How the Germans gave the go-ahead to the Belarusian Republic

2024 Author: Seth Attwood | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-16 15:55

During the war, the Germans tried to rule the occupied territories. In particular, in order to control the captured Belarus, the Germans divided the territory into 9 districts, which were then called gebits. Each of them is headed by the then gebitcommissar and the district administration.

Gebits were divided into smaller districts, the life of which was looked after by the head. He was chosen from among the residents of the area. Most often, these positions were occupied by those who were cheated or offended in one way or another by the then Soviet government.

In December 1943, the Germans agreed to the creation of the Belarusian Central Rada. Due to military failures and defeats, the Germans were forced to put up with the Belarusian opposition and make certain concessions.

From the history of the creation of the Belarusian Republic

During the war years there was an organization "Belarusian self-help", which was headed by a certain doctor Antonovich. On its basis, the "Union of Men of Trust" was established, which was headed by the former assessor of the Polish Sejm, Yuri Sobolevsky. Since the summer of 1943, the Union has officially helped the development of the administration of the commissariat "Belorussia". It was Sobolevsky who, in the course of the dialogues, succeeded in convincing Commissioner V. Cuba to give Belarusians freedom, both economic and political. But on condition that military and foreign policy was still under the supervision of external occupiers.

But Cuba failed to bring the plan to life due to the assassination by the guerrillas. The new commissioner, Kurt von Gotterberg, approved the Belarusian Central Rada in December 1943. The basis for the organization was the "Belarusian Self-Help", as well as the underground party of independence.

In the status of the new government, it was said that it is an organ of independent government of the people of Belarus. Called The main task was to oversee the educational, social and cultural life of society. The main task of the Rada was to mobilize forces to destroy the Bolsheviks and their allies.

Activities of the Verkhovna Rada

Radoslav Ostrovsky was elected President of the Rada. He was a Socialist-Revolutionary who lived in Poland before the outbreak of hostilities. After the outbreak of the war, he had experience in running the administrations of cities such as Minsk, Bryank and a number of others. By the way, the Germans planned to make him the burgomaster of Moscow after its capture. Ostrovsky managed to knock out a promise from the Germans that they would support the creation of the Belarusian armed forces. But they will fight only on the territory of Belarus.

But it was precisely on such a move that the German side was counting. They hoped with the help of such a move to deal nicely with the local partisans. And during a large-scale offensive, the USSR army planned to strengthen the units of the Supreme Command. The first thing the president and the government did was to create national armed forces, which were given the name of the Belarusian regional defense.

In total, about 75 thousand people came to the army. But about 40 thousand were forced to send home due to the catastrophic shortage of weapons. The remaining 35,000 were divided into 60 battalions. Each had 600 fighters. Simultaneously with the gathering of the army, elections were held to the Rada. Each republic sent its representatives to them.

At the very first meeting, it was decided to support the idea of independence of Belarus. And it was also announced that the division of the country's territory between the Bolsheviks and Poles was illegal. They also confirmed the provisions that were considered by the Rada back in 1918. From a legal point of view, the independence of Belarus was proclaimed in 1944 on June 27.

Escape to the West

In 1944, due to pressure from the Red Army, the Germans were forced to transfer their forces to Germany. There, the 1st Belorussian Division, the 2nd Assault Brigade and the SS - Zigling Brigade were formed from the Belorussian regional defense. The brigades were destroyed during the hostilities on the Eastern Front. And the 2nd division, which was sent to Italy, surrendered to the Americans in 1945. Half of the collaborators were transferred to the authorities of the USSR, where they were sent to the GULAG for treason.

The deputies of the Verkhovna Rada did not associate themselves in any way with the people whom they themselves organized to fight the Bolsheviks. In the summer of 1944, about 2 thousand officials were forced to flee to the West. In the postwar period, 60% of them settled in Canada and West Germany. The rest, as criminals, were handed over to the Soviet side.