating the organization of Belarusians in America. Janka Čarapuk-Zmahar came to the United States in 1922. His father, Anton Čarapuk had come a few years earlier as a representative of the Belarusian Democratic Republic. The Čarapuks began to organize the Belarusians in Chicago and other states on behalf of the Belarusian Democratic Republic. For over 30 years Janka Čarapuk-Zmahar was active in behalf of the Belarusian Democratic Republic in various international organizations and conferences. He was instrumental in establishing numerous Belarusian-American organizations, some of which continue to be active.
References: Baćkaŭščyna, Munich, nos. 384, 385, December, 1957; Belarusian Institute of Arts and Sciences, New York, Archives.
