Jezavitaŭ Kanstantyn (also spelled Ezavitaŭ; Езавітаў Канстантын), teacher, scholar, military and political leader. Jezavitaŭ was born in the city of Dźvinsk on November 17(5), 1893. He studied in Dźvinsk and graduated from the Viciebsk Teachers' Institute. Jezavitaŭ then completed the Pavlovsk Military College in St. Petersburg in 1916. Became involved in the Belarusian movement shortly before World War I. After the February Revolution, he began to organize Belarusian soldiers of Piatigorsk Regiment in preparation for the conference of Belarusian soldiers of the Northern Front which took place in Viciebsk in the Fall of 1917. Jezavitaŭ was elected to membership in the Belarusian Military Council. He participated in numerous conferences in various cities of north-east Belarus, organizing the delegates to the All-Belarusian Congress. He also coordinated the activities of the military Belarusian groups. Jezavitaŭ took an active part in the proceedings of the Congress and was arrested by the Bolsheviks. Jezavitaŭ became the Belarusian Commander of the city of Miensk when the Belarusian administration took power on February 19, 1918. He was elected to the First People's Secretariat which became the first Belarusian Government in February of 1918. From 1918 to 1920 Jezavitaŭ served the Belarusian Democratic Republic in various capacities. After the revolutionary years, Jezavitaŭ settled in Dźvinsk, Latvia, where he organized a Belarusian school system and founded numerous Belarusian organizations. Jezavitaŭ and his close friends accomplished a great deal in Latvia. The Belarusian community in Latvia was one of the best organized of those outside the BSSR. At the same time Jezavitaŭ was a very prolific writer who authored dozens of articles and major works in many languages about Belarus and Belarusians. Some of his works are still valid down to today, e.g., his collection of documents on Polish-Belarusian relations (Biełarusy i Palaki, 1919).
Kanstantyn Jezavitaŭ was much involved in Belarusian political activities during World War II. He was appointed Commander of the Belarusian Armed Forces, 1944-1945. Jezavitaŭ was captured by the Soviets in the Berlin area in 1945, tried in Soviet Belarus, and executed, presumably in 1946.
References: Novy Šlach, Miensk-Riga, no. 22(34), November 1944, p. 14; Ranica, Berlin, no. 9/229, January 31, 1945; Belarusian Institute of Arts and Sciences, New York, Archives.
