Łuckievič Ivan (also spelled Lutskevich; Луцкевіч Іван), archaeologist, ethnographer, and political leader. Ivan Łuckievič was born into the family of a railroad worker in the town of Šauli, Kaunas province, on May 28, 1881. He died in Vilna on August 20, 1919. Ivan Łuckievič graduated from Miensk High School, then from Moscow and St. Petersburg Universities. He, together with his younger brother, Anton, are the founders of the modern Belarusian political movement. They conceived the idea and organized the Belarusian Revolutionary (Socialist) Hramada, the first political party in modern Belarusian history with a specific political program. Together with Alaksandar Ułasaŭ, they established the newspaper Naša Niva, which played a decisive role in the Belarusian political and cultural revival. The Łuckievič brothers were the first to formulate the principles of Belarusian statehood, and the first to establish a Belarusian Scholarly Society and the Belarusian Museum anywhere in the world. There is virtually no facet of the Belarusian movement for national statehood and the revival of ethnic consciousness in which the Łuckievič brothers did not make a signal contribution and have a lasting impact. However, the brothers were different in some important ways: while Anton Łuckievič was more outspoken and visible as a journalist, literary critic, and political activist, Ivan Łuckievič was more of a pragmatist, remaining in the background, securing the financial base for many Belarusian programs. Both brothers, however, earned the title of pioneers in the formation of the modern Belarusian state and in the revival of the modern Belarusian nation.
References: Bieł. Sav. Enc., vol. 6, 1972, p. 444; Anton Adamovich. Iak dukh zmahan'nia Belarusi, New York, 1983, 28 p.; Baćkaŭščyna, Munich, nos. 212-213, Aug. 15, 1954; 304, 305, May 27, June 3, 1956; Zhizn' natsional'nostei, Moscow, no. 22(79), July 11, 1920.
