Background
Jan (Janka) Stankievich was born in the village Arlianiaty near Ashmiany. During World War I Stankievich served in the army of the Russian Empire.
Jan (Janka) Stankievich was born in the village Arlianiaty near Ashmiany. During World War I Stankievich served in the army of the Russian Empire.
Jan Stankievich graduated from the Vilnia Belarusian Gymnasium in 1921, the Charles University in Prague in 1926, became Doctor of Slavonic philology and history.
In 1917–1918 he began to participate in activities of Belarusian national organizations. JIn 1928-1932 he worked as a Belarusian language professor in the University of Warsaw and in 1927–1940 - in the University of Vilnius. In 1928–1930 Dr. Stankievich was a member of the Polish Sejm. In 1940 Stankievich went to Warsaw and joined the pro-German Belarusian Committee. He also established contacts with Polish antifascist resistance and created a pro-Polish Belarusian undercover group called the Belarusian Nationalist Party. In 1941 Stankievich moved to the German-occupied Minsk, where he worked at the science department of the Belarusian Central Rada. He was a member of the Belarusian Self-Help and was among founders of a Belarusian Scientific Society. In 1944 Jan Stankievich emigrated to Germany with retreating German military. In 1949 he moved to the United States where he continued his work.
As a politician, Stankievic advocated closer ties of Belarus and Poland, for what he has been often criticized by other West Belarusian politicians. He also actively proposed the name of Great Lithuania for Belarus.