Ćvikievič Alaksandar (also spelled Tsvikevich, Twikewitsch; Цьвікевіч Аляксандар), scholar, historian, political leader. Not much is known about this Belarusian scholar and political leader. From short notes which are available in print, it appears that Alaksandar Ćvikievič obtained his primary and secondary education in the Bieraście region, and then studied at the University of St. Petersburg. During the revolutionary years Ćvikievič advanced to the top leadership in the Belarusian political movement. He was chairman of the conference of the Belarusian Socialist Hramada in Moscow in 1917; he took a very active part in the All-Belarusian Congress in Miensk, December 1917, where he was one of the members of the Resolutions Committee. After the Belarusian Democratic Republic was established, Ćvikievič headed several diplomatic missions to Ukraine, served as one of the delegates of the Belarusian Government at the Peace Conference in Bieraście, January 1918, and held numerous positions within the Government of the Belarusian Democratic Republic including that of Prime Minister from 1923 to 1925. Until 1925 Ćvikievič lived in Western Europe and devoted himself to diplomatic work. However, he began to negotiate with the Soviet Belarusian Government and in the fall of 1925, at the Conference in Berlin, Ćvikievič gave up his mandate from the Belarusian Democratic Republic and left soon after for Soviet Belarus. The Conference in Berlin between the representatives of the Belarusian Democratic Republic and the Belarusian Soviet Republic was undoubtedly the most tragic event in his life. For a few years, while living in Soviet Belarus, Ćvikievič was able to work and lead a normal life. He authored several important works, one of which, called Zapadno-Russizm, Miensk, 1929, is a milestone in Belarusian scholarship.
Ćvikievič was, however, arrested in 1930, spent several years in exile in Russia, was rearrested, and vanished into a Soviet prison. The date of his death is not exactly known, but it is assumed that he was executed in the late 1930s or early 1940s.
References: Masiej Siadnioŭ. Achviary balšavizmu, Biełastok, 1944, pp. 37-40; Byelorussian Times, Flushing, N.Y., no. 7, December 1976.
